Thursday, March 20, 2014

Hypocrisy in Judging From Outer Appearance

When it comes to outer appearance, there is so much hypocrisy that comes into play. Men who do not allow their wives to wear pants are 10 times out of 10 guilty of having slept with her before they were married or they are living in adultery with their other spouses who they got divorces from are still living. Truly society has a twisted view of doing things and how the mainstream world dresses but to be honest there is a way that a Christian can dress in style and be presentable and still maintain Christian character. It's all about having balance. Balance is something that a lot of Christians lack, so they will abstain from certain things altogether and say that it is of the world. Another example that I hear from people who try to justify their beliefs about a woman shouldn't wear pants, make up, and jewelry is using the example of being in the military or on a secular job that calls for wearing uniforms.  The hypocrisy in that is that a person may very well hold down a job at McDonald's or be in the military but you best believe they do not wear their uniform 24/7. Even when a military person is not in uniform but in casual clothes,  you still know he is military because of the way he talks and the way he carries himself. You see, the hypocrisy is that man created a dress code that signifies who is spiritually clean by how they are dressed outwardly. Man created something that would be a dead giveaway to onlookers and let them know instantly that the person must be of a certain religion because of how they are dressed and it would instantly make people know who they are and what they stand for. Well that is totally opposite of how Jesus did things. Most people who came in contact with Jesus learned and received a deeper revelation of who he was by having communication with him. Jesus was not dressed in a certain fashion to instantaneously prove to people that he was the Christ. That spirit of wanting others to believe you are saved and spiritually clean based on what you wear 24/7 is an establishment of one's own righteousness. But in the same breath I say that a saint of God who is really spiritually clean and walking upright with the Lord is recognized by demons in folks and because the person knows who they are and the authority that they walk in, they are mature enough not to buy into the lie of the world's standards of dress or the hypocritical ways of religious standards of dress. Really the Holy Spirit will teach a person how to dress and cover up and be presentable. Furthermore, Christian women are not forbidden in scripture to wear jewelry and makeup either but Paul and Peter admonishes saved women not to put more attention on adoring the outward appearance but to be humbled, submissive, and having a pure heart. Like I said, everything must be balanced out and not given maximum amount of attention in one area and neglect the other areas. I really think that the Lord is mostly concerned about people not being a hypocrite. If they choose a certain dress code that aligns with their religious affiliation then they should do that and be happy and serve the Lord. We should not worship our clothing, or jewelry, or beauty, or give more allegiance to religion than we do to the Lord Jesus Christ but in many of the teachings about dress, they esteem outer wear as an indication of inner change before they mention that a soul has repented, been water baptized in Jesus name, and received the Holy Ghost with the evidence of speaking in tongues. Once a person gets saved the right way, true enough they will need to be taught on how to come out of worldliness and a sinful lifestyle of their past, but we should not put absolute stipulations on people that the word of God does not put on them by teaching them that even when their bodies are covered and there is distinction to know whether they are male or female, that they must wear a specific garment in order to be spiritually clean. Because if the truth be told, those who claim to be spiritually clean by their own merits are really far from it.

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