Spring is here and Summer isn’t far behind. As coolish days give rise to hot ones women will once again start shedding their clothes in the name of freedom. I guess that I ought to be used to this by now but it still bothers me. I don’t want to see the undressed bodies of girls I don’t even know and I sure don’t want my sons seeing them.
Whatever happened to decency? To propriety? To modesty?
Where is our sense of shame? Our understanding that not all needs to be put on public display?
I know the answers, of course. I’ve studied our nations fall into immodesty and intellectually I comprehend it. Spiritually, however, I don’t. How is it that women who go to church, who profess Christ, can feel comfortable flaunting their nearly naked bodies in public (and sometimes, to some degree, in worship service) and have no shame?
Is it not embarrassing for a young lady to shed her clothing and stand nearly naked in public in a string bikini? If she went to a doctor and was asked to undress down to her underwear and not cover up with a sheet she would be incensed and, yet, this same girl can strip down even further and, because she is “covered’ by two tiny pieces of cloth that she calls a swimsuit (rather than two somewhat larger pieces of cloth that used to be referred to as unmentionables) she is alright about her nakedness.
Or this same girl (or a different one…there are lots of them who do this after all) can put on tiny, tiny shorts that come up to “here” on the legs and down to “there” at the waist and along with it a minuscule blouse that doesn’t quite cover “there” at the bottom and is cut down to show at least part of you-know-what at the top and head off shopping and she’s comfortable with the fact that everyone who sees her sees nearly all of her. She’s gets angry though if some guy that she doesn’t know starts leering at her or makes undue suggestions.
Let’s get real, girls: you’ve undressed for all to see, you’ve shown guys you don’t know areas of your body that ought to remain private (and what you haven’t shown, he can clearly make out due to the sheerness or tightness of what clothes you left on your body) and now you’re gonna get mad because some guy is going to look? Right. Yeah. That makes a LOT of sense.
Come on now you’re not that unwise…are you?
If you are, or if you are simply uninformed, let me fill you in: ladies, you need to realize that men are visual and that they are stimulated by sight. Specifically, girls, men are stimulated by the sight of a woman’s body. If you give them part of the picture by wearing something cut down to “there”, or cut up to “here” or very tight or sheer or hardly there at all, they’re going to complete the picture in their minds.
Do you really want men undressing you with their eyes? Do you want them lusting after you? Perhaps doing things with you (or to you) in their minds (even if it is “only” in their minds)? Do you want the picture of you half-naked (or more) lingering in their thoughts for days, or weeks, after they saw you on display?
I know the argument: men ought to be able to control themselves. You ought to be able to wear anything at all and men ought not to lust after you and you’re right. You’re absolutely right. You ought to be safe from prying eyes and from prying minds…no matter what. Men ought to control themselves…no matter what. But no matter what, it ain’t gonna happen. No matter what, there are some guys who are going to see you and they’re going to lust after you. You’re putting fuel on the fire and the fire is just getting hotter and hotter.
The truth is this: It is sin to put your body on display. God said it, I didn’t. When you do so, you are setting men up so that they lust after you (yes, you are). When you provoke a man to lust, girls, you’ve sinned and so has the man. The lost man now stands more condemned before God, the Christian man who succumbs now feels shame at his lust. By your immodesty, you might cause a man to fall back into a sin he’s struggled with (such as pornography). You might cause him to look at the body of his wife who has borne him many children and compare it to you who has borne none and judge her unfavorably. Many men will struggle with pictures of you coming to their minds for days or even weeks after they initially see you nearly undressed.
And, you, my dear, will stand guilty before a holy God for your part in their sin.
Oh, yes, guilty you are…even if you don’t want to believe it.
Ladies, we owe it to our brothers in Christ to make it easier on them. We owe it to the lost men to show them fruits of true Christianity.We owe it to our younger sisters to be an example of a faithful Christian maiden (or, depending on your age, a faithful Christian woman). Most importantly, we owe it to our Lord to obey Him.
If you’re one of the girls who has sinned this way, I ask you: please don’t do it this Summer. Enjoy yourself, yes; wear pretty clothes, absolutely. But please wear clothes that cover you. For the sake of your brothers in Christ, for the sake of the young Christian man who is just coming to terms with his manhood (and is trying to remain pure in thought for his future lady), for the sake of the lost, for the sake of the girls whose future husbands you just might be causing to sin, for the sake of my sons and for your sake, dear one, please keep your clothes on. We don’t need to see all of what you’ve got to display.
You have permission to reproduce and distribute this article in any format provided you do not alter the wording and that you do not charge a fee beyond the cost of reproduction. For printed copies, as well as web posting, please include the following statement:
By Anna Wood,
Copyright © The Cross Is All @ http://annawood.wordpress.com/
Right on!!!! I’m totally with you Anna! I stress this with my daughter and she’s only 7. It’s amazing how awful the clothing selection is for young girls! I recently reviewed a wonderful book/bible study called ‘Raising Maidens of Virtue’ by Vision Forum . I plan on doing the study with my daughter when she’s a bit older. http://upatdawnreadytowork.blogspot.com/2011/01/raising-maidens-of-virtue-book-review.html
Stopping by (finally) from the CBC group
Very true. I’m working on orgainizing for a mission organization 700 teens coming to my town this summer. As part of that I have had to write a dress code. In talking with the organizations we are going to serve with it is interesting what they would like by way of dress code. Things I thought of, like closed toed shoes, shirts with sleeves and round necklines, longer shorts (they’ll be doing work out in the heat); and things I didn’t think of: no scoop necks (apparently the little old men in the alziemers unit like to look down shirts when the girls give them hugs) and no red/black (gang colors I’m told). Clothing is an interesting concept. It says so much about us….
As a man who seeks to serve and honor our Lord Jesus Christ, I am fully supportive of the principles expressed in this article. Thank you, Anna.
Thank you, brother Al. That means a lot to me.
Very well-written article! I have a 17 year old son and he is so used to how the girls dress, at his high school, that he hardly notices it anymore. So, if they are trying to get his attention, it isn’t working!
My son and I were just talking about this a few days ago. He and I agreed that the world, and all of its’ sinful pleasures, is like a huge, delicious dessert. You can only partake of so much, and then it gets to be too much. You almost get sick, because a person can only handle so much rich, sinfully-delicious dessert.