Obadiah
Member
- Dec 14, 2012
- 6,568
- 1,488
For a time I attended a fundamental Baptist church where according to the pastor, yes indeed, it is off limits. Legalism at it's highest and worst! In fact, this pastor was so adamant about it that one day he was telling me of his route from home to church that avoided the "nudist beach". I was shocked. We lived in a beach community, but I'd never heard of any nudist beach in the area! Turns out what he considers nudity is anything less than long pants with shoes and a long sleeved shirt on a man, or a floor length dress on a woman. (No pants for women, by the way.) The shortest and most sensible route to his work took him by the beach where people commonly wore things like cut off blue jeans and short sleeved T-shirts. It wasn't even very common to see a woman in a two piece bikini. Normal attire was shorts and t-shirts. But the route he had to take to avoid driving by the beach was almost 3 times as long as had he just driven directly. This kind of attitude is simply immature at best. It is not the fault of the people with the lack of clothes, it is the fault of the person who looks at them with sinful intentions.
Now before anyone tells me I don't know what I'm talking about and if I were in that situation I would see it differently (which I have been told before), I'm going to share something that I probably shouldn't. I speak from experience. I AM in that situation on a daily basis. Being careful to try not to violate any privacy laws here, I will share that I work with a disabled person in a Christian company that cares for her. This person, despite her disability, is a rather cute woman in her early 30's. (Well within "girlfriend age" for me.) Here's the thing... Every morning it's part of my job to give her a bath. Yes, she is naked and the laws require I protect her privacy, so it's always just me alone with her in a closed and locked bathroom when this is done. I wash her entire body, including private areas. She can't do any of this on her own because part of her disability is that she doesn't have the muscle co-ordination to do it. Under the law, no hidden surveillance of any kind is permitted, and she is non verbal and can not do sign language. So I have no fear of getting caught if I were to act on some carnal desire with her. And no, I do not take advantage of her nor loose any control over myself due to her lack of dress or the potential intimacy of what I am doing. This is not because she is repulsive, by any means nor is it because I have such a "professional" attitude. It is because I take responsibility before God for my own actions and thoughts, and I have determined to not use her as an object of sin. And she has not been the only one. As a police officer I had many calls to strip clubs and such, where the women not only didn't put on their clothes just because we were there, but actually went out of their way to seduce us when we had to go in. Yet I still controlled myself in the same way. This is MY action and MY decision, and I do not need the influence of a burka-like covering on any woman to babysit me. If a male can not see a clothed woman in a beauty pageant without loosing control of himself, this is on him before God, NOT on the woman participating in the contest, and he needs to pray to God asking for strength to avoid his sin rather than placing the blame on the innocent woman.
If she joins a beauty pageant, she's effectively endorsing oggling -- that's the point of the shows. The other situations she is not, at least if she dresses appropriately. Appropriately = dressing that covers most of the body (arms and lower legs exposed and face open is OK, especially in the summer) and no form-fitting clothes that effectively makes one into a clothed silhouette. Both 19th century and today's clothes can fit that criteria. If she is pretty enough to win a pageant, but only exposes her face, then it might direct the weirdos to looking at other parts besides under her neck. But if she dresses that way, I doubt if ogglers would notice a pretty face anyway. They are just big, walking glands ready to mate. She won't be noticed by such low-lives if she dressed right. Trust me on that.
