This is a critique I wrote of an email a reader received some years ago. It probably will not end the way you expect, so please don’t make assumptions going into it. :-) This is a long article, but I hope that someone will be helped.
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One of our readers received a letter from a friend in which the friend was giving a lot of excuses as her justification to wear pants. They include what appears to be her own inventions and probably things that someone who has "freedom in Christ" spoon fed her. Based on the title of this article, you may have come here expecting something different from what you are actually going to read. The point here is not the "pants on women" issue. It's a lot bigger than that. Please don't get sidetracked on that issue and miss the main point. The main point is that a lot people are messing with scripture, misinterpreting it and actually calling God a liar in order to avoid dealing with the subject of modesty in general. Please consider carefully where you are getting the justification for you own "liberty" in regards to not only dress, but also any other areas of life. We may all be guilty at times of redefining scripture to excuse ourselves of sin or carelessness.
My replies in purple Arial font follow the statements made by the woman which are preceded by >>. Her spelling has been left intact for the most part.
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>> How do I explain old covenants and new covenants to you? There are
>> SEVERAL covenants in the bible...did you know that? Each time a new
>> covenant was made, the "rules" changed.
This is not true. If you study the covenants of the Bible you will find that some of them are built upon the others. This is true of the New Testament covenant. It is built on the Old Testament law, for the law is our schoolmaster to bring us to Christ. Galatians 3:24 Wherefore the law was our schoolmaster to bring us unto Christ, that we might be justified by faith. 25 But after that faith is come, we are no longer under a schoolmaster. If we did not have the O.T. law of Moses' covenant, we would not know what sin was. If we did not have the prophetic aspects of those covenants we would not know what it was that Christ came to fulfill. Matthew 5:17 Think not that I am come to destroy the law, or the prophets: I am not come to destroy, but to fulfil. Hebrews 10:1 For the law having a shadow of good things to come, and not the very image of the things, can never with those sacrifices which they offered year by year continually make the comers thereunto perfect.
I've been reading several of your essays examining various issues and I do appreciate how you are fair and always use Scripture properly. It really does bother me when I come across people who twist and contort Scripture and take it out of context just to make their point. One example is in this e-mail is where she uses "there is no male or female in Christ" to support her position. That particular passage refers to being equal before God in a spiritual sense, doesn't it? This specific mis-use of God's word really bugged me.
ReplyDeleteAnyway, just wanted to comment and let you know I enjoyed this. (And, actually, I do wear jeans on occasion but I make sure that they are not form-fitting and that my shirt is modest. My husband is OK with this, too.)
Yes, I do think that passage of scripture is referring to being equal spiritually, but also of equal value. It doesn't have anything to do with it being OK for women to now dress like men, or visa versa. :-)
DeleteThanks for your encouragement and honesty, and for leaving a comment. I can read my stats and see people are reading, but I don't know what they're thinking if they don't comment. :-)
Anything that is not faith is sin... I wear pants and I wear dresses. I am a grandmother and, more importantly a servant of Jesus Christ, so I understand the need to be chaste and use discretion in my dress. All things are lawful for me, but all things are not expedient: all things are lawful for me, but all things edify not. 1 Corinthians 10:23 is another verse that comes to mind. Whatever I wear I do so by faith, trusting I will not bring shame to my Savior and my Lord. That is the standard I regard and walk by.
DeleteHolly, I'm not entirely sure what your intent was in this comment; perhaps just stating your own personal standard. Anyway, thanks for stopping by. :-)
DeleteI really don't understand these kinds of Christian women who want so much to prove pants are ok and also they attack women who wear dresses. I wasn't born into a Christian family. I became Christian later in life and for me it is really strange that someone become Christian and then do everything they can against Christ and then want to justify the things they do against Christ. I just wondered why they want the title Christian when then have no intentions of following Christ at all. Wouldn't it be better for them to follow a different belief that better fits their behaviors?
ReplyDeleteThat is an interesting question. I also don't understand the women who get all up in arms about pants and want to make war on wearing skirts and dresses. It is one thing for women to wear pants and not see a problem, but the type that get all bent out of shape and will go to this much trouble to defend it are really giving cause for concern.
DeleteThere are other areas in life these days that bother me as well when Christian not only participate, but vocally defend their "right" to do so. Actually, I'm inclined to think that may be the real base problem. American Christians have had a dreadful tendency to mix up "American rights" with their Christian belief, and consequently have come to think that they have "the right" to do many things that really should be questionable if for no other reason than that it could be a bad testimony to the world and other believers.
1 Corinthians 10:23-24 All things are lawful for me, but all things are not expedient: all things are lawful for me, but all things edify not. Let no man seek his own, but every man another's wealth.
I so enjoy your website and all the information and blogs and recipes, thank you for your time in all this.
ReplyDeleteI would just like to ask this about pants, when did pants come into the picture and is pants men or woman clothing because in the Bible time it seems that all were wearing dresses. In the pictures and movies on Bible times it shows that the men are wearing what looks like a skirt and for this reason I am confused with this because it seems no one was wearing pants and now people argue about pants for woman or not. don't get me wrong I am not saying its right of wrong I am just asking about when pants came into the picture and who invented it? thank you Tersia
Tersia, this is a very good question, but I am going to have to do some research in order to answer it knowledgeably. I have some knowledge, but it is not enough, and I think this would make a good article. Thank you for asking. :-)
ReplyDeleteHello :) I am a female looking into this issue of pants vs. dresses for women.. I am seeing points for both sides, however, I would appreciate to hear what God has taught you, what conclusions you have come to, and why? No pressure in replying :) Thank you.
ReplyDeleteI had written at some length on this subject years ago, but my perspective has changed some since then. I removed the article from The Home Maker's Corner with the intention of reworking it, but I haven't done so yet. Perhaps at some point.
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