THE DANGERS OF IMMODESTY

  By Nathaniel A. Urshan

In Hawthorne Nevada, nearly a hundred high school students marched, opposing the latest fad of waitresses and dancers in night spots parading in topless gowns, calling such actions indecent and immoral. Certainly, in these days of dwindling morals and declining ideals, we need more young people willing to stand up for the cause of righteousness.

These young people are to be commended for their oppositions to the degrading fads and fashions seeking to get hold upon America, and eating Like a degenerating cancer into our society. I am afraid that nudity will one day prevail, crowned as the goddess of so-called freedom in this country, unless we take a stand against the current trend, as did the Apostle Paul, in opposing the popular deities of his day. Remember how the people were worshipers of the goddess Diana? Paul came along, persuading the people that there were no gods made with hands, and that only the true God of heaven, as revealed in Jesus Christ, was to be worshipped. The breakdown of modesty is vividly described by Isaiah, the prophet, who saw the day concerning the virgin daughter of Babylon. We read in the forty seventh chapter of Isaiah, "Thou shalt no more be called tender and delicate. Take the millstones, and grind meal: uncover thy locks, make bare the leg, uncover the thigh." I daresay we have witnessed this trend in our day. Where will it stop? We are not prepared to say, for we see the avalanche of human, lustful desire sweeping over our land.

With the coming of World War II, we saw mothers leaving homes by the thousands to work in shops and offices. Today, some twenty-five million women are gainfully employed. That is two out of three. It isn't that such employment is wrong, but it is certainly not conducive to the highest ideal set for godly womanhood, Working in a factory or place of business among men, some of them very ungodly, has, on occasion, led to the breakdown of the home, to some illicit relationships, or to some similar tragedy.

The Apostle Paul set forth the standard for the Christian mother when he wrote, "I will therefore, that the younger women marry, bear children, and guide the house" (I Timothy 5:14). Who can deny that it was when the modern mother left the home to become "Rosie the Riveter," that we saw a sudden decline of morals in America, and a tremendous rise in the divorce rate. So the first step in the downfall of womanhood, is taking to the millstone and grinding meal - a figurative term indicating woman's employment in industries. The second step seen in woman's downfall is the cutting of her hair. Apostle Paul declared. "If a woman have long hair, it is a glory to her."

In the apostle's day, for a woman to have short hair identified her with harlots, stripped of her long hair which God has ordained as a source of beauty and attractiveness. What is then left for a woman but to rely upon her physical body to attract the opposite sex? This she has done. This has led us down the path of immorality and degeneracy in America. In fact, Soviet articles and editorials have come to picture the nude woman as the symbol of a decadent America.

In a back issue of Reader's Digest, it is observed that, after the terror of the French Revolution, all hell broke loose. Women cut their hair first, and then took off their clothes. Is this not what is happening in our day? For Isaiah goes on to show the utter abandonment of modesty by women who make bare the leg and uncover the thigh. A permanent editor of a Roman Catholic publication states, "With each passing summer, the streets become more and more like open-air burlesque houses, with many of our women and young girls parading around publicly in the shortest of shorts and other indecent attire. " Continues the editor, "If our modern women continue exposing their bodies, as they do publicly on our streets, on movies, on TV shows, and in various fields of American life, this nation- may soon suffer a fate as tragic as that which befell humanity because of the fall of our first parents. As the women go, so goes the nation."

King Solomon, warning of the woman who parades in the attire of the harlot, declared, "She hath cast down many wounded. Yea, many strong men have been slain by her." And then the wisest of men warns, "Let not thine heart decline to her ways, do not astray in her paths. Her house is the way to hell, going down to the chambers of death." The editor to whom I referred above. notes, "Many women will say they wear the modern fashions because they are more comfortable and the weather is hot. But I'd like to point out, `It's hot in hell, too, very hot.' It would seem wise for our women to bear with a little heat and discomfort by being modestly dressed, rather than to make of themselves serious occasion of sin, perhaps leading themselves and other souls into the hot fires of hell for all eternity."

The Apostle Paul wept as he described those who gloried in their shame. And he goes on to say that they are enemies of the cross of Christ, whose end is destruction, He urged Christian women to adorn themselves in modest apparel with shamefacedness and sobriety, as women professing godliness with good works.

The Scriptures are not urging a return to Puritanic plainness, and the Christian women need not appear drab and austere. But she is told to dress modestly. Modest attire is that which does not call undue attention to itself. A fine publication asks, "Where is that thing called modesty today? Is it almost a memory of yesterday?" This individual goes on to observe, "Modesty is no longer considered necessary to the protection of virtue." Men need to be warned too. Jesus said. "Whosoever looketh on a woman to lust after her, hath committed adultery with her already in his heart." David, of whom it was said that he was a man after God's own heart, was led into this sin of adultery because of lust. It would appear that the only decent procedure for a respectable man to follow is to look the other way when confronted with indecent attire.

These are serious days. The problems which confront us to speak the judgment that one day will befall us. We face the wrath of God that fell upon past civilizations because of decaying morals. The Apostle Jude, referring to Sodom and Gomorrah, says that these cities, " . . . giving themselves over " to fornication and going after strange flesh are set forth for an example, suffering the vengeance of eternal fire." I'm sorry to say this, but we don't expect America to wake up until it's too late. Judgment in the form of an atomic war, or the invasion of an enemy on our soil, may be the means it will take for God to wake us up. Or it may be the coming of the Lord. Many will then be left behind because they refuse to obey the command to be ready. It is in view of our Lord's coming, that He says, "Behold, I come as a thief. Blessed is he that watcheth, and keepeth his garments, lest he walk naked, and they see his shame."

Although this scripture refers to our being attired with Christ's righteousness, yet I believe it also relates itself to the Christian walk and behavior. To the Laodiceans, our Lord spoke, saying, "I counsel thee to buy of me gold tried in the fire, that thou mayest be clothed, and that the shame of thy nakedness do not appear." Anywhere we look in this great book called God's Work, we run into the definite fact that Almighty God is opposed to the immodesty that is part of the way of life today. We are actually shirking our responsibility as ministers if we do not declare these important aspects of a Christian's relationship to society. Somehow, in our very strange day, the strength of the minister's voice has been stolen by the strength of powerful congregations who refuse to let the minister declare himself as a voice and an oracle of Almighty God. But, thank God, every once in a while we can hear the voice that will declare the shame of immodesty. We need to bring ourselves up short, and recognize that many are venturing down a pathway that bids fair to invite the judgment of our God upon their lives. Oh how we need this message today, when Christians seem so unconcerned about their testimony before an unbelieving world. No wonder we have not been able to convert society, for too often Christians dress, look, and act just like the world around them. But, when the Lord comes, I am afraid many may be in for some shocks and surprises.

As the Laodiceans, who thought they were Christians, they will find they are spued out into the gaping jaws of the great tribulation. Thus, in the words of the Scripture, we would urge, "Be ye therefore ready, for in such an hour as ye think not, the Son of Man cometh." I urge you, in the name of our Lord, to consider that these things are of vital importance.

 (The above article appeared in an issue of The Pentecostal Herald.)

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