Weekly Newsletter from Christian Vegetarian Association CVA - December 6, 2019
From Christian Vegetarian Association (CVA)

  1. Garden of Eden, Continued: Nakedness
  2. All-Creatures.Org Ministry

1. Garden of Eden, Continued: Nakedness

In the prior essay, I suggested that eating the fruit of the tree of knowledge of good and evil awakened Adam and Eve to the possibility of suffering and death. Because their fears resulted in harm to fellow individuals in the Garden of Eden, the Garden was no longer a paradise. Today, I would like to consider the passage, “Then the eyes of both were opened, and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves aprons” (Genesis 3:7).

Of course Adam and Eve had vision prior to eating the forbidden fruit, but now they perceived each other as naked. Nakedness is relevant only when there is a possibility of being clothed. There is no shame in being naked in a world devoid of clothing. Nakedness in a social context is important to humans insofar as it contributes to sexual arousal, and evidently they came to see sexual arousal as shameful.

Why would sexual arousal, which is a normal human experience, be shameful? If sexual arousal is shameful, it seems to follow that sexual activity, which is a normal human behavior, is also shameful. Why would this be the case?

At an individual level, humans are frightened by desires over which they have little control. We can’t prevent sexual feelings from arising, and we recognize that these feelings can be very strong. Indeed, many people acting on these feelings in socially unapproved ways have suffered severe consequences. Among our friends and among public figures, it seems that sexual desires often prompt people to risk everything they hold dear.

I will continue this discussion next week.

Stephen R. Kaufman, M.D.

2. All-Creatures.Org Ministry

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