Is the body icky? Let’s plunge into the Deeper Waters and find out.
Frost devotes this chapter to what he calls the “ick” factor. Right at the start, he says that it is clothing that causes lust. Keep in mind in the previous chapter, he said nothing that we see can cause lust. Apparently, that rule changes when it comes to clothing. Seeing a woman with clothes on will cause lust, but I guess somehow seeing her naked won’t?
Frost seems to think we have an intense hatred of nudity in our religiosity. If so, then why were great masters of art who were Christians doing paintings of nude figures and sculptures of nude figures? They also wanted to show the body as something to honor, but that doesn’t mean they were practicing nudists. You can say you want to honor the body, but that doesn’t mean put it all on open display any more than saying honoring the marriage bed means put your marriage bed out in public so everyone can see it.
Frost says when he was in Africa, he and his friends would ditch their clothing and go swimming. If he did that here in America, that would not be accepted. Frost immediately jumps to the idea of insecurity. Is that the reason? Does he know the hearts and minds of the people he’s writing about?
Could it be for some? Sure. Could it not just as much be that that’s just not something that you do here because it’s out of sync with the culture? If I went to another culture, I would need to learn the ins and outs of that culture and not just assume that it was like mine. It would not be appropriate to say “The reason you’re not like the culture that I have grown up with is because of X negative trait about yourself.”
A parallel I can think of is a dead body. For many of us, a dead body is a horrifying sight to see. For many in the ancient world, it would have been an every day sight. We recoil in horror often when we see a dead body and don’t even want to touch a “stiff.” Now to be fair, at a certain point, there is disease to think about, but it could also be a respect thing.
I have heard someone who argues with atheists who asks why we don’t eat our dead relatives? Wouldn’t that be a source of food and from an atheistic perspective, wouldn’t that be beneficial? There is nothing to the body any more after all. It’s an interesting point. The main reason we don’t I suspect is we have a great respect for that body.
Frost then makes an argument I find just bizarre where he says that if we look at animals and see them naked and don’t think a thing about it, why are we hesitant with our fellow man. Well for one thing, I don’t think many of us turn over the bodies of our pets to look at their genitalia. Sometimes, we can’t even tell entirely due to how small their bodies are or how furry. Second, our bodies are much more noticeable with all that they have. Third, we are more prone to misuse what we see in fellow humans than in animals. No one thinks odd of you if you are aroused at the sight of a human, but if you were at the sight of an animal, you need some help. (But give it a few years and some “Progressives” will be normalizing that more and more.)
No. The human body is not icky. If anything, it is something that should be honored. That’s why I don’t encourage putting it on open display.
In Christ,
Nick Peters
(And I affirm the virgin birth)
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