This is how we were created; naked and unashamed. Yet, some find this photo disturbing. Why is this so?
It is funny (or so it seems to me) that worldly people can discuss anything, yet when Christians talk about taboo subjects such as nudity, we impose limitations. Essentially, we’re intimidated into following well worn tracks of thought, lest we possibly sin according to our knowledge of good. Thus, what we are allowed to say and think lags far behind what God actually thinks and does. In short, legalism seeks to bind all forms of free expression in God’s Spirit.
Whoa, I’ve never been here before
I say this because, the further I venture from the norms of Christianity, the more pressure I feel to pull back and conform to it. Each time I reach a new place in God, I feel “push back” from the spiritual realm. This feeling is not conviction from God but rather a nebulous fear of what “might” go wrong. My Spirit feels fine but vestiges of legalism still cling to me as I explore this undiscovered country with my Father. Though I felt led to use the above picture in this post, still I found it difficult to do so. The old, “what will people think” almost caused me to disobey the Holy Spirit.
I say this to you, those who dare to look upon what I say, because I am sure some will feel queasy too. Its like looking down while scaling a rock cliff if you are not used to heights. However, we must learn to trust God so that we may all reach the places in Him that are our birthright. Truly, we fell far and it is a long climb back to the Garden.
Love without lust
Spiritual unions formed by God’s Spirit unite our souls and spirits together in Him. It is the first love of Eden, God’s divine love, shed abroad in our hearts. These types of relationships are the original way God meant for the whole human race to connect. Had Adam never sinned everyone would love in this pure and unadulterated way. If we had rejected the forbidden fruit, we would all be just as naked and unashamed as the girl pictured above.
It is difficult for most people to imagine love without lust when it comes to interactions between males
and females. Hollywood constantly portrays love as lust. In every way conceivable, tinseltown propagandizes sex as something that is devoid of purity and holiness. In fact, pure love to them is boring. Animal magnetism is what they believe epitomizes an exciting relationship. Many Hollywood producers would have us believe real love and lust are one in the same, however, nothing could be further from the truth.
The way of Eden
Originally, God intended everyone to interact through His Spirit. That is what being naked and unashamed was all about. Adam and Eve flowed seamlessly together through their union with God. From simple conversation to blissful orgasm, God’s Spirit meshed and intertwined with whatever they did. Living by the Spirit was as easy to them as speaking in other tongues is to us. Yielding to God was both effortless and natural. In fact, whereas we cannot imagine perfection, Adam and Eve could not imagine anything but perfection.
Did God intend to create the forbidden fruit?
Personally, I do not believe that the two trees in the garden were in the original plan of God. I believe God meant for Eden to have only one tree, the tree of life. In fact, in all likelihood, the tree of the knowledge of good and evil was the result of the war in heaven. It may have went something like this,
“God, about to cast Lucifer into the lake of fire, heard him speak this challenge:
“You are unrighteous for even those you are about to create cannot serve you without sinning just as I have. Before you condemn me to an eternal punishment prove that man can succeed where I have failed. If you prove they can walk perfectly before you then I will accept my punishment but if they fail I will in nowise suffer torment. Put now therefore two trees in the midst of your garden and give them free will to choose. As they choose so will be both our fates.”
And God said,
“So be it, lo I have put two trees in the midst of my paradise: the tree of life and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. As man so chooses thus shall be both your fates.”
If God does not tempt us, then why create the tree of the knowledge of good and evil?
We have assumed, all this time, that God put temptation in the Garden of Eden to test mankind. However, why would God do something that, in His foreknowledge, He knew would doom a significant portion of His creation to the lake of fire? Lucifer, more likely in my estimation, was the author of, or at the very least, the instigator of, the forbidden fruit. Why else did God act surprised when He said, “who told you, you were naked?”
Since the day mankind lost paradise we have been ashamed of who we are. Specifically, men and women are ashamed of their sexuality. This manifests in Christian circles today as rules and boundaries to protect ourselves from sexual sin (By putting that picture on this post I just broke one of them).
Is it possible to look upon a beautiful woman and sin not?
However, even if we do not sin outwardly, the church is rife with inward lust. The solution to our shame is not repression of our sexual nature but rather to set that area right through God’s Spirit. This is one aspect of what the Tabernacle blessing does; it restores love without lust to the Body of Christ.
Though most Christians do no like to talk about such areas, the fact of the mater is, this is where we all live. For adult males and females to claim that they do not lust is simply self delusion. This fundamental area, and the shame associated with it, forms the basis of almost every other problem we suffer. Covering ourselves in shame is the consequence of our original sin. Worldly people simply deny that lust is sin and freely partake of it. In fact, they revel in it. The stunning truth is, what God gives His people, through His divine love, is far beyond what this sinful world has to offer. Love without lust allows God’s people to be unashamed of who they really are.
Agape love
What is love without lust? Love without lust is the restoration of innocence. It is, at its very core, complete freedom to be who we are with each other and with God. As we live life through revelation we have complete liberty in God’s spirit. The physical manifestation of this love is that we act in accordance with the Spirit as we form spiritual unions within the body of Christ.
This first love of Eden can reveal itself in many different ways. From simple brotherly love all the way to marriage and anything in-between. The point is that no boundaries exist except what the Holy Spirit sets between connected individuals. You could literally hug the woman above, naked, and feel no lust towards her or she toward you. Unless God led you to marry her you would never once think of laying with her. This is the power and purity of divine love.
Have you greeted one another with a holy kiss today?
For instance, a holy kiss is proper because their is no shame in it. Why? because God is the author of the love that warrants that level of affection. A holy kiss is an outward demonstration of an inward unity that God brings between His saints. Our bodies mingle because our spirits mingle and we want to express our oneness in Him. It is literally God kissing us through a member of the Body of Christ. Had we never left the Garden of Eden, and were yet naked and unashamed as the woman above, all levels of love expressed between men and women would be Spirit led. Therefore, as we return to innocence through becoming one with God, our physical expression of that love flows from Him also. Even our marriages are to be led by the Spirit, and the offspring born from those unions are literally the children of God.
This is important because when God leads men and women to spiritually unite, social norms and boundaries dissolve too. We literally become unashamed. What we have thought appropriate no longer applies. Everything we know begins to conform to the first love of Eden. God decides, once again, what is appropriate in our lives.
Legalism binds us
The healing of the church and in our individual lives cannot be accomplished through current christian doctrine. Church dogma, as it stands, is an impediment to what God wants to accomplish in and through His people. Legalism binds the people of God. Unless we allow God to break these chains through His love, we cannot as a body of believers, manifest our Father’s glory to the depth and breadth He desires. Until believers step back into our pre-fallen state of innocence, we will never be unashamed.
He whom the Son sets free, is free indeed
Even though these things I write about are not difficult to understand, they do require people to re-examine their doctrines with new eyes. We cannot journey to be with God where He is if we refuse to be moved by His Spirit. People instinctively look at the beauty above because, somewhere deep down inside, it feels like home. Conversely, looking upon our original state in our imperfection tends to bring up our own shame. There will be a day when we can look upon a beautiful woman or a handsome man and see them as a lovely person rather than an object of carnal desire. When that day comes, the glorious liberty of the sons of God will have arrived. Amen.
About the video below
When I listened to this video it amazed me at how close to the truth she is about being naked and unashamed without mentioning Jesus or God. The thought that came to mind is that she should be teaching these truths in a Christian context and giving all the glory and honor to our Father. Instead, she teaches without mentioning or acknowledging YHWH in what appears to be a new age context. Is this woman forced to operate outside of the church because believers will not accept her and the truth she speaks? Is our definition of what God will and won’t do is so narrow that we are ostracizing the very people that could help advance the kingdom of heaven? She clearly has the revelation on what it means to be naked and unashamed. Listen for yourself and make your own assessment.
