QUESTION: I read an article by the Catholic Pope recently, in which he concludes that while lust may be associated with nudity, nudity in itself is not wrong.

The basis for his conclusions seemed to derive from the fact that Adam and Eve were created nude and were declared at same time, to be ‘very good’!

I agree! I have seen beautiful works of art which depict nudity (eg. Goya’s ‘The Nude Maja’) and have not felt the need to lust.

Being a normal male person with a pulse however, I have indeed felt sexually aroused by images of nudity that I have seen in the media.

To deal with this problem, I consulted with a number of my male Christian acquaintances as to what to do.

They all told me that I needed to avoid looking at such images so as not become tempted to lust.

However, most of them have since fallen over by by getting involved in pornography and the like.

In response, I have adopted a different strategy.

Instead of just trying to avoid being tempted, I have made it my practice to go out of my way to meet sexy looking females for example, so that I can practice a number of mental routines aimed at disciplining my natural tendencies to become aroused and lust after them.

I do the same thing with images depciting female nudity.

While the process was difficult at first and I did fall over a few times in the beginning, it is all second nature to me now.

I no longer feel ill at ease and sexually tempted by exotic looking girls, or images of them, regardless as to how undressed they might appear.

I am now regarded with considerable suspician and disdain by many in my congergation however, who see me as being engaged in a sinful process.

I am not convinced however. The strategy that I have used, works a lot better than the ‘hear no evil, see no evil’ type of approach that was first recommended to me.

As far as I can see, all I have been doing is practising how not to lust in the face of temptation, so as to build up an immunity against my natural tendencies to be tempted by female beauty and sexuality.

I can not find anything in Scripture that says that it is wrong to talk to good looking women (especially if I am doing so for the purpose of being accomplished at not lusting after them), or as per the Pope’s view, that there is nothing wrong with nudity in itself (once again – especially if I am using images of it to practice not being tempted or improperly influenced by it).

What do you think?

ANSWER: It is fair to point out that when humankind was created they were nude. But, when they disobeyed God’s one and only commandment, they discovered their nudity and their response was to cover it up and God later confirmed their solution by providing clothes for them. The inference here may be that in their fallen state that nudity would lead to more problems in their lives than they were presently facing. This seems to play itself out in that in the business of religious systems in the ancient world where nudity played a significant part in their worship life and these rituals were condemned by Judaism.

God seems to suggest, in his action of providing clothes, that it is important to have a social relationship where body parts are not the object of being social. One story of interest in the New Testament was the demonized person in the cemetery who was nude when he approached Jesus and after he was released from his demons, he set clothed and in his right mind. One must ask why Jesus didn’t leave the man nude.

It appears that nudity is not a biblically socially acceptable practice.

I don’t think that if you could ask the Pope about your interpretation of what he said about nudity that he would have come to your present strategy. He would not acquiesce that what he meant or what you have interpreted that he meant in the article you read as the same thing. You might want to ask yourself WPDI (Would the Pope Do It)?

Living in God’s Story means living in a story that has a different character about it. So, I would suggest that you should keep your clothes on, keep the clothes on those “good looking” women you are meeting, keep your pants zipped, and ask for the presence and power of the Holy Spirit to help you overcome your present practices.

Well, there’s what I think!

QUESTION: I would like to know what the Torah Jews, do in place of sacrifices, to atone for there sins, in this day and age? And I would like to know the chronological order of the OT, and the NT?

ANSWER: I know that Modern Jews still worship in their synagogues on the Day of Atonement which is Yom Kippur. Yom Kippur starts at sunset on Sunday, October 1, and ends at nightfall on Monday, October 2. But, beyond that I am not sure. You might want to ask a Jew that question and you can at Ask A Rabbi.

You can find a chronology of the story of the Old Testament (still under revision) on my SBL site here and the New Testament here.

QUESTION: Was Jesus in Human Form in the OT?

ANSWER: No, Jesus was not in a human form in the Old Testament. Some interpret the story of in Genesis 18 that one of the three visitors to Abraham was Jesus. Others see the phrase “son of man” in the story of Daniel in the lion’s den as a reference to Jesus. A rule of thumb when interpreting Scripture is that a story cannot mean what it could not have meant to the first hearers/readers. The Old Testament folks did not have a concept of Jesus. They would not have recognized him as a character in a story presented to them to tell them of the journey of God with Israel.

John recounts the birth of Jesus and “he became flesh and tabernacled among us” as the point in time of the incarnation or the “human form” of Jesus.

QUESTION
Since marriage only allows two people to get married. I would like to know of the Bible’s opinion of open marriages and engaging in homosexuality while in a marriage? I think that if anyone can not be committed to one person, they shouldn’t get married.

The ancient world had open marriages. The male was married, had concubines, and visited prostitutes. The New Testament offers a different way of viewing marriage, a different Story to live in if you please, one woman with a man or one man with a woman at a time. It seems clear that Scripture does not allow for any same sex relationships in or out of marriage. Read First Corinthians and Romans (especially the first couple of chapters) for Paul’s thoughts on the subject of same sex sexual relationships.

QUESTION
During the bible days, did women sing in the sanctuary?

ANSWER
I am unclear by what you mean by sanctuary. If you are thinking about the Old Testament, I’m not aware of anywhere that the subject is addressed. If you are using sanctuary as another word for church in the New Testament, we must realize that they had no church buildings to meet in. They met in homes.

I would say that in the church (and I don’t mean building) that Paul’s injunction in Galatians 3.28 that in God’s new creation, the church, there is neither male or female, that singing by both male and female would be acceptable. There is no prohibition against women worshiping or ministering in the NT that I am aware of.

If you are interested here are two talks that I recently gave about women in ministry. They are on by blog called WinnNotes.

QUESTION
Who was crucified or buried upside down?

ANSWER
It is believed that some of the apostles met their death in such away. Peter is the most notable. However, the death of the apostles are not recorded in Scripture (except James) and we find our information from the writers in the early church of the following centuries. You might check an encyclopedia or a Bible Dictionary under each of the twelve disciples names to discover what church historians say about their deaths.

QUESTION
Can I find out the order of the Old and New Testament books?

ANSWER
Dating of Old Testament books is difficult. Dating of New Testament is easier but still difficult. Old Testament Introductions or Surveys seem to avoid the controversy of dating Old Testament documents. New Testament Introductions and Surveys often make an attempt to date a specific book.

You can find a chronology of the story of the Old Testament (still under revision) on my SBL site here and the New Testament here.

QUESTIONs
I’m looking to find the story of the “Prodigal Son.” A son who wants his father’s inheritance before his father dies. After getting it and spending it, he comes back to his father as a slave. Where can I find this story at?

and

In the Bible, does it ever describe how Satan (Lucifer) was thrown out of heaven? If yes, where? If no, how did this theory come about?

ANSWER
The story of the often called Prodigal Son (Luke 15.11-32). One might notice that the word prodigal does not appear in the text. The story is about the Father not the son. The word prodigal can mean “giving or given in abundance.”

Some have taken two passages from the Old Testament (Ezekiel 28 and Isaiah 14) as describing the fall of Satan. There is no agreement among scholars about the interpretation of these passages. Some believe that Satan fell before creation. Some believe that he fell at the story in Genesis 6.1-4, others believe that he fell in the Intertestamental Period (the period of about 400 years between the last prophet of the Old Testament period and the beginning of the New Testament story, now often called Second Temple Judaism).

I have written some brief material elsewhere in my online “Almost Weekly Bible Study” about this topic. You can find it here. Just scroll down about half the page till you see “A Small Digression: The Serpent.”

QUESTION
I want to locate Bible stories or passages that talk about cleanliness of the environment.

ANSWER
The basic story of creation (Genesis 1.1-2.4a) suggests that humankind is responsible for the creation. I am no aware of any specific stories that relate to this rather modern issue.

As an additional thought: Passages of scripture pulled from their context to support issues is not a proper use of Scripture. Scripture comes in a historical context to solve problems of ancient people. While it still has a message to us today, it does not address all of the modern concerns that we may bring to it. I am often amazed how we go to the Bible to find “support” for some idea that we have. God did not answer all the questions that humankind could ask in his storybook.

Someone wrote in the following question:

QUESTION
If you are witnessing to someone, an they start having sex with someone else while your witnessing to them, should you keep witnessing to them? I’m not joking, I’m serious.

ANSWER
I’ve heard of friendship evangelism, off the map evangelism, power evangelism, presence evangelism and maybe a few more. But, I don’t think I have ever put sex and evangelism together. But, according to this questioner there is a new category: Sexual Evangelism, or How to Sleep Your Way into Salvation.

I would say that following Joseph’s strategy with Potiphar’s wife in Genesis would be a great solution to this problem this questioner has. I think this category of evangelism falls outside the Story of God that followers of Jesus should be living in.