“Clothing Required Pt. 2”

Friday, January 18, 2013

     I read your answer about seeing a naked person (see that post here - “Clothing Required”).

When I was in medical school, I had to dissect two human cadavers, completely naked.  How do you feel that compares to viewing and studying a live, nude, anatomical model to further art education?

Sincerely,
Dr. Question

Dear Dr. Question,

The difference is that medicine and medical education has biblical precedence – while nudity for the purpose of “art” goes against everything that the Bible teaches.  There are plenty of verses that teach that nakedness is not something to take lightly – all the way back to Adam and Eve sewing fig leaves together to hide their nakedness (Gen 3:7).  Verses like Isa 47:3 and Rev 16:15 re-emphasize the idea that nakedness is shameful in most circumstances… not to mention the idea of lustfulness and fornication being associated with viewing people naked.  Certainly, removing your clothing purely for the purpose of “art” is man’s wisdom and not God’s.

However, the Bible seems to make exception to such things in the case of medicine.  Doctors have to study, diagnose, and treat the human body – even in the Old Testament, the priests had to view the human body to inspect it in cases of leprosy (Lev 13:1-2)… leprosy doesn’t just choose to show up in modest areas.  Luke was a Christian and a physician (Col 4:14), and Jesus talked about people seeing doctors (Lk 5:31).  It seems that the Bible makes a distinction between nudity for medical purposes and worldly philosophies such as nudity for “art”.

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