I have heard often that Christian nudists put too much interest on being nude and not enough on being Christian. Although that is not my experience, there may be a tendency to talk more about nudism among nudists because we have more opportunities to talk about Christian matters elsewhere. It occurred to me that maybe we need to be more conscience of this tendency and make a concerted effort to keep talking about Christ as our ultimate goal.
I am not saying not to speak of our mission area, or about the issues that arise in a nudist setting, but I am openly advocating taking a position to make sure the outside world knows we are nudists for God's sake and not God's for nudism's sake.
In a blog a read recently, they criticized Boyd Allen's site for dwelling on nudism to the exclusion of Christ's message. Anyone who knows Boyd will tell you this isn't true. As the current leader of the CNC, I value his knowledge and his willingness to take a stand for Christ in the nudist world. I consider him a valuable co-worker in Christ's field. But when I stood back, I noticed nudism and Christianity were linked in both our sites. We made our job as workers for Christ only to the nudists and did not leave the door open for textiles to come.
Perhaps I led the way with this some years ago. Most of my missions in the last 15 years have been to the nudist world. I have worked without ceasing to win the nudists. I may have neglected the textiles. In some places, I may have alienated the textiles. Without a good reason, I may have cut my job description in half.
When Jesus said, "Go yea to all the world..." He did not add, "and preach to every naked person you see." He wants us to win all so that none should perish.
I still believe my main job is to work in the nudist community. God has planted me in a place where I am firmly installed in a position that will lead the nudist Christians for some years to come. I think it is from this point God has revealed to me that we will begin to have openings in the textile world where our textile brothers can't go.
The door we open that leads to becoming a nudist also gives us an innate ability to see others in a more open manner. We are more understanding of Christian seekers who would not be accepted in the normal Christian community. It is our job to find these souls and bring them to Christ for their own sake and for ours.
If you believe this with me, we can have an impact, not just in the nudist world, but in the textile fringe as well. All you need to do is say, "Amen!"
Of course, saying Amen in my book means you will begin the work with me! Gotcha.
Until Next Time, my brothers and sisters. Allen
Thursday, August 28, 2008
Tuesday, August 26, 2008
A New Outlook Toward Modesty
I never believed modesty ever had anything to do with clothes or what we were covering up. I believe a modest man is a noted by the way he lives his life and presents himself to the world as opposed to the belief that we must cover our less presentable parts. 1Corinthians 12:23 warns us about bringing more notice and "honor" to our less honorable parts and in doing so, causing our brothers to falter.
Paul was specifically talking about the body of Christ, the church. He wanted us to make sure we gave good attention to the people doing the dirty jobs around the church and to honor them for their service, but this still works well taken literally.
Modesty is doing what is right for the sake of righteousness. It precludes the necessity of wearing clothes, dressing in a manner proscribed by some church, or obeying any specific prohibition on makeup or jewelry. It is about doing what is right even when no one is around.
Modesty is the internal struggle to do what is right without an outside objective or motive. If I pray in church so that everyone knows I have a good speaking voice and can write lyrical prose, my prayer is immodest and I have profaned the god (little g) I prayed to. If I pray in a closet for the safety and health of my enemy because deep down I have a concern for his well being, I am modestly praying.
This leads to a problem with most churches. We are told to dress in our Sunday best to go to Church. The thought is that we should wear our best to be with the Lord. I understand the argument, but this argument fails on at least one level. God dwells with us always. He sees us in the shower. He is with us when we are at work. When we are digging in the garden, He is there. He is even there when we have sex with our spouse. If He is truly with us all the time, either we should always be dressed in our finest, or we must admit there is a failing in our argument.
The failing is the belief that God only dwells with us when we are in His house, the church building we all head over to on Sunday. Knowing this is false is the first step to experiencing modesty in a new and more vibrant manner. Once we come to grips with the principle that God dwells with us all the time, we will begin to understand that all the other stuff we do can't be for God. So, who is left?
I'll tell you. Everyone else. The other members of the church. The community. The Jones' from next door. When we dress to hide anything from God, you know, the one that knows everything and has seen everything, we only expose ourselves again to Him. we do not impress Him. The only ones we could impress are the people around us.
The real answer to all of this is to release ourselves from the rules not set forth by god and involve ourselves in learning chaste modest living based on biblical principles given to us by the Word.
Paul was specifically talking about the body of Christ, the church. He wanted us to make sure we gave good attention to the people doing the dirty jobs around the church and to honor them for their service, but this still works well taken literally.
Modesty is doing what is right for the sake of righteousness. It precludes the necessity of wearing clothes, dressing in a manner proscribed by some church, or obeying any specific prohibition on makeup or jewelry. It is about doing what is right even when no one is around.
Modesty is the internal struggle to do what is right without an outside objective or motive. If I pray in church so that everyone knows I have a good speaking voice and can write lyrical prose, my prayer is immodest and I have profaned the god (little g) I prayed to. If I pray in a closet for the safety and health of my enemy because deep down I have a concern for his well being, I am modestly praying.
This leads to a problem with most churches. We are told to dress in our Sunday best to go to Church. The thought is that we should wear our best to be with the Lord. I understand the argument, but this argument fails on at least one level. God dwells with us always. He sees us in the shower. He is with us when we are at work. When we are digging in the garden, He is there. He is even there when we have sex with our spouse. If He is truly with us all the time, either we should always be dressed in our finest, or we must admit there is a failing in our argument.
The failing is the belief that God only dwells with us when we are in His house, the church building we all head over to on Sunday. Knowing this is false is the first step to experiencing modesty in a new and more vibrant manner. Once we come to grips with the principle that God dwells with us all the time, we will begin to understand that all the other stuff we do can't be for God. So, who is left?
I'll tell you. Everyone else. The other members of the church. The community. The Jones' from next door. When we dress to hide anything from God, you know, the one that knows everything and has seen everything, we only expose ourselves again to Him. we do not impress Him. The only ones we could impress are the people around us.
The real answer to all of this is to release ourselves from the rules not set forth by god and involve ourselves in learning chaste modest living based on biblical principles given to us by the Word.
Friday, August 22, 2008
Why Naked?
I am often asked why I know God wants me to be a nudist. There are many reasons, but the most important one is He has a job for me in the nudist world.
First, let's correct the assumption that I believe God wants everyone to be a nudist. He doesn't, no more than He wants everyone to be a football player or sing. He made each of us different with different talents. His design for each of us is different. Therefore, His mission for each of us is different.
I got a better understanding of this several years ago when I met a man who played football professionally. I can't play football, so I thought perhaps we would have nothing in common. It wasn't until we were discussing God's missions for us that he mentioned his mission field was the football field. He could influence many people in a positive way if he used his football talents to give him a platform to talk about Jesus and about the Father's love for us.
I realized he was no different than me, although I certainly don't have the platform of the National Football league. My mission field is smaller and with less action, but it is as important as his is. The two of us share a common goal in two different arenas.
Why naked? Well it makes sense to me. I can be myself in the face of the Father. He sees me as He created me, faults and all. Even clothed He would see me this way anyway, but I feel closer to Him without the phony outer coverings between us.
I put it this way. God gave us clothing as a worker's protection. It was something that covered us and protected us from harm. Now, when we come home in the evenings and our pastor is coming over for dinner, I change my clothing from my work clothes to something the pastor would think appropriate for the occasion. when I meet with the God, I don't need to come to Him in my work clothes, dirty and stained. I need to approach Him in the clothing He gave me, my birthday suit.
In the world of Christian doctrine, our doctrine is somewhat controversial. I realize that, but what is so controversial about God seeing us naked? And if God can see us naked, what is so controversial about us seeing each other, brothers and sisters in Christ, naked?
Naked might be out of your comfort zone, but the process that got Christian nudists to Christ is the same process that textile Christians came to Christ, out of a need to be forgiven. Our own works, whether wearing clothes or saying 50 Hail Mary's, will never get us to heaven. Only the true form of love Jesus showed on the cross will bring our lives to the Father for forgiveness.
'till then...
Allen
First, let's correct the assumption that I believe God wants everyone to be a nudist. He doesn't, no more than He wants everyone to be a football player or sing. He made each of us different with different talents. His design for each of us is different. Therefore, His mission for each of us is different.
I got a better understanding of this several years ago when I met a man who played football professionally. I can't play football, so I thought perhaps we would have nothing in common. It wasn't until we were discussing God's missions for us that he mentioned his mission field was the football field. He could influence many people in a positive way if he used his football talents to give him a platform to talk about Jesus and about the Father's love for us.
I realized he was no different than me, although I certainly don't have the platform of the National Football league. My mission field is smaller and with less action, but it is as important as his is. The two of us share a common goal in two different arenas.
Why naked? Well it makes sense to me. I can be myself in the face of the Father. He sees me as He created me, faults and all. Even clothed He would see me this way anyway, but I feel closer to Him without the phony outer coverings between us.
I put it this way. God gave us clothing as a worker's protection. It was something that covered us and protected us from harm. Now, when we come home in the evenings and our pastor is coming over for dinner, I change my clothing from my work clothes to something the pastor would think appropriate for the occasion. when I meet with the God, I don't need to come to Him in my work clothes, dirty and stained. I need to approach Him in the clothing He gave me, my birthday suit.
In the world of Christian doctrine, our doctrine is somewhat controversial. I realize that, but what is so controversial about God seeing us naked? And if God can see us naked, what is so controversial about us seeing each other, brothers and sisters in Christ, naked?
Naked might be out of your comfort zone, but the process that got Christian nudists to Christ is the same process that textile Christians came to Christ, out of a need to be forgiven. Our own works, whether wearing clothes or saying 50 Hail Mary's, will never get us to heaven. Only the true form of love Jesus showed on the cross will bring our lives to the Father for forgiveness.
'till then...
Allen
Monday, August 18, 2008
Back Again
I apologize for such a long break in posting. I have been somewhat busy and hadn't really had much to say. I thought funneling my time to other places would spare you from some inane post that meant nothing.
I wanted to post to you some apologetics of Christian nudist life in this blog and today seems a good place to begin this. But we need some ground rules. As we discuss this, please be respectful of all people. I have the comment section open, but there has been little comments so far. If there should be any, I trust we can keep them respectful of all so that we might share God's love to all we encounter.
The bible is full of places where nudity is mentioned. Even in the first part of the first boo, Genesis, nudity is a part of God's creation. When we first hear of man, we hear of him being naked, a state God created and He intended man to remain that way. We find in the old Testament Isaiah walked naked among the Jewish people naked. Many of the same traditions we hold today which are done clothed now were handled naked in previous times.
The Jewish communities before the fall of Jerusalem, nudity was commonplace among the people. Clothes were expensive and having more than one set of clothes was extravagant. Mostly, though, people couldn't afford more than the bare necessities, a cloak, inner clothing and outer clothing. When a person came to a situation where the clothing might get dirty or become unclean (not the same thing), they would take the clothes off.
Examples of this is where Peter, when fishing, grabbed his clothes and swam out to see Jesus. If he had been wearing his clothes, there would be no need to grab them to take t hem with him.
Another good example is the stoning of Stephen. The crowd gave their clothes, both inner and outer, to Saul to watch while they threw stones at Jesus. Remember, these were the leaders of the Jewish faith.
The New Testament is riddled with naked references. Jesus was naked on five of the more important times he appeared to us. On His birth, He was naked. At His death, He was naked. He was baptized naked. In the upper room, Jesus was naked washing His disciples' feet. On the Resurrection morning, He was naked.
The prohibition on nudity is a relatively new invention, coming about because of vanity and pride. It has little to do with modesty, but was a way of showing off our wealth and dividing the haves from the have-nots. A simple look at history will provide good examples. Take Queen Victoria. She devised great costumes to cover her thin, darker complexion. She wanted to look like the other wealthies, plump and pale. Perhaps in her haste to change fashion to fit her needs, she placed a heavy burden for the rest of the world to try to meet her standards, increasing the mostly useless idea that we needed to cover ourselves completely.
I am glad we didn't follow her lead so far as to start covering the piano legs.
I wanted to post to you some apologetics of Christian nudist life in this blog and today seems a good place to begin this. But we need some ground rules. As we discuss this, please be respectful of all people. I have the comment section open, but there has been little comments so far. If there should be any, I trust we can keep them respectful of all so that we might share God's love to all we encounter.
The bible is full of places where nudity is mentioned. Even in the first part of the first boo, Genesis, nudity is a part of God's creation. When we first hear of man, we hear of him being naked, a state God created and He intended man to remain that way. We find in the old Testament Isaiah walked naked among the Jewish people naked. Many of the same traditions we hold today which are done clothed now were handled naked in previous times.
The Jewish communities before the fall of Jerusalem, nudity was commonplace among the people. Clothes were expensive and having more than one set of clothes was extravagant. Mostly, though, people couldn't afford more than the bare necessities, a cloak, inner clothing and outer clothing. When a person came to a situation where the clothing might get dirty or become unclean (not the same thing), they would take the clothes off.
Examples of this is where Peter, when fishing, grabbed his clothes and swam out to see Jesus. If he had been wearing his clothes, there would be no need to grab them to take t hem with him.
Another good example is the stoning of Stephen. The crowd gave their clothes, both inner and outer, to Saul to watch while they threw stones at Jesus. Remember, these were the leaders of the Jewish faith.
The New Testament is riddled with naked references. Jesus was naked on five of the more important times he appeared to us. On His birth, He was naked. At His death, He was naked. He was baptized naked. In the upper room, Jesus was naked washing His disciples' feet. On the Resurrection morning, He was naked.
The prohibition on nudity is a relatively new invention, coming about because of vanity and pride. It has little to do with modesty, but was a way of showing off our wealth and dividing the haves from the have-nots. A simple look at history will provide good examples. Take Queen Victoria. She devised great costumes to cover her thin, darker complexion. She wanted to look like the other wealthies, plump and pale. Perhaps in her haste to change fashion to fit her needs, she placed a heavy burden for the rest of the world to try to meet her standards, increasing the mostly useless idea that we needed to cover ourselves completely.
I am glad we didn't follow her lead so far as to start covering the piano legs.
Tuesday, August 5, 2008
Learning Curve
I am convinced the good Lord has a plan for my wife and I. I know this because every time I begin to think he is finished with me another project emerges. Over the weekend, my wife and I enjoyed ourselves at White Tail Resort's Beach Fest. I thought that after all those parties the night before and the sun coming up in the same spot it normally does, the church would be empty and I would have a short service and be out from under the normal pressures of church life on Sunday. It didn't work out that way, however. With 20 people at service, I had to be on my toes and talking to the crowd with the utmost attentiveness. This is a feat best accomplished after plenty of rest and relaxation and not after a weekend of parties and dancing.
I am not upset that people showed up. It turned out to be a great Sunday to worship. I had a great time before going home to celebrate my OLDER sister's birthday. I only have one sister so adding the OLDER to sister's was for my benefit. It is comforting to know you have someone in my family that is older than me.
What I learned from all this is to be ready at any minute. The time I least expect to have a crowd i the time God finds an abundance to show up. The only thing I knew how to do was pray for divine guidance and to look for hope and strength in His light.
See ya next time.
I am not upset that people showed up. It turned out to be a great Sunday to worship. I had a great time before going home to celebrate my OLDER sister's birthday. I only have one sister so adding the OLDER to sister's was for my benefit. It is comforting to know you have someone in my family that is older than me.
What I learned from all this is to be ready at any minute. The time I least expect to have a crowd i the time God finds an abundance to show up. The only thing I knew how to do was pray for divine guidance and to look for hope and strength in His light.
See ya next time.
Monday, August 4, 2008
The CNC
For three years, I headed up the Christian Nudist Convocation. Along with some good support people and a handful of Christians who wanted more out of nudist life than a good tan and some wrinkles to be added at a later date. The weekend events took place at White Tail Resort with the help and full support of the owner, Bob.
God also offered workers to the field to help make the three weekends a success. Over the course on many email meetings and many hours of prayer, the weekends came together for the good of the community. We were talked about often. We were given the opportunity to be filmed for documentaries. But mostly, we were allowed to bring several groups of Christians together to worship God.
As small as this might seem, it really was huge. For the first time, many nudist Christians were able to be among their peers and worship Christ in the nude. For many, this was the first time they had the ability to meet other nudists who were Christian and to give the promise of Godly freedom a chance to work.
Even with all this excitement, I knew this was just another start I was making and that my mission now lay in another place. At the last CNC held at White Tail Resort, the torch was passed to another group to continue.
Did I mention that my gifts lie in apostleship? No, I am not an apostle like Paul or Peter. My gifts excel in starting new missions. I am good at getting new missions started, so long as God sends along a new person to continue the mission.
I hadn't ended my time with the CNC before a new and scary mission started forming. I had a vision of building a "denomination" of churches all housed inside the nudist resorts in the Us and abroad. I saw a time when we nudists would impact our community as much as our textile partners. I wanted to begin this project in earnest as soon as I could figure out how God wanted me to handle it.
Now here is where God shows His brilliance! He knew if I started this immediately, it would fail. He knew if I started this by myself, it would fail miserably. I needed experience and I needed help. Clearly, I had a vision, but I didn't have the abilities to carry this out.
Which brings us to the present. It has taken more time than I had hoped and I most passionately apologize for being so slow at getting to the meat of this blog, but I needed to show you the foundation before I could build this mission with your help.
God has a plan for us, that is the one writing this and the ones reading this. If you truly believe God can take a person such as me and build a community of Christians in the nudist world, please keep reading and PLEASE make comments. Our next post will begin to talk about the newest training ground for me and the people charged with helping.
Although I have given you an overview of the path so far, there are many things I had to leave out for lack of space. Please forgive me if I have to go back to retrieve some of those items and ideas in later posts.
Till then... Allen
God also offered workers to the field to help make the three weekends a success. Over the course on many email meetings and many hours of prayer, the weekends came together for the good of the community. We were talked about often. We were given the opportunity to be filmed for documentaries. But mostly, we were allowed to bring several groups of Christians together to worship God.
As small as this might seem, it really was huge. For the first time, many nudist Christians were able to be among their peers and worship Christ in the nude. For many, this was the first time they had the ability to meet other nudists who were Christian and to give the promise of Godly freedom a chance to work.
Even with all this excitement, I knew this was just another start I was making and that my mission now lay in another place. At the last CNC held at White Tail Resort, the torch was passed to another group to continue.
Did I mention that my gifts lie in apostleship? No, I am not an apostle like Paul or Peter. My gifts excel in starting new missions. I am good at getting new missions started, so long as God sends along a new person to continue the mission.
I hadn't ended my time with the CNC before a new and scary mission started forming. I had a vision of building a "denomination" of churches all housed inside the nudist resorts in the Us and abroad. I saw a time when we nudists would impact our community as much as our textile partners. I wanted to begin this project in earnest as soon as I could figure out how God wanted me to handle it.
Now here is where God shows His brilliance! He knew if I started this immediately, it would fail. He knew if I started this by myself, it would fail miserably. I needed experience and I needed help. Clearly, I had a vision, but I didn't have the abilities to carry this out.
Which brings us to the present. It has taken more time than I had hoped and I most passionately apologize for being so slow at getting to the meat of this blog, but I needed to show you the foundation before I could build this mission with your help.
God has a plan for us, that is the one writing this and the ones reading this. If you truly believe God can take a person such as me and build a community of Christians in the nudist world, please keep reading and PLEASE make comments. Our next post will begin to talk about the newest training ground for me and the people charged with helping.
Although I have given you an overview of the path so far, there are many things I had to leave out for lack of space. Please forgive me if I have to go back to retrieve some of those items and ideas in later posts.
Till then... Allen
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