I’ve been wanting to
write about the issue of modesty for a long time. Having done a lot of extensive soul-searching in this area,
I have a lot to say about it. I put
off writing about it for awhile because I was having a difficult time putting
words together. Now that I’ve got
my thoughts in order, I plan on writing quite a bit about the concept of
modesty over the course of several blog entries to make it a bit easier to
digest.
My views on modesty are
very similar to those expressed in Wendy Shalit’s “A Return to Modesty”. Although Wendy Shalit is writing for
the secular world, there is a lot of biblically sound truth to this book. I highly recommend it for anyone
interested in the subject of modesty, regardless of their religious
affiliation.
One question I get asked
a lot is how feminism comes into play in my view of modesty. I go into a little more detail on this
in my blog entry entitled headcovering and feminism.
Alright, moving on to
the main event here. I know I’m
opening a can of worms with this, but I have say it because it’s been bugging
me for ages: I firmly believe that
most of the Christian viewpoints on modesty today couldn’t be any further from
the truth. It’s my belief that the
church has accepted two huge lies, two false opposite extremes, on the subject
of modesty. Here they are:
Lie #1: Modesty is all about covering up and
avoiding sin and temptation.
Lie #2: Modest dress and conduct is out-of-date
and unnecessary in the church and the world today.
The idea that modesty is
all about clothing is extremely dangerous on so many levels. It can lead to the belief that our
bodies and our sexuality should be sources of shame. It boils the concept of modesty down to an overly
simplistic, and I dare say legalistic list of do’s and don’ts. I’ve read several stories written by
girls and women who grew up in ultra-fundamentalist homes and grew to hate
their bodies because their parents were such control freaks about what they
wore. That’s exactly what modesty
is NOT about. I'll be writing more about this in future posts.
Equally disturbing is
the lie that modesty should be disregarded. I know this is probably going to ruffle some feathers, but
it really bothers me when I see Christian women wearing tight pants and low-cut
shirts, especially in church. A
few sincere believers have told me they don’t believe it’s necessary for a
woman to be intentional about covering her body. Based on my interpretation of scripture and my view on
female discrimination in general, I have to disagree. When a woman dresses that way, she is disrespecting herself
and her fellow women. When
practiced rightly, modesty sends the message, “I value my own dignity and
womanhood.”
That wraps up Part 1. Part 2 delves into the lies the secular world tells about modesty. I will get it written and posted ASAP, but I've got a lot on my plate right now, so please bear with me :).
