John Piper has condemned the practice of taking 'nude selfies' in a recent episode of Ask Pastor John, comparing the practice to incest, and calling it "a deformed sense of sexuality".
Piper was asked in an interview posted on Desiring God today: "Dear Pastor John, I'm currently in a long distance dating relationship with a fellow Christian. Lately, he has requested that I send pictures of myself nude, which I obliged. I now regret this decision. What would you say to young, unmarried Christians, who are tempted to make this same mistake?"
Piper's response was clear, giving "seven reasons to never send a nude selfie". He said: "I think I have good biblical authority in saying on behalf of God to every one of his children, male and female, don't ever ask to see anyone naked except your spouse and don't ever offer to show yourself to someone naked for erotic or sexual reasons – not medical reasons – except to your spouse."
Piper spoke of how nakedness is a cause of shame immediately after the fall in Genesis 3. The gift of marriage reverses that shame, and allows nakedness to be shared in freedom with another. However, Piper says:
"Outside of that relationship, God treats nakedness as one of the most vivid forms of divine judgment."
He added: "Nakedness in the covenant bed of marriage is a beautiful and thrilling thing for God's children. But nakedness outside that relationship is a manifestation of divine judgment, even though we have been taught as a nation by the media, by the movie industry, and by certain notorious stars to regard nudity as a form of power and distinction and fame."
Because the intimacy shared in marriage should be held exclusively in that relationship, Piper said: "View the temptation to ask for nude pictures the same way you would view the temptation of incest."
Piper was clear in his condemnation of any man who would request a nude selfie: "If a man asks an unmarried woman to show him her body, by definition he is unworthy of her: unworthy of her trust, her affection, and her covenant.
"That request that he is making, in itself, should be enough for the woman to say goodbye. I mean this. I really mean this. Come on, women."
He added: "I don't know what goes on inside a woman's head. But I can only think that it is a deformed sense of sexuality if a woman gets pleasure out of helping a man act like a thirteen-year-old boy with his masturbation. Is that really the kind of man she wants?"
Piper concluded with what he called "the least important reason" and what "may be the most compelling": "To take such pictures is virtually certain that they will go public sooner or later, and you will discover what God meant by bringing judgment on yourself."
The full interview can be read or listened to here.
