What meaning are you giving to modesty other than what it is? We're starting to enter that phase of arguing about words that God says should not take place.
You know what is modest and immodest as well as I know it. Modesty means the same thing it meant when Scripture first mentioned it. :laugh:
The meaning the verse implied when it gave examples.
I was asking a legitimate question. If one want to disprove what my question suggested, the logical thing would be to look up the original Greek in a lexicon and see what meanings the word in it's original language carried.
Neither am I saying that the verse does not or cannot apply to provactive clothing. I was upfront--or tried to be--about this being a suggestion, something to think about, rather than something I necessarily believe.
As I've said multiple times, I'm not saying anything goes. I don't think anyone else is, either.
What I am saying is that there are some things done will consider immodest that others will not, even among those of like mind.
In my family growing up, pants on women were either immodest or guilty of being men's clothing. I've heard both arguments.
My family considered even one piece bathing suits immodest and I grew up going to swimming lessons and the pool in a t-shirt and old pants. To this day I still wear a t-shirt and shorts when swimming--though a big part of that is being self conscious about my weight.
As a general rule I go around in loose pants and an oversize t-shirt. I own few shorts and all of them are about knee length. The first time I wore a shirt that went below my neckline was two years ago, and it made me uncomfortable and self conscious at first. And I don't think anyone would call this shirt immodest, not even my parents. My semiformal wear isn't much different, though the shirts aren't as baggy and are obviously nicer than t-shirts. I don't like wearing dresses, but I have a few for formal occasions. They all go down past my knees and the neckline is very high.
When going to camp last year, having still been part of the youth group at the time, the youth leader commented that he wouldn't have to worry about me disobeying the camp's strict policies on clothing. (Which were very conservative, but some of what was allowed would still have been a no-no to my parents.)
I do have and believe in standards. But personally I don't consider a strapless dress to be immodest, necessarily.
My mom and I disagree on shorts length. I'd be fine with mid-thigh shirts. To her, anything above the knee is pushing it. In fact when my little brother was wearing mid-thigh shorts my dad called it nudity. (And hey, long as we live with our parents we live by their rules. I respect that.)
I know someone on another forum who doesn't let her daughters wear t-shirts with graphics over the breast area. Well, that's pretty much every graphic tee in existence. I'm wearing one right now.
My dad still believed when he died that women shouldn't wear pants. He put up with it when I began wearing them, though. When I went to visit my aunt last year she expressed surprise that I was allowed to wear pants. (Not in a judgmental way, though she believes women belong in dresses as well.)
There are simply going to be different viewpoints on these and other things, especially since scripture doesn't put out exact guidelines. What can be inferred from it on that subject is to dress in ways that don't attract attention in the wrong way. But this can vary from culture to culture. What one considers "sexy" is heavily influenced by their culture, and can and does vary on the individual level as well. Not every culture puts the sexual connotation on breasts that our's does, for example.
