Quote:
Originally Posted by calgal  Some questions for you:
What is modest for a man or a woman? Is it wearing certain things or acting a certain way? How are the modest folks to influence the less modest ones? Is there a sanction for the modesty impaired? Serious question.
Next thought: I attended Calvary Chapel for a while and they tended to go to the opposite extreme. I was somewhat bemused to see a young lady in a bikini lying on a lounge chair outside the sanctuary listening to the sermon. Their logic is that anyone is welcome. I do not agree with them but do not think it appropriate to be the clothing nazi. The immodestly dressed man or woman could be a new Christian and may need a friendly and gentle introduction to dressing and acting like a gentleman or a lady.
My question to you pastor is this: how can you welcome someone with less than modest dress and gently and lovingly teach them to value themselves more highly and dress appropriately?  |
Michael is merely seeking a Pastorate calgal.
This is a "both-and" situation as JBaldwin noted.
Wisdom demands that we treat these situations according to the issues at hand. The fact of the matter is that modesty is somewhat culturally defined. I'm not giving license to nudity but there are cultures that missionaries have gone into and the first thing they do is cover up the women as if, all along, the women should have intuitively known that they were being immodest and tempting men who were not in the least tempted by their dress.
Even a modest full length dress would be too much even today for some Arabic men unless the entire body (including the eyes) is covered. Even the form of the woman is too much for some. Simply having a full length dress would be inadequate if it didn't completely obscure every feminine feature.
Making hard and fast rules to fit all cultures everywhere is naive and does not comport with the pursuit of wisdom.
The larger principle is the desire to build up the entire body and to consider the frame of our fellow brothers and sisters - their eyes being merely one thing among many that might cause temptation to sin. It's simply silly to make a law that covers every
every culture on the planet or women would, indeed, be covered from head to toe and not merely be wearing a head covering but a full body covering. Nevertheless, if women ever found themselves in a culture that did find their form, in any part, alluring, the Law would not demand of them they cover up everything but love of brother and the willingness to restrict one's own liberty for another may be called for.