Friday, August 14, 2009

He Didn’t Hear a Word I Said...

Well, my email debate opponent (from my last post) was good to his word!

He published an entirely new article taking on the notion of Nude Baptism to “debunk” it. You can find it here: Did Real Christians Practice Nude Baptism?

Interestingly enough, he only spouted the same arguments that he attempted to use with me.

The most disturbing thing I saw there was that he completely ignored my refutation of his misuse of Scripture to demonstrate that nudity was wrong. He didn’t even try to strengthen his presentation of those passages! He just misused them again!

Oh, well...

Helping people overcome the deeply held belief that our bodies are principally sexual objects — and that men (in particular) are incapable of responding to the sight of a nude body with anything other than lust — is nigh on an impossible task.

In fact, I have concluded that unless the Lord does a work in someone’s heart to soften it to the truth, the best articulated truth will still fail to convince those so committed to defending the deception.

But, at the same time, I've seen God do that work in someone’s heart... most notably in my own wife!

Moral of the story, folks?

Pray.

  • If you are a Christian, but not a naturist... Pray.

    Ask God to reveal to you what is true, and what is false. If you really honestly pray for His truth, He will show you. And you may well be surprised by what you learn.

  • If you are a Christian Naturist... Pray.

    No amount of “convincing” you may try to do will ever convince those enslaved to a lie. God can and will open hearts in response to prayer.

  • For anyone else... Pray.

    The God who IS will reveal Himself to those who honestly and sincerely seek to know Him as He is.
The last three years of my life (since I embraced naturism) have been the most difficult and emotionally trying years of my life, without a close second. To this day, I live with the disrespect and scorn of most of my extended family. I told my wife just this morning...

“If it were not true, it wouldn’t be worth it.”

Don’t become a proponent for Christian Naturism if you like the praise of men. Trust me, it’s a really dumb route to popularity...

Matthew Neal

11 comments:

bn2benude said...

It often amazes me how often this happens, and not just with the topic of nudity and the Bible.

I am convinced that people believe that when they get to the judgement seat, there will be a doctrinal quiz and if you answer wrong, you don't proceed.

The only other possibility is that we have fallen into the trap outlined in Romans 1 & 2 and have started worshiping our doctrine rather than the one the doctrine is about.

Just to be clear, I think it is a good thing to "Study to show yourself approved". We just need to remember to take off the "glasses of prejudice" prior to studying so we know what is really there.

Naked-Unashamed said...

One must wonder who this guy is. He seems to deny teachings of early Christian leaders that a majority of non-Catholic and non-Orthodox Christians readily accept, even as the Orthodox and Catholics have always accepted.

Matthew Neal said...

If you follow the links on his pages, you can find out who he is and what church fellowship he is trying to be a voice for.

Matt

SteveNTL said...

I am sorry for the pain of the last few years, especially the relational pain. I have experienced a fair bit of the same, and it reminds me of Jesus' words about such, if we are going to be his disciples, and the commitments it will take. Keep the faith, brother, and have courage about pressing on! Hopefully, we will be salt and light as Father accomplishes His purpose through us.

Anonymous said...

Prayer is the only way to fully understand God's will. Of course, these same people (of this particular church) will agree with you on that. They pray too, and I pretty much guarantee that they pray and study the bible at least an hour a day, and have at least three prayer times a day in their closet. As I said in my previous post, I know because I was one of them at one time. (See? there is hope, I'm here)

Our goal is not to pray them to naturism, but to Gods' will. Matt is right, this is not the way to popularity, especially among the elitists of society. You will be persecuted if not now, eventually.

CNC is posing to become a persecuted group if we keep sticking our naked Christian butts out there. It does not matter if we call our selves Christians, they will call us "So-called Christians" (Literally)

As long as they ignore the truth, the truth will never set them free.

Boyd

Unknown said...

Matt

Are you going to produce a book with all this information in it? May I save some of these posts on my computer and what are your copyright restrictions?

Jerry
Met you at CNC Tx
(cook)

Anonymous said...

Matt wrote: "If you follow the links on his pages, you can find out who he is and what church fellowship he is trying to be a voice for."

I mentioned that in the last post in your previous blog. He is part of a splinter group of the Worldwide Church of God. They are NOT associated with WCG. They are teaching the old doctrines WCG set aside for the Trinitarian doctrine. I know how he thinks and how they are taught. So it's like banging heads against a brick wall. Since he rejected the changes of the WCG, I would no doubt believe he will accept anything anyone says outside of his personal denomination. What they say is "true" is true in his mind and he is not there to learn and grow. He is there to confirm his beliefs and tell everyone else his "truth". Truth in and of itself is not sufficient. It has to be the truth of HIS church.

Boyd
http://christiannaturism.blogspot.com/

Matthew Neal said...

Hey, Jerry,

No, I don't think I'll be writing a book on the historical topics... history is not my specialty. (Now, Athanasius, on the other hand... he's the history prof!)

I have considered writing a book that is more theological and exegetical in nature about the image of God on our bodies, and a more biblical view of the unclothed body.

At this point, however, I'm still just moving forward with the blog, and eventually, a website by the same name.

Thanks for the encouragement. You can save the posts and share them. Just give attribution to the blog site authors.

Take care.

Matt

Allen said...

Sorry I'm late to the discussion, but I just discovered this blog today.

The gentleman in the article is obviously trying to press an agenda. His thoughts are not of Godly prayer and study of the times. Clearly, all of the early texts that speak of baptism speak of a naked baptism.

At our church, we baptize naked. We are, however, a nudist church.

Anonymous said...

"He Didn’t Hear a Word I Said..."

Oh, he heard you, he just wasn't listening.

Boyd

photo_tane said...

Matt,

Your quote is exactly how many of us feel...

“If it were not true, it wouldn’t be worth it.”

Now that I know the TRUTH and have been set free there is no going back. Going back means choosing the chains of bondage again. Like a dog to his vomit.

This man is blind and deaf... I have had discussion with many like him over the years over another controversial doctrine found in Acts. Some times we just have to disagree.
God Bless Keep up the conviction. Your Exegisis is some of the best I have seen written.