DID ADAM & EVE HAVE BELLY BUTTONS?

WRITER: RICHARD BURGUET, B.A., M-DIV.

Iwant to turn your attention to your largest body part all of us have.

It is your epidermis — your skin.

Let’s be honest: Skin is something all of us are interested in. Some in one way; others in another.

It seems the way to get a teenaged boy to read something is to get the word “naked” into the title. The Discovery Channel has garnered an audience by airing “Naked and Afraid,” in which strangers learn to survive together for 21 days with no food, no water ... and no clothes. Not to be outdone, VH-1 offers “Dating Naked.”

And consider all advertised skin-care products and facelift offers.

And I’m not even going to discuss the pornography industry.

Dermatology is an important field in medical science, and here in Florida we need to see our dermatologists more often than most.

God has created the human body in such an amazing way, it’s staggering in its complexity. Your skin is actually made up of multiple layers of ectodermal tissue, and it guards your underlying muscles, bones, ligaments and internal organs.

It’s an amazing covering.

Have you ever wondered what life may have been like before clothing, when skin was the only covering we had? Being a pastor, I sometimes hear some peculiar questions. One came during my ordination examination, in front of some 70 other pastors. One of the questions asked of the gentleman standing next to me was: “Was Adam created from organic or inorganic dust?” The answer is organic, because the other days of creation had already taken place.

How about this question: “Did Adam and Eve have belly buttons?” I speculate they did not, because God created them by his own hand, and they were not born through the normal birth process, as were the rest of us.

But how about this one: What happened in the Garden of Eden that made Adam and Eve become ashamed and realize their skin was uncovered? Up to that time, Adam and Eve had lived in the garden, and even worked there, naked and unafraid. I speculate there were no mosquitoes, red bugs or ticks, or at least they were not like the blood-thirsty things we have here in Lake County.

— New York Film Academy

Until their disobedience, the first man and woman were naked and fearless because everything in the world was living in perfect balance and harmony. Very soon after they broke God’s one law and everything went askew, they needed to cover their skin to hide from God. They realized to protect themselves from the forces of creation that would now harm them they needed coverings. For the very first time, man and woman had to take care of their skin.

It is the same today for you and me.

Fellows, there is little more important for your day-today well-being than to take good care of your epidermis. Honestly, it’s all right for a little of it to show. But no one except your spouse, and maybe your doctor, ought to see all of it.