It has been on my mind for a few weeks to dig up an old post on Christian modesty that takes the clothing issue beyond “Is it pretty?” and asks: “Is it helpful, or is it hurtful, to my brothers in Christ?” In my mind, I had incorrectly attributed authorship to Paul Martin, so it wasn’t until I expanded my search that I found the article was actually published on the Pyromaniacs blog. Annually. Ya – I’m out of the loop. Deal with it 🙂
While I strongly recommend reading the entire article, “Sister, Show Mercy!,” here are a couple of quotes:
Sister, if there’s one thing you and I can certainly agree on, it’s this: I don’t know what it’s like to be a woman, and you don’t know what it’s like to be a man. We’re both probably wrong where we’re sure we’re right, try as we might. So let me try to dart a telegram from my camp over to the distaff side.
and
This is… church? So here comes this brother into the assembly of the saints, hoping for a rest from the battles of the week, a moment to regroup, sing, pray, get the Word, fellowship. He looks up to the choir, or to his left or his right — and in a tick of the clock, he’s facing the same struggle he faced every time he turned on his TV, opened a magazine, or went down a city street. He’s seeing things that make it far too easy for him not to keep his mind focused where it needs to be focused.
Dan Phillips does an excellent job of treading the line between excusing men from accountability for our thoughts and giving women the freedom to freely display all the assets God has blessed them with.
My beloved GFC is not immune to this problem, and while I doubt there is malicious intent, I am certain there is a lack of consideration. Since Dan is a much more gifted author than I, I will leave you to read the entire piece.
Bonus: Just in case you need a little more provocation, be sure to read through the comments from previous years!