REPLAY: Modest Isn't Hottest ... But Is It Biblical?
Episode Stats
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180.52577
Summary
In this episode, I discuss the controversial topic of modesty and what it means in Christian culture, what it looks like for christian women and even men, and the backlash that went on online when Christian singer Matthew West released a song called "Moderation Is Hot" on Father's Day.
Transcript
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hello hello welcome to relatable happy monday hope everyone had a wonderful weekend today not as i'm
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recording this but as you are listening to this i'm actually in nashville for the candace owens
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show so make sure that you look out for that super exciting but today we are going to discuss
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a controversial topic that many of you have asked me to discuss and i've honestly been kind of
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avoiding talking about it's not really because it's controversial you guys know that i don't
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avoid controversial subjects because but because i haven't really decided how to properly articulate
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um what i think about it but with so many requests um on this and so many conversations about this
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topic which is modesty circulating on social media especially in what's considered
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ex-evangelicalism and progressive christianity i thought it might be time to bite the bullet and
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just go for it so that's what we're going to do we're going to discuss what modesty means what
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the bible says about it what it looks like for christian women and even men um there's no way
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though for me to cover um every part of this topic but we're going to do our best to hit the
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important points and i want to kick this off this is part of why i thought it was a good idea to talk
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about this right now because there was some um drama that went on online centering on the subject of
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modesty when christian singer matthew west released a song called modest is hottest on father's day where
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he talks about encouraging his two daughters to dress appropriately um i watched it on instagram
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when it came out knew immediately what the reaction was going to be right from some people but i mean
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i laughed i got what he was doing it was obviously tongue-in-cheek he might have been aiming to convey
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a serious message that he wants to protect his daughters but it was obviously light-hearted
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a little satirical just trying to jokingly show that um you know he is a protective dad of his
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girls um here's an example of some of the lyrics i'm just going to read it to you modest is hottest
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the latest fashion trend is a little more amish a little less kardashian what the boys really love
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is a turtleneck and a sensible pair of slacks honey modest is hottest sincerely your dad i mean that's
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funny that's cute i mean it's supposed to be a joke uh 10 years ago no one would have batted an eye
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at that kind of thing because at one point we all knew that most dads don't want their daughters
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leaving the house with most of their body exposed but some people took issue with the song um and i'm
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going to read you uh some of those responses and a little bit of the backlash in just one second
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all right let's look at a little bit of the backlash some negative responses to this song
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by matthew west that i think tells us a little bit about what popular culture and also those who
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consider themselves maybe on the more progressive side of christianity have to say about this particular
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topic and the idea that was sung in the song um singer uh audrey asad said on twitter modest is
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hottest still centers men and their preferences and how women should look still sets being found hot by men
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as the ultimate goal for women and positions all men as creeps who can't handle seeing a woman's
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bare skin without turning into out of control monsters author sheila gregore quote tweeted the
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song and said this the age-old struggle is actually women feeling responsible for men's sins i know many
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think this is cute and fun but obsessing over girls bodies without making reference to boys responsibility
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is part of the problem let's raise girls and boys in a healthy way instead so those are pretty balanced
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and i think reasonable responses from people that didn't agree with the message here is what one
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mom told today so this was picked up by some secular outlets as well colorado mom lisa krutzinger 30 told
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today parents that she grew up listening to christian music and enjoyed it but the narrative of the song
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is not something she would want her daughter audrey bell to hear what a girl wears does not equal her
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worth krutzinger said girls don't wear clothes because it's what the boys really love if you're comfortable
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modest clothing rocket and if you want to dance on tiktok in the clothes you love don't let people
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like matthew west tell you that's quote bad there was also an oklahoma worship pastor named jeremy
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coleman he parodied uh some of the song on tiktok so matthew west version says this in one of the lines
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if i catch you doing dances on tiktok in a crop top so help me god you'll be grounded till the world stops
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coleman's version goes like this well if i catch you doing dances on the tiktok wear what you want girl just
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go off hold your head up so your crown doesn't fall off you're a queen if you forgot here's the
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newsweek write up about that um it says coleman who has three daughters told newsweek his concern with
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west song was the same concern with purity culture as a whole we are telling our daughters and young
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women that their body image should be defined by someone else's opinion women should feel confident
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comfortable and free to dress and express themselves however they want um there were several other tiktok
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parodies that were similar to his lots of um many influencers on instagram and youtube talking about
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how toxic this idea is how damaging it is there were a lot more less balanced and i would say a lot
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meaner responses from some people too even professing christians towards this um so there was a good bit
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of negative media and social media attention for something that probably like i said a few years ago
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no one would have really noticed now matthew west ended up taking it down and he issued this statement
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he said i'm blessed to be the father of two amazing daughters i wrote a song poking fun at myself for
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being an overprotective dad and my family thought it was funny the song was created as satire and i
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realized that some people did not receive it as it was intended i've taken the feedback to heart the
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last thing i want is to distract from the real reason why i make music to spread a message of hope
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and love to the world proud hashtag girl dad so he doesn't exactly apologize which people were upset
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about and i and i want to try to offer as sympathetic a summary as i can of the position of people who were
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upset that he posted the video and then were upset that he didn't apologize about the video and i'm going
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to get to that in just one second so here's what i believe the dissenters the people who are pushing
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back against this and not just against this particular song but really the whole christian
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concept of modesty in general or the larger purity culture in general we've talked about purity culture
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on this podcast um the what the bible actually says about purity and some of the negative parts about
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purity culture because people even within the church are fallible and so they make mistakes that
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sometimes have unfortunately damaging consequences i think that's true of so-called purity culture we'll talk a
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little bit about that but to try to sympathetically and as generously as i can um describe what i think
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people's feelings are about this song and about this subject i i would say that the argument goes
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something like this so by telling girls to be modest they would say we are making them feel that
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the responsibility to control men's lusts and predatory behaviors is is theirs rather than telling men
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to behave purity culture they say makes women bear the burden of men's sinful and sexual thoughts it
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therefore encourages a mentality of shame and even self-objectification for women and girls who
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are being at least implicitly told that their bodies are dangerous or to blame for men's behaviors
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which then i think the logic goes leads to what some might call rape culture because women are taught
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men can't control their sexual urges and if they give in to those sexual urges uh in the form of
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predatory victimizing behavior it's because of what the girl or woman did or or or said or war so i think
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that is how the thinking goes of the people who are pushing back on this kind of stuff and i truly tried
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to be as accurate as possible in that and i hear a lot of that i really do like i really understand it i i agree
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that ultimately of course men are responsible we all are responsible for our thoughts and actions
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absolutely no matter what a woman is wearing a man is responsible for what he does and how he reacts i
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agree that there are problems with so-called purity culture i've talked um about a book that i read
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called dateable in high school which i now realize or i realize several years later is so uh toxic and
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damaging and wrong that compared people young people to used cars losing value the more it was
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driven of course comparing that to the sexual experience that you have when you're younger
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before you get married or maybe you've heard of the analogy that was you know kind of taught in some
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churches growing up of a rose that's been handled uh by a bunch of people then it looks all you know
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torn up and wilted no one would want the rose right like you've probably heard that kind of thing
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they're terrible analogies they're terrible i'll never forget watching a matt chandler sermon in
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i don't know 2010 2011 i'm not sure when it was from but i remember watching it on youtube
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when he talked about when he was younger listening to a pastor giving that rose analogy
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and his response in this sermon was jesus wants the rose and that's exactly right thank the lord
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our value and our wantedness is not diminished by how many guys we made out with in high school
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or even by someone getting pregnant out of wedlock or someone being a prostitute jesus made a point to
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interact with women who had been sexually immoral and whom polite society and religious legalists had
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cast aside god seeks and saves the lost he reaches and heals the sick and the hurting and i could see
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how creating shame around the body and sex can lead a young person especially a girl
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to have a distorted view of herself and even maybe to blame herself for inappropriate male advances
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and to maybe not speak up about them because she's been told that that kind of behavior is caused
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by what she wears and that maybe she might have done something to make this man give in to his loss so
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i can see all of that but but here's here's my disagreement or at least my pushback to the pushback
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i cannot go so far as to say that a parent just shouldn't have anything to say about what their
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children and yes in particular their daughters wear and to the christians responding to this song
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saying well girls should just be able to wear whatever they want to wear do you really believe
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that like you really think it's good parenting to allow your 13 14 15 year old daughter to wear
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whatever she wants dancing on tiktok like you're telling me that there's no standard whatsoever
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that you would ask your daughter to reach when it comes to wear clothing so if she wants to go to
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the mall with her friends and she comes downstairs and clothes that basically amount to underwear you
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as a parent wouldn't say something about that and if you do have any rules at all for what your
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daughter wears those of you who push back against you know something like matthew west song my question
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would be well why do you have those rules and if you don't have any rules for what your daughter
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what where is you're telling me that you would be okay with absolutely anything that she wears in
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public or posting on social media because here's here's the truth if if that's you like you really
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just don't care in whatever setting she wears absolutely whatever she wants your 13 year old daughter
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the truth is there are like whether we want to admit this or not whether you think it's patriarchal
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to say this there are creepy predatory men on social media watching your kids videos whether
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whether you want to admit it or not the vast majority of online sexual predators harassers assaulters
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people who are rapists groomers are men and they seek out unfortunately underage girls on these
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social media platforms that is a fact so are you honestly telling me those of you who are saying
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well girls should just be able to wear whatever they want without judgment and it doesn't matter
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if your daughter wants to wear whatever she wants dancing on tiktok you're telling me as a dad
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or as a mom who has been given the responsibility by god to protect your children that you don't care if
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your underage scantily clad daughter is dancing on tiktok where you know there are probably gross men
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watching her now it is not her fault that those men are creepy that those men are predatory and that
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they are looking for videos of underage girls that's not her fault but those men do exist like i said
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that's a fact and even off of social media are there no standards of decency and dress that you hold
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your kids to as far as covering parts of their body i mean of course there are of course there are you
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wouldn't let your kids walk outside i mean you know walk somewhere in public like the mall or
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somewhere in their underwear why not because it's inappropriate so if you will admit that can you
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also admit that having rules for what your children and teens wear with an aim toward protection and
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decency is okay i'm just saying anyone who says that parents shouldn't tell their daughters or just
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your kids in general what to wear or not to wear at all you're either terribly irresponsible as a
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parent which i don't think that you are i don't think that's true of many of the people complaining
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about this particular song but the other option is that you're being disingenuous because most parents
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are going to have some kind of regulations around what their kids can wear in public and on social media
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the question is what should those regulations be not just for our kids but also for ourselves
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and more importantly why because for the christian it's about more than just rules it's about more
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than creepy guys on social media for the christian we have to seek what god says about how we dress
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and i'm going to get into the theological aspect of modesty in just one second so like i said for us
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it's the why that matters the most that is the thing that we must understand before we talk about
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you know how long your skirt should be or how high your neckline should be we have to know why there
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is even a conversation about modesty should there be a conversation about modesty and what what we
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wear or what we don't wear i think there should be because the same god who pours out grace and
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forgiveness on us no matter what we've done the same god who wants the rose who sees his children as
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righteous and holy and good not because of what we've done or who we are but because of who he is
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and what he's done through jesus on the cross does have something to say about how we present ourselves
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and how we dress this god who as first john 4 8 tells us is love who loves us so much as john 3 16 says
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that he sent his son to die for us so that we could be reconciled to him and spend forever with him
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also says that how we dress and what we do with our bodies matter i grew up going to a southern
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baptist church went to church camp where we were always told the um you know importance of waiting
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to have sex until we get married not putting ourselves in situations with with the opposite
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sex where things could go too far dressing in a way that doesn't cause guys to last and so i'm familiar
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with all of this and i will just say for me personally though i can see how some of these
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things um and how they were taught could have negatively affected people it didn't lead me to
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be embarrassed about my body or um into the mentality that sexual assault could be somehow my fault or
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afraid of having sex one day there's a lot of people who say that being told sex is bad until marriage
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make sex difficult once you get married and that's probably true for those people but it really
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wasn't difficult to flip that switch it was just okay sex before marriage shouldn't do it sex after
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marriage should do it cool a lot of the shame that i know some people feel from what they say as a result
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of purity culture um just wasn't the case for me or for any of my friends that i know who grew up in
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the same world and i'm not invalidating what other people felt or experienced i'm just saying for a
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lot of people it was okay like it wasn't perfect but it was okay and then for a lot of people also
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like the whole true love waits campaign actually was super helpful for them and changed their mentality
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about sex and dating and their bodies for the better but here is my big beef with most of what we
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learned about abstaining from sex and what leads uh leads up to it uh growing up even though i didn't
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experience any like trauma from it my problem is i don't remember very often hearing why what we wear
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and how we conduct ourselves sexually matters i don't remember hearing it tied to the gospel
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and to god's grace but i rather heard it tied to guilt tactics like you know you're really not going to
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want to tell your future husband what you did with this guy you're dating now in high school because
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after you tell him he might not want to be with you anymore if y'all are engaged or dating like you're
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going to be or or something like you're going to be struggling with shame about this for the rest of
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your life and it's going to make your marriage really hard or for a guy you're going to be thinking
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about every girl that you ever done stuff with when you're having sex with your wife and then girls
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hear the same thing about their future husbands and it's just like this whole idea of purity is tied to
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what your future spouse is going to think and when you're a teenager there's no there's no guarantee
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that you're even going to get married so what's the motivation for people who aren't going to get
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married if it's just tied to the shame that your future spouse might make you feel and while i think
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it's good to know what your spouse has done actually before you get married especially after they became
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christians how i was told that those hypothetical conversations about the past with my future
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husband would go down with tears and sadness and shame and not knowing if if like we can handle
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the thought of us having had you know been involved with past significant others it's just not how it
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happened like it doesn't mean it's fun to think about but we loved and love each other so there was
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understanding there was grace there was uh there was gratitude that through all of that that that we're
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together there was just happiness that we have each other and i just don't think that the veiled
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threat that your future spouse may not want you anymore if you go too far with someone now is a good
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way to inspire abstinence before marriage it's just not that's not a healthy mentality and i think
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making modesty primarily about what other people may think is also ineffective because these things are
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not what drive our conduct as christians what we do we do not do from fear but from love first john 4 19
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says we love because he first loved us and john 14 15 says if you love me you will keep my commandments
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so because we love the god that loved us so much that he sent his son to die for us we seek to do what
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he says we seek to follow his commands because we are no longer who we were before we met christ we are
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no longer our own we are not our own authorities we don't just do what we want or even wear whatever
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we want anymore there are three passages on that that i want to read ephesians 2 1 through 5 and you
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were dead in the trespasses and sins in which you once walked following the course of this world
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following the prince of the power of the air the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience
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among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh carrying out the desires of the body and the
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mind and we're by nature children of wrath like the rest of mankind but god being rich in mercy
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because of the great love with which he loved us even when we were dead in our trespasses made us
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alive together with christ by grace you have been saved ephesians 4 22 through 23 put off your old self
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which belongs to your former manner of life and is corrupt through deceitful desires and to be renewed
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in the spirit of your minds and to put on the new self created after the likeness of god and true
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righteousness and holiness and then second corinthians 6 18 through 20 flee from sexual
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immorality flee from it every other sin a person commits is outside the body but the sexually immoral
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person commits sins against his own body or do you not know that your body is a temple of the holy
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spirit within you whom you have from god you are not your own for you were bought with a price so glorify
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god in your body so if you are a christian a follower of christ you've accepted by faith that god sent his
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son as a payment for your sin and you are by faith committing to live in accordance with what god says is
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good and right and true then you are no longer your own your old self is gone the god of self that
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you used to worship is dead so all of this self-empowerment talk about you doing what you want
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to do when you want to do it is totally irrelevant in the conversation about what life in christ looks
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like we're supposed to die to ourselves because we are now his he purchased us with his blood and he and
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he alone has every right to tell us what to do and what not to do how to dress and not to dress and
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and he does so not because he enjoys nitpicking but because he loves us and is dedicated to our
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holiness we obey him he wants us to be set apart first timothy 2 8 through 10 says this i desire then
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that in every place the men should pray lifting holy hands without anger or quarreling likewise also
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that women should uh should adorn themselves in respectable apparel with modesty and self-control
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not with braided hair or gold or pearls or costly attire but with what is proper for women who profess
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godliness with good works so just for some context this is a letter from the apostle paul to his son in
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the faith timothy giving pastoral instruction he gives some theological reminders but is mostly giving
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practical advice about orderly worship proper behavior for the christians in the church and
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things like that so this verse in chapter 2 is talking about in the context of the church pointing
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to the importance of not distracting from worship either by causing other women to envy uh flashy
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clothing or encouraging men to look at them but because the word for modesty here in the original greek
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which is a hedos uh means humility and reverence and really the opposite of self-focus or the desire
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for other people to look at you and because christians are always called to humility we understand
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that the call to modesty also extends beyond the walls of the church colossians 3 12 says uh put on
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then as god's chosen ones holy and beloved compassionate hearts kindness humility meekness and patience
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so what this tells us is that while there are external signifiers of modesty first and foremost it starts
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in the heart it starts with a heart that is totally in submission to god so focused on all the uh so
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focused on the on all the the attention and glory going to god that she will do nothing uh to distract from
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that now we don't read here that women have to wear a potato sack or can't wear makeup or brush
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their hair or look pretty we simply read that she dresses herself to point to god and not to point to
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ourself um and to herself and because modesty is first about what comes from within there may not be
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hard and fast rules about what women should and shouldn't wear and i say women because this passage
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addresses women not men about modesty and how we dress now that does not mean that men aren't also
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called to modesty because like we've said christian men and women are called to humility at all times
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and that means men are also not to dress in a way that intentionally draws eyes to themselves
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but either for men or women it is of course subjective i haven't always gotten this right that is for sure i
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haven't always been as modest as i could be um in how i dress the older you get i think like the the
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more mature you are the less tempted you are to kind of toe the line when it comes to clothing the more
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conservative probably your standards become um the appropriateness of dress may depend on the setting
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it may depend on the body type it may depend on who's around you but it's a little like the legal
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definition of obscenity like you know it when you see it you know modesty when you see it
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there's too short too tight too low too skimpy showing too much of or getting too close to
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showing anything that would qualify as indecent exposure if revealed uh those are all possible
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ways something can be immodest but again not primarily not primarily because of the clothing
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itself but because of what it does and what it says about our hearts that's what the bible says
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and it's about to whom we are trying to give attention and you might well say well i'm
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i wear this for me it's not for other people to look at me well again i would just say even if
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that is true if you are a christian you were still bought with a price and even if you wear
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that for you the question is never well what can i get away with but rather as christians the
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question is always how can i most glorify god with what i wear that may mean setting some rules
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for yourself and yes for the kids to whom god has given you to steward that is normal and good and
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responsible and right that is not teaching kids to be ashamed of themselves or that all men are
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predators who may be provoked to rape because a girl's skirt is too short that's not what teaching
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modesty means to kids it is saying look we are called to glorify god in all that we do he tells us
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to dress modestly and humbly and in this house here's what we think that looks like and as you
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get older we'll trust you more and more to make those decisions on your own i'm just kind of
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paraphrasing because i know those of you who have walked through the teenage years with your kids would
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know better than i do but that's just what i'm imagining based on scripture the conversation might go
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like that hey we will trust you more and more the older you get based on what we've taught you but we
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are still here to guide you to protect to protect you to set some um parameters as long as you are
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under our care because we love you and we love the god who made you and the god who made you loves you
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and this is what he says in his word and look the reality that a lot of progressives don't want to face
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today is that men and women are different like we think differently we think about sex and the opposite
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sex differently men are much more visual than women are they turn to thoughts about sex much more
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quickly because of a visual than women do that does not mean women are responsible for men's thoughts
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again it's just acknowledging reality and if we know that lust is a sin as jesus tells us that it is
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and if we love the men who are our brothers in christ then we should want to do everything we can
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to help them out matthew 5 27 through 29 jesus says this you have heard that it was said you shall
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not commit adultery but i say to you that everyone who looks at a woman with lustful intent has already
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committed adultery with her in his heart if your right eye causes you to sin tear it out and throw it
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away for it is better that you lose one of your members than that your whole body be thrown into hell
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so here jesus clearly does not blame a man's lust or does not lay the blame um uh for a man's lust at
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the feet of the woman after whom he is lusting so we should we shouldn't do that either but we also
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take from this passage that lust is a huge deal it's an important sin it's a bad sin as all sin is but
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it's it's it's a sin that jesus took time to point out that jesus is saying that you should take very
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drastic measures to stop yourself from doing this so if we as women know that and we know how the male
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mind works and don't let anyone tell you it doesn't work that way by the way you'll also notice that jesus
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is addressing men in that passage isn't the just isn't the isn't uh it's a loving thing to do
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to within reason dress in a way that is not intentionally distracting again you can't control
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what someone thinks or does and i'm not saying that you can i'm also not saying that you should
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be ashamed of your body because your body was made by god and is good i'm not saying that a man that is
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that is your husband thinking about you sexually is wrong because god calls that sexual relationship
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good too i'm talking about loving the body of christ by doing what we can to spur them on towards
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holiness by conducting ourselves with modesty and humility mark 7 20 through 23 says jesus says this
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and he said what comes out of a person is what defiles him for from within out of the heart or from
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within out of the heart of man come evil thoughts sexual immorality theft murder adultery coveting
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wickedness deceit sensuality envy slander pride foolishness all these evil things come from within
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and they defile a person jesus said that i sometimes wonder like when people try to paint
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jesus as the person who doesn't care about sin i'm like what bible are you reading these sins are big
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deals and they obviously have bad consequences so love would say that we do what we can to resist these
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sins ourselves and to help those around us to do the same as much as is within our power so here's my
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conclusion critics of purity culture have some good points absolutely but there is no reason
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certainly no biblical reason to throw the baby out with the bath water and say that what we wear doesn't
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matter to god because it does it does matter to him and god loves us very much and i have to trust he
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absolutely knows what's best for us and that we will never go wrong if our desire and all that we do
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is to honor him and i pray that he gives me the grace to do that better and better and to teach
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our kids to do the same thing and i pray that for you guys as well tough topic i hope that i covered it
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in a way that makes sense and is helpful for you guys i will see you guys back here tomorrow