Modesty...

Now here's a great take on modesty you don't hear very often...

Comments

[tali]

true but...

women in the arab world may find anything short of a burkah [sp] to be "immodest." so i am not conforming to their standard. likewise, the most modest bathing suit would be completely inappropriate in the office.

some one will always be "led into sin," no matter what you wear - or don't. and i know a few women who dress very modestly yet undo that with their behavior.

our job is not to measure the length of our skirts, or pile t-shirts under tank tops, but to honestly examine our motives when buying clothing and when getting dressed.

i have it on good authority that god is a lot more interested in the content of our hearts that our closets. and if your heart is right, your wardrobe will follow.

[rich]

"true but"

Maybe I am just old fashioned, but I have a tough time with following the word "true" with the word "butt". Something is true or it's not.

That said, yes Bob, very good take on modesty.

[Pistol Pete]

I find this modest perspective refreshing. It's not that God is overly concerned with our wardrobe, but women (and men) can dress in ways that distract (re: stumbling block) people from focusing on God. In a society where the bodies of women are overly sexualized, a good and faithful response is to dress in a counter-cultural way, modestly.

[Mak]

I'm with Tali on this one, this perspective concerns me and I've talked to Middle Eastern Christians and not all of them are of that opinion - many I know say that there's nothing we as American Christians could do to make the opinion of us any better - - it's an interesting approach but starting down this slope of "modesty for the sake of others" concerns me on many levels.

[Mak]

rich - I disagree, I think something can be perceived as "true" in that sense or "ideologically true" but hold many caveats. I think maybe Tali is suggesting that this is a nice thought and what's being said by the Christians quoted in the book might be true from their perspective but that she cannot uphold the conclusion that is reached as "true"

[Sarah m]

www.modestlyyours.net

great website from author Wendy Shalit, "Girls Gone Mild"--awesome book!

[Julie Clawson]

I'm with Tali on this. Who gets to define what is modest? Is it a universal standard for all people at all times? I am not opposed to modesty at all, but find myself wary of rules that make women feel guilty and ashamed of having a body and which often fail to take cultural differences into account. I've had guys confess that anything a women wears from burka to bathing suit could potentially be a turn on and I don't like the attitude that assumes this is always a bad thing by asking us to deny that we are sexual beings and that blames women for not dressing "appropriately". Perhaps the issues discussed shouldn't be modesty of dress but the root issues of who we are as people and children of God.

[Aaron Stewart]

Modesty is a cultural thing. This kind of thinking disqualifies most of the Pacific Rim and the African continent as being modest Christians.

[Aaron Stewart]

Taken a bit further you might end up with early missionaries attempts at Christian/Westernizing the natives by making them wear linen dresses as well in order to be approved by God.

Just saying. :)

[Mak]

EXACTLY Aaron - the attitude concerns me

[Ariah Fine]

Thanks Mak and Julie!