A new follower found my Instagram account recently and contacted me to share his story and ask some questions. He was frustrated with his local church and saddened with how he’d been treated for embracing the biblical view of the body. I thought you might want to listen in on our short conversation. For the purpose of this blog post, I’ll call him Lucas.

Lucas: I saw your post about Jesus and wanted to talk about religion and naturism because most religious people are so against nudity. I just recently stopped going to church because even though it was very spiritual, there was still shame towards things like nudity.

Jason: Yeah. The goodness of the body is something the church is still mostly unaware of.  So much of what has been taught is based on non-christian ideas passed down through history instead of what the Bible actually teaches.

L: I went through a sort of awakening and ended up in nature and one day a voice in my head told me to get naked and I did! And it was amazing and I just wanted to share this bliss with the world… but the pastor at my church totally called me extreme and that I need to stay in the middle. That really got me down for a while, but I’m coming out of it.

J:  Did you know there’s actually lots of natural nudity in the Bible? Most people have no idea how normal being naked was in Scripture. In fact, Jesus was naked when he rose from the dead. A casual reader will notice that it says the grave clothes were left in the tomb. Mary saw Him from a distance and assumed he was the gardener. Why? Because in those days people did all their outdoor work naked. Mary wasn’t shocked by Jesus’ lack of attire. And it didn’t stop her from running up and giving Him a hug.

I believe that God is opening up this old truth again for our generation. Instead of hiding our bodies in darkness and assuming sin, we should walk freely in the light as He made us. Light pushes away darkness and brings maturity.

A great resource you’d enjoy is a website written by a friend of mine called the Biblical Naturist.  Matthew Neal has spent years connecting the dots between natural nudity and the Bible.

L: I agree so many of us are waking up to this truth. Getting naked has been a blessing and has actually helped me deal with my sexuality and porn addiction. Now I no longer always have sex on the brain, not to mention the incredible self confidence and the added energy and joy. It’s beautiful.

J: That’s a great testimony. I want to share another website with you: mychainsaregone.org Another great resource that brings light into darkness and shows us that once we change our perspective on the body, addictions falls away.

L: I will check them both out! ?

J: Do! You will be blessed. After His resurrection, we have another glimpse of natural nudity when the disciples were fishing and it says Peter was naked because he was fishing (John 21:7). So he grabbed his shirt, threw it over his head and jumped in the lake and swam to the shore where Jesus was. I can go on!

L: I love it! It’s crazy how people can just ignore all that.

J: They haven’t been taught to see it. They wear cultural glasses when reading the scriptures. And many of the translations obscure the text so as not to offend modern sensibilities.

L: All this shame towards nudity has made porn rampant it has had the opposite effect. Instead of learning love, people instead hate and defile their bodies.

J: That’s right. Teaching people that the sight of simple nudity is sinful only fuels adds fuel to the fire. When you show someone the truth they can be set free and put the fire out!

L: Ever since I got healthy and started going out into nature I’ve been seeing the world with new eyes.

J: Let me tell you one more fun Christian nudity fact. Did you know that until infant baptism took off in the third century, all water baptisms were done in the nude? Men, women and children. Every believer!

L: No, I didn’t, but it makes sense. Why get your clothes wet?

J: Imagine that in today’s church!

L: Haha that would be awesome.

J: Yes, why get your clothes wet, but it was more than that, too. Going into and out of the water unadorned symbolizes being born again. Just as we enter the world naked, believers in Jesus Christ would be immersed in water and rise out–entering the new life given through Christ.  I pray that God’s people will rediscover these powerful truths.

L: I love that! and I pray that too. Slow but surely it is happening. Someone made a very good point how violence is so widely accepted and glorified but if someone is naked then it must be taken down…but plenty of sex in movies.

J: Yes. That makes me so sad that Americans would rather allow their children to see someone shot up or beaten to death than glimpse a simple body part like a nipple.

L: Things just don’t make any sense at all and people are starting to see that.

J: The more people recognize the silliness of hiding our bodies and join in, the harder it is for controllers to use the body as a product or as a tool for evil. And I bet there are other Christians in your area who have also learned this truth.

L: Yeah people wanna get rid of separation and old beliefs it’s beautiful. And I have found some people around here like me!

J: Thanks for reaching out, Lucas and for supporting my work. It’s encouraging to hear that God is revealing truth all over America.  Let’s keep sharing!