Why are Christians allowed to be fashionless? why aren't we allowed to know what it is to dress nicely (girls you too are included in this diatribe). Is there some verse in the Bible that I don't know about that forces people, once they are saved, to become culturally backwards? Are we not allowed to make ourselves look presentable? Why does the combover still exist? Why do we have girls that still don't know how to do their hair? I mean come one, if the world is going to laugh at us make them laugh at us for the apparent absurdity of our faith and doctrine, not our outward appearance. (Note: this is a post that extended readers will probably see again because this continually bugs me). I am tired of going to school and seeing maybe three guys who know how to make a reasonable outfit. (I'm not even talking about stunning - just a normal, boring white shirt-khaki pants-matching tie kind of outfit.) And girls -- if I had a dollar for every time a girl wears something that is either: a. completely 100% wrong for her (complexion, hair color, personality etc.) or b. Out of style I would be a very, very, very, very, very, very, rich man.
Aside: lack of money is probably the only accetable excuse for this problem, but even with a shortage of the all necessary cash you can still look presentable.
This lack of fashion also extends to culture: I'm not talking about cheap summer thrillers, or horrendously, disgustingly, awful Christian novels, or blockbuster movies. I'm talking about painting, theatre, (real) books, intelligent conversation, sculpture, architecture, philosophy - i.e. that which separates Western culture and defines it, not the cheap pandering to the masses that is prevalent in our society today. Since when did Christianity serve as an acceptable excuse for ignorance?
12 comments:
Since knowledge became immoral?
I think we do not dress well because we do not know any better. It is sad, but that is what has happened. It is not that hard to dress well, you just have to know what to buy and if you do not know what to buy take somebody with you who knows what to buy.
I think we often (especially in academic circles) get confused about culture. I think it is important to look presentable, but at the same time every person is an individual. There's a difference between wearing black highwaters with white socks and wearing something not right for your complexion. Christians shouldn't look ridiculous, but for goodness sakes, we shouldn't all look the same. Just because one person considers one type of music or literature and another one likes a different kind it does not mean that one is ignorant. I wager that if Peter and Paul were alive today they would be diametrically opposed to one another in many preferences. I would guess that Peter was probably not a great dresser, but what he was was great because of who he served and how he served Him. High culture is temporal and relative. We need to be very careful about judging people for not fitting into our narrow view of "fashionable."
hi josh...this is not a comment on your post, but i do agree with you. This is caresse christensen. i know i haven't talked to you in forever, but i am getting married in august and looking for musicians. so i thought of you and googled your name. let me know if you and some siblings or friends would be interested in playing for my ceremony, i was thinking a trio or quartet, and also let me know if you would do it, what you would charge so i can continue doing some rate comparison. The wedding is on sunday aug 13th in pewaukee. Thanks josh, and i would love to hear from you. cchris8130@hotmail.com
Someone told me that "Christians do not need to dress like dorks". Not to say that i always dress "in style" or whatever, but frumpiness does not equate modesty. good post, josh.
jeremy, you are responsible to make yourself look presentable. When you wear something that doesn't work for you you are not presentable. period. I'm not talking about preferences - I'm talking about principles. And the way many guys dress betrays complete and total ignorance of any change in fashion since there dads were in school.
Also, high culture is not temporal, if you wish to make the argument that it changes then I would agree with you. But its always there - and regardless of whether it changes or not my point still stands: just because your a Christian does not give you the right to be ignorant of it.
jeremy, please feel free to come and talk to me about this - I think a lot of my thoughts would agree with yours if I would be able to express them verbally.
1 Samuel 16:7 ...for the LORD seeth not as man seeth; for man looketh on the outward appearance, but the LORD looketh on the heart.
sorry, good points by all
Josh, I was going to comment on your post... but... I was distracted by your excellent use of the word pandering.
All I can say, Josh, is "Amen!" I have noticed the same things about Christians at MBBC with regards to fashion. My stands are, "We as Christians should be an example with the way we dress. We should not be a hinderence by our awful freakish taste in clothing and style that we distract from the fact that we are children of a heavenly King. We should not have the effect of people not being able to look at us becuase of our careless appearence. Also, I feel that dress is a mirrow of how we care for things in life. If you are careless about the way you look then who is to say that you actually care about other thinngs. No- matter what, people always look at the outward appearence of a person. NO One will ever have the luxury of not being scritinized from head to toe. If God is living in our hearts, and he has cleansed us from sin and the ugliness of sin. We should then want to be different on the outside to match the work within. At least give an effort. The effort is what God sees. Man will look on the outward, but God looks on the heart. By the way, if anyone is passionate about this subject, it would have to be me.I will continue to police this offence. "Fashion Potrol 911."
LMF
Josh, this is an excellent topic of conversation! I agree that Christians should not throw class out the window at conversion. On the flip side, when someone grows up in an atmosphere of relative "frumpiness" for whatever reason (namely, the only clothes worn are from either the missionary barrels or well-meaning church people), the person with seemingly no taste may find it difficult to change. When I was young, the only new clothes I ever had were what my mom sewed for me. I cannot fault her sewing because she's good, but I mean, I pretty much had to wear it, what else was I going to wear? It didn't matter, anyway, because we weren't surrounded by "fashion concious" people (for those of you who don't know, I grew up on the mission field). So we took what we could get. Do you honestly think that fashionable clothes get sent to the missionary barrels? Um, hello, if they were fashionable, they would be being worn by the people who "so generously" donated them! So when my family settled in the USA, I freely admit that I was a nerd/dork. With pleated skirts and collared blouses about seven and a half times to big to prove it! It took about four years to finally begin the revamp of my wardrobe. We were a returning missionary family, and my parents bought me a new outfit once a year for school. Initially, I didn't know how to choose something in style or with class, so by the time I finally started phasing out my closet, I was almost ready to graduate from high school. Clothes really do get expensive, and if all you have is not in style, it takes time to build up a nice wardrobe.
Well, you welcomed diatribes, so here you go! :)
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