Thursday, November 20, 2008

What a Web We Weave

I never thought you could build a large group of nudists into any groups, much less weave them into a Christian world. But as most of you can see, we have many people who have found their way into the internet and discovered there are other Christian nudists lurking in the corners of the world. I think this is an example of God taking something that can be both good and bad and using it for good.

I began my Christian travels as an adult some twenty years ago. For most of you, I am a newbie. but what I found out is that I had a lot to learn and I wanted to know it all as fast as I could learn. Now, as most have figured out, I achieved this. I am a know-it-all of the first class. Just ask me.

The first struggle I came across was Genesis, where Adam and Eve were told not to eat of the trees. We all know how that worked and Adam and Eve found themselves wandering around in a world with briers and weeds. The question I had was if God had not given them the knowledge of right and wrong, how did He expect the two of them to know better than to eat from the tree.

I think the flaw in my thinking was there was considering right and wrong to be the same as good and evil. Although they sound close, they are really light-years apart. One is a decision based on black and white, perfect scenario decisions and the other is about the whole situation surrounding the decision.

To better illustrate this, let's look at an example.

Suppose you tell your child to not touch the stove. Your child is seven-years-old and is obviously capable of understanding the order and obeying it. The child touches the stove and is burned. She was disobedient and caused herself pain.

Now, suppose your daughter is twenty-five years old and she is a chef at the local restaurant. You tell her not to touch the stove and go into the living room to find your glasses. While you are away, the kitchen towel you left on the stove catches afire. The your daughter leans over the stove, grabs the towel and throws the burning rag in the sink, extinguishing the flames.

Was the daughter disobedient?

The knowledge imparted to Adam and Eve was the knowledge of things that could be both good and evil. It was a knowledge that needed experience and training to work properly.

Many aspects of our lives also include those decisions based on situations that can be both good and evil. In the quiet moments of our lives, we all must admit that nudism can be both good and evil. The internet is both a good resource of information and communication, but it can be a nightmare if we let ourselves wander into places we should avoid.

Everyday, we forage through this world avoiding the traps and pitfalls that can befall any of us. Avoiding them can be a difficult decision. Not all the cases are as black and white as the example above.

Suppose, instead of a daughter, we substitute a husband. Instead of not touching the stove, we substitute a prohibition on talking to a female neighbor. If the neighbor's stove was broken, would it still be forbidden for the husband to help out a neighbor in distress? Or what if the female neighbor needed a ride? Or how about substituting wife for husband and Cuban pool boy for stove?

There are other sides to this coin. Some things can be both good and bad at the same time. Sex is one primary glue in holding a marriage together. Sex is good! But sex has led to more marriages being destroyed than any other cause.

The best we can do is to remember that once we were imparted with this knowledge, we became responsible for our actions. Our world got larger, just as Adam and Eve's world got larger, and our responsibilities got bigger.

till next time...

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Excellent point at the end. The problem I have is that sometimes, when I'm told to not do something,
I start wondering "WHY was I told to not do that?". Then I start my investigating.