The "dress code" is essential... - Page 6

faithit166 · #51 08-26-2011, 11:38 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by *AQuietPlace*

so that people will know you're a Christian?

I think I've disproved that theory.

I recently got a new job. I no longer follow the Pentecostal 'dress code' and haven't since I've worked there. I honestly was curious if it would prove to be true that no one would know I was a Christian, or "different", without the "separateness" of the dress code.

I'm not the preachy type. I'm not the type to go around telling everyone I'm a Christian. I just try to be friendly, courteous, considerate and do a good job. If asked what I'm doing this weekend I might say something like - "Oh, we have a carnival at church we're working on", or something like that, but other than that the subject of whether or not I'm a Christian hasn't come up.

A few weeks ago, one of the ladies I work with stopped mid-sentence and apologized to me for saying a curse word. I probably looked at her funny because it surprised me. She said - "I'm so sorry, I try not to cuss around you, but it keeps slipping out!" She said - "I know you're a church-goer, and I don't mean to talk like that around you." I was actually quite stunned because most of the people we work with go to church... and most of them cuss.

About a week later I was in the file room and another woman dropped a box and said something under her breath. She popped up and said - "I didn't cuss!! I'd be so embarrassed if I cussed around you!"

Again I was surprised. I really had not known at all that anyone noticed anything different about me.

Apparently a light can shine through even without the dress code.

And I don't say that arrogantly, I say it very humbly and gratefully. Grateful that God lets his light shine through me. Grateful that his Spirit is strong enough to shine through even through our fumbling and stumbling.

I'm just posting this because it's something I honestly wondered about, and was a little concerned about. I'd heard it so often that the dress code was necessary so that people would know you were different. I am truly grateful to learn that that wasn't true.

just a question why did you follow the pentecostal dress code in the first place

houston · #52 08-26-2011, 11:47 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by faithit166

just a question why did you follow the pentecostal dress code in the first place

peer presure

Truthseeker · #53 08-26-2011, 11:51 AM

I think it's a mistake to dismiss clothing as unimportant to our witness. clothes isw a form of communication.

faithit166 · #54 08-26-2011, 11:52 AM

yes possibly, i was just wondering if she believed it with her whole heart or if it was because thats what everyone one else there did

houston · #55 08-26-2011, 11:55 AM

I do not believe anyone here is dismissing modesty.

Adam · #56 08-26-2011, 12:08 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Truthseeker

I think it's a mistake to dismiss clothing as unimportant to our witness. clothes isw a form of communication.

I think this statement has some merit. Can a former prostitute witness to an active prostitute while dressed as a prostitute? However, to answer this question, we must first define what are the dress codes of a prostitute. Same goes for a former pimp or former biker gang member. Maybe. Can a former biker witness to a biker gang while wearing a 3 piece business suit? Or wear a biker outfit so he relates to them better? Sometimes I wonder if it makes a difference. If a biker uniform, the bikers would criticize him for still putting on that he's still a biker. If a suit, then he gets ridiculed for looking like a bankster Wall Street crook, or even an old Chicago mobster, or may be called Jim Jones, he used to wear suits, too. I don't think anyone wins this argument based on clothes alone. There has to be the pure and genuine inside. Lord knows even a sinner such as I knows this. I was once like you all and every co-worker knew I was saved. I'd visit a church and have people come up to me expressing how much light was coming out of me. But here's the rub....I've never spoken in tongues. Just prayed and fasted all the time. It was very evident that I was "different". It was the most spiritual time of my life. And it was the mid-90's, so I was wearing Dockers and short sleeve shirts at the time.

AmericanAngel · #57 08-26-2011, 01:17 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Aquila

If we allow ourselves to be one with Christ Jesus through the Spirit... will we dress immodestly? No. It will not be in our nature to do so.

The question isn't - "What should be our dress code?"

The question should be - "I am one with Christ; what is Jesus going to wear today?"

A dress code cannot change a person's nature. Union with Christ is the only thing that can change a person's nature.

I've seen women in a T-Shirt and pair of blue jeans who had more modesty, simplicity, and holiness of spirit than many of those who dress according to a given "dress code". Some of them are vile, hateful, religious, prideful, arrogant spirits who's attitudes would make a goat vomit. Painted tombs full of dead men's bones.

If you are one with Christ... dont' ask about the dress code. Simply get up the morning, find your identity in Christ and ask yourself... What will Jesus wear today? Because He is the vine... and you are a branch through which His very life flows.

AMEN!!!!

AmericanAngel · #58 08-26-2011, 01:19 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by houston

peer presure

agree

*AQuietPlace* · #59 08-26-2011, 01:44 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by faithit166

just a question why did you follow the pentecostal dress code in the first place

Raised that way. Not doing it wasn't exactly an option.

I continued well into my adulthood because it was what I had always been taught, and I was afraid to question it - I had also been taught that I could be lead into a spirit of delusion if I questioned these things.

But once I made up my mind that I was going to study things for myself, see what the Bible really and truly taught, my views on many things changed.

Of course, that is the VERY short version of my journey.

I also realize that for anyone who hasn't walked in my shoes, it's very easy to jump to judgment to just assume that I've taken the easy way out, or decided to just follow my flesh. But I know differently.

This journey has been a tough one, one that has been done with much, much prayer.