As far as secular law is concerned we have to go back to Acts and if I am the head of the household as the Bible teaches then we may have a conflict between man's law and God's and in that case "we ought to obey God rather than men." Since I am held accountable for my house then I ought to have some authority. Besides, godly women will not only be modest in their apparel, but they will fulfill their role as given in Eph 5 and none of this would happen making the whole argument hypothetical and moot.
Ok, let's get back on track with the issue of modesty.
I am trying to find my copy of the a list of ten things that are common to all revivals (at least in America). Besides the leadership getting right and repentance on the part of individuals and such there is a change in how believers dress. Seems like dress becomes an issue as part of falling away from our first love and when that is revived we get it together again. So, God must care about our dress if this is one of the top ten issues addressed or redressed in every revival.
I also picked up a book today called, What Shall The Redeemed Wear" by Simon Schrock and he quotes a few folks that are not Baptist, but noteworthy.
John Wesley - "The putting on of costly apparel is exactly opposite of what the apostle terms the hidden man of the heart." (Not speaking to modesty, but still a concept that clothing is important and $150 sneakers may not be the right thing to buy.)
Charles Finney - "It is your duty to dress so plainly as to show the world that you place no reliance of on the things of fashion, and set no value at all on them, but depsise and reject them altogether." (Plain would at least cover your nakedness.)
"Evangelists such as D. L. Moody were quite vocal in their denunciation [of the fads of their time.] ... in the early 20th Century Billy Sunday and many other less influential pulpiteers thundered against the "jazz age" fashions of the flappers."
Ira D. Williams - "Let your dress be a rebuke to fashion and extravagance and a model worthy of imitation." (Today's fashion is SEX. Do you think thatthe worldly designers want you modest? Hardly, they want to show your booty and sell clothes to do it.)
"J.C. Wenger in his booklet published in 1944. Christianity and Dress, made the point that the Anabaptist reformation included "condemnation of conformity to the world in attire."
Now the quote that affirms the reason that dress is one of the common factors in a revival is this.
"Nowadays when a plea is made for Biblical standards of dress in our fundamental churches, schools, camps, or homes, many Christians dismiss the appeal as the peevish tirades of an old crank or fuddy-duddy. Attempts to establish or enforce a biblical standard of dress are often censored or pitied as nothing more than some misguided 'legalism.' Even more devasting is when this attitude is found in good, dedicated, gifted, and influential preachers and ay leaders. And the fact that many in our fundamental circles are less than convinced that it matters how a Christian dresses. This growing segment of Fundamentalism is apparently ignorant or unconcrned (or both) about the implications of ignoring God's Word in the matter of ress. But before we dismiss the subject as 'much ado about nothing.' we shuld consider the thoughts of a few secular writers on the importance of how we dress. History seems to indicate that as a nation degenerates, so also, do the clearly defined distinctions and standards of dress. This is
especially so in the area of gender identity. fashion expert, Lawrence Langer, once admonished his readers that: 'The history of civilization has had many examplesof nations which became effeminate and were destroyed by more virile. bt ess civilized races which conquered and overran them. In all such effeminacy, clothing played a leading role. Tus the wisdom of the ages, which is based on realities of which most of us do not actually become aware in the short experiences of our life span." Clothing the Universal Language - William Nicholson
Shoot, no effeminism in this country. For that to happen first you have to emasculate the male by the masculation of women. They started wearing men's clothes and bobbed their hair throwing off what Mary garden said in 1929 as the last symbol of dominance. Long hair on women shows the submission of a woman to God and her husband. The first was pants since they became a symbol of his authority (Who wears the pants in your family?)
Men started shaving and having an effeminate face and then went to earrings, necklaces, pastels and cologne that is sometimes very hard to distinguish from a female scent. Homosexuals are fashion designers for both genders so of course they will design clothes in accordance with biblical standards of gender distinction. Indeed, their designs will help more come out of the closet since even straight men are now wearing pink and effeminate jewelry.
Nope, no problems in America. We are fine though a less civilized though overly virile group has launched attacks against us, but we have nothing to fear for God is on our side. Or is He since many want to make Him a Her and our versions turn Christ from the Son of God into a genderless child and even some Presby churches are having services that are getting quite close to praying to Our Heavenly Mother. Nope, no problems in the good old USA.
