Christian nudes

Christdot tackles Christian nudes by asking why nudes are OK in old statues and paintings, but not in recent pieces or photography. (Sorry - no images available)

Comments

[Susan]

Went to the link on nudes. Interesting conversation. I think we are all made in God's image. Our bodies are beautiful. They were beautiful then and they are beautiful now. I think the lipmus test may be contextual. Are we exhibiting the body to glorify God and show how wonderful His creation is or are we lustful and erotic?

[Jan]

Nudes are perfectly acceptable in modern art. Some of the greatest contemporary photographers and painters favor nudes. They are collected by major museums and collectors. There is sometimes a fine line between pornographic and artistic. Some of the contemporary photographers are pushing the envelope with their work.

[TonyB]

We regulate to the lowest common denomintor. We don't show nudes because someone may lust, we don't drink wine because someone may get drunk. I am the son of an artist, we had are around the house, I went to museums and galleries, and I am still in awe and wonder of the form and function of the human body.

[Andrew Careaga]

I recall dealing with an irate grandmother of a youth group member (she was raising him, as many grandmothers do nowadays) who was upset that he was being exposed to nudes (like Michelangelo's David) in his high school art class. Sometime during the conversation I mentioned that Jesus was probably naked on the cross, and she was aghast.

Her grandson now serves in the U.S. Marines and until recently was stationed in Iraq.

[Ian Aston]

As a 26 year-old American, who was not raised in the church, my experience with nudity has always been in some sinful context. Only in recent years have I begun thinking about the human form as inherently beautiful. I think I could learn to appreciate and understand nudity in art. But, as I stand now I am still tainted by my sin. This affects my thinking and what I bring to the table. We may be able to generalize this to a large majority of American males. People to tend to avoid problem areas or attempt to struggle to change their perspective. For many, it is just easier to avoid. But, and I still do this at times, if I should avoid it, so should you.

[Josue Lobo]

As a former male nude model, I experienced a lot of unwanted female attention while modelling for colleges and universities. I was a Christian when posing nude. From my experience, many young females in college figure drawing classes have difficulty controlling their hormones. Eye contact and body language can transmit loud signals of lust to the nude model. Although college teachers try to maintain a professional classroom environment (eg, no giggling, whispering), they cannot control eye contact and body language, which are powerful modes for communicating lust, unprofessionalism, etc. College figure drawing classes are not always the most professional environment for drawing nudes. I rarely had problems with females in their late thirties and older. 90 percent of the problems I had came from females under the age of 35. Needless to say, I don't have a positive opinion on the world of figure drawing (Drawing Nudes).

[Jenna White]

Good conversation. The church's general squimishness towards nudity bothers me and it's cool to hear that other people are clarifying the base factors and are thinking about it.

[Jamesha]

I am still an artist and art model who finds the female nude beautiful to draw, sketch and paint. The "girlie" stigma against nudity in art has GOT TO GO! My inspirations for my art do NOT come from "the gutter", since art is always the subject I deal with. Erotica and fine art are TWO TOTALLY DIFFERENT SUBJECTS! I'm a Christian, but even so, I don't believe in female nudes just being for men to lust after! Jesus taught me that, according to Matthew 5:28, "But I say unto you, that whosoever looketh on a woman to LUST AFTER her hath committed adultery with her already in his heart." I capitalized the words "lust" and "after" because I just realized that Jesus was teaching us that to look at someone with lust is equally as wrong as committing adultery (or fornication) with that person in heart and deed.

[CurtisNeeley]

To photograph a nude as a Christian or to pose nude as a Christian is not an absurd proposition.

The best photographers of the figurenude can be seen at
www.figurenude.com

Romans 14:16
“Do not allow what you consider good to be spoken of as evil.”

Most figurenude photographs are NOT evil but most nudes are evil.

God made humans nude. Jesus died nude. Our God doesn’t make mistakes.

God covered humans with clothes made from the skins of animals after humans sinned. The animals God took the skins off did not sin. Removal of skin usually results in death? The death of an innocent animal to cover the results of sin? God, who created everything, preferred to kill animals to create the first set of clothes instead of having humans grow fur and not need those clothes?

God was demonstrating the first example that sin could only be covered by innocent blood being spilled. .It foreshadowed Jesus’ sacrifice. .
God could have as easily made clothes from cotton, silk, or nylon. God made clothes instead of giving humans fur so that the clothes could be removed and his masterpiece appreciated without obstruction.