At a wedding in a southeast Texas nudist camp, the bride wore a veil, the groom a bow tie, and the minister his glasses  nothing more! No, this is not a joke, nor is it funny. Such events are degrading to marriage and the home, and demoralizing to our nation, state, and community. This mockery of a marriage ceremony was covered by Richard Kotrla II in the "Browsing on the Brazos" column for 23 September 1993 (Brazoria County News). Can't the press report on Peeping Toms, voyeurs, exhibitionists, nudists, and other perversions without going along for the ride? Public nudity is a moral outrage. Indecency does not become pure when those who practice it gather into a camp. How about an incest community (for consenting children only, of course), a free-sex commune, a polygamy colony, or a bestiality camp? This is like sanctifying the sin of homosexuality by forming a homosexual church, or sanctifying the slaughter of infants by calling an abortion death house a "health and reproductive services clinic." Shall we sanitize murder by establishing a Mercy Assisted-Suicide Hospital? Almost anything is possible in a society where the "proper" technique of committing fornication is facilitated by teaching "safe sex" to unmarried teenagers.

When people lose their moral bearings, they consider perverted practices to be "freedom of expression in its purest form." They consider clothing and standards of decency "a facade." They may hide their practices for a while but then they want to come out of the closet and be accepted as "a part of the community." Some of us may feel we could not join such infamous camps and communes, but we "admire" how "friendly and open" their inhabitants are "about their lifestyle."

We need to get back to the Bible, back to its family and moral values, back to its teaching on how to truly love God and our fellowman (Matt. 22:37-40). We are losing sight of our very purpose for existing: "Fear God, and keep his commandments: for this is the whole duty of man" (Eccl. 12:13). "For this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments: and his commandments are not grievous" (1 Jn. 5:3). Every word of God was given for our good. "Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God" (Matt. 4:4).

We need to put our clothes back on and respect Bible standards of modesty and decency. God himself put proper clothing on man and woman after sin entered the world, for their protection from temptation (Gen. 3:21). This garment covered more than their fig-leaves briefs, covering the upper body and hanging down around their knees. Since that time, God has taught that it is shameful for men and women to uncover their nakedness in whole or in part (Isa. 47:2-3; 1 Tim. 2:8-10). Proper clothing prevents displaying "the shame of thy nakedness" (Rev. 3:18). When men harden their hearts against God, they lose their sense of shame and no longer blush at immodesty, indecency, or immorality (Jer. 6:15).

Let us forsake our sins and hardness of heart. Believe in Jesus, repent of all sin, confess him as God's Son, and be baptized for the remission of sins (Mk. 16:16; Rom. 10:10; Acts 2:38).

Guardian of Truth XXXVIII: 17, p. 5
September 1, 1994