Notice: This article is not appropriate for children under 15 years of age.
Christian Modesty in Today's Culture
Today's culture is reaching the level of immorality of the ancient Canaanites, who committed many abominable things. School shootings and abortion bring to mind the atrocities of the Canaanites who burned their children in the worship of Moloch. These also bring to mind the Aztecs who regularly conducted human sacrifice rituals on central American pyramids.
And, in the same way that the ancient Israelites removed much of their clothing when they rebelled against God at the time that Moses went up into Mount Sinai (a.k.a. Mt. Horeb) (See Exodus 32), people in western culture have become more and more immodest in their clothing choices.
The swimwear that people wear today does not match with what God says in His Word about how men and women ought to dress. The bikini is a clothing choice that reveals more than it conceals. It produces lust in men, and it contradicts what God's Word says about good morals. Women wearing bikinis draw men's attention to their bodies instead of toward their faces. This is a deep problem in our society.
Tight pants; tight shirts; short shorts; short dresses; clothing that reveals cleavage; bikinis; women's swimwear that exposes a woman's thighs, or her belly, or her back; and any clothing that draws men to look at a woman's body are all immodest. (Enough said about that.)
There is a reason why women wear such immodest clothing, and this is a deep problem. But, this deep problem has a wonderful solution. We will look at that wonderful solution later in this article.
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THE EVIL LURE OF LUST
Jesus Christ said this truth in Matthew 5:27-29:
"[27] Ye have heard that it was said by them of old time, Thou shalt not commit adultery: [28] But I say unto you, That whosoever looketh on a woman to lust after her hath committed adultery with her already in his heart. [29] And if thy right eye offend thee, pluck it out, and cast it from thee: for it is profitable for thee that one of thy members should perish, and not that thy whole body should be cast into hell."
If a woman is wearing clothing that readily leads a man into looking at her with lust, she has lead him into a snare. If he looks at her with lust, he has committed adultery with her, even if she is single. His part (or response) should be to take his thoughts captive to Jesus Christ (See 2 Corinthians 10:3-5) and repent (See Luke 16:13).
But, her decision to wear immodest clothing is something she must understand is also harmful to her own well being. You may ask how it is harmful to her well being. It is harmful to her because it is a symptom of a deeper problem. Women who dress immodestly desire the attention of men, but they also feel peer pressure pushing them to wear immodest clothing.
Again, we will get into this deeper problem and its solution a little later in this article.
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ANOTHER DEFINITION FOR CHASTITY
The Holy Spirit said through Paul these words to the whole Church in 2 Corinthians 11:2: "[2] For I am jealous over you with godly jealousy: for I have espoused you to one husband, that I may present you as a chaste virgin to Christ."
Below, we will look at how the Greek word for chaste (hagnos) can also mean not leading others into corrupting their minds or their desire for moral purity.
The Greek word for chaste in 2 Cor. 11:2 is hagnos (ἁγνὴν). It means "...chaste, clean, pure." (See Strong's Exhaustive Concordance.)
According to Websters 1828 dictionary, chaste (morally purity between men and women) can also mean: "... 2. Free from obscenity."
And, Websters 1828 dictionary defines obscenity as: "... that quality in words or things which presents what is offensive to chastity or purity of mind..."
The same dictionary defines offensive, in the third definition, as: "... 3. Injurious." [Note: It is something that causes harm.]
All Christians should be chaste (morally pure) and also chaste in the sense that they do not do things or dress in a way that damages the purity and chastity of other people's minds and souls.
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If you are a woman (or a teenager), please think this over.
The Bible says that women should wear clothing that is modest.
1 Timothy 2:9 says, in part: "[9] In like manner also, that women adorn themselves in modest apparel, [...]"
The Greek word for modest in 1 Tim. 2:9 is kosmios which means: "...well-arranged, seemly, modest:..." (See Thayer's Greek Lexicon.)
Webster's dictionary defines modestly, in the second definition, as: "2. ... decently; as, to be modestly attired; to be have modestly."
If you are a woman (or a teenager), please think this over. Would you want your boyfriend or husband to have many women looking at him and lusting after him, and desiring him to be their boyfriend or husband?
Now, imagine yourself in the man's shoes. Your wife is dressed in such a way that draws men to lust after her and desire her to be their wife or girlfriend. And, she wants their attention. Is this godly for her to do this?
To the women who are reading this, I ask: Would you want your husband or boyfriend walking around drawing other women to him by his appearance? Would you think that your husband was wanting to get his needs met by seeking popularity, or being noticed, or being loved?
Women who wear bikinis and other immodest clothing are wearing that to draw attention to themselves. They want something to fulfill them, but they are looking to the wrong place. This is a problem and there is only one solution.
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THE SOLUTION
The truth is we all need something, whether you are a woman or a man. We need to know that we are loved and cared for. And we need to have close fellowship with Someone, and that Person is God. He is not the version of God that we might imagine, who is based on our father or a father figure in our life. No, He is like Jesus. Jesus Christ said this about God the Father in John 14:8-9...
[John 14:8-9]
"[8] Philip saith unto him, Lord, shew us the Father, and it sufficeth us. [9] Jesus saith unto him, Have I been so long time with you, and yet hast thou not known me, Philip? he that hath seen me hath seen the Father; and how sayest thou then, Shew us the Father?" [Emphasis added.]
In John 10:30, Jesus said this about God the Father: "[30] I and my Father are one."
God the Father and Jesus are one. Jesus came to the earth to reveal to us what the Father God is like. When mothers came to Jesus with their children, His disciples told them to leave.
But, Jesus stopped his disciples and said this truth in Matthew 19:13-14: "[13] Then were there brought unto him little children, that he should put his hands on them, and pray: and the disciples rebuked them. [14] But Jesus said, Suffer little children, and forbid them not, to come unto me: for of such is the kingdom of heaven."
God the Father also wants us to come unto Him and be close to Him. Abba God desires us to have intimate fellowship with Him, as 1 John 1:3, 6, and 7 says.
1 John 1:3
"[3] That which we have seen and heard declare we unto you, that ye also may have fellowship with us: and truly our fellowship is with the Father, and with his Son Jesus Christ."
1 John 1:6-7
"[6] If we say that we have fellowship with him, and walk in darkness, we lie, and do not the truth: [7] But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin."
The Greek word for fellowship (koinónia) has several meanings, such as:
"1. the share which one has in anything, participation..."
2. contact, fellowship, intimacy:..." (See Thayer's Greek Lexicon.)
God wants us to have intimacy, contact, and fellowship with Him. This is spiritual and emotional intimacy with God, who is Spirit. That is what all men, women, and children need.
The danger is that someone reading this article might think that he or she doesn't need God, or that she can continue wearing immodest clothing, or that he can continue lusting after women or looking at girls on the beach (or on the computer).
➠ ➠ ➠ If you would like to know Abba God the Father and Jesus Christ (God the Son), and be saved from sin, click here to read more.
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A WORD OF WARNING
If people continue resisting God and resisting the teachings of the Bible, they will end up in a place of hardness of heart where they will be unwilling to repent from their sins and from their immoral actions, thoughts, clothing, and glances. Sadly, such people will reap after what they have sown.
Galatians 6:7-8
"[7] Be not deceived; God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap. [8] For he that soweth to his flesh shall of the flesh reap corruption; but he that soweth to the Spirit shall of the Spirit reap life everlasting."
Revelation 21:7-8
"[7] He that overcometh shall inherit all things; and I will be his God, and he shall be my son. [8] But the fearful, and unbelieving, and the abominable, and murderers, and whoremongers, and sorcerers, and idolaters, and all liars, shall have their part in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone: which is the second death."
➵ The word whoremongers includes sexually immoral, adulterers, and those who lead people to commit adultery with them.
➵ The word idolaters refers to people who love something or someone more than they love God and His Word.
➵ The word abominable (bdelussomai {ἐβδελυγμένοις}) refers to those hardened people who are a foul stench in God's nostrils. Thayer's Greek Lexicon says this about bdelussomai, the word for abominable used in Rev. 21:8: "1. to render foul, to cause to be abhorred: τήν ὀσμήν, Exodus 5:21; to defile, pollute:..."
People who rebel against God's Word and His ways will not have Heaven or eternal life with Jesus, even if they were spiritually born-again and washed in Jesus Christ's blood at one time (See Hebrews 10 and Revelation 3:5-6 and Rev. 3:19-20).
Revelation 3:5
"[5] He that overcometh, the same shall be clothed in white raiment; and I will not blot out his name out of the book of life, but I will confess his name before my Father, and before his angels."
➠ ➠ ➠ If you would like to know Abba God the Father and Jesus Christ (God the Son), and be saved from sin, click here to read more.
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