Nude, naked, nekkid, unclothed, clothesfree, etc?

[KalosSoma]

I tend to prefer the word "naked" because I believe it comes closest to describing the openness I feel to my Lord and to those around me. Since Jesus died for me, I also believe and try to live out the notion that His blood washed me of the guilt that separated me from God and so returned me spiritually to the condition that existed n the garden prior to the fall, when we were "naked and unashamed". "Naked" is not simply about lack of clothing. It is also about the attitude of the heart.

I like "naked" for these reasons as well. Depending on the context, I also like "unclothed;" e.g. "I love to worship/meditate unclothed;" "Being unclothed draws me closer to my Creator;" "Being unclothed before others is a liberating experience." I read it more as "unencumbered," with the primary idea being freedom and openness, and it seems to parallel "unashamed" in that sense. (Not that clothing has the negative meaning that shame does, but just in the sense of "free from" clothing.)

[nuudman]

Naked does remind me of being naked before the Lord. i constantly remind myself that i am naked before the Lord and i am to rely only on Him, not anything i did or could do. It is about Him and not me. Naked reminds us to keep our relationship stripped bare of all the froo-froo others seem to put into theirs.

[E.T. Naked Preacher]

I use the words nude and naked a lot. My preference is naked. For much the same reasons as has been mentioned above. I love the thoughts of being naked before My Lord!

[natman]

There is one word that was not included in the list and that is merely to "be".

To "be" means merely to exist, as body, mind and spirit, without anything additional, such as clothing, jewelry etc.. From a legal standpoint, it is impossible for any legal system to deny someone the right to simply "be", unless they have committed a crime worthy of capital punishment, which would, by definition, cause someone to cease being (the removal of the mind and spirit, although the body may continue to exist for a period of time).

As such, rather than all of the other labels, we can consider ourselves as merely "beings", "human beings" to be precise.

[jochanaan]

There is one word that was not included in the list and that is merely to "be"...

Or not to be?

[pipermac]

To me, "nude" is simply being unclothed, while being "naked" implies some level of openness. I can actually be naked AND fully-dressed, if I open myself spiritually or motionally to someone else. While counseling with my pastor a few weeks ago, there was a certain level of nakedness about me, since I shared some intimate knowledge of my life with him. I was fully-clothed however. I can go to a nudist resort and be nude from the time I undress at my vehicle til I dress to leave. It is up to me whether I ever become naked while there. If I choose to not interact with anyone else there, I am simply nude. All they see is a man with no clothes on. However, if I choose to interact with another person, and share some knowledge of who I am, then I display a certain level of nakedness. Because my wife knows me quite well, I am naked with her, whether I have clothes on or not. We are all naked before Almighty God, whether we like it or not, because He knows everything about us. Only God knows us better than we know ourselves. We can hide from anyone else, including ourselves. Those who do not know the Lord should rightly feel shame before God because of their sin and rebellion. We, as believers, should never feel any shame before Him, because we are covered in Christ's mantle of righteousness. We should be able to be truly "naked and unashamed".

A couple of days ago, I was at Cypress Cove. As I showered to go in the pool, a lady was showering also, and noticed the dark band across my backside. She was concerned about it, thinking I had fallen and hurt myself multiple times, because it does look like bruising. Obviously I was nude, and I shared with her that I have a rare skin disease which causes that kind of discoloration. Lots of other people saw me nude, but she was the only person who took the time to find out why I have that problem. She gave me the opportunity to be naked...to share personal information with her.

I have written a couple of posts here where I have bared my heart. Those posts are a glimpse of me naked. (They were also written au naturale.)

Naked and unashamed in Christ!
Steve

[Petros]

Somewhat intriguing to the language historian. Stripped of history and semantic evolution, nude and naked are precisely the same word, just coming to us by two different routes, like skirt and shirt. Taking naked as somehow barer than nude likely reflects the elevated school language formality of Latin nudus.

[natman]

Somewhat intriguing to the language historian. Stripped of history and semantic evolution, nude and naked are precisely the same word, just coming to us by two different routes, like skirt and shirt. Taking naked as somehow barer than nude likely reflects the elevated school language formality of Latin nudus.

Actually, from a Biblical perspective, the Hebrews had two words that reflect the different understandings of "nude" ("arowm" - lacking clothing - See Gen 2:25) and "naked" ("eyrom" - exposed, clothed or not - See Gen 3:7, also Deu 28:48,Eze 16:7,Eze 16:22,Eze 16:39,Eze 18:7,Eze 18:16,Eze 23:29 - usually stated "naked AND bare").

[webmeister]

I tend to prefer the word "naked" because I believe it comes closest to describing the openness I feel to my Lord and to those around me. Since Jesus died for me, I also believe and try to live out the notion that His blood washed me of the guilt that separated me from God and so returned me spiritually to the condition that existed n the garden prior to the fall, when we were "naked and unashamed". "Naked" is not simply about lack of clothing. It is also about the attitude of the heart.

Words like "nude", "un-clothed" and even "nekkid" put more of a focus clothing or lack there of and have little to do with the condition of the heart. By focusing on clothing, a man-made product designed to hide the real self, we are putting more emphasis on what WE have done, as in "I got nude", "I shed ny clothing", rather than on what God has done for us.

I like how you put it natman. Naked "comes closest to describing the openness I feel before my Lord." It is all about the attitude of the heart and our washed sins huh Natman. This is what I seek as I live the life of a Naturist Christian and ask for the Holy Spirits guidance. Got a lot more to learn...

[Petros]

Starkers is also British - or has been British, I don't know if it is current.


Stark naked is, of course [the lecturer commences] a corruption of older start naked - start being an old word for tail [cf the bird redstart]. I assume at some point, as start - tail dropped out of normal usage, people felt that "stark - STRONG naked" made more sense than "start - BEGIN naked".



Today a lot of Americans have gone in for what is almost the original expression with "butt-naked" - but euphemism often turns that into "buck-naked", though what a stag or a dollar has to do with nudity I do not know.

[ezduzit]

Starkers is also British - or has been British, I don't know if it is current.


Stark naked is, of course [the lecturer commences] a corruption of older start naked - start being an old word for tail [cf the bird redstart]. I assume at some point, as start - tail dropped out of normal usage, people felt that "stark - STRONG naked" made more sense than "start - BEGIN naked".



Today a lot of Americans have gone in for what is almost the original expression with "butt-naked" - but euphemism often turns that into "buck-naked", though what a stag or a dollar has to do with nudity I do not know.

I have always heard it "buck naked". the phrase was originally meant to compare one to an "Indian buck" as the men were called many years ago in a less politically correct age. They were commonly thought to be "naked savages", whether they were in fact or not. Thus, "buck naked" implied being without clothing.
Ez

[Ramblinman]

I like the French expression "au naturel". It describes how I perceive it.

Folks around here might call it, "my natural-born self".

Maybe we should turn the tables...
Imagine that you lived in some tropical clime, grew up among one of those few tribes where everyone lived his and her life in profound nudity from birth to death.
There would be no words "naked" or "nude".
If some foreigner wandered into your village, perhaps you would call him "that foreign man who wraps his body". You would have no word for your own situation.