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Can We Reclaim This Dress Standard?


WVPastor

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It's amazing how us men don't seem to realize that women are sexual beings as well.  It finally dawned on us one day at one of our summer camp events why all the girls seemed to come cheer in much larger numbers and more enthusiastically when the boys were playing a game of football with "shirts against the skins".  We now bring enough colored shirts in two distinct colors for these games.

Yes, this is much overlooked. For some reason many prefer to think women don't have lustful thoughts and their eyes don't roam, but they are just as much fleshly human as men and subject to like temptations. If that weren't the case, why would men dress as they do when they seek to attract a woman?

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The excuse that skirts are too cold in winter is just that, an excuse! I wear fleeced lined leggings/tights under my skirts and I'm even warmer than women who just wear pants because I have 2 layers on. I've only been IFB for 2 years and nobody pushed me or said anything to me about pants. I was easily convicted of it and converting was easy for me and I feel more ladylike than I ever did in pants. I don't have that many skirts because of money but since I'm trying to learn to sew maybe I can learn to make them. Right now I'm happy to have sewed up the slits!

 

The robes/gowns worn in Biblical times were very different between men and womens. Dress has always been very distinctive between men and women until about 1920. Then it was the rebellious women who wore pants and cut their hair to show their rebelliousness.

 

To say that some women's pants are more modest than some dresses, is still just an excuse. I don't even own a pair of pants now. Freedom comes from following the Lord, not getting your own way.

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Actually, there is record of women wearing pants centuries before 1920.

As soon as one can show me where women are forbidden to wear pants in the Bible, I will begin preaching against them.

This site: http://cleftlands.cwru.edu/persian/wpants.html shows a picture painted in the early 1500's of a Parisian woman in pants.

Elsewhere on the internet, there are pictures drawn in the fourth century A.D., of Persian women on horseback... Wearing pants.

Why it seems to be frowned upon in our culture is probably due to the fact that they were not introduced to our side of the world until more recently.

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I have had a lot of trouble regarding this issue and it has taken some time, but I have learned so much. My husband surrendered to preach about six months ago. I automatically decided I would have to give up my pants for my husband. Wrong. I became extremely bitter. I loved my jeans. I was actually raised they were wrong and so when I moved out on my own, I bought some and I was in love with them. I loved how they made me feel and my flesh enjoyed it. It's actually kind of hard to feel 'sexy' in a modest skirt. When we met, my husband was a bull rider and owning nice pair fitting jeans was a must for both of us. So, I told my husband he better not lust after a woman in jeans! If I couldn't wear them because of him being a preacher, he was not to enjoy them on anyone else. That was the wrong attitude and for the wrong reasons and I hindered him more as a preacher and my own relationship with the Lord, than if I'd just continued to wear pants. God convicted me on it because I kept saying it was because of my husband's ministry. But then I realized I should never do anything for anyone except the One Who gave His life for me. My husband could fall out of God's will tomorrow. Then what? My modesty would go out the window? It was a lot harder giving them up for my husband than it was for God! I asked the Lord to forgive me and to help me to be closer to Him and what my flesh wanted and what made me feel good didn't seem too important anymore. The Bible says to die to our flesh daily. Not fulfill it's worldly desires, for me it was to look sexy and fit in with the world. We are to be different from the world and we are to be separate. They may associate me with the Pentecostals but at least they know I'm different from them. There are some pants that can be more modest than some skirts I have seen and if a woman is where she should be in her relationship with God, she will have convictions on how modest her dress or skirt should be. We always tend to ride the "separation" fence as close to the world's side as we can, some of us could sneeze and we'd probably fall over on their side. We should be whatever they're not and be proud of it. We've been called out!   

 

Mrs. Francie Taylor has a study on modesty and she said in her study that if God doesn't have full access to your wardrobe, He doesn't have full access to you. You cannot serve God with the attitude that He can have everything else but your closet. She doesn't say skirts are only what women should wear, but that modest clothing is what the Bible says for us and if you have dresses, skirts, blouses, pants, shorts, or any other garment that you have a question mark about, "is this modest enough?" then the answer is, it should not be worn and it is sin. We know the answer already a lot of times, it is just not the answer we want.

 

Now for the ladies that only wear dresses and skirts to church and church outings...does God not see us away from church? If it is wrong for us to wear it at church then wouldn't it be equally as wrong to wear pants or clothing that is not modest to town or elsewhere?? I used to only wear dresses and skirts at church (before my husband surrendered to preach and I became concerned at all on this matter) but then I realized at how it was a double standard really and that I should worry how God sees me all the time and not just church folks. The Bible says we are to walk within our house with a perfect heart and that we should do everything as heartily as unto the Lord. It does matter how modest your clothing is, how it affects your heart at home and how it affects others that see you, regardless of where you are at.

 

I found this link below the other day and I really loved the things that were brought out and I agree.

 

 

http://thebaptistvoice.com/categories/student-ministry/does-god-care-what-we-wear#.Upu0heEDCaQ.facebook

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Actually, there is record of women wearing pants centuries before 1920.

As soon as one can show me where women are forbidden to wear pants in the Bible, I will begin preaching against them.

This site: http://cleftlands.cwru.edu/persian/wpants.html shows a picture painted in the early 1500's of a Parisian woman in pants.

Elsewhere on the internet, there are pictures drawn in the fourth century A.D., of Persian women on horseback... Wearing pants.

Why it seems to be frowned upon in our culture is probably due to the fact that they were not introduced to our side of the world until more recently.

Thy women and thy daughters, or any of thy maidens shalt not wear pants Hezekiah 4:2

 

Seriously man....The Bible doesn't say "thou shalt not abort babies" either. It says it's an abomination to wear the garments of the opposite sex. 

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Why not ladies AND men?  Why are the ladies always the ones preached to about modesty, when everyone should be modest?  Just curious.

 

It applies to both but it's a bigger problem overall for the ladies than men (we're talking about Christians only).  My pastor doesn't discriminate when the topic comes up, he preaches to both the men and women.

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I think that's a little TMI but all of us with sound mind should realize by now that decent dress is for BOTH men and women and we know that at least some preachers preach on this. So there's no excuse for Christian men or women dressing like the world; we know what aspects of the body attracts the opposite gender.

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There are pants made to fit a woman, there are pants made to fit a man. 

Just as robes were not for one gender only in Bible times, pants are not made for one gender only in our time.

If we are going to look down on women for wearing pants, (which many falsely claim are for men only) then we may as well look down on them for wearing underwear, which from what I see in the Bible were only worn by Israelite Male Priests.

It is just as easy for a woman to lust after a man in pants as it is for a woman to wear pants.  If we are going to say women cannot wear pants because they cause men to lust, then we need to stop wearing pants as well because they cause women to lust.
 

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(SFIC - stop with the underwear talk. There's already been enough stuff mentioned in this thread that is inappropriate for a mixed forum.)  

 

In past years, women didn't lust after men.  Men were designed to see and desire - we even see that with Christ speaking of a man looking on a woman and lusting.  Note, He did not say the reverse.  

 

The problem has become what it is due to the general disrobing of society, and the inundation or pornographic thoughts/pictures/tv&movies, etc.  We have a culture now wherein the majority of people alive today are products of that inundation.  

 

The disrobing of our culture began with the downfall of standards in other areas. Yes, I'm speaking of the outward, because it is an extension of the inward, whether we want to admit it or not.  God tells us that He looks on the heart. But He also tells us - and not as a criticism, either - that man looks on the outside.  That is just the way we are.  

 

What causes sexual lust?  Clothing? No.  Lust comes from the individual heart.  It is when the heart is sick with sin that lust reigns supreme.  That same tendency to lust is what clothing designers (or lack-of-clothing designers, as it were) and media played upon to help undermine a society in which modesty and decency were the accepted mode rather than immodesty.  

 

Throughout history there have been cultures where pants on men were considered unmanly (I would assume they were the pantaloon-style pant...balloon pants. hehehe).  There have been cultures (France specifically) where men wore lace, stockings, and high heels.  And don't forget the powdered wigs.  

 

Culture should not determine what is modest and what is not.  And we should not let culture influence us. Sadly, that is what's happening. 

 

There's been more than one woman who has told me I'm immodest because my skirt only comes to the middle of my calf (or not all the way to my ankle, depending on what I'm wearing) while they are modest because their entire legs are covered by their pants (talk about stupid!).  While their pants are skin tight.  Ahuh.  And it's interesting - I've never brought it up. At all. It's always been the (saved) woman wearing the tight pants getting on me for my skirt.  Seems maybe they might have been under some conviction....

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Lust has been a common temptation and sin problem for men and women alike throughout the ages. Women didn't used to be as open about letting it be known or talking about such in public (at least in much of America), but the problem was still there.

 

A college professor collected ancient "erotica" which contained many written by women, as well as some for women.

 

The reason some consider any part of a woman's legs showing as immodest is because a lot of men are attracted to calves. I'm not saying that makes a woman with an exposed calf immodest, only pointing out why some think that way.

 

As LuAnne says, modesty comes from the heart and we have to follow the Lord's leading in our dress. No matter what we wear there is always the chance someone out there may be tempted to lust, but if we are actually dressed modestly at the time, then such is an indication of the extreme level of their sinful heart.

 

We are called to dress modestly, not to dress in such a way that absolutely no one will ever possibly have a lustful thought regarding us.

 

Muslims provide a good example of this. The reason some Muslims enforce a strict full covering burka is because some Muslim men have become so used to seeing women virtually all covered that just the sight of a woman's eyes brings lust up in their hearts. Those women are dressed exceedingly modest yet some men still lust.

 

Likely we all here could differentiate between someone who is obviously dressed immodest and those who are dressed modest. At the same time we would encounter a "middle ground" where some would say certain outfits are borderline or we think they are more one than the other. In these areas we need to leave room for the working of the Spirit, personal conviction, maturity level, and not be militant dogmatic.

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