The Pursuit of MANHOOD

"Be happy, young man, while you are young,and let your heart give you joy in the days of your youth. Follow the ways of your heart and whatever your eyes see, but know that for all these things God will bring you to judgment."--Ecclesiastes 11:9 - This blog is dedicated to Adam's fervent journey into becoming a man. Or just a blog about his life and thoughts in general.

Tuesday, June 23, 2009

Submitting Our Worldview to God: Clothing

I was gonna just write a short comment to Monica's post, but then I realized I would write too much, so here are some thoughts that are interesting to me.

So, Monica wrote some thoughts she had on modesty, kinda in response to the Harris twins' Modesty Survey. I thought there were lots of good thoughts, including these:

- “despite what a woman is wearing, she still needs to be treated with utmost respect”,
- “you really can't please everyone”,
- “most women do not dress with the sole intention of getting a male reaction”

However, I would like to challenge us (meaning whoever will read this) to consider what the purpose of clothing actually is. Monica mentioned that clothes are a means of self-expression. No doubt many (maybe most North Americans) agree. But who told us that: The Bible or culture? Maybe we should wonder whether this has just been a North American assumption that needs to be challenged.

We really need The Word to form our opinions about everything, including clothing. If, in fact, there are other Biblical mandates for the use of clothing, those values should take precedence over "self-expression". Right now, the purposes of clothing that come to my mind as being Biblical are to cover our bodies and to communicate, as Monica quoted from 1 Timothy 2:9, "decency and propriety". If those are the highest values, than modesty is actually the no. 1 most important purpose of our clothing.

Maybe I'm wrong. I don't want to say that this is the gospel truth, but whatever the truth is, it needs to be one that, instead of us being conformed to this world, results from us being transformed by the renewing of our minds through the Spirit and His Sword, the Word. Then we will be able to discern the Will of God in this area.

So, I'd challenge us to open up the Bible and consider this question: What is the purpose of clothing, and how should I dress accordingly? And if you have some (Biblical*) suggestions, I'd like to hear them (I'm very sure that my short contribution was not sufficient).

*If you do comment, please may it be Bible-focused