"The man and his wife were both naked, and they felt no shame." -Genesis 2:25
"Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they realized they were naked, so they sewed fig leaves together and made coverings for themselves." -Genesis 3:7
"The Lord God made garments of skin for Adam and his wife and clothed them." - Genesis 3:21
Put your thinking caps on. This post may make your prefrontal cortex sweat a little.
In the beginning, there was God. He created the heavens and the earth. (Genesis 1:1 & John 1:1)
There was the serpent, who successfully deceived Eve with a subtle lie about God. Sin then entered into creation. (Read the account in Genesis 1-3)
The result of trusting a lie about God? --> Sin
The result of sin? --> Spiritual Death
The result of spiritual death? --> Shame
The result of shame? --> Hiding or covering
It's extremely difficult to try and imagine what creation was like, before sin entered in. For starters, there was no need for clothing. Nakedness was the baseline. Clothing is now necessary in creation, after the fall, because that was the birth of shame. If you want to try and disprove the necessity of clothing in creation, then go to the local mall and shop around, while you are naked, and monitor your heart rate. Warning: you may likely get arrested.
With the death of spiritual life, came shame.
Who died? Adam and Eve? No they didn't! Or did they?
Physically, they did not die. If they did, there would have been no need for clothing. Spiritually, they died, and therefore, needed clothing for their living bodies - to cover their shame.
What died in them? My understanding is that their spirits died, and that is who their real, true and authentic selves stem from. That is my developing understanding, at this time. That is why the Bible explains the spiritually dead, as lost and blind. For our real, true and authentic selves are foreign and separated from us, when we are spiritually dead.
I am a spiritual being, encapsulated with a physical body that comes with a mind. As a result of spiritual death, shame ensued. As I process and grow in my inquisition of God and spirituality, I'm seeing that He is a 3-dimensional-Being. The Trinity - God the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit; all in one. Humans have been created in His image, in His likeness. We are also 3-dimensional-beings, all in one. We are body, soul and spirit. Our souls are our minds, or our psyches.
Shame is the result of being alienated from God, and from my true and authentic self (spiritual life). God created me for harmonious connection; with Him, within myself, with others, and to the rest of creation (nature). God Himself doesn't live in isolation. He is the source of abundant life, of harmonious connection.
With the traumatic loss of connection occurring in the fall due to spiritual death, there is a deep sense of shame. For I am lost and disconnected from God, and from myself. I don't naturally fully trust God, and I don't naturally fully trust myself, which makes it very difficult to then trust others.
This is the trauma of sin, it's a spiritual trauma. Disconnection, fragmentation and brokenness result. What is my remedy? -To cover up. To hide, from both the desire to know my true and authentic self (spirit) and to know that part of others (their spirit). I begin to then focus on my "garments of skin", my disguises of shame. There are endless garments of skin. With shame, whether I'm aware of it or not, it becomes necessary to disguise myself with "garments of skin", until I'm comfortable just being in my own skin. As in, my authentic self, which I'm realizing more and more, resembles a little child, not an adult. Many adults (me included) are adulterated versions of children. "I tell you the truth, unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven." - Matthew 18: 3
In my beginning years as a Christian, I didn't think I had an issue with shame. I thought Jesus handled that stuff when I decided to follow him, and therefore I didn't need to handle it. I denied there was anything to handle when it came to the topic of shame. That's how insidious my shame had been. I denied issues of shame, because I was ashamed of the issue of shame. I thought that was only for "weak" people with low self-esteem. Bullshit. One of the best ways shame camouflages itself is through pride, arrogance and denial.
Have you ever....
- felt the need to hide your feelings, from your own awareness and that of others?
- felt a sense of safety in feeling emotionally numb or not being hurt by others?
- been irritated when someone expresses their emotions openly?
- found it difficult to allow children to be children, and instead thought they should behave like "little adults"?
- wanted to hide your fears and insecurities?
- felt others were better than you?
- striven to give off the impression as "not giving a shit what people think"?
- judged yourself?
- judged another?
- wanted to control what others think about you?
- prioritized image over reality?
- lied or embellished the truth?
- worried about what someone thought of you?
- blamed everyone else for your problems?
- wanted to hide from people?
- wanted to stay so busy, you'd never have time to feel your feelings?
- bragged or boasted?
- struggled with pride, which prevents you from admitting your faults?
- quickly responded aggressively in interpersonal conflict?
- quickly withdrawn or avoided interpersonal conflict at any cost?
- wanted to earn the approval or acceptance of others to feel good within?
- felt not good enough?
- felt too good for others?
- Shame in disguise.
There is hope.
Through the deceptive lies of Satan, came sin, which resulted in spiritual death and shame.
Through Jesus Christ, came the Truth (which means to uncover), which results in the opportunity for spiritual life. I have a choice. I can trust in what Satan says, which consists of lies primarily about me and God, and live a life full of shame, albeit many options for disguising it,
OR
I can trust in Jesus, who embodies truth and came to give abundant life.
"As the Scripture says, 'Anyone who trusts in him will never be put to shame." -Romans 10:1
and
"The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full." - John 10:10
Shame is a highly contagious infectious disease of the mind and body. Shame results when we are spiritually dead, cut off from our true and authentic selves, and cut off from God, who is the source of life. Shame also results when I'm not operating out of trusting the truth of who I am in Christ. Shame hurts. It's a real disease. It spreads faster than wet gangrene. The transmission of shame is often silent. A "look" given to a child or a stranger, withholding love and affection, favoritism, racism, sexism or whatever-ism. It is easily transferred through words of judgment, tone of voice, or in the absence of words.
The most vulnerable population? -children. And children are dependent upon adults. We live in a broken world, infested by shame. Some have it worse than others, but nobody escapes childhood shame-free, therefore it's so important for adults to treat this infectious disease from taking over within.
There is hope, for God has not left us without a remedy. He paid the cost with his own life, to provide the only remedy possible - HIMSELF, whose love was driven by compassion and empathy.
"For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him." - John 3:16-17
In my journey here on earth, as a follower of Jesus, I am walking towards more and more freedom from this crippling disease and its lingering symptoms. The spiritual disease leaks over into my soul (my central processing unit) which in turn inter-relatea with my body. God is in the process of redeeming me and reversing its effects, one day at a time. That is recovery. That is discipleship.
"And we all, who with unveiled faces contemplate the Lord's glory, are being transformed into his image with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit." - 2 Corinthians 3:18
