Another Look at the Bikini Question

I’m probably treading on thin ice with this article. The wiser part of my conscience told me to leave this issue alone. But this subject bugs me. And I know that it is the bane of many women’s summers—the bikini question. Not just for us, but for our daughters as well.

 

Rachel Clark wrote a thoughtful article challenging women to ditch their bikinis as a sacrifice for all the men around them who cannot control themselves. I respect her decision to wear a tankini or a one piece, but I cringe at telling women that they are not modest if they wear a bikini. As soon as we make it about bikinis and tankinis, I think that we are missing the point. Sure, there are many bikinis out there that are inappropriate. But this is also the case with one-pieces and tankinis.

Is stomach exposure really the issue? Are you really making a sacrifice for the guys around you when you are wearing a flattering tankini? And let’s face it, none of us want to walk around the beach in an unflattering swimsuit. Of course, this also begs the question, If a woman looks good in her bathing suit, is that being immodest? There’s also the question that I’ve asked before, Can a man admire a beautiful woman without sexually fantasizing about her?    Continue at Aimee Byrd

Modesty Wars – the Conservatives vs. Those Who are Not

The main takeaway in my Too much skin, girl. Too much skin article was the following:

I exhort you to dress in such a way which does not capture the gaze of any person. It matters not if you’re male or female. Our Christian duty is to point people to Christ.

Paul said it this way: So, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God. – 1 Corinthians 10:31 (ESV)

To glorify God is to spread His fame to all the world by making His name great in your sphere of influence. He is the One we are to magnify because He is the only hope for this life and the life to come.

Oh, magnify the LORD with me, and let us exalt his name together! – Psalm 34:3 (ESV)

Paul taught us how everything we did should have a magnification of the LORD focus. This is an all-encompassing command from the apostle. Most certainly this means our thoughts on clothing falls under the rubric of spreading God’s fame.

What is your motive?

 

The starting place for all of our decisions begin with the motives of the heart. When you buy a clothing item, what is your motive? How do your motives influence what you wear?

Maybe you can ask the question in reverse: how do your clothing choices reflect your motives? What do your clothes say about you as a person? What do your clothes say about your relationship with God? These should be soul-stirring and heart-penetrating questions.

I think sometimes we forget we are missionaries. Where we live and how we present ourselves matter. Missionaries who live in foreign places are cognizant about how their life and message works in tandem to communicate the Gospel of Christ to their world.

Though we are not missionaries in the sense in which most of us understand the term, we are missionaries nonetheless. We are aliens who have been placed within the human community to share the Gospel to the perishing.

Beloved, I urge you as sojourners and exiles to abstain from the passions of the flesh, which wage war against your soul.
Keep your conduct among the Gentiles honorable, so that when they speak against you as evildoers, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day of visitation. – 1 Peter 2:11-12 (ESV)

We are either influencing or we’re being influenced. If you do not spend time thinking about your clothing choices with a motive to spread God’s fame by those choices, then you’re more than likely not influencing your culture for Christ, but are being influence by your culture.   Continue at Rick Thomas

Modest Expression

There have been several articles addressing the issue of modesty appearing on the Aquila Report recently. Matthew Tuininga advocates the danger of legalism, Rebecca VanDoodewaard  warns us of the deadliness of antinomianism, and one encourages all women not to wear pants. Although I agree with much of what Vandooewaard says in her article, I think her assumptions about Tuininga’s article are unfair. And banning pants from our wardrobe misses the point entirely.

Anyhow, I think the word modest itself has been hijacked to merely mean “dress code.” We’ve done a disservice to the virtue of modesty if we whittle it down to the way we dress. Our thoughts, our speech, and our behavior are also a reflection of modesty. It has to do with our humility before a holy God and our proclamation of the gospel story. I aspire to modesty, but I am careful to say that I am not actually there. Calling myself modest is kind of like calling myself humble. The Lord is still patiently working on me.

In terms of how this shows in our appearance, Mary Kassian nails it in her book, Girls Gone Wise. As honorable as it may be, our main purpose in clothing is not to curb a man’s sexual appetite. This is merely a horizontal, comparative measurement of modesty. Kassian explains:

Clothing bears witness to the fact that we have lost the glory and beauty of our original sin-free selves, It confesses that we need a covering—His [Christ’s] covering—to atone for our sin and alleviate our shame. It testifies to the fact that God solved the problem of shame permanently and decisively with the blood of His own Son. It also directs our attention forward to the time when we will be “further clothed” with spotless, imperishable garments (2 Corinthians 5:3 NKJV, Revelation 3:5).  Continue at Aimee Byrd

Modesty: Legalism, Antinomianism, or Obedience?

Over the weekend, the Aquila report linked to an article by Matthew Tuininga on modesty, which has been a hot topic for the past few years in evangelicalism. The article argued that “the problem with an issue like modesty is that one can always take a stricter, more modest position than the next person” and that in discussing modesty or enforcing certain aspects of it, we “fall into the trap of implicitly viewing women and their bodies as evils that are to be avoided or hidden”. We have all been around women who dress in a way that hides the fact that they are women; they behave as though breasts, waists, and hips are an embarrassing necessity instead of part of God’s good creation. This error is not helpful.

But neither is the error that modesty is a relative issue, that each woman can come up with her own standard. And even in conservative churches, the tendency to antinomianism when it comes to women’s clothing is just as prevalent and dangerous as legalism is. I know of a conservative, Reformed congregation where the elders decided to keep the sanctuary uncomfortably cold this summer so that women would be forced to wear cardigans instead of baring so much skin in worship. A little while ago I was speaking to a young woman from a church that is full of legalism but who looked more like a soap opera actress than a professing believer. Even for conservative Christians, immodesty is still an issue.  Continue at Rebecca VanDoodewaard

How Do You Address Modesty?

One of the topics in the church that leaders rarely address is modesty. It’s awkward. You can be accused of legalism. People can be offended. It can seem politically incorrect.

But that doesn’t mean it should never be addressed, nor that there’s not a gracious way to do it. Ideally, those who participate in a public platform on Sundays should be aware that people learn not only from what they say but what they wear. (I did another post on what we wear when we worship here.)

Certain things are clear. We aren’t to treat people differently based on what people wear (James 2:1-5). That means we don’t look down self-righteously at those who dress differently than we do. Both men and women are to dress modestly, preferring others over themselves (Phil. 2:3-4). We aren’t to do anything that would make someone else stumble (Rom. 15:1-2). Specifically, women should wear “respectable apparel, with modesty and self-control” (1 Tim. 2:9). Keep Reading>>>

Christian Women have Obligation to Dress Modestly

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