Hello!
I'm new here (so hello everyone!)
I'm wondering your views on modesty. I am a teenage girl (enough said
). Seriously though, I am fairly new to religion, and don't want to make any huge mistakes, but I am also aware of how it is actually quite difficult to be a devoted Christian in this day and age.
Soooo...
That being said, how far should modesty go? Is it bad to wear shorts, or certain dresses? And where do tight leggings go in all this?
Hope this makes sense and any advice is always appreciated!
Most of the modesty type scriptures are aimed at women and address issues such as wearing gold, pearls, etc. But modesty in the sense of not dressing to provoke lustful attention is also important.
I had a conversation with a brother on a college campus once. He said some young women dress a certain way because a lot of men look at them, but if they knew the impulses and thoughts of the men looking at them, they would not dress that way. He said it was like the tiger looking at the gazelle.
Girls go from being little children where most people who seem them might think they are cute, but not have any kind of sexual thoughts toward them, to gradually growing to a point where men take notice. They may not realize the importance of covering up. As a young man, I didn't think that people would be looking at me in a pair of shorts and lusting after my legs. I don't know if the girls were lusting after my legs or not back then
but some men look lustfully after a girls body if the clothing is too high or too low or even missing inthe middle. Different men pay more attention to different parts. Maybe in Saudia Arabia, they drool over wrists and ankles, too. Some of this may be culturally influenced.
As a Christina we are not supposed to cause our bother to stumble..... that is to be enticed into sin. Looking with lust/covetousness is a sin. Some men will lust no matter what and make a special effort to ogle and think lustful thoughts. There are Christian men, especially young single men, though it can affect old also, to put forth a conscious effort to aver their eyes. Job was a blameless and upright man who was old enough to have children old enough to have their own homes, and he said in Job 31:1
“I made a covenant with my eyes
not to look lustfully at a young woman. " (NIV)
Some clothing on a woman, especially a young beautiful, is 'eye magnet' material. Again too high, too low, too much skin. An upright man like Job would have to exercise discipline not to look. I think we men might just be a bit more strongly affected by this than women. Though men should be careful about going around baring the 6-pack abs or wearing muscle shirts to induce certain feelings in women as well. Dressing modestly can be a way of loving your neighbor.
Also, if you think, "No one is going to lust after me" there are some people out there who like the hefty or obese look. Some people like hairy, some like little to no hair. Whatever you don't like about your looks, someone out there might be attracted to that, so keep that in mind.
And some things you should just show to the person you marry if you marry.
