uncovered

i am not an overly emotional person but when i do have feelings they are intense and real. there are some people who seem to have an emotional crisis every second day at the least. i have my share of problems and areas that i grow through and in but i am not one of those people who get worked up all the time. if i am ever having a feeling, though, i experience it with the greatest intensity which could perhaps be described as bursts of feeling.

right now i think i am in the middle of or at the latter end of a really intense feeling. i am not sure how to exactly describe this feeling. but it lies somewhere between disgust, and repulsion, while hovering close to deep sadness and major concern.

i have had several conversations with numerous people about the appropriateness of movies in the christian life. i know people who limit and strictly regulate and restrict their movie intake while others insist that they can watch whatever they want and not be affected. some friends that i know only watch movies with G and PG ratings. adversly, i had one guy friend state that he would watch R movies before he would watch a PG movie. when i tell people this they are usually shocked until i add his rational. he stated that with R movies there is violence and usually swearing but you know that, and you expect that. but with PG movies you expect they will be "pretty clean" only to watch them and be surprised with sketchy scenes, random nakedness and people clad in their under garments marching about like they were fully dressed. with PG movies there is now way of telling from the rating or the tiny blurb on the back of the DVD case how much and how frequent and how sketchy things will get. when i tell people about his rational they usually state something to the following effect, "i guess that is true, i never thought of it like that before."

now, i am not advocating that everyone go and watch an R rated movie after reading this but i do voice a caution for those of you who think that movies with G and PG ratings are "family approved".

inevitably, in all my experience, as the conversations progress on the topic of movies and sketchiness, some guy in the group will state, "that kind of stuff doesn't affect me". today that comment came with a shrug of the shoulders and a smug look on his face that seemed to say, "i am too spiritual for that stuff to affect me." this time, for some reason this smug look invoked a sickness deeper and stronger in me than similar comments made in the past. we parted our separate ways, as i had painting to do and he had some other work to do. as i painted i was able to sort my thoughts, order them and verbally compose them in a manor that was intelligible for human understanding.

how a woman feels when she watches a movie or sees anther girl uncovered when she is with a guy is explained as follows: first of all, this guy could be her dad, her brother, her friend, her boyfriend or her husband or any other random man or boy. when a woman is with a guy and they see another woman uncovered or in very little, she feels uncovered herself. she feels vulnerable, unprotected, exposed and personally violated. as the nakedness of another is exposed and revealed, for all to see, women feel as if it has been themselves that has been uncovered. she also feels shame. shame for that woman. shame for women corporately. and shame for herself proportionally to her own personal exposure or abuse. she feels unspecial.

i am disgusted with any man who "is not affected" by scantily clad sketchy women and random nakedness because inevitably this means he has lost something of the sacred beauty and wonder that a man was created to have for a woman. he is tainted to the point that his conscience no longer responds to the immorality of uncovered nakedness.

all throughout Scripture there is great shame associated with the uncovered, naked person as well as with those who are associated with that person.

take Genesis 8:18 - 27 for example. Noah plants a vineyard, drank the wine and was drunk and becames naked in his tent. Ham saw the nakedness of his father and told his two brothers. Shem and Japheth come and cover their father with a garment, laying the garment on the back of both their shoulders, and walking backward went and covered the nakedness of their father. When Noah woke, he knew what Ham had done and cursed him and then blessed Shem and Japheth for what they had done.

and the in the familiar story of Adam and Eve. before they fell into the original sin they were naked in the garden of Eden and they were not ashamed. Gen. 2:25 "And they were both naked, the man and his wife, and were not ashamed." then after they disobeyed the Lord "... the eyes of both of them were opened, and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves coverings." Gen 3: 7

but the way that they tried to cover themselves was inadequate, insufficient and not enough. so "... for Adam and his wife the Lord God made tunics of skin, and clothed them." Gen 3:21 God's covering was enough to cover their shame and their nakedness. it is interesting to note that the word translated as 'clothed' also may be translated as 'covered'.

God has covered us! "You have forgiven the iniquity of Your people; You have covered all their sin." Psalm 85:2

there is blessing with being covered! "Blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven, Whose sin is covered." Psalm 32:1

though some women choose to uncover themselves we no longer have to live uncovered.

ADDED LATER: Bibliography: some ideas about the way a woman feels when watching a movie with sketchiness and random nakedness were taken from "Kissed the Girls and Made Them Cry". Sorry for the delay I couldn't remember which book it came from.