Salzer - how come you won't search out the scriptures with me or In the Light? Iron sharpeneth iron.
You know, I was like you, not that long ago. The pastor taught me that what we wore was important, and I in turn preached that message. Then I came across a young man named Tyrel, whose eyesight was bad; he couldn't play baseball because he couldn't see the ball, but basketballs were big enough. So he would go down to the "nasty" part of town and play basketball with the thugs, the druggies, and the criminals; and between games, he would read gospel tracts to them. He'd have to hold the tract practically touching his nose; he told me that the first time he did it, he got surprised because he finished the tract and moved it away from his face, and all the guys he'd been playing with and reading to were listening to him. He'd expected most of them to simply leave. On Thursday nights, Tyrel would go out with me as we visited other teen-agers, and helped me lead more than one young man to the Lord.
But one day, Tyrel's parents allowed him to dye his hair a different color. The pastor sat Tyrel down and talked to him about dressing like the world, and allowing the world to influence him, and started questioning his salvation; and ended by saying that Tyrel could no longer represent the church in any capacity. Tyrel was devastated; he couldn't understand how or why his hair color meant he was headed for hell; or why it meant he wasn't allowed to preach Jesus.
That pastor literally destroyed that young man's spirit. I have no doubt Tyrel is saved, because I believe that once saved, always saved; but Tyrel was knocked out of the Lord's service. That incident led me down a road of discovery, especially concerning "soul liberty"; and it also led me to discover some things about that particular pastor, such as he had a history of joining churches just so he could eventually be voted in as pastor, or building up "friends" in the church so that he could pull them away from that church and start his own where he would be in charge.
My brother or sister in Christ, let's discuss the scriptures themselves, and see if they actually support our notions, rather than let our notions drive our understanding of scripture. For example, the analysis I gave you of Timothy; in the context of that chapter, that verse isn't telling women to "dress modestly", but how all of us should behave.
Hey, I consider myself teachable; so let's search out the scriptures and see what we come up with. What say you?