Ladies who attend synagogues or churches only please?

Question

I want to say this with all respect. Precious ladies. Women of G-d. Please, can we obey the Bible with our dress! Even when we don't see the reason why. Isaiah 55:8-9 says we don't have to understand.

Fact of the matter is men have wandering eyes and we are sinful in nature. I really get distracted and tempted by the evil one when a woman comes to service in skin tight tops or low cut tops. Or anything other than a long skirt for the bottom. I know its an issue rarely discussed. But if you know how it harms the men in there, I bet you would cease doing this.
I am both human and sinful.

As Romans says, we hate sin, but do it anyhow. Lets not induce it in the House of G-d.

I'm not asking who wears what. But at your next womens meeting at your congregation...would you bring this up?? Please??

Not many men will admit this...ego and pride tells us to say "doesn't bother me". But it does.

Lets keep the sin under us.

Baruch,
David

You know it takes courage to say something you know people will mock you for. I could just as easily posted more hate and contributed to all the BS in here. Sorry for keepin it real.

Not saying I am not taking personal responsibility. I am wrong and try my best. But there is a time and a place....Ecclesiastes.

Answer 1

I agree with you 100%. But I don't view the true source of the problem as being the women -- the true source is the pastor.

Anyone who approaches the congregation to worship must do so in a manner that's both respectful to God AND to fellow congregants. If the pastor (or perhaps elders) fail to educate this inappropriately dressed woman at the very moment she enters the gathering place, he has failed to properly feed the sheep entrusted to him by Jesus Christ. After all, doesn't her style of dress prove she is ignorant of the Biblical requirement of modesty? If she walked into the congregation and started preaching about Mohammad, wouldn't she be rebuked? Why is this any different?

To my understanding, this person should be taken aside and counseled as to her sin against the congregation. Then she should be sent home. An appointment should be set up for counseling with the pastor's wife (or another elder female member of the congregation), since the elder women are in charge of educating the younger women and new female converts about how they should carry themselves as women, wives and mothers. If the woman refuses to change her ways, she should be prevented from worshiping there. Period.

Unfortunately, in today's "seeker friendly" churches, most pastors are too afraid to do this. They will have to answer for it to the One who raised them up to be pastors. If a pastor refuses to take on this responsibility, he should be rebuked by the elders of the congretation.

And, for the record, this is not just a problem with men -- it's a problem for women, too. I have seen men attending church during the summertime with revealing attire, too. I would be lying if I wrote I wasn't tempted by these men. However, in today's society we tend to think more about women's modesty of dress and ignore the fact that men are also required to behave in a dignified way, which also includes care when dressing.

p.s. -- my personal advice is to avert your eyes, as I do, and think of an inordinately difficult portion of Scripture to occupy your mind. It works for me! (Well, usually ... I'm not incapable of stumbling.)

Answer 2

Your absolutely right.

Woman should be very careful how they dress, in church and out of church.

There is a Scripture...

1 Peters 3:3
Whose adorning let it not be that outward adorning of plaiting the hair, and of wearing of gold, or of putting on of apparel;

4But let it be the hidden man of the heart, in that which is not corruptible, even the ornament of a meek and quiet spirit, which is in the sight of God of great price.

Woman love attention. This is the problem now and in the past...

Isaiah 3:
16Moreover the LORD saith, Because the daughters of Zion are haughty, and walk with stretched forth necks and wanton eyes, walking and mincing as they go, and making a tinkling with their feet:

17Therefore the LORD will smite with a scab the crown of the head of the daughters of Zion, and the LORD will discover their secret parts.

18In that day the Lord will take away the bravery of their tinkling ornaments about their feet, and their cauls, and their round tires like the moon,

19The chains, and the bracelets, and the mufflers,

20The bonnets, and the ornaments of the legs, and the headbands, and the tablets, and the earrings,

21The rings, and nose jewels,

22The changeable suits of apparel, and the mantles, and the wimples, and the crisping pins,

23The glasses, and the fine linen, and the hoods, and the vails.

24And it shall come to pass, that instead of sweet smell there shall be stink; and instead of a girdle a rent; and instead of well set hair baldness; and instead of a stomacher a girding of sackcloth; and burning instead of beauty.

As men have a struggle with looking a woman, woman are also struggling with the way we dress.

We want to be beautiful and get the praise for being beautiful.

It's sometimes hard to really grasp that the scriptures say...

Proverbs 31:30
Favour is deceitful, and beauty is vain: but a woman that feareth the LORD, she shall be praised.

We want to look nice for our husbands so he doesn't feel the need to have wandering eyes, yet, doing so may cause other men to see you.

But we (Woman) have to remember. Beauty is vain.

Men have to remember what JOB said...
Job 31:1
I made a covenant with mine eyes; why then should I think upon a maid?

Answer 3

I don't think modest dress should only be for church. I believe women should dress modestly no matter where they are going.

Being a holiness apostolic, I make sure I am covered appropriately every day. I wear my skirts long, my shirts cannot be low cut, and my clothes are never so tight as to cause anyone a problem.

I understand the lust of the eye thing, but I also choose to dress the way I do to bring glory and honor to my husband and my God.

Answer 4

Yes, brother I know I don't qualify as one of the "ladies" ... but considering some of the other answers which you have recieved, my reply won't be any further off topic than what you have already recieved.

First of all, you say "can we obey the Bible with our dress!" I think you should study this a bit more because if you do you will realize that how we dress comes from man's TRADITION more than coming from Scripture. I'm not against Tradition, I probably follow rabbinic tradition far more than you do, and in fact clothing is one of the proofs that I use to demonstrate that we should follow tradition.

In examining Torah we find relatively few commands for the ordinary citizen in regards to clothing. We have covered a considerable amount recently in our reading about how the priests are to be dressed when serving. But for the rest of us we just have the command that we are to wear Tzitzit on the corners of our garments and that our garments shouldn't be made of two different types of material (try finding socks that qualify!) - nothing is said as far as how often those garments are to be worn - indeed there is no actual commandment against nudity to be found in Torah.

Now examine this passage:
Exodus 22:26 If you at all take your neighbor’s clothing as a pledge, you shall deliver it to him by the time the sun goes down. 27 For that is his ONLY covering, it is his clothing for his skin. In what shall he sleep? And it will be, when he cries to Me, I will hear, for I am gracious.

Notice that from the phrasing it would appear that Torah permits a poor man to take off all of his clothing, pawn it in order to get his lunch money, work naked all day long, recieve his wages for the day and then buy his clothing back. Due to the great expense of making clothing back then working naked would have been a good way to avoid damaging your "only" clothing. But obviously this is completely unacceptable by our current tradition.

Also compare this with this passage:
Luke 17:7 But which of you who has a servant plowing or feeding will say to him immediately after he has come from the field, Come, recline? 8 Will he not say to him, Prepare something so that I may eat, and clothe yourself and serve me until I eat and drink. And afterward you shall eat and drink.

So it would appear that while it was acceptable for the servant to be plowing in the field while naked, it was appropriate that he clothe himself prior to serving the master. Again, modern tradition is that the servant should be clothed in the field as well.

Answer 5

I'd go further and say this should be applied outside the church or synagogue anyway. I'm not muslim and by no means a prude either...but I do have self respect and respect for others too. I think the whole concept of 'women's rights', sexual equality and feminism has been distorted in todays concept: how are women really free if in fact all that's been promoted are shorter skirts with nothing but thongs (if any!), lower necklines exposing surgically pumped up breasts brimming to nipple capacity, drunken one night stands with whomever, wherever, offers of gratuitous sex to obtain career goals or fame....???? It's an insult to womanhood and is dragging the whole female equality cause to an abyss of no return.
Sorry to rant on. And yes you're right: it has by no means any place in religion either.

Answer 6

David,

Thank you for bringing this up if you go on the website girl talk
a ministry through Josh Harris they did a whole series on modesty and how to dress not to make your brother stumble.
I believe when you enter the house of God a lady should be dressed properly nothing hanging out on top and not showing too much leg for the bottoms.

The world encourages woman to be Loose and seductive and sexy but that should not be in a house of God. A woman need not to dress frumpy or outdated or out of style to be modest.

Men are wired differently than woman and in certain areas they are more sensitive.

Thank you for this kind reminder that woman need to be holy and modest in their dress. Thank you and God bless you

Answer 7

I'm less concerned about your problems with lust than I am with respecting G-d in His own house. If you have a problem with self-control, then you need to pray with the elders of your church and strive to gain mastery over yourself. That way, you will be ready to deal with temptation no matter when or where you're attacked.

However, I do think that men and women both could be a little more respectful about how they dress and act in G-d's house. He cared enough to give us the very best that He had, in the person of His Son, and I think He deserves our honor. To me, that means dressing appropriately, showing good manners, and treating our surroundings with the respect due a house of worship.

And again, that applies to both men and women.

Answer 8

David, oh David,

How I have missed thee David. First, "Can we obey the Bible with our dress?" David, is this the "royal we" you are using or could it be that you are wearing dresses to church? Either way, gets me hot and bothered. (I can't stop my lustful, wandering eyes from oogling men in dresses!)

"Lets keep the sin under us." Oh just never even mind the double entendre. Who are YOU to be above us David? You serious with this "anything other than a long skirt" for the bottom? Give me a frigging break! What do you do in the summer time? Walk around aroused all the time? Just hide in your house?

If *you* have a problem dear one - remove the beam from thine own eye or...whereever, and stop projecting your issues onto women. Can you even IMAGINE if women demanded men dress a certain way because "god made them weak"?

Ooooh, oh. I need to have a hot tub. Guess what I'll be wearing?!?!?! Muahaha

Answer 9

What or whom defines "modesty"? I could walk out of the house in a mini skirt and a very revealing shirt and not cause one man to blink, yet another man might want to get all over me. Yet, on the contrary, I could walk out of my house in a very loose, floor length skirt that doesn't give a hint to my curves or what may or may not be underneath. With it, an equally loose shirt that barely gives any hint that I have breasts. The man who was interested in me when I was half naked barely looks. The man who barely looked at me in the first outfit, is suddenly VERY interested because he's very curious as to what I might be hiding. Or, another man might be interested in me in either outfit simply because I'm six feet tall in my flats and he finds tall women very sexy.

I don't run around half naked. I do wear tailred, fitted clothes. I have no control over what men do a do not think. I almost don't care. My husband finds me sexy (even with my hairy, haven't-seen-a-razor-since-September legs) and that's all that matters.

Answer 10

Hmm YOU cannot concentrate? But THEY need to change? First, try not to gawk at every female in the place. If that does not work, then I guess you will have to find someplace else to pray. I'm not too fond of assuming that everyone else has the same issues you do either. Jews do not believe humans are born sinful, or that there is an "evil one" to be tempted by...