Modesty in Christian preaching emphasizes humility and self-control, reflecting a heart that honors God rather than seeking worldly praise. Illustrations often use images of steady, purposeful progress and respectful demeanor, highlighting how modesty shapes character and relationships (1 Timothy 2:9-10). It encourages believers to value inner virtue over outward display.
Progress and respect come from steady, purposeful movement and character.
See HUMILITY OF A SCIENTIST.
MOMENTUM
The obstacles in a man’s way are determined by the gait he is going. An old negro driving a mule down the street three miles an hour has to get out of the way for everything, but when the chief of the fire department comes down the street a mile a minute everything roosts on the sidewalk and gives him the right of way.--_Famous Stories of Sam P. Jones._
David Casstevens of the Dallas Morning News tells a story about Frank
Szymanski, a Notre Dame center in the 1940s, who had been called as a witness
in a civil suit at South Bend.
"Are you on the Notre Dame football team this year?" the judge asked.
"Yes, Your Honor."
"What position?"
"Center, Your Honor."
"How good a center?"
Szymanski squirmed in his seat, but said firmly: "Sir, I'm the best center
Notre Dame has ever had."
Coach Frank Leahy, who was in the courtroom, was surprised. Szymanski always
had been modest and unassuming. So when the proceedings were over, he took
Szymanski aside and asked why he had made such a statement. Szymanski
blushed.
"I hated to do it, Coach," he said. "But, after all, I was under oath."
----------------
By David Casstevens from Condensed Chicken Soup for the Soul, Copyright 1996
by Jack Canfield, Mark Victor Hansen & Patty Hansen
#2845
*
Eight years ago, a young writer named Wendy Shalit took the culture by storm with a radical book called A RETURN TO MODESTY: DISCOVERING THE LOST VIRTUE. While many people embraced the idea of a return to modesty — especially the young women whose struggles and aspirations Shalit wrote about — others were appalled. “I knew that my arguments ... might be challenged,” Shalit recalls now, “but nothing prepared me for the tongue-lashings I would receive from my elders.... [Feminist writer] Katha Pollitt called me a ‘twit.’ ... THE NATION solemnly foretold that I would ‘certainly be embarrassed’ and regret my stance ‘in a few years.’”
Well, it’s now been a few years, and Wendy regrets nothing. On the contrary, she has a new book out, GIRLS GONE MILD: YOUNG WOMEN RECLAIM SELF-RESPECT AND FIND IT’S NOT BAD TO BE GOOD. As the title proclaims, Shalit is still convinced that true strength and happiness come not from deadening one’s emotions and having sex for fun, but from practicing modesty and self-restraint.
And guess who’s on her side?
As Shalit recounts, “To find out why modesty is more appealing to younger people, [feminist writer Katha] Pollitt might have talked to her own daughter, Sophie, who ... was disgusted by contemporary sexual norms.” Wendy interviewed Sophie, now a college freshman, and reports: “Like many intelligent young women, Sophie Pollitt-Cohen now realizes that the boys’ immaturity cannot be separated from the girls’ willingness to provide sexual favors to those boys.... Sophie rejects sexual exhibitionism even though she identifies herself as a feminist.”
Then there’s Erica Jong, well-known novelist and advocate of what Shalit describes as “the concept of a random, guilt-free sexual encounter between strangers.” Jong’s now-grown daughter, Molly Jong-Fast, tried that lifestyle and found it utterly unsatisfying. The sad thing is, she tells Shalit, “You’re not allowed to admit that [promiscuity] just doesn’t work.” Though devoted to her mother, Molly is “embarrassed” by Erica’s writings and says to Shalit, “I was sold a bad bill of goods.” Well, their kids ought to know.
The sexual revolutionaries of the ‘60s and ‘70s may have thought they were helping kids avoid heartbreak by teaching them to treat sex as a recreational activity. But those kids have discovered that was untrue. They’ve realized that the older feminists, who were supposed to be about women’s rights and dignity, were actually advising them to make sex objects out of themselves! So they’re fighting back.
As Shalit studied trends like modest fashion shows and boycotts of sexually explicit T-shirts, she discovered that for every girl who’s bought into the cultural myths about sexuality, there’s another who is refusing to go along. While acknowledging the negative, anti-woman forces in this sex-obsessed culture, she focuses refreshingly on the women who choose to protect their own “dignity” and “vulnerability.”
Shalit has to reflect accurately the culture young women are up against today, so some of the situations she describes are a little rough. With that caveat, I urge you to read GIRLS GONE MILD. And have your children who are in their late teens or older read it as well. More than ever, they need know that good is not a bad word.
________
Copyright (c) 2007 Prison Fellowship Ministries. Reprinted with permission. "BreakPoint with Chuck Colson" is a radio ministry of Prison Fellowship Ministries.
*
[Original illustration at this number was a duplicate of HolwickID #9962]
My Source:
GOOD NEWS FOR YOUTH
Volume 1, #8, June-July 1999
Author: Benjamin Richardson
:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::
THE CHRISTIAN YOUNG PERSON
AND MODESTY
by Benjamin Richardson
Modesty is a topic on which people, even members of the Lord's church, have different ideas. Society's ideas about modesty have changed greatly in the last few decades. Things that our grandparents would never have been allowed to see, do, or wear (much less that they would even think about them) are considered to be very normal in today's society. In this article, we want to look at modesty, noting what it means and who should decide the rules of modesty.
Paul wrote to Timothy and told him that even though he was a young person, he was still to let his life be an example of what a Christian should be.
"Let no man despise thy youth; but be thou
an example of the believers, in word, in
conversation, in charity, in spirit, in faith, in
purity" (2 Timothy 4:12).
In other words, just because Timothy was a young person did not mean that he was exempt from behaving in a manner that was Christ-like. Paul wanted Timothy to know that he had every responsibility to behave righteously as did an older Christian. Notice that Paul covers just about every area of life in which Timothy is to be an example. Of course, today, Christian young people are given the same encouragement.
When considering this idea of modesty, we need to note the times the word is used in the Bible. The word "modest" appears only once in the American Standard, King James, and New King James versions of the Bible. That instance is 1 Timothy 2:9 where Paul us teaching that women are to adorn themselves in modest apparel.
The word that is translated "modest" in that verse comes from a word that is related to another word translated as "world" in our English versions. They are related in that both carry a connotation of orderliness. The word "world" can refer either to the physical realm or to the people in society. Most societies have an orderly structure to them and God certainly created the physical realm with an order down to the smallest detail.
How does this affect the Christian young person? Well, Paul was basically telling Timothy that women were to dress in an orderly and proper manner. Notice that the same word is translated a little differently just a few verses later in 1 Timothy 3:2 as, "of good behavior." Are you beginning to get the picture? Paul is not so much addressing what we wear on the outside as he is addressing a state of the heart.
Paul says that a woman is not to dress in such a manner that she draws attention to her outer self because that is not the most important part of her. Instead, she is to give attention to her inner self. She is to concentrate on making herself beautiful on the inside. Notice that Peter places that same emphasis on beautifying the inside in 1 Peter 3:3-4.
Paul notes that a woman is to think about what she wears when he says that she should adorn herself in modest apparel, "with shamefacedness and sobriety." The New King James translates this as "with propriety and moderation." Brother Hugo McCord's translation says, "...women adorn themselves with appropriate apparel, in modesty and good sense." That means that a Christian young woman must make sure that she does not go overboard in her dress and that she also wears enough that Christ will be pleased.
We have been dwelling much on the idea of young women dressing modestly, but we also need to see that God does not have different standards of modesty for young men and women. We are told that the Old Testament is given to us so that we can learn from it (Romans 15:4; 1 Corinthians 10:11). Did you know that we find rules of modesty in the Old Testament and that the rules were not different for men than they were for women?
We find the first instance of clothing in Genesis chapter three. Adam and Eve discovered that they were naked and verse seven tells us that they sewed fig leaves into aprons. The aprons apparently were not enough so God made them coats to wear out of animal skin (v. 21). Notice that God made the same thing for both of them. What a man needed to wear, a woman needed to wear.
We are given an example of clothing requirements in Exodus 28:42. God was instructing Moses as to how the garments of the priesthood were to be made. Everything was for beauty and decoration except for the linen breeches, which were for modesty's sake. The Bible even records for us what they are to cover. We all understand where our thighs are and that God desired that part to be covered on his priests. Should we wear any less as the preiests of the New Covenant (1 Peter 2:5, 1 Peter 2:9; Revelation 1:6)?
God desires modesty among his people. Remember that modesty is primarily a state of the heart. If you have questions about the modesty of some of your clothing, think about the thing to which you are trying to draw attention. Is the attention drawn to your outfit because you are overdessed or wearing something that is designed to grab attention? (If you think this is not a problem, pay attention to what people are wearing the next time Easter arrives). Is the attention drawn to your body because of the lack of clothing or clothing that is designed to accentuate the human form?
Examine your reasons for wearing certain clothing. Our purpose on this earth is to glorify God (Matthew 5:16; 1 Corinthians 6:20). Do you choose clothing to bring attention to yourself or are you interested in bringing glory to God? When a Christian young person truly desires to bring glory to God, he will not have to worry about outward modesty, but it will be a natural product of his proper state of the heart.
My Source: SEIBLES ROAD BULLETIN
January 9, 2000
Author: Dewayne Spivey
=========================================
"ATTENTION VISITORS"
It was Thursday night and I sat alone in the guard room of our local jail. My Bible class had finished early and I was waiting on the other groups to finish so we could leave together. Every person wishing to visit in the jail must pass through this room.
As I waited I glanced over the signs which were posted to give visitors various warnings and cautions. One sign caught my attention because it was posted at least four different times in key locations. All of the other signs were posted only once. Obviously this was a message they wanted to make sure all visitors understood. What message do you think a jail would want to make sure it got across to its visitors? It wasn't about bringing in anything that could be used as a weapon. The sign read as follows:
ATTENTION VISITORS
No person admitted unless properly
dressed.
1. Shorts must be knee length.
2. No tank tops.
3. No short dresses.
4. No sun dresses.
5. No shirts with obscene language or
pictures.
6. No see-through clothing.
Any person that cannot abide by these
rules will be refused visitation. (No
Exceptions)!
Why would this be such an important notice to visitors of a jail? Obviously they are aware that the way someone is dressed could have an adverse impact on the people they are charged with housing and controlling. They are aware of the problems that improper dress can create and they want to avoid them with the people for whom they are responsible.
Shouldn't Christians be even more concerned when it comes to the way we dress? Our dress is to portray an image of godliness. We should be concerned with the problems our dress may cause in the minds of others. Should a jail be more concerned with modesty than a Christian?
Mary Mohler believes there are certain clothes Christian women should never wear. Ever.
Whether it be miniskirts, hip-hugger jeans or skin-tight shirts, Mohler -- wife of seminary president R. Albert Mohler Jr. -- believes they should be avoided. Her reason? Christian women have a biblical obligation to dress modestly and reflect holiness.
And she doesn't believe that immodest clothing is necessary to be fashionable. Mohler spoke about the biblical view of modesty to a group of women at Southern Baptist Theological Seminary that included a brief fashion show showcasing inexpensive, modest fashionable clothes.
The world's attitude toward fashion should not be the church's.
"The [world's] attitude is if you've got it, flaunt it," she said. "Leave as little to the imagination as possible. Regenerate Christian women, I don't believe, leave home with this attitude. We seek to live godly, holy lives."
Nevertheless, immodest dress is a problem in local churches on Sunday mornings. Women may not have a worldly attitude about modesty, but because of naivete, carelessness, busy lifestyles or cultural pressures, some women unknowingly dress immodestly.
She told how she once visited a church that had a dress code.
"I applaud them that they have the boldness to have a dress code," she said. "It's for members only. But if a strong conservative church like that has a dress code, what does that tell you? It tells you that there are problems even in that setting where people are coming dressed inappropriately to worship."
To make her point Mohler gave several fictitious examples of Christian women dressing immodestly. For example, "Clueless Clarice" simply pulls something out of the closet before going out, not taking the time to examine herself in the mirror. "Disorganized Delores" has three children and says she doesn't have the time to consider what she wears.
"Stylish Stephie" only wears what's fashionable. "Frugal Frances" only wears what's cheap. "Dieting Diane" has one size of everything and often wears clothes that are too small -- simply to reward herself for shedding a few pounds.
"I call these cases accidental immodesty," Mohler said. "It's not deliberate, but the result is the same and what it looks like to the world is, 'These Christian women dress just like we do.'"
Citing Job 31:1 -- where Job makes a covenant with his eyes not to look at a virgin -- Mohler said Christian women should help their male counterparts maintain pure thoughts.
"We must remember what battles men face to stay pure as they are stimulated visually by women," she said. "... They should never have it flaunted in their faces, and to have it done at church is an abomination."
The biblical command to dress modestly is first found in Genesis 3, where God makes "garments of skin" for Adam and Eve. She pointed out that God found their first attempt at clothing -- fig leaves sewn together -- unacceptable.
"Their remedy was not good enough," she said. "They were not clothed. They were [simply] covered."
Both the apostles Paul and Peter address modesty issues in the New Testament.
She read 1 Timothy 2:9-10: "Likewise, I want women to adorn themselves with proper clothing, modestly and discreetly, not with braided hair and gold or pearls or costly garments, but rather by means of good works, as is proper for women making a claim to godliness."
She also read 1 Peter 3:3-4: "Your adornment must not be merely external -- braiding the hair, and wearing gold jewelry, or putting on dresses; but let it be the hidden person of the heart, with the imperishable quality of a gentle and quiet spirit, which is precious in the sight of God."
Immodesty, Mohler noted, has always been a problem.
"It's a timeless problem," she said. "In biblical times there were problems with how women dressed."
She asserted that, taken together, the passages in 1 Timothy and 1 Peter do not prohibit the wearing of jewelry or the braiding of hair.
"It says their adornments should not merely be external," she said. "So those who force that interpretation have to also say that it says you can't put on dresses either."
Both passages should be studied by Christian women.
"Perhaps we need to commit these two definitions [of modesty] to memory and maybe cut them out and ... take them to the dressing room with us to realize [that], 'Yes, there are biblical directives, there are biblical standards, and here's where they are,'" she said.
She gave other examples, including Romans 12:2 ("... do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed ...") and 1 Timothy 4:12 ("... show yourself an example of those who believe ...").
Mohler suggested that women sort through their closet and "throw away some things that really do not pass the test. Does God care how we dress? You bet he does. He cares about every aspect of our life, and we are called to holiness."
Mohler admitted that there are seeker-sensitive issues involved in the issue. In the past, she said, people may have looked down on someone not dressed in traditional Sunday morning attire. But what "started as a well-intentioned move to counter that" has gone awry.
"[N]ow the flood gates are open and anything goes. It's going to be very hard for us to recover and to take steps to go back [in the other direction]."
Mohler gave a list of items that her daughter will never be allowed to wear: halter tops, tube tops, skin-tight shirts, low-cut shirts, midriff-exposing shirts, miniskirts, short shorts and anything from Abercrombie and Fitch.
"Do I sound like an authoritarian parent? I hope so. Because I am a parent, and as parents we are given a lot of different jobs, and it's challenging. We are to love our children and shepherd them and nurture them. But we're also to teach them ... because they're still children. They need direction."
Many teenage girls are allowed to dress immodestly because their parents are trying "to be their daughter's friend instead of being her parent." They try to rationalize how they dress by saying, "She's a good kid. She doesn't smoke or drink. She's going to use her own money for this."
"We all want our kids to love us. I want my kids to think I am the greatest mom in the world. But at what cost? We've got to teach them from the early days that they have to stand for something or they're going to fall for everything."
Mohler said when she lectures on modesty, she often receives words of encouragement.
"Whenever I speak on this," she said, "mothers of sons will come and they will say, 'Please continue to proclaim this message wherever you can. What else can we do? We don't have daughters ... but we have sons that are looking at how [other parents'] daughters dress.
"... Men really struggle with this, and it is our job as mothers of daughters to make sure that we don't make the job any harder for them."
*
The American male is led to believe that “girl-watching” is just part of being a man. A lot of girls are all too aware that they are being watched - and they're not all happy about how they're being watched. Like the young woman my wife and I saw recently at a festival. She was wearing a shirt with an arrow on the front that pointed up to her head. The shirt said just three little words by the arrow - “I'm up here!”
Well, I'm Ron Hutchcraft, and I want to have A Word With You about “Girl Watching ... God's Watching.”
That teenage girl was sending a much-needed message - “Keep your eyes where they belong! I'm a person, not a body, thank you!” It's actually a message the Creator of women would more than agree with. A woman is depersonalized, sexualized, trivialized by the way many men look at them - and she's the creation of a holy God; a Father in heaven. And you know how fierce a father is about protecting His daughter!
The Old Testament saint, Job - the man whose integrity God acclaimed to Satan - understood that how a man looks at a woman is an important part of his integrity. And it matters to God. In Job 31:1, our word for today from the Word of God, he says, “I made a covenant with my eyes not to look lustfully at a girl.” That's a covenant every man should make - especially if he belongs to Jesus Christ, the sinless Son of God.
Today, the Biblical commandment to “flee the evil desires of youth” (2 Timothy 2:22) is as hard to obey as it's ever been. Advertising, fashions, television, movies almost program a man to look at a woman sexually; focusing attention on that which is intended by God for only the man she's married to. But the fact that it's hard to have righteous eyes doesn't make it any less God's imperative.
Men in Jesus' day - even the very religious - apparently thought they were doing okay if they didn't do something immoral with a woman. Then Jesus introduced the radical idea that you can sin sexually without ever touching a woman - just by the way you look at her. He said, “You have heard that it was said, 'Do not commit adultery.’ But I tell you that anyone who looks at a woman lustfully has already committed adultery with her in his heart.” That makes far more of us men adulterers than we believed - men in need of the forgiving and cleansing of Jesus the Savior.
Unfortunately, too many women - including Christian women - have bought into a fashion culture that actually entices men to focus on a woman's body. God clearly commands women: “Your beauty should not come from outward adornment ... instead it should be that of your inner self, the unfading beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit.” (1 Peter 3:3-4) Many a woman who's disgusted with being looked at as a sex object is actually dressing in a way that encourages it.
We men who want “pure eyes” need the help of our spiritual sisters - if what you're wearing is too short, too tight, too low, or not enough, you become part of the problem instead of part of the answer. And remember what every fisherman knows - the bait determines the catch! Offer physical bait and you'll end up with men who only care about that, not men who care about you.
Both men and women have fallen for a casualness about sex that robs it of its God-given beauty. Like snow, it's beautiful when it's fresh and clean but it's ugly when it's trampled and soiled. Godly men, make that covenant with your eyes not to look lustfully at a girl. Godly women, dress for respect, not attention - like the temple of God that you are.
The song that children sing still has a lot to say - “Be careful, little eyes, what you see ... for the Father up above is looking down in love; so be careful, little eyes, what you see.”
________________
Copyright © Ron Hutchcraft Ministries, Inc., PO Box 400, Harrison, AR 72602. Used by permission. Written by Ron Hutchcraft. "Practical Answers to Real Life Issues"
*
Depending on where you worship, wearing your “Sunday best” to church today might not mean what it once did.
On Sunday mornings, more and more people are passing on dresses or ties and opting for blue jeans or khakis instead.
A dilemma now exists between the argument that casual clothing makes visitors feel welcome and the desire to dress in finer clothes out of respect for God’s house.
Harold Fanning, pastor of Shoal Creek Baptist Church in Decatur, Alabama, said his church is more “business casual” than anything else. “Personally, I wear a suit on Sunday mornings, but I usually dress casual on Sunday evening -- more of a sport jacket, slacks and no tie,” he said.
But when Cecil Taylor, dean of the school of Christian studies at the University of Mobile, says he’s going casual, he’s going for a slightly different look. Taylor wears jeans to church and said he doesn’t mean any disrespect to God by doing so.
After all, Taylor recalled, David was anointed king of Israel after working in the fields. In the biblical story, David’s divine appointment is preceded by God telling Samuel of other candidates, “The Lord does not look at the things man looks at. Man looks at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart.”
“The important thing is to come before the Lord,” Taylor said. “I think whether I wear jeans or a three-piece suit is immaterial before the Lord.”
The definition of “casual” and how it’s worn is immaterial -- the real battle is against the suggestive clothing creeping into the churches, said Theresa Shadrix, a member of the Association of Image Consultants International. “There is so much of the world in church today that we no longer stand out as a group of people by the way that we dress,” Shadrix said.
Shadrix, who is also co-director for Miss Jacksonville State University, has helped women of all ages find their style and motivate them to dress in a way that is both enjoyable and true to their religious convictions.
The moment that Shadrix gave her life to Christ at the age of 19, she said, not only did her heart change but so did the clothes her closet flaunted. “I was not raised in a Christian home, so when I dedicated my life to Christ and married my Christian husband, I had to clean out my closet -- literally,” she said.
That was an issue that also concerned several women at First Baptist Church in Tuscaloosa. Bare midriffs, too-short skirts and strapless dresses were becoming common Sunday attire, they said. The women wondered if fashion and modesty could be combined.
To that end, they hosted a fashion show involving more than 70 models ranging in age from 18 months to 70-plus years. Ten vendors furnished everything from casual clothes to dressy suits and eveningwear. “We wanted to show women, young and old, that we can be feminine, stylish and fashionable while still remaining modest in our dress,” Robin Ford, who coordinated the event, said.
“Although I don’t have a daughter, I do have a son, and I am concerned about the young women who will turn his head one day,” said Ford, who became concerned about inappropriate dress about three years ago. “I realized that modesty needs to be emphasized. And I believe the perfect organization to teach modesty to women is the one God created -- the church.”
Between segments of the fashion show, Barbara Gladney provided a Bible study emphasizing biblical guidelines on dress and encouraging women to value themselves and the image they portray as Christians.
For teens, that image is difficult because they get mixed signals about fashion from society and the church, said Shadrix, the image consultant.
Fanning, the Decatur pastor, said as long as his church’s teenagers aren’t wearing sexually inappropriate clothing, he is thankful to have them in church, however they are dressed. Students with body piercings may challenge the norm for church appearance. “But I’d rather have a kid looking like ... he fell headfirst into a tackle box than out somewhere other than church,” he said.
*
It’s not out of the ordinary to see Muslim women in veils or chador, or Orthodox Jewish women wearing long skirts, long sleeves and wigs to cover their hair.
But it is unusual to see an American Christian woman covering her hair or adopting a distinctly modest style of dress that defines her as a person of faith in a secular society.
However, a small but seemingly growing number of women are adopting the garb of earlier times - form-concealing clothing and hair coverings that range from bun covers to Little House on the Prairie-type bonnets - in a movement fueled by the most modern of technologies, the Web.
There’s no data on the number of women doing this, but more are finding their way into Internet discussion groups. And women who operate websites that offer modest clothing and head coverings report an increasing corps of kindred spirits.
Many quote the Bible, specifically the Apostle Paul’s admonition in 1 Corinthians 11:5: "But every woman that prayeth or prophesieth with her head uncovered dishonoureth her head."
For Wendy McDonnell of Lebec, California, who owns wendysmodestdress.com, covering her hair represents a way of separating from modern society. “It all kind of goes hand-in-hand. The modesty. The home schooling. The home churching. Covering. Looking for the off-the-grid lifestyle. It’s part of a huge movement.”
A SUPPORT NETWORK
A review of Internet sites on the subject finds that the women come from many denominations, including Baptist, Episcopalian, Lutheran and Catholic. Many are even post-denominational, considering themselves only Christians.
Via e-mail discussion lists and websites such as “Plain and Simple Head coverings” and “Modest Dress,” they give each other support for a decision that can be at odds with more modern churches and ministers. Though some have been “covering,” as they call it, since the 1980s, many have felt the call in the past five to 10 years, a time that has seen a rise in religious conservatism.
For women interviewed and for others who shared their stories on websites, covering is a symbol of their submission to both the will of God and to their husbands. Most women contacted for this article sought their husband’s permission to talk to a reporter.
Marion Grau, a professor at the Church Divinity School of the Pacific in Berkeley, California, says it’s not as paradoxical as it might seem to use something as modern as the Internet to further a non-modern cause. Evangelicals, for example, have embraced new technologies to preach the Gospel, she says. “That has been true for revival tents, radio, TV, Internet, etc. And one of the things that they’re very good at is reaching out to people that in other contexts have been outsiders,” Grau says.
Bill Leonard, dean of the Wake Forest University Divinity School, says, “It’s possible that we could see a renewal of this distinctive dress in Christian families because it becomes its own kind of witness in a highly plural and increasingly secularized culture.”
WORD ON THE WEB
Modest dress is a much larger movement than hair covering within the Christian community, with shops and websites devoted to long skirts, long-sleeved blouses, cover-up swimsuits and even bloomers for little girls. The desire is to find clothing that is traditionally feminine as well as modest.
But hair covering is generating a lot of traffic on the Internet highway. McDonnell started one of several online discussion groups for Christian women who cover their hair. Another discussion group on Yahoo has 177 members. Other groups are by invitation only.
Sarah Jones, 24, of Pensacola, Florida, grew up in a family in which women cover their hair. Now she and her sisters run a home-based business at headcoverings.com called She Maketh Herself Coverings, from Proverbs 31:22.
“We get all kinds of people. Some just wear it whenever they go to church or when they’re having a quiet time with the Lord. Some take it all the way and cover up everything, to no hair showing at all and wearing black stockings.”
Like almost all women who cover, Catherine Levison of Tacoma, Washington, came to her decision through Bible study. She wears a scarf or hat anytime she prays.
Her husband “was pretty Switzerland about it,” supporting her conviction. Others haven’t been so accepting. She says she was attending a home prayer group, and when the pastor leading it realized that she hadn’t just forgotten to take off her hat, he preached for weeks afterward on how women aren’t required to cover.
Only one of Levison’s three daughters covers. “I use my children as proof that I’m not a head-covering Nazi,” she says.
And all the women interviewed were clear that they believe God hears the prayers of women, covered or not. “If I was falling off a cliff, as I was fluttering toward my death without my head covered, praying, God would understand,” Levison says.
If you spend any time near a mall or a high school these days, you’ve probably seen them: provocative T-shirts. Young girls walk by wearing tight T-shirts reading “Your boyfriend is a good kisser,” or “Yes, but not with U!”, or, “I am too hot to handle.”
Good grief! Whatever happened to those T-shirts with the smiley face — the ones that said, “Have a Nice Day”?
WASHINGTON POST writer Ian Shapira says T-shirts today are “blatantly sexual ... and often loaded with double meanings.” The shirts are “emblematic of the kind of sleazy-chic culture some teenagers now inhabit.” It’s a culture, he says, “in which status can be defined by images of sexual promiscuity.”
Teens in Washington-area high schools told Shapira that they wore the T-shirts, in part, to rebel against school dress codes that they felt were too restrictive. Others wear them to give themselves “a little edge.”
Parents don’t like the shirts, but they say they’d rather pick other battles with their daughters. One mother acknowledged that her daughter’s racy T-shirt might give people the wrong impression about her daughter, but says: “I know that she is not sexually active. Who cares what [other people] think?”
The article caught the eye of several bloggers on BreakPoint’s new blog site, THE POINT. The writers — some of whom have daughters of their own — tore into the piece.
Regarding that mother who didn’t care what people thought about her daughter’s raunchy T-shirt, blogger Catherina Hurlburt wrote: “Oh, Mom, you should care very much what people think ... actions are birthed in thoughts and imagination.... The message invites a conversation. The conversation leads to flirting and suggestions.... [which] lead to, ahem, after-school activities — and I don’t mean football practice or band,” she wrote.
She’s right — but unfortunately, “There are few alternatives to the dirty T-shirt trend,” said blogger Christina Holder. For instance, abstinence groups design apparel “as political billboards,” but they have little appeal “to adolescent fashionistas.”
While fashion may not seem important to you and me as adults, it is to kids. While Christian daughters may agree that vulgar T-shirts are out, they still want edgy, fashionable clothing.
As Holder put it, “Ever since the fall, when Adam and Eve sewed fig leaves into clothing, fashion has been part of our world — whether we like it or not. Reaching the culture with the Truth means we have to find channels through the culture. Fashion is a channel in a teenager’s life” — which means fashion is a field some Christians ought to enter.
What might be an “edgy” T-shirt for Christian girls? How about “Pet Your Dog, Not Your Date”? Or, “He’s Leading You On,” a T-shirt citing Hebrews 12:2, about how Jesus guides us. Both of those are available through Christian-run companies. Better still, mothers and daughters could get out the glitter and design their own T-shirts.
Shirts with hip, edgy messages about Christ just might attract the right kind of attention from the kids at school — one that allows teens to share, in a sleazy-chic world, the cleansing and life-changing power of a holy Christ.
And while you’re at it — have a nice day!
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Copyright (c) 2006 Prison Fellowship Ministries. Reprinted with permission. "BreakPoint with Chuck Colson" is a radio ministry of Prison Fellowship Ministries.
“In like manner also, that women adorn themselves in modest apparel, with shamefacedness and sobriety; not with broided hair, or gold, or pearls, or costly array; But (which becometh women professing godliness) with good works.” (1 Timothy 2:9-10 AV)
Charm is deceptive, and beauty is fleeting; but a woman who fears the Lord is to be praised. –Proverbs 31:30
Okay, girls. Pull up your beanbag and grab a cappuccino. Let’s chat. Can we talk about some thing that may make you want to roll your eyes? Like, . . . modesty?
Maybe I’m alone, but I struggle with this one. I want to be modest, but I want to look good too. Does being modest mean that I have to dress like a reject from 1955? I don’t think so. But what’s in it for us chicks, anyway?
When a woman chooses to dress in a provocative way, the message she sends is that her value comes from her looks, not from her heart. How sad is that? What’s gonna happen when the wrinkles come and the body just ain’t the same? Where will her sense of value and worth come from then? When a woman believes that her worth is in her sex appeal, it can leave her feeling pretty empty. Why? Because, ultimately, we want to be pursued and loved deeply for our hearts and minds–not for our bodies.
God has a high regard for modesty. First Timothy 2:9 teaches that a Christian woman is to dress modestly. We are to focus on our inner attractiveness, and not be overly concerned about our outward appearance. This does not mean that we shouldn’t take care of ourselves, look our best, and enjoy our beauty. It means that we should not use our God-given beauty for selfish, self-centered reasons, like competing with other women or gaining the lustful attention of men.
It is really difficult to maintain modesty when everyone around you is strutting his or her stuff. Those people do seem to get all the attention. But don’t give in to the temptation to be like all the rest. Stand out and be different. Dress to show that you have a sense of self-respect. Believe me, no one will respect you if you don’t respect yourself first.
So, what’s in it for you? Self-respect, self-worth, and the opportunity to share Christ to a hurting world. I think the price is too high not to be modest. –AK
REFLECTION
• What does the way I dress say about me?
• Has a friend ever told me that I talk too loud and seek the wrong kind of attention? Did I believe her?
• In what areas of my life do I need to exercise greater modesty?
• Do the general principles in the Bible about modesty also apply to men?
Modesty reveals your inner virtue and beauty.
“Overexposed” is a word that comes to mind when considering young celebrities such as Paris Hilton, Britney Spears, Lindsay Lohan and Nicole Richie. We see too much coverage of them in the news and not enough coverage on their bodies. But it’s not just Hollywood. Young women in general are looking a bit trashy these days.
Take a look at your high school yearbook or photo album. If you’re under 30, look at your mom’s. You’ll notice something: less skin. Certainly there were the exceptions. Remember hot pants? Parental reminders regarding necklines, skirt length and “sending the wrong signals” have always been a necessary part of raising a girl.
But in recent years, even good girls have dressed like they’re bad. And young women who would rather cover up more have had trouble finding stylish clothes.
Sometimes even their mothers, unwilling to look matronly, find themselves with scant middle ground between frumpy and “Desperate Housewives.” So they compromise, just a little, then a little more until we have a new norm where fashion trumps modesty. Christian women and girls unwittingly undermine their testimonies by the way they dress.
A few churches are attempting to address the problem. So are some public schools. In Arlington, Texas, the school board voted last year to prohibit “the display of cleavage.”
Some Arlington parents complained that the cleavage ban would be tough to enforce. We can only hope that most are grateful for the back-up in the modesty battle. Some students said the rule would make back-to-school shopping more difficult, and a trip to any mall proves their point. It’s almost impossible to find clothes teen girls like that don’t reveal too much, sometimes way too much. The fashion industry seems to be conspiring with the popular culture to tear down the natural modesty that God has provided as protection for little girls. Some parents, especially mothers -- even Christian moms -- are going along with it.
Little girls’ natural modesty gets its first challenge during the grade-school years, when they are inundated with the Britney Spears-Bratz dolls culture. This world is less than wholesome, to put it mildly, and provides inspiration for clothing manufacturers. Parents do not have to buy the dolls and the provocative clothes for their little girls. But they do, by the millions.
Of course, mothers hold the purse strings and have the final say regarding their teen daughters’ clothes. But faced with the most popular stores offering revealing clothing and little else, moms of teenage girls are tempted to compromise to avoid friction within the home. In doing so, they sacrifice something very important: their daughters’ modesty. Parents who should be protecting this treasure are allowing, even encouraging, it to dissolve. Girls are victims of this corrosion. So is a society that once benefited from the virtue of its women. But we no longer encourage that virtue, and the sexual revolution of the 1960s that claimed to empower women has fueled a full-blown sexualized culture.
There are, though, some encouraging signs that this is changing.
Move over Paris and Britney. Make room for the “mild girls.” A recent Newsweek story described a growing modesty movement in which young women are learning they don’t have to be what Newsweek calls “bad, or semi-clad.”
It’s a welcome backlash. Author Wendy Shalit calls it “a youth led rebellion” in her new book, “Girls Gone Mild: Young Women Reclaim Self Respect and Find It’s Not Bad to Be Good.” The book is filled with stories of girls who, often motivated by their faith, or just the innate desire not to be defined as sex objects, hunger to escape the sexualized culture. Shalit’s 2000 book, “A Return To Modesty: Discovering the Lost Virtue,” offered a common sense rationale for chastity and virginity. It hit a nerve and sparked a “modesty movement” that has given her the opportunity to continue talking to girls who are tired of the pressure to portray themselves as sex sirens. Her website (www.modestyzone.net) has spawned at least a dozen others.
Additional leaders in the modesty movement include model and actress Summer Bellessa, publisher of the magazine Eliza, launched in June. Her goal is to help women be stylish and “still keep high standards in dress, entertainment and lifestyle.” And then there’s Brenda Sharman, national director of Pure Fashion, a modeling and etiquette program for teen girls. The website (www.purefashion.com) features a schedule of the group’s fashion shows across the country. A new fashion niche is developing, and clothing manufacturers are beginning to respond.
The modesty movement is about much more than clothing, although dress is a sort of bellwether. Paul, in 1 Timothy 2:9 instructs women to dress in “modest clothing, with decency and good sense.” It’s unrealistic to minimize the impact and importance of fashion. The truth is most females love clothes. The “mild” girls are not rejecting the trampy look in favor of the drab denim jumper. Modesty and glamour are not mutually exclusive.
Allyson Waterman, from the shopping magazine Lucky and a regular guest on ABC’s “Good Morning America,” says we’ve hit a limit in style and behavior. She says the modesty backlash is not about being dumpy or “hiding under a lot of fabric” but “about embracing a woman’s body with elegance and decorum,” a la the style icons of the past like Jackie Onassis, Grace Kelly and Audrey Hepburn. No, they’re not the role models for Christian girls, but we never saw their navels or their bra straps.
Some feminists call this modesty revival a new kind of oppression. The mild girls will tell you it’s liberating.
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Penna Dexter is a board of trustee member with the Southern Baptist Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission, a conservative activist and an announcer on the syndicated radio program “Life on the Line”
Kathy Ireland was one of the original “supermodels” and was featured in 13 straight Sports Illustrated swimsuit issues from 1984-1996.
At the beginning of her career she was 18 years old and modeling in Paris, which was not as glamorous as people would think. She was bored, lonely and suffering from jet lag when she picked up a Bible her mother had packed in her suitcase. Kathy had been brought up in church but she was scared of God as a child. She says she felt like there were two Gods: the God she knew in my head and loved, and the God from church whom she didn’t much care for. But as she started reading the Bible her mother had packed, she was blown away. Jesus was nothing like she had thought — He wasn’t condemning. He was loving and leading. As an 18-year-old, she thought, HE’S REALLY COOL! Kathy became a Christian and Jesus became her best friend.
Her faith influenced her career. Shortly after she became a Christian, she had a job and the photographer asked her to pose without a shirt on. She grew up in Southern California, on the beaches, and so swimsuits were second nature to her. But in Southern California, if you take your top off, you get arrested! She did not feel comfortable posing like that. He was not accepting her answer, wasn’t taking ‘no’ for an answer. He became very pushy. In fact, he physically pushed her. Kathy had to physically push him back and walk off the job. She knew that God was with her and she could do anything else for a living.
Today Kathy is an entrepreneur whose business includes her own line of modest clothing. All of her businesses generate over one billion dollars in sales annually.
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Adapted from "Kathy Ireland: Designing Woman," by Julie Blim for The 700 Club, August 20, 2002
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"Supermodel Turned Supermogul Kathy Ireland: Jesus Loves Women and Honors Them," by Jennifer Riley, Christian Post Reporter; July 30, 2012.
Supermodel-turned-business-mogul Kathy Ireland would be the first to tell you that the beginning of her modeling career in Paris is more glamorous sounding than it actually was. But out of that lonely, uncomfortable time, her life changed forever because she found a new best friend: Jesus Christ.
Inhabiting what her housemates referred to as “the dungeon” – the room at the end of a long, dark hallway – the then 18-year-old Ireland discovered that her newly Christian mother had secretly planted a Bible in her suitcase. Overcome by jet lag, loneliness and boredom during her first days in Paris, Ireland read the Bible her mother packed in her bag.
“I picked it up and randomly opened up to the Gospel of Matthew. And as I read, my life was forever changed,” recalled Ireland in a new “I Am Second” video. “I was a rebellious teenager. I was questioning authority – who really knows the truth? Who really knows what is right and what is wrong, who’s to say? And I knew that what I was holding in my hands was the truth.”
Ireland, now CEO of the $1.4 billion empire Kathy Ireland Worldwide, shared that as a child she went to a church where the pastor yelled a lot and she didn’t feel God’s love. But when she read the Bible for the first time at aged 18, she was surprised that Jesus wasn’t anything like she had imagined.
“He (Jesus) wasn’t condemning, he wasn’t yelling. He was loving and leading,” she said in the video. “And particularly as a young woman out in the world for the first time, in a world where it often felt like it was dominated by men of questionable character, it gave me such comfort to know that Jesus loves women and honors them. And Jesus Christ became my Lord, my Savior, my best friend.”
Although Ireland continued to read the Bible and Jesus remained a part of her life thereafter, she admitted regrettably that she remained a “baby Christian” for a long time. She read passages she liked repeatedly, while choosing to dismiss ones that she didn’t like as typos or not applying to her.
“Yeah, if you asked me I was a Christian. He was in my life. I loved him. I had him. But I was trying to mold God into what I wanted Him to be, rather than allowing Him to mold me into the person He made me to be,” she said.
Even after she allowed God to mold her as He sees fit, she struggled with being too self-reliant and being a “control freak.” Several years ago at a women’s retreat, Ireland felt God convict her while she was praying: “You say I am your first priority, but I’m not.” She acknowledged that she would say her faith was her first priority, then her family. But in reality, her kids were the top priority.
“And anything that comes before God is an idol, even if it’s something good,” said the devoted mother and wife.
At that moment she prayed to God about her difficulties, “With three kids, different ages, different needs, the business, I just felt so pulled in every direction. And I said, ‘I don’t know how.’ And He said, ‘Trust me in this. Put me first and I’ll give you more time with your kids. I’ll give you better time with your kids.’
“And He is so faithful. He’s just so faithful. For me, I just started getting up earlier and spending time with Him. And it would start out gradually and now I can’t get enough.”
The supermodel who became an evangelical Christian at aged 18 concluded, “When people ask me what are your goals, my goal in life is to grow closer to Jesus each day. To follow His lead for me. To stay on His path. To be obedient. And it’s just day by day.”
The window over my kitchen sink looks out on a large fig tree. This year the birds and chipmunks have gotten more figs than I have; while I wash dishes, I scrutinize the wide flat leaves, looking for any they might have missed. The fig tree has many different functions in Scripture: Christ used a barren fig tree as an object lesson for his disciples; he also told a parable about one. The prophet Habakkuk describes a fig tree that will not bud. But the biblical fig tree that comes to my mind when I look out into my backyard is the one that supplied the leaves to Adam and Eve when they tried to cover their nakedness.
We read in Genesis 3:6-7, “When the woman saw that the fruit of the tree was good for food and pleasing to the eye, and desirable for gaining wisdom, she took some and ate it. She also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it. 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.” In an instant, Adam and Eve went from standing confidently before God and accepting all that He had provided for them, to feeling too ashamed to be in his presence. Perhaps they thought that if they clothed themselves with fig leaves, God wouldn't notice their nakedness. Deep down they must have known that this wouldn't work; when God called they hid, fig leaves and all.
George Whitefield saw this feeble attempt at modesty as a case study of the way we hide from God in our shame. He wrote, “This is a lively representation of all natural man: we see that we are naked: we, in some measure, confess it; but, instead of looking up to God for succor, we patch up a righteousness of our own (as our first parents platted fig-leaves together) hoping to cover our nakedness by that. But our righteousness will not stand the severity of God's judgment: it will do us no more service than the fig-leaves did Adam and Eve, that is, none at all.” (1)
I find myself often guilty of trying to patch up a righteousness of my own. Whenever I become aware of my shame — at my sin and weakness exposed to God — my first instinct is to patch things up, either by rationalizing that I'm not really wrong or doing something good to even the score. But this doesn't give me confidence to stand in God's presence any more than garments of leaves did for Adam and Eve. It is only when I confess my shame to him, when I acknowledge that I am weak and sinful, that He can provide me with something better to cover my shame.
Adam and Eve received a stern rebuke from God when they came out of hiding. He pronounced a curse over them and all of creation. But then He provided them with better clothes to cover their nakedness. I see this as a mark of the tender pity God feels for his children in their shame. God wants to cover us too. He has ready the robes of righteousness that have been purchased for us by his son. But He can't put them on until we admit that we are naked and we can't patch things up. We need to be able to sing these words:
Nothing in my hand I bring,
Simply to thy cross I cling;
Naked, come to Thee for dress;
Helpless look to Thee for grace;
Foul, I to the fountain fly;
Wash me, Savior, or I die. (2)
Repentance and confession are not popular spiritual disciplines, but they should be our first instinct when we feel ashamed. True repentance opens the door to God's marvelous provision. Don't hide in the shadows waiting until you feel worthy. Come to the one who made you so that He can cover you. He waits with forgiveness, holding out a robe of righteousness.
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1. George Whitefield, “Selected Sermons,” sermon #1.
2. Augustus M. Toplady, “Rock of Ages.”
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Copyright © 2004 Ravi Zacharias International Ministries (RZIM). Reprinted with permission. "A Slice of Infinity" is a radio ministry of Ravi Zacharias International Ministries.
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Sermon in 1 Timothy series - Clean Up the Church, #5. 1 Timothy 2:9-15
WOMEN IN THEIR PLACE
====================
I. A catchy sermon title.
II. Modesty in dress and demeanor. 2:9-10
A. Ancient people were very concerned about appearances.
B. An outgrowth of Christian freedom?
C. Inner clothes matter more than outer ones.
III. Learning with the right attitude. 2:11-12
A. Quietness and submission may allude to the actual problem.
B. The issue of teaching and authority.
IV. The role of childbearing. 2:15
A. This verse has bothered people for a long time.
B. Possible interpretations of an obscure phrase.
V. What does this passage have to do with a Baptist church?
A. Pam and JoAnn have reasons to be concerned.
B. A humble and teachable spirit is still valued.
C. Modesty and proper behavior never go out of style.
D. The touchy area of authority.
E. Our oneness in Christ. Gal 3:28
Proper Dress and Attire is Required for Public Worship.
Out of respect for the Lord and His Church, we must discourage the wearing of unsuitable and inappropriate clothing. The church family especially should abstain from the wearing of shorts, tee shirts, casual wear, immodest clothing and whatever else takes away...
1) from the DIGNITY of the OCCASION;
2) from a God-honoring TESTIMONY, thus sending the wrong message to those without and within;
3) from the healthy ENCOURAGEMENT of others, thus giving a green light for others to go even further away from exercising a good taste in dress for public worship;
4) from MODESTY and thus from MORALITY.
Picture this: women taking to the streets to march en masse. Many are scantily clad in an apparent effort to illustrate a point. The purpose of the procession: to proclaim they are proud to be known as “sluts.”
It’s not a scene from some vapid pornography film. It is a recent phenomenon cropping up all over North America known as a “slut walk.”
The “slut walk” fad began in Toronto and was in response to a police officer’s comments made during a personal safety class to female students at York University. “Women should avoid dressing like sluts in order to not be victimized,” the officer advised.
Though the officer later apologized, some women in the Toronto area believed the officer had suggested a victim of sexual assault could be responsible for an attack based on dress or perceived lifestyle, the Associated Press reported. As a result, hundreds of women in Toronto took to the streets to express “slut pride.”
Participants in the “slut walks” believe that by simply asserting a woman should not be sexually assaulted because she is dressed provocatively will somehow raise awareness and the problem will go away. Naïve is the best way to describe these marchers.
In an ideal world, no woman would ever be sexually assaulted, period, regardless of her attire. In fact, in a perfect world no person would ever be the victim of any crime. But, sadly, we do not live in an ideal world.
A reality too many people refuse to accept, and that includes the “slut walkers,” is that we live in a fallen world rife with evil and crime is an ever present reality. A wise person will do everything he or she can in order to reduce the probability that he or she will be a victim.
An example of being wise in respect to crime can be found in companies that deliver pizza. If an area of a city is known to have a high crime rate, many pizza companies will not deliver to that area, especially at night. Why? Because the company understands that to do so will place its delivery drivers at a greater risk of being robbed and perhaps harmed.
Certainly no pizza delivery person should be blamed for being robbed, regardless of when or where he or she is delivering pizza. However, common sense and experience have taught companies that to deliver pizza in a high crime area carries a greater probability of being robbed.
Some time ago my oldest daughter expressed a desire to travel to Mexico with some classmates for a senior trip. In an ideal world my wife and I should be able to allow our daughter to travel south of the border without any fear for her safety. However, the reality is that many parts of Mexico are not safe. Wisdom dictated that we say no and thus lessen the probability she would be a victim of a crime.
In an ideal world I would not lock my car while it is parked in my own driveway. In a perfect world I would not lock my house while I am at home. In an ideal world I would not have my kids text me upon arriving at a destination. I would not have them text me before they start for home. However, we simply do not live in an ideal world; we live in one rife with evil.
The “slut walkers” believe that if a woman wants to flaunt her sexuality and dress provocatively she should be able to do so without drawing any unwanted attention. In a world that is fallen, that idea is overly idealistic.
Couple the fact we live in a fallen world with aspects of a culture -- the entertainment world, for instance -- that openly objectifies women and the “slut walkers” argument seems even more naïve. Movies and television programs portray women as nothing more than sex objects. Popular rappers rhyme about using and abusing women sexually. Pornography has become pervasive and portrays women as sexually insatiable sirens. Too many men have had their view of women skewed by feeding on the filth.
In a fallen world evil is not some theory, it is real. There are twisted men who prey on women because they view them as weak and vulnerable. These perverts do not need provocative dress to fuel their twisted desire. So, like or not, these warped individuals see a woman dressed like a “slut” as an open invitation for sexual advance.
In an ideal world a woman would never be sexually assaulted. However, we do not live in a perfect world. We live in a world that is fallen, corrupt and increasing infected with a perverted understanding of sexuality.
“The new trend today is depravity,” proclaimed American rapper Dante Terrell Smith, better known by the stage name Mos Def. Smith is only partly correct. The trend in the world today is depravity, but it is anything but new. And “slut walks” seeking to raise awareness are not going to change this reality.
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