Last updated on August 27, 2020
Question:
My best friend and I are both 15. We love to lift weights. We also run together and play soccer. We are both Christians. We don’t take drugs or drink or have sex. We have started measuring ourselves to see if we are getting larger and making charts of our chest, arm, and leg sizes. We don’t wear clothes to do this anymore. I feel like we have started to move toward things that aren’t Christian, but my friend says that it’s fine because we’re both guys and we are friends for a long time. Should I be worried about this?
You have answered many questions on your site but not about this one. Thank you.
Answer:
“No, much rather, those members of the body which seem to be weaker are necessary. And those members of the body which we think to be less honorable, on these we bestow greater honor; and our unpresentable parts have greater modesty, but our presentable parts have no need. But God composed the body, having given greater honor to that part which lacks it” (I Corinthians 12:22-24).
There are going to be incidental times when you might see another male naked, such as in changing rooms. One makes the best of such situations by being respectful of others and their privacy. However, here the nakedness is not needful. You can measure your progress while wearing shorts to cover your private areas. And if for no other reason, if you are uncomfortable with the way things are going, the best thing to do is keep even the remotest possibility of temptation at bay. “Do you have faith? Have it to yourself before God. Happy is he who does not condemn himself in what he approves. But he who doubts is condemned if he eats, because he does not eat from faith; for whatever is not from faith is sin” (Romans 14:22-23).
You don’t have to make a big deal of it. Just stop and when your friend asks, just say you found it uncomfortable. And show him this note if you want.
Response:
Thank you. I am going to show him the note. You’re right, it’s about needful or not. You have to take all your clothes off to take a shower, but you don’t need to stay that way to do this. He thinks I’m just embarrassed, and maybe I am a little, but the point is we don’t need to do this before we put our underwear back on.