There seems to be no shame in taking ones clothes off before tens of hundreds of people in nude bars and clubs throughout the country, although there should be. Shame; believe it not, was the first punishment man received as an act of sin. Even before God pronounced the curse of laboring by the sweat of his brow upon the man and bearing children in sorrow upon the woman, both the man and the woman experienced a consequence of nature when they defied God.

After both ate of the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, "And the eyes of them both were opened, and they knew they were naked" (Genesis 3:7), they were ashamed. Once possessing the knowledge of good and evil, they realized what they were feeling (shame) was due to a forbidden act, so they hid themselves, but no more from God than from each other; therefore, shame is the oldest consequence of sin known to man.

It is a shame to walk around naked. Shame represents the result of disobedience to God and a consequence of disregarding everything that is good and respectful. Without it (shame), a person shows that they have no knowledge of what is good and respectful along with a lack of concern for what is evil. To live without shame is to live without regard for consequences and if a person lives long enough in that state of mind in addition to having no knowledge of what is good and respectful, then, eventually they will have no conscience.

Without a conscience, a person turns selfish and selfishness is as cruel as murder. A selfish person has no concern for anyone other than himself or herself, of course, and a person without shame, who walks around naked, could care less about showing respect to anyone else.

People say that the human body is nothing to be ashamed of. Although the statement is well put and bares a sense of artistic and philosophical inspiration, it is contrary to nature and to millions of personal opinions. Nevertheless, many people - preferably those who have chosen to disillusion themselves under the behavior of promiscuity - use this quaint phrase as a hiding place within the garden of their world from all that is good and respectable.

The central message sent to humankind through the incident of the man and the woman in the garden was just that, the body is something to be ashamed of. All, who have chosen to believe that it isn't, have relapsed to the realm of immorality. They have denied the concept of human dignity and morality, and the reason they hide behind this illusion is not to display the human body for the sake of beauty, but for sexual exploitation.

Giving honor to painters today and throughout history who have captured on canvas the human body as a thing of beauty, the creation is an act of pure love, and we are in the image of God. However, stripping is another story. There is no excuse for this behavior. The above argument is pro and con to the only sane explanation for exposing ones body to millions of people, and there is none after. All other reasons fall under promiscuity.

Bachelor parties, nude bars, magazines, pornography, and swimsuit competitions; are all advocates of promiscuity associated with the naked body. Fun, entertainment, innocent flirtation, would be the next negotiated excuse by supporters of these movements, yet all of the above fit into the category of promiscuity one way or another.

Fun, or as the bible refers to it, pleasure, is something it says the world will be loving in the last days; "lovers of pleasure more than lovers of God; having a form of godliness but denying the power thereof: from such turn away" (2 Timothy 3:4,5). People have no more concern about God than they do their own bodies. "Sex sells" is the motto of American.

Many female and male strippers quote "Stripping pays the bills" and "It is just a form of entertainment." There is no excuse. If money, pleasure, and beauty, or anything other than simple lust, is the reason these people chose to exploit their bodies, then the most humanly natural consequences of sin (shame) is something the school boards should consider teaching, because a lack of it is spreading rapidly.

Gun control, violence in schools, and sex among teens is no more important than what is at the root of the young mind. No shame, which leads to no respect for self, or others, and no consideration for the consequences of sin begin early, at the knowledge of what is good and evil, and right and wrong.

Strippers, therefore, have no respect for themselves or others, neither for their children, if they have any. The act of stripping for the reasons of money and entertainment is not an art but a disgrace, and a shame. Moreover, those who support it by gazing lustfully at naked bodies acting out sexually are no better. Furthermore, males and females alike wonder why they cannot find the perfect mate to marry. Yet, if one who is looking lives a life without shame by partaking in either of the above promiscuous activities, there is slim to no chance of them meeting and loving sincerely, the perfect, God given mate.

God never closes His eyes to anyone's life. Eventually, He discovered that the man and the woman had bitten of the forbidden fruit after finding them in their shame, and he cursed them. Anyone who believes that they can do wrong, yet still receive that which is pure and good must realize that the consequences of sin is shame, and a relationship built on shame (as in the man and woman in the garden) will not go without punishment. Therefore, no shame in stripping, no one to love, is the fruit of the naked truth.

© 2003 by Cartel Q