Bob, let me ask you two questions.
#1. If the women were alone in the congregation, do you think that would erase their mortification at having to hear the pastor discuss their body parts with words that their own doctors don't even use with them.
Well, I have never been with my wife on one of her doctor appointments. So, I do not know what words her doctor uses.
When my wife was in college, she attended a class called Manners for Young Women. This was in the early 1970s. She told me they discussed modest apparel in detail in her classes. I did not attend the class (I did not even go to the same university), so I do not know exactly what words were used to discuss body parts.
What is a Pastor? Is he above speaking about any topic. I think not. In my opinion, a Pastor is our Patriarch, our Elder, our Priest, or whatever term you choose to use. As such, he is supposed to be knowledgeable about a lot of topics and how to communicate scripture on those topics. Some topics require frankness. I do not think we should be embarrassed by how our pastor communicates what he believes is the word of God.
I do not think "mortification" is the correct word to use, unless one of the women died during the sermon. By the way, I am 61 and I remember my mother using the word "mortified" quite a lot. She is 91 and has not been mortified yet.
To sum up my reply on question No. 1, I think it is the Pastor's responsibility to deliver the message that God laid on his heart and mind to deliver. To do anything less, would suggest he was not following God's will. In this case, delivering the message as he did (in a church where he pastored for forty years, 20 miles from New York City), in the way he did--I am confident he did what God told him to do. Maybe the church had tried older women approaching some of the women showing up in immodest apparel? But, after listening to a couple of sermons on his sermonaudio website, I think he did what needed to be done, and the women dressing in immodest apparel either changed clothes or did not come back.
One more thought on the Pastor, he delivered the sermon so well, I would not be surprised if he had not delivered it before. Like next Sunday is immodest apparel Sunday, like tithing Sunday, and such. Just a thought. This whole thing is new to me. I am giving you my honest opinion, which I guess disagrees with yours.
#2. Why would an audience of men only/boys only need to hear this topic verbatim as it was present to women?
Scarlett O...
I have to watch what I say on this answer because I have already been incorrectly accused by another member for an earlier comment. Here goes.
Boys and girls learn about sex in different ways, at different times in their growing up, and use a different vocabulary. Nothing I heard in the sermon was a shock or surprise to me. I am a father of two grown boys. A shock to their mother--well, that is a different story, altogether.
I can assure you the boys in the congregation certainly listened to the sermon. And if they did not know what this and that was about, they would soon find out. Which is not a bad thing. The church should take on sex education as an issue, if the church is to minister to the whole child.
Boys and men should hear what the girls and women hear. I used to have some friends who taught in public school and they told me both genders heard it all, everything, in the same classroom. Now, one of my sons attended a Christian school. And he and I (by requirement) heard it all in a boy-dad class, while a similar lesson (we were told) was heard in a girl-mom class.
I hope I have answered your second question.
...Bob
