Recently a film by the name of Magic
Mike opened to rave reviews.
The film is about male strippers.
The audience for Magic Mike? 73% female.
Cue thinking face.
"Well if that don't just speak for itself."
Let's look at Genesis chapter 3, verse 21.
"And the LORD God made garments of
skin for Adam's wife, Eve, but told Adam that, since Eve didn't
struggle with lust, the principle of modesty didn't apply to him, and
so he could continue to wear his fig leaf."
Wait, what? Your translation doesn't
say that?
*searches madly*
OK, so where'd we get the idea that
girls need to, you know, wear clothes, but guys can show off their
sculpted physique with impunity?
I don't know, but I don't think that we
got it from The Bible. We hear plenty of exhortations directed to
Christian girls, warning them, pleading with them, to be modest, to
embrace purity, to think of their brothers, to, you know, wear
clothes. Rightly so, for Scripture directs exhortations to modesty
directly to the ladies (1 Tim. 2:9), while nature testifies to
the powerful attraction that the feminine form has to men- for good
and for bad. Furthermore, our culture viciously pulls women towards
"strutting their stuff," so the exhortation to remain
covered rarely comes amiss for young ladies in my generation.
But when was the last time that you
heard a sermon on the way guys dress? It seems that for some reason
we have assumed that girls don't struggle with lust. At a deeper
level, it seems that while we know that the Bible has something to
say about how women dress, we somehow conclude that It is silent on
the male wardrobe. This is a glaring inconsistency in our
orthopraxy.
We all know that men and women are
different, that we struggle with different things. I believe that
lust, however, is not a gender-specific crime. While we may struggle
with different kinds of lust (I don't remember hearing any man say
that it was his wife's muscular physique that first drew him to her),
I see no Scriptural justification for saying that anyone is free from
the temptation of lust.
This would, it seems, contradict the common idea that most girls don't wrestle with lust. It's a widespread perception, but I've been reassured by multiple sisters in Christ that this is simply not the case. If there's any doubt left, I think the 73% female audience of Magic Mike speaks for itself. I've seen plenty of conversations on the internet about [insert name of handsome actor of choice] which, if spoken by men about women, would be at the very least a toeing of the lust-line which Christ forbids us to cross.
This would, it seems, contradict the common idea that most girls don't wrestle with lust. It's a widespread perception, but I've been reassured by multiple sisters in Christ that this is simply not the case. If there's any doubt left, I think the 73% female audience of Magic Mike speaks for itself. I've seen plenty of conversations on the internet about [insert name of handsome actor of choice] which, if spoken by men about women, would be at the very least a toeing of the lust-line which Christ forbids us to cross.
Guys, our sisters in Christ do struggle
with this, and it's time that we man up and start loving our sisters
in Christ by the way we dress.
The
Biblically-informed masculine wardrobe is important for a deeper
reason even than consideration for our sisters who struggle with the
same sins that we wrestle with: that's what we see in
God's Word. God clothed Adam and Eve with the same thing- there's no distinction made there that I can see.
Other Scriptural principles should also tie in to our understanding
of the way we dress. What are we drawing attention to by our
clothing choices? Are we finding our identity in our physique, or in
our relationship with Christ? Are we loving our sisters in Christ by
keeping them pure and encouraging them to focus on their Celestial Husband and their future husband?
The bottom line for me is this: whence
cometh this double-standard? What is the Biblical foundation for this
distinction? Or is it signed with the classic signature of humanism-
arbitrariness?
"Did we make this up?"
Guys, Keep Your Shirt On
Literally.
I tease, but I'm serious. Next time,
before you rip your shirt off and show your sculpted abs to the
world, take a moment to consider what God thinks about your clothing
choices. When you squeeze yourself into that compression tee that
emphasizes those pects of steel, stop to look in the mirror and see
what your attention is first drawn to. Before you put on those skinny jeans (why in the world are you wearing skinny jeans?) think about the message that you're sending. When you slip into your
Speedo, please don't. I'm just sayin'.
Just as it's not my place to tell a girl which skirt is too short or which top is too tight- that's between her, her family, and God- so it's not my place to dictate your poolside attire. If this post succeeds in making you stop and think for a moment about what Scripture has to say about men's fashion, I'm more than happy.
It's not easy. I'm not exactly
disappointed when someone compliments me on my physique, and I can
tell which shirts best showcase the gun show attached to my
shoulders. Just as lust isn't something that only guys wrestle
with, so vanity isn't a women-only crime. We may not spend an hour
fellowshipping with our makeup kit, but how many hours have we spent
with our dumbbells?
(This from a guy who loves to work out
and spends an average of an hour and a half exercising daily-
sometimes more. My problem isn't with fitness- it's with priorities.
I'm making confessions here, too- investing too much time in my
temporal body to the detriment of Kingdom pursuits is something that
I struggle with on a daily basis. But if our exercise is done with a Kingdom focus, to better prepare us to serve Christ, and in such a way as wisely makes use of God's time, I'm all for it. If it's a matter of doing curls for the girls, we'd be better off kissing the dumbbells goodbye.)
This shouldn't be a burden for us. It shouldn't be something we're paranoid about. It shouldn't steal our joy. Nor does it mean that we need to look like unkempt wimps. Scripture says that "The glory of young men is their strength." It's good for us to be strong, capable, ruddy, even handsome. Intentional or apathetic ugliness is no virtue, and learning how to dress well and carry ourselves attractively is a worthy pursuit- insofar as we pursue it to honor Christ with our bodies. But we must do this to call the focus of others to Him- and not ourselves. Can we not look firmly strong and masculine without highlighting every muscle and sinew? Isn't this what we have asked the girls to do for so long- to look feminine without accenting every curve?
Come on, guys. We're men. May it not
be said that we were too weak to conquer our own vanity- that we
weren't willing to wear a looser shirt out of love for our sisters
and obedience to our King- that our identity went no deeper than a
layer of muscle just beneath our skin.
The body will pass away. Being the sexiest man of the year lasts for exactly one year. It's really no achievement to catch the eyes of girls- plenty of guys can do that. In fact, being a "heart-breaker" is exactly opposite to the exhortations of Scripture. If we really love our sisters in Christ, our desire will be to help them focus on Christ- not to get them to focus on us.
Girls, I'd love to hear your thoughts on this. Do you agree with my premise? If so, what are some of the specific ways that guys can be more thoughtful of you in the way they dress? What are your greatest stumbling blocks? Maybe some examples of movie characters or public figures who did or didn't act in a modest way, and how they did or didn't?
Guys- man up. God's Word has something to say about everything, and
our clothing is no exception. Do we have the strength of character to
set aside the temporal pleasures of the praise of men and instead strive
to please our King? Or do we love ourselves too much to make that
sacrifice?
Just For Fun
Explain in one paragraph or less why
one may, when surrounding or inhabiting a body of water, wear (or not wear)
clothing which one would never consider appropriate in another
context, and which indeed might be referred to, in other contexts, as
underclothing?