In Part 1, I talked about the two big lies the
church tells about modesty. In
this post, I’ll be dissecting the two big lies the world tells about
modesty. Needless to say, there
are tons of lies about modesty out there, but most of them fall under the
umbrella of the two lies I’m going to talk about in this post.
Lie #1: Dressing modestly is always a sign that a
person is ashamed of their body and/or sexuality.
There is so much I could say about this. I will probably have to turn it into
another post at some point. I’m
not going to deny that some people have negative emotions toward their bodies
or sexuality because of past trauma or psychological wounds they received
growing up. That’s an
unfortunately common scenario, and it can certainly lead to covering up more of
the body. But this is not the case
for every single person who chooses to dress modestly. For me, it’s quite the opposite. Covering my head and dressing modestly
is an outward expression of the fact that I am completely happy with my body
and my sexuality. In the
Judeo-Christian tradition, sexual intimacy is kept within the context of
marriage, not because it’s a shameful thing, but because it’s a sacred
thing. Now, I’ll readily admit
that the church has fallen pretty short in this regard, and there is a lot of
shame associated with sexuality even in the church. But that is not how it was supposed to be. Sex is supposed to stay within the
context of marriage because that is the context in which it was designed to be
the most beautiful, sacred, and yes, even pleasurable.
Lie #2:
Headcoverings and modest dress should be avoided, because they’ve been
used to oppress women.
That statement is true, to a degree. Headcoverings and modest clothing have
been used in female oppression in various parts of the world. But they are simply objects. Objects are amoral; they have no moral
value. Objects become moral or
immoral when humans give them moral or immoral value judgments. It would be ridiculous to say no one
should ever build with bricks because brick was used in the construction of
Auschwitz. The brick was not to
blame; it was the way it was used that was wrong and immoral. There are also countless ways in which
brick is used positively, such as in the construction of schools and
hospitals. Clothes and
headcoverings are just cloth. Yes,
they have been used to oppress.
But they can also be used as positive external expressions of inward
beliefs.
