Clothes? A Religious Truth? CNN Thinks So

Clothes? A religious truth? CNN thinks so…
By: Jacque Turner

I read this CNN article today:
http://religion.blogs.cnn.com/2014/04/19/stop-dressing-so-tacky-for-church/

My title seems silly, and honestly it is, but I had to write an honest opinion/counter argument seeing how so many people find time to care enough to publish something like this on CNN. Having left the physical church/”Christian” temple when I was 16, I have come to the belief that “church fashion” is self-indulgence, not reverence. That includes examples like teeny boppers showing up to church in their fashionable jeans and new Abercrombie t-shirts, innocent children showing up in their Sunday Best, and Parents and Grandparents wearing their casual business wear and Sunday suits. All this they do to please the Church, but does it really please God?

The church-as a group of believers isn’t supposed to be a stage or opportunity to look your “best” and we certainly aren’t there to show-off or even judge other people’s clothes. Maybe it appears like I’m judging too. I don’t know, but that isn’t the point. I am trying to say that fashion isn’t a construct of the true “spiritual church body” so stop making it such. It leads people to care about the wrong things. It isn’t scriptural and it isn’t of Christ. It is self-important tradition pure and simple.

I found that the most interesting aspect about this article was the remark “The church customer is always king … Many young people and boomers judge the value of worship service based on personal satisfaction,” in the article Constance Cherry says. “If I get to wear flip-flops to Wal-Mart, then I get to wear flip-flops to church. If I get to carry coffee to work, I get to carry coffee to church. They’re being told that come as you are means that God wants you to be comfortable. “The article then says that the bible justifies dressing up to go to church: “What the Bible says: – people had to prepare themselves internally and externally for worship. In the Old Testament, Jewish people didn’t just “come as they are” to the temple in Jerusalem. They had to undergo purification rituals and bathe in pools before they could enter the temple, says Cherry, who is also a professor of worship at Indiana Wesleyan University.”

The Real Truth: The church of today is the “Emperor with NO CLOTHES”. Everyone wants to judge, but either they don’t actually read their own bibles and know what it actually says, or they know what it says and don’t understand what it means. The article had to bring up an Old Testament Jewish tradition that Christ nullified by his death and resurrection to make its point. How sad for someone who claims to be a Christian. One of the elementary principals of Christianity is that you, yourself can’t “wash away” your ugliness and uncleanliness before God. The Jews of the Old Testament were stuck in the curse of their traditions of Moses’ law in order to obtain righteousness. What we learn by studying the scriptures is that everything that they did was the physical type of the spiritual. The old covenant physical traditions were replaced by the spiritual new covenant.

For example, the physical synagogue/temple of the Jewish old covenant was destroyed by the promise of the Christ. Christ said he would tear down the temple and rebuild it in 3 days. Under the new covenant, God’s people are the spiritual temple/The Church. The promise of grace and salvation is what washes away our sins and makes us clean and acceptable before God. The tradition of what you wear and how clean you are has no meaning – absolutely none whatsoever. I’m tired of Christian religious opinion from those who profess to understand scripture and drag up obsolete verses to make a point. It is shameful and I guarantee that is why people with half a mind leave their “Church”.

Here is what the bible actually says about clothes in the new covenant: In short, dress modestly and don’t try to bring attention to yourself through your apparel. Instead dress yourself with godliness and your good works. What is in your heart will show on the outside. Here are the actual verses. (1 Timothy 2: 9) in like manner also (In the same manner as the men), that the women adorn themselves in modest apparel, with propriety and moderation, not with braided hair or gold or pearls or costly clothing, 10 but, which is proper for women professing godliness, with good works…

Notice how this also says “which is proper”… That means, don’t dress in a way that draws attention to yourself in the wrong way.. In other words be sensitive to someone else’s conscience and don’t cause them to stumble because of your actions. This isn’t just about clothes, but can be applied to anything. If you profess to be Godly, don’t act, dress, behave in a way that causes people to turn away from Christ because they see you as a hypocrite. Act in the best interest of the other person. This may be hard for some people to understand in an individualistic world, but Christ asks us to be selfless.

This is what the Bible says of people who find significance in their clothing and status in the church: In short, your attempts to clean yourself and hold yourself high on the outside by garbs, status, and popularity, will bring more judgment on yourself in the end because you live an outward lie. The higher you make yourself, the farther you will fall. God hates hypocrites. Rather, make yourself a humble servant and the least of these so that your actions do not condemn you. (Luke 20:45-47) “Then in the audience of all the people, He said unto His disciples, ‘Beware of the scribes, which desire to walk in long robes, and love greetings in the markets, and the highest seats in the synagogues, and the chief rooms at feasts . . . and for a show make long prayers. The same shall receive greater damnation”.

The article says that what we wear shows our level of comfort, but it can also show our level of seriousness towards the subject. I would argue that the Modern Day church is hard to take seriously because it does not act seriously and does not act in accordance with the Word of God.

This is what the Bible says about feeling comfortable in the Church: In short, the Church should be a place where we expect to learn and grow in our relationship with God. Every member should add to the edification of the church group. In the process of edification and growth, if your Church body is not “pulling you from the fire”, not asking those to repent and turn to God, not condemning sin, and not growing you beyond the “elementary principles of Christ”, not growing you spiritually to obtain spiritual gifts or grow into the Priesthood (1 Peter 2:5-9). It is absolutely useless to you. How can you take a church that you go to for entertainment and comfort seriously? How are you growing? If you are going to your church for the entertainment and comfort you are living the lie of the modern day church. Christ came to call his believers out of the Worldly Ways, and to bring a division. If you haven’t suffered or aren’t suffering for Christ, I guarantee you that you either have not been “called out by God” or have rejected His calling for “through many tribulations we must enter the kingdom of God” (Acts 14:22). People can call this cruel or maybe inappropriate, but the fact is that this is the truth proclaimed in God’s Word. Christ was perfected through suffering (Hebrews 2:10) and we are called to follow in his footsteps. 2 Corinthians 12:10 – Therefore I am well content with weaknesses, with insults, with distresses, with persecutions, with difficulties, for Christ’s sake; for when I am weak, then I am strong. Per Christ: “Suppose you that I am come to give peace on earth? I tell you, No, but rather division. For from henceforth there shall be five in one house divided, three against two, and two against three” (Luke12:51-52). “For the Word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword; piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart” (Heb.4:12).

I say this because of the things that we as a culture have found meaning in. When it comes to religion, I am a staunch advocate of the truth. We deserve to be free from the teachings of the churches, clerics, and opinion writers who pull bits and pieces of scripture together to put together false truths. I write because I am called to care. It is part of my belief system. If more of us lived what we preached and loved others and shared the truth, I am sure we would be living in a better world.

If you want to know how the real Christian church should behave, it’s time to start reading the bible and thinking for yourself. Don’t just trust a cleric or ordained minister as speaking the truth. Trust the truth that comes from a relationship with God. Here is a good place to start. Elementary Principals of Christ: Hebrews 6Church Leadership: 1 Timothy 3Spiritual Gifts: 1 Corinthians 12How to hold an orderly church meeting: 1 Corinthians 14: 26…

Also, if you want to read an article on the behavior of the Modern Day Church, check this out: https://sharingtheway.com/2014/06/26/sins-of-the-church/ the author has many verses and examples that are worth studying… Some of which I found appropriate to use in my opinion piece. It is worth the read if it matters to you.

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