Modesty, or Sexualization?

What is upsetting me about all the talk on modesty over the internets, blogosphere, etc is that it makes it seem like it is a SHAME for a woman to have breasts, legs, and curves. The over-talk about the very issue of modesty actually SEXUALIZES it. When people need to tell or teach women incessantly about their fashion of dress, this can make the women feel guilt simply because she is created physically like a woman. The other extreme is dressing overtly sensual (deliberate, with willful intent...and who decides that??!!!?). BOTH HARM PEOPLE. Equally. When I was ready, God figured it out for me. When I over- scrutinize my dress, I am shaming myself. I am not trusting God to give me sound mind that can dress myself. We sometimes, in my opinion only, take the 'older women should teach the younger' and 'speak the truth in love' way overboard, to the point that it becomes all we want to do anymore! And the worst part of it is we mask it as LOVING EACH OTHER, and OBEYING TRUTH, and SERVING GOD and NOT MAN, when much can be said for BEING CONTROLLING AND AFRAID AND PRIDEFUL as the real hidden motivations behind this. I know this to be true, because many have been saved from that (like ME) and now speak out about it. Sometimdes, I am chastised for having gone too far the other extreme. But I would rather a person move becaaue God said MOVE, and that they can retain their dignity by following God, and trusting Him to do that for them, and not man's prideful words. For that person, becomes an "owned" faith then...when God is *the* only motivation. Sometimes, less is more; I have found out the less I try and figure out, and the less I try to read in things, the clearer it becomes for me. Now for me, *THAT is grace.

Oh, one more thing that came to me. When I was ayounger Christian (22ish), I used to judge women who dressed a certain way (maybe because I dressed that way in my rebel years??). I used to think THEY were the one with the 'problem.' One day I woke up, my whole foundation crashing, and realized: IT WAS I WHO HAD THE PROBLEM. Isnt it more accurate to say when we are truly that roused, worked up and ashamed of women's dress to say, *we* are the ones with the problem? God never asked me to be his 'modesty instructor', and he didnt ever tell me He could not take care of the issue by himself. Interestingly, in Britain's church setting, modesty means showy in a prideful or bragging way. Flamboyant; drawing attention to oneself. Some of them think we are screwy with the way we make such a big deal out of clothing, or not. Women get way less plastic surgery over there, and men and women arent as obsessed with LARGE breasts as they are here. I am not deeming Bristish christian culture on the mark, I am merely saying that perhaps American Christianity has it messed up as much as any other society.

Thanks for listening; God Bless.
August 1, 2009 10:44 AM