Quote:
Originally Posted by Aquila
Well, I don't think they looked at it like we do.
Now, this is my understanding, it's not something I'm debating or a hill to die on in my opinion. I'm just being conversational here.
It's my understanding that the wealthy had private areas for bathing. However, most communities bathed in public bathing areas as they still do throughout the Near and Far East today. And yes, people liked to swim in certain places. And no, they didn't have bathing suits. They disrobed and got into the water. It's also my understanding that mikveh (a precursor to water baptism) was performed in the nude. My ex-wife came from a Jewish family and I found that to be a bit strange, but it was true. It appears that they performed mikveh in the nude for fear of having a single part of the body untouched by water. An extreme of legalism, I don't agree, but it's a Jewish thing I guess. I read somewhere that even the earliest Christian baptisms performed on the Temple grounds were nude, seeing that they were essentially performing mikveh in the name of Jesus in the mikveh pools. Fishermen fished nude or barely wearing any clothing. In addition families typically lived in single room dwellings. So, there was little privacy. Most children had been well versed on things going bump in the night, breast feeding, breeding animals, and other things we blush at. But frankly, they were far more mature by age 12 than the average American is at 21. It was also not uncommon for people to marry at 14 or 15 years old.
It was a different culture. A different mindset. I don't think they were as perverted as we are today. It was just a natural way of life in an ancient society. Nudity was by no means flaunted. But it wasn't something unheard of in certain contexts either.
Oh, final note. Mikvehs are not performed in mixed company. It is also my understanding that most public bathing areas had separate areas for men and women, but not all.
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First your wife's Jewish upbringing is separated from Biblical Israelism by about 2,000 years. I don't know what kind of "Jew" she or her people may have been, but actually Judaism today, modern Judaism is as Biblical as Heaven's Gate Cult and Marshall Herff Applewhite, Jr. It has about as much to do with the Bible as the Book of Mormon. They use the tradition of the elders
which were rebuked by Jesus,
Matthew 15:1-20. They had a total overhaul from the days of Rabbi Akiba to the Medieval times where your buddy Rambam and before that Rashi really turned up the volume. So, close to everything they do has been blended through their Medieval filters and Mysticism. Nude mikvah? John was performing Mikvahs, we have nothing concerning a crowd of nudists marching towards the Jordan. Nude swimming? Martha, Mary, Jesus, and Lazarus wading around nude? Sure makes the whole thing about Romans stripping a victim bare and nailing them to an open shame have sort of a different meaning. The Crucified man in the loin cloth which hung on the wall of the Roman Church was crafted for modesty. The real crucified victims were totally naked, put to an open shame. If these desert hillbillies were rising up to play NAKED. I guess God and Moses got upset for nothing? Adam? What was he hiding for? What's up with the fig leaf belt for he and his wife only covering the reproductive organs? Naked for the fisherman was his undergarments, his fisher's coat was the outer apparel.
Jesus help you sweetly but help me even more.
Good GOD from ZION!
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