Comments on: POLL: Should Christian Art Students Study the Nude Figure? http://artlessonsfromgod.com/2009/12/10/should-christian-art-students-study-the-nude-figure/ Helping Artists & Designers Discover Their Purpose Wed, 23 May 2012 15:27:11 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 By: a reader http://artlessonsfromgod.com/2009/12/10/should-christian-art-students-study-the-nude-figure/comment-page-1/#comment-7403 a reader Tue, 22 May 2012 07:02:25 +0000 http://artlessonsfromgod.com/?p=1857#comment-7403 Thank you for the comment "It didn’t happen DURING the time I was drawing, but instead AFTER when I was alone. That’s where I believe the trap may lie for most of us." Thank you for the comment “It didn’t happen DURING the time I was drawing, but instead AFTER when I was alone. That’s where I believe the trap may lie for most of us.”

]]> By: brian http://artlessonsfromgod.com/2009/12/10/should-christian-art-students-study-the-nude-figure/comment-page-1/#comment-7213 brian Sat, 10 Mar 2012 22:42:34 +0000 http://artlessonsfromgod.com/?p=1857#comment-7213 i agree with peggy. there's a shortsightedness to answering this question with 'of course, God made the body and its beautiful. so lets celebrate it'. you have to take into account sin and the fallen world we inhabit. there's a reason adam and eve were naked and ashamed. if the goal of Christ-likeness is to go back to how it was before the fall, then the end goal for all of us is a nude colony? We are to love our neighbor as ourselves. Culture must be taken into context and we live in a culture of exploitation - of lust and the objectification of persons with souls as flesh alone. we need to protect that. our naked bodies are reserved for our spouses alone. the isaiah 'the naked prophet' parallel falls flat. he jam into public nude for people to gaze upon him for not for aesthetic purposes...it was for a metaphorical purpose. isaiah 20:3 "Then the LORD said, 'Just as my servant Isaiah has gone stripped and barefoot for three years, as a sign and portent against Egypt and Cush" we will surely use sin to justify sin and this is what it is. porn is mainstream nowadays. this is gateway. (when i was a kid, i snuck into my dads room to look through his photo magazines specifically to seek out nude photos. tactful art introduced me to porn. 15 years later, God finally freed me. i agree with peggy. there’s a shortsightedness to answering this question with ‘of course, God made the body and its beautiful. so lets celebrate it’. you have to take into account sin and the fallen world we inhabit. there’s a reason adam and eve were naked and ashamed. if the goal of Christ-likeness is to go back to how it was before the fall, then the end goal for all of us is a nude colony? We are to love our neighbor as ourselves. Culture must be taken into context and we live in a culture of exploitation – of lust and the objectification of persons with souls as flesh alone. we need to protect that. our naked bodies are reserved for our spouses alone. the isaiah ‘the naked prophet’ parallel falls flat. he jam into public nude for people to gaze upon him for not for aesthetic purposes…it was for a metaphorical purpose. isaiah 20:3 “Then the LORD said, ‘Just as my servant Isaiah has gone stripped and barefoot for three years, as a sign and portent against Egypt and Cush” we will surely use sin to justify sin and this is what it is. porn is mainstream nowadays. this is gateway. (when i was a kid, i snuck into my dads room to look through his photo magazines specifically to seek out nude photos. tactful art introduced me to porn. 15 years later, God finally freed me.

]]> By: Dan Hawkins http://artlessonsfromgod.com/2009/12/10/should-christian-art-students-study-the-nude-figure/comment-page-1/#comment-7087 Dan Hawkins Thu, 26 Jan 2012 16:44:38 +0000 http://artlessonsfromgod.com/?p=1857#comment-7087 I've been a model for college art classes for 27 years at many different schools in three different states (although the majority have been here in north Texas). I have always viewed my modeling as a service to the students who both want and need to study the human body in order to create an artistic representation of it. I don't see any conflict between my relationship with Christ and with providing this service for the students. I am His creation. My body is a temporary residence while I am on this earth, and I don't see any issues with using it for purely academic purposes, especially when it aids so many. Modeling provides a good supplement to my income, and I find the work very rewarding. I get to be the center of attention for three hours, and the nudity keeps me grounded with a certain kind of humility. When most people I know have to go in front of a group, either for a speaking engagement, to give a presentation, or for an inteview, they try to look their best--sharp clothes, hair combed, "flaws" hidden, etc. My nudity in front of these artists and art students keeps me from trying to be anything that I'm not. There is an honesty and, dare I say it, a modesty, in being a nude model--modesty in the sense that I am not flaunting any kind of material weath by my clothes or adornment. And from a practical matter, when one is posed in one position for long periods of time, being nude is just much more comfortable. Try staying still for an extended length of time. You become more aware of the waistline of your pants or underwear, the socks gripping your lower leg, the shirt squeezing your middle if you've got any kind of twist going, etc. A lot of people I go to church with know about my modeling from my appearance on the game show Who Wants to Be a Millionaire back in 2001, but many of them just assume that modeling is in my past. They can't reconcile nudity and Christianity because of the attitude in the church that the unclad body is either shameful or will incite lust in others. And yet, nudity was never denounced in scripture. God told Isaiah to go nude in public for three years (Isaiah Chapter 20). Jesus was crucified nude. And our bodies are made in the image and likeness of God. When we see a member of the opposite sex nude, lust is not the natural response. It's what we've been conditioned to. For further explanation, I would refer anyone interested to http://www.mychainsaregone.org/MCAG-article-lies-1.htm. You can follow the links to the other parts of the article. I’ve been a model for college art classes for 27 years at many different schools in three different states (although the majority have been here in north Texas). I have always viewed my modeling as a service to the students who both want and need to study the human body in order to create an artistic representation of it. I don’t see any conflict between my relationship with Christ and with providing this service for the students. I am His creation. My body is a temporary residence while I am on this earth, and I don’t see any issues with using it for purely academic purposes, especially when it aids so many.

Modeling provides a good supplement to my income, and I find the work very rewarding. I get to be the center of attention for three hours, and the nudity keeps me grounded with a certain kind of humility. When most people I know have to go in front of a group, either for a speaking engagement, to give a presentation, or for an inteview, they try to look their best–sharp clothes, hair combed, “flaws” hidden, etc. My nudity in front of these artists and art students keeps me from trying to be anything that I’m not. There is an honesty and, dare I say it, a modesty, in being a nude model–modesty in the sense that I am not flaunting any kind of material weath by my clothes or adornment. And from a practical matter, when one is posed in one position for long periods of time, being nude is just much more comfortable. Try staying still for an extended length of time. You become more aware of the waistline of your pants or underwear, the socks gripping your lower leg, the shirt squeezing your middle if you’ve got any kind of twist going, etc.

A lot of people I go to church with know about my modeling from my appearance on the game show Who Wants to Be a Millionaire back in 2001, but many of them just assume that modeling is in my past. They can’t reconcile nudity and Christianity because of the attitude in the church that the unclad body is either shameful or will incite lust in others. And yet, nudity was never denounced in scripture. God told Isaiah to go nude in public for three years (Isaiah Chapter 20). Jesus was crucified nude. And our bodies are made in the image and likeness of God. When we see a member of the opposite sex nude, lust is not the natural response. It’s what we’ve been conditioned to.

For further explanation, I would refer anyone interested to http://www.mychainsaregone.org/MCAG-article-lies-1.htm. You can follow the links to the other parts of the article.

]]> By: tsnipes http://artlessonsfromgod.com/2009/12/10/should-christian-art-students-study-the-nude-figure/comment-page-1/#comment-6582 tsnipes Fri, 28 Oct 2011 04:13:51 +0000 http://artlessonsfromgod.com/?p=1857#comment-6582 Thanks for chiming in, Peggy and sharing your voice! Tony- Thanks for chiming in, Peggy and sharing your voice!

Tony-

]]> By: Peggy Handley http://artlessonsfromgod.com/2009/12/10/should-christian-art-students-study-the-nude-figure/comment-page-1/#comment-6581 Peggy Handley Fri, 28 Oct 2011 04:03:30 +0000 http://artlessonsfromgod.com/?p=1857#comment-6581 IF WE MUST DRESS WITH MODESTY SO NOT TO CAUSE OUR BROTHER AND SISTER TO FALL INTO SIN. HOW MUCH MORE SHOULD WE IN OUR ART BE OF MODEST. . I WONT STAND BEFORE GOD AND HIM SAY WHY DID U CAUSE UR BROTHER TO LUST WITH THE TALENT I GAVE U..I MUST DO ART THAT IS HOLESOME AND TRUE WITH THE BEAUTY THAT EDIFYING UNTO GOD. IF WE MUST DRESS WITH MODESTY SO NOT TO CAUSE OUR BROTHER AND SISTER TO FALL INTO SIN. HOW MUCH MORE SHOULD WE IN OUR ART BE OF MODEST. . I WONT STAND BEFORE GOD AND HIM SAY WHY DID U CAUSE UR BROTHER TO LUST WITH THE TALENT I GAVE U..I MUST DO ART THAT IS HOLESOME AND TRUE WITH THE BEAUTY THAT EDIFYING UNTO GOD.

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