I found an article recently that indirectly deals with a major concern of mine. The article has to do with the way we dress in church. It’s called Dressing Like A Tourist. The author of it moderates his comments so the commenting appears to be all one sided at this point. I decided to keep the commenting going here at the Requiest.

The major concern of mine has to do with immodesty in the church and with the exhortation of Romans 14 as applied to immodesty.

The Bible has a lot to say about clothing. As a matter of fact if it wasn’t for sin I imagine clothing would not even be necessary.

Now aside from the people who judge us based on what we are wearing we must first begin with a judgment of ourselves based on the principles of Romans 14. Perhaps what I’m wearing does not cause me a conscience issue as far as my relationship with God is concerned but ought I not at least ask the question is what I’m wearing placing a stumbling block before my brothers and sisters especially in the context of worship?

To be more blunt does my clothing reveal that which it was intended to conceal. What was the original purpose of clothing? Adam and Eve discovered they were naked and they sought to be clothed…. to be honest I don’t quite understand this however God’s remedy was not to say “Don’t worry about it I only look on the inside”… He put clothes on them.

I’m not as concerned about sloppy verses neat… I’ve seen some folks dressed to the nines in their finery who were immodestly provocative in the way they were dressed … my concern is for those in the congregation who perhaps because they are weaker are made to stumble by the freedom some feel with regard to the clothing (or lack thereof) they permit themselves to wear. How would Paul respond to this? Would he say “I won’t wear belly button rings, halter tops, less than opaque skin-tight shirts or spandex slacks for the sake of my brethren!”

How are we in the church to address this issue without being labeled judgmental legalists on the one hand while not being wimpy about exhorting, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness on the other?

Recently I attended a public school board meeting to discuss the concern of myself and a number of parents with regard to the middle school and high school reading curriculum in the Maryland Anne Arundel County Public School System. It was a thoroughly infuriating experience. When all was said and done I was left with the impression that no matter what the parents desire the school system knows best and it was irrelevant what the parents of the children thought.

There are certainly things that the government should be responsible for. The education of our children is not one of them. (Are public schools constitutional? see this article for a discussion of the conflict between the freedom of religion and the establishment of tax supported state secular schools)

As William Wallace cries out in the end of the movie Braveheart – FREEDOM!!!!

The arguments have all been made for school choice – here and here so I won’t delude myself that I can say it better than these.

I’m saddened by what we’ve lost as Americans with regard to the founders dreams of freedom and limited government.

So bend over Americans and take it. You’ve asked for it and now you’re getting it.