WHAT THE BIBLE HAS TO SAY ON WHAT WE WEAR AND WHY WE WEAR IT.
BY JOEL A. MORONEY
Fervr PO Box A287 Sydney South NSW 1235 Australia P +61 2 8268 3333 F +61 2 9283 2110 E team@fervr.net W www.fervr.net Published May 2010 Copyright Fervr 2010 © Joel A Moroney This book is copyright. Apart from any fair dealing for the purposes of private study, research, criticism or review as permitted under the Copyright Act, no part of this book may be reproduced by any process without the written permission of the publisher. Scripture taken from the HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION. Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984 by International Bible Society. Artwork by Paul Liddell page 1
EvE EvEryonE Ev wEars w clothEs cloth In fact, not wearing clothes in most places will get you arrested. How much time do we spend shopping for clothes? Choosing what to wear? Making sure you have the right accessories to go with your outfit? Getting ready to go out? Looking at what other people are wearing? Complimenting or ridiculing people based on what they’re wearing? Working out if someone belongs or doesn’t belong based on their clothes? There are shows on television telling us What Not To Wear. Each year magazines produce Best and Worst Dressed lists. The paparazzi camp out red carpets asking celebrities who designed their clothes. The media bombards us with advertisements telling us what brands to wear and where to shop. Does it matter what you wear? Does the Bible have anything to say about fashion? Did you know that God was the first fashion designer? In Genesis 3, Adam and Eve have eaten the fruit that they weren’t supposed to. And suddenly they’re concerned that they’re naked. So what’s the first thing God does before kicking them out of Eden? “The Lord God made garments of skin for Adam and his wife and clothed them.” (Genesis 3:21) The Bible has a lot to say about what we wear and why we wear it. page 2
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What is your favourite item of clothing that you own? Why is it your favourite? read: 1 corinthians 6:18-20 What do you think Paul means by sexual immorality? I love t-shirts. I love searching the racks and tables for new t-shirts that show off my twisted sense of humour. The problem is, there are a lot of shirts out there that God would not want a Christian to wear.
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As a Christian, you are God’s representative in this world. When people look at you, they should be pointed towards God. If you are dressed like everyone else, if you’re wearing clothes that point towards all the dodgy stuff in this world, then you are not doing your job and you are not accurately representing God. Are your clothes distracting others from God? Are your clothes causing people to sin? 1 Corinthians 6:18 tells us to flee from sexual immorality, so for me, certain shirts are out of bounds – for example, those
with naked people on them or references to casual sex are not on. For other people, it might be that new item of clothing is possibly going to cause someone to sin because it shows off too much body. Think of the clothes you’ve seen while shopping (or maybe in your own wardrobe). What items would you consider sexually immoral? What would your grandmother think?
read Ephesians 5:4 Is it ever ok to wear clothes with dirty jokes or images on them? What would your non Christian friends and relatives think of that funny, but very inappropriate joke on your shirt? Would they think “There goes a godly young person” or would they think “hypocrite”? Christians are on about honouring God in every part of our lives. When a non Christian looks at you, you want them to be pointed towards God. But if we dress in a way that is ungodly, they’ll just think we say one thing and do another. That sends a message that what when we’re on about Jesus that it’s just words and doesn’t mean anything. That’s not cool. The way you dress can turn people away from God and that’s something you want to avoid.
How can you use the clothes you wear to promote Jesus, rather than turn people away? One night I was out shopping for a t-shirt. I was doing some night filming and realised that the shirt I had brought with me was black and would therefore not work on screen. So I went shopping. And I thought I had found the perfect shirt. It was the right colour. It had a funny looking image on it. But something wasn’t right. I stared at the shirt for what felt like half an hour, trying to work out what was wrong with it. Then the joke hit me. “Oh, that’s not good.” It was an inappropriate joke. But it wasn’t obvious. Some times these things take time, wisdom, and discernment.
Final thoughts: As a general rule, when I’m buying clothes, I ask the question “Would this be okay to wear to Church?” Would the old ladies at Church think that my shirt was funny or obscene? If you’re not sure, ask someone you trust if they think it’s godly. Before you even buy an item of clothing, think about this: will wearing this make God look bad or make you look like a hypocrite? If the answer is yes, then don’t buy it and don’t wear it. How can you encourage your Christian friends to dress appropriately?
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