this past weekend i had the privilege of being the fashion accessory to my wife while accompanying her coach her girls at the northeast qualifier volleyball tourney in baltimore, maryland. i thought to myself, this would be a teenage boy's dream weekend being surrounded by thousands of young tall athletic girls in short spandex. so...where was i in high school when these things were happening? anyways, it was exciting to preview the up and coming collegiate volleyball players. one of the dads there who happened to be around my modest height of around 5'10" turned to me and said, "...these women pass by and look down at me as if i was a pygmy." i responded... "try being married into a family where everyone averages 6ft!" tall girls rock my world.
being there got me thinking, what do we make of athletics and the display of physically finely tuned bodies? this question has been a perplexing one that existed also in biblical times where the players were actually naked. jewish christians looked down on gentile customs and avoided such places and events. to take this thought a little further, how about nudity in art? breastfeeding in public? or just plain beautiful well developed people? how about that of scripture telling christians to greet one another with a holy kiss? in asian communities we can't even get ourselves to hug one another for fear of whatnot, forget about kissing. these are just some of the things that i have come across these days. i'll leave the art topic for another day.
there have been many misunderstandings about modesty and virtue, the body and sin in christian communities over the ages. just because someone is naked, does not automatically make that person evil or wrong. is the body evil? no. even Christ was practically naked while hanging on the cross. adam and eve were uncovered until their eyes were opened and they saw their nakedness. how should we respond to the naked body? there have been christians that believe that the body is evil. something did change in the garden after they took the fruit. their attention changed. but the body is not evil nor are women.
questions we do need to ask ourselves is, are we tempted? lusting? here in the modern west we have oversexualized and overexposed the body so that such questions are clearly important. but where we have grown up does shape our view of these things. if we were in other parts of the world, say in an african tribe where everyone is naked there would be a different conceptions about the bare body and sexuality. missionaries face this conflict often and are for the most part unprepared. they don't teach you what to do in seminary on how to work with a tribe where stuff hangs out. you just go. so should we condemn the tribe or ourselves? --- context. we need to flush our minds, mind our hearts and go to these places. step into the arena of life. initial contact may at first be very eyeopening much like the fall at eden but the body is a beautiful handiwork of God.
obviously this discussion is much more complicated and ought to be explored more deeper. i just wanted to share about my weekend in the world of women's volleyball where girls compete with other girls in the male presence of dads or coaches. i wasn't attracted to lauren because of her spandies. however spandex or underarmour is simply more effective and comfortable when playing volleyball or other sports, guys or girls. thank God for underarmour. i love the stuff and been wearing it myself since playing high school lacrosse. after awhile, you kinda get used to seeing these things on girls. also, we were surprised at the great proliferation of christian clubs this weekend. anyways...i think i've grown outta my adolescent fantasies and talking about them.
posted by affectionate @ 4/13/2004 12:12:00 PM
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