One of the things the Modesty Culture likes to do is point out the modest costume worn by women in bygone eras. Their favorite modest era is the Victorian period. Let’s start with the old girl herself. I think the person who gave name to the Victorian Era would not pass their version of ‘Victorian’ modesty.
The Modesty Culture is nothing but pure abuse. It is about dominating the way women and girls dress. It is about submission, keeping women miserable. It is about control, telling a woman when to wear sandals, when to wear heals, and what to wear at the beach. They don’t tell men those things, just women. While I was on the phone, visiting with a political colleague, I came across the Modesty Survey. It is designed to show women and girls how they are a stumbling block, to cause men and boys to sin.
“…Remember that you are not necessarily the best judge of what is modest and that immodesty is really embarrassing for the guys. It puts them in a difficult
situation…You will get a much better man to marry if you live modestly.”
A 30 year old man said that a girl should ask their fathers and brothers about everything! In other words, this 26 year old guy wants someone he can control, just like the 30 year old. In fact, one 30 year old said that a woman should err on the side of covering modesty, humility, respectful, pure, gentle, quiet, submissive…This is about controlling every aspect of a woman’s life. Like a 40 year old male tried to say that modesty pleases God, and immodesty displeases God and ungodly men.
“… Modesty quiets down the loud voice of the outer attraction and allows the quieter but truer voice of a woman’s inner beauty to come forward. It’s that inner quality which is vital for a true and full attraction. It is honourable, selfless and beautiful to dress modestly
. The very fact that a girl would dress that way out of consideration for guys is actually attractive. In the end we might fall into lust over girls dressed immodestly who show us their bodies, but what we truly want is a respectful, hard-working, loving girl, and as for physical attraction, we want allurement and sensuality. The sexuality is real, but rather than offering sexuality as the appetizer, we’d rather have it as dessert. We would like it served up with care and thought. After all, having dessert first spoils your appetite for anything else. Finally, I want to thank you for your consideration in all this. We get so much thrown in our face in the world, that it is wonderful to be amongst the body of Christ and be able to find a haven there. We know the pressures that are on you to look a certain way, and that you’d sacrifice personal image in the eyes of the world to honour God and bless us is a precious gift….”
Convergent Books
This one from a 17 year old boy is wrong:
“…God created us. He is omniscient, omnipresent-He sees everything we wear and do. He hears everything we say, and knows everything we think. No human can escape his watchful eye. Your clothing does not go unnoticed, your motives are not hidden from Him. In fact, he is walking by your side every moment of your life. Always ask yourself the question, “Would Christ be honored and pleased if He went through my wardrobe and saw the things I wear?” The fact is, He does. “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.” Are you willing to die to self and live for Christ? All you sisters in Christ who do dress unassumedly and beautifully for God-I commend and thank you with all my heart. Your Savior is well-pleased….”
Soulation
How do they feel about women who deliberately flaunt their bodies or wear low cut blouses like I do? Well, they consider them to be harlots.
“…They are not the kind of girl that I see as being Godly. I would never want to date one because they are not the kind of girl who is looking to be a good supporting wife and if she will compromise in the way she dresses then she will compromise to keep the attention that she is seeking. Compromise is disgusting. The only thing that a girl who has flaunted her body has ever made me see her as, is a person to be immoral with, not a person to appreciate for who she is, so I stay away from those girls….”
I did not know that dressing immodestly is a sin.
“… like what Jeff Pollard writes in his book, Christian Modesty and the Public Undressing of America: “Women should be especially aware of how their clothing impacts men; because
generally speaking, men are far more visually oriented than women. Richard Baxter wisely commented that women sin when their clothing tends ‘to the ensnaring of the minds of the beholders in shameless, lustful, wanton passions, though you say, you intend it not, it is your sin, that you do that which probably will procure it, yea, that you did not do your best to avoid it. And though it be their sin and vanity that is the cause, it is nevertheless your sin to be the unnecessary occasion: for you must consider that you live among diseased
souls! And you must not lay a stumbling-block in their way, now blow up the fire of their lust, nor make your ornaments their snares; but you must walk among sinful persons, as you would do with a candle among straw or gunpowder; or else you may see the flame which you would not foresee, when it is too late to quench it.’ He goes on to admonish women, saying, ‘You should rather serve Christ with your apparel, by expressing humility, self-denial, chastity, and sobriety, to draw others to imitate you in good, than to serve the devil, and pride, and lust by it, by drawing men to imitate you in evil.’ It is quite rare to find a woman who actually understands the affect her clothing has on others. Many truly do not grasp that they are candles among gunpowder.”…”
Examiner
This is okay, if you don’t know much about the Bible and Christian history. Because I’m an ‘evil’ Episcopalian, I’m going to delve into the Thirty-Nine Articles, to deal with sin. Modesty has NOTHING to do with sin.
“...Since sin is falling short of God’s glory (Romans 3:23), we are all guilty. Even the ‘good’ person is only good by human standards but it is by God’s standards that we are judged. The idea that doing our best will ensure we are safe at the judgment and the notion that God will weigh our good against our evil in the scales, are wrong and dangerous heresies. They are wrong because the standard required is perfect holiness and they are dangerous because they allow or encourage complacency instead of urging on people the need to be saved. Thus Article 11 denies that our good works or deservings can have any effect at all on our salvation, and Article 18 makes clear that doing our best is not enough (and rightly condemns those who teach that it is). Sin is sin and must be dealt with. We cannot deal with sin by pretending it is not there, or by hiding it away, or by balancing it out with good. It is read and it offends our holy God….”
Also, we use the Ten Commandments. Fr. Penn said they were the ten big ones. The real sins. Okay, where is there a commandment that says thou shalt not be immodest?
Exodus 20:1-17
20Then God spoke all these words:
- 2 I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery; 3you shall have no other gods before me.
- 4 You shall not make for yourself an idol, whether in the form of anything that is in heaven above, or that is on the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth.5You shall not bow down to them or worship them; for I the Lord your God am a jealous God, punishing children for the iniquity of parents, to the third and the fourth generation of those who reject me, 6but showing steadfast love to the thousandth generation of those who love me and keep my commandments.
- 7 You shall not make wrongful use of the name of the Lord your God, for the Lord will not acquit anyone who misuses his name.
8 Remember the sabbath day, and keep it holy. 9For six days you shall labour and do all your work. 10But the seventh day is a sabbath to the Lord your God; you shall not do any work—you, your son or your daughter, your male or female slave, your livestock, or the alien resident in your towns. 11For in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that is in them, but rested the seventh day; therefore the Lord blessed the sabbath day and consecrated it.
- 12 Honour your father and your mother, so that your days may be long in the land that the Lord your God is giving you.
- 13 You shall not murder.
- 14 You shall not commit adultery.
- 15 You shall not steal.
- 16 You shall not bear false witness against your neighbour.
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17 You shall not covet your neighbour’s house; you shall not covet your neighbour’s wife, or male or female slave, or ox, or donkey, or anything that belongs to your neighbour.
One of the real problems with the whole ‘Modesty Culture’ is that it is treating men and boys like they are special. They are so fragile and women are so powerful evil that even an open toed shoe worn to Sunday service can cause one of them to sin. Of course, if that happens I would suggest the sinner has a foot fetish. Today’s outrageous ‘Modesty Culture’ is about victimizing men, allowing them to think that it is okay to rape and treat a woman badly because of her inappropriate choice in clothing. It is warping girls, but it is truly doing some very destructive things to young men and boys.
Basically, we’re dealing with a gnostic heresy. We’re dealing with men and women who are woefully ignorant of the Bible and history. They are also terribly stupid when it comes to the history of fashion and culture. As I worked on this piece, it dawned on me, the real problem of the so-called purity culture, those who saw evil in how a woman dressed had a problem. They’re the ones with the dirty minds!
There is NOTHING I detest more than historical ignorance unless it is Biblical ignorance. When the modesty movement merges with the patriarchal movement, to oppress women, and use history to prove their point, well, it annoys me.
