From theledger.com:
A church has asked for a citywide ban on low-hanging pants and gold-capped teeth, saying they promote a thuggish image.
Changing the image of young people could help Jacksonville cut unemployment, racial profiling and a rising per-capita murder rate now the highest in the state, said Richard Burton, deacon of Epiphany Baptist Church.
The 250 member independent Baptist church approved the resolution last month.
I don't know what to say.
... I'd say they could start with point 4 in your previous post ... "redevelop a philosophy that is centered on the non-negotiables and not on the negotiables" ... but then, hey! what do I know?
dc
If you wish to engage publicly in a way that draws attention to yourself by the way you dress or worse still affirms unholy and immoral behaviors go to a night club.
Cudos to those with the right moral understanding to insist that reverence be reflected by your person and by the way that you dress when approaching the altar of God.
For my younger brothers and sisters who may by chance read this, let me explain it in a more simple and direct context.
When doing what is right by God, never retreat, never retract, never apologize. Get the right think done and let the wolves howl!
Paul:
I'm not sure this church is going about community transformation the right way.
Jesus goes to Jerusalem and messes with the commercial enterprises being operated out of the Temple, his Father's House. I don't think the "right way" of effecting community transformation was part of his agenda or concern.
Humility and reverence before God in His House is a non-negotiable.
If you think a gansta fashion pose is an appropriate way to go before the altar of God, that concerns me more than the foolish child who ridiculously thinks such an image is acceptable.
Sometimes being a man means saying "No, not here. Your behavior and expression are an affront to God and will not be tolerated. End of story!"
We have lied to ourselves and our children long enough by tolerating, even affirming all sorts of immoral and Godless behaviors under the hideous banner of "rights and freedoms of expression".
We live by God's grace. We don't have a right to anything!
Letting people worship only when it suits them, in envioronments that must first be pleasing to their sensibilities, fashioned and behaving in manners that are offensive to His teachings, is
to worship before a mirror, not before God.
Paul:
I appreciate your comments.
I think this church is concerned about kid's dress in general, not just as they come to worship.
I always get concerned when the church wants to see people change for the positive (good thing) but begins with externals. I guess it's not too different from Christian initiatives in the past, but I think in the end you can change the people's dress and clean up their language and make them act differently, but still have never changed their herats.
That sounds like the Law to me, and we know where that got us. It's not that the Law itself was wrong; it just lacks the power to do what needs to be done within us.
I think this church would be far more effective if it introduced people to the only Person who can transform us.
Thanks Darryl. Likewise I appreciate yours.
Fashion is pervasive. And it matters. From the executive dressing for success to the teen dressing for peer approval. Clothes have become uniforms. Brands that suggest more than just function, they reflect a style and an attitude. They reflect internals.
Clothing and the attitude with which you wear it, speaks to those around you about who you are and what you value.
I think if we do insist on appropriate clothing for all of us, and if we embrace that insistence willingly as a sign of humility and reverence to God when we worship, we will effect a change of heart.
Sorry if I misread the origional article, I thought the congregation in question had banned such clothing from being worn in it's church and was looking to extend the ban to include the rest of the city.
Paul:
Jesus went pretty hard at the religious leaders who focused on proper externals. I think any time a church preaches a message about changing the externals rather than changing the heart, it has ceased to preach the Gospel.
I actually appreciate that about society today. A generation ago you could pretend to be Christian because you were "nice" (with all the externals to boot). I much prefer things today - nobody is pretending anymore. It makes it easier to see that the real issue was never baggy pants. The real issue is always the heart, which then will change anything of importance that is external (although maybe not baggy pants - how important is that?)