I want to address something I usually won’t talk a lot about . . .

Recently, as I was leaving church I saw a young lady, and although I didn’t see her face and do not know who she was, she could have been Cat Woman. She was wearing some kind of curve-fitting spandex super hero suit that left absolutely nothing to the imagination. [NOTE: I have since been told that this is called a Catsuit. I could add a picture to this post of what the a Catsuit looks like but they are not decent enough to post.]

Now, I’m 55 years old, I’m strong in the Lord, and so I learned a long time ago how to avoid and evade things that could cause me to have trouble when Cat Woman shows up. But I guarantee, she gave some men fits that Sunday! What struck me was why? Why would any woman show up to church (or if she is a Christian show up anywhere) looking like this? (That day I also ran into another example of a woman who I know is sincerely trying to be a godly woman but gave no thought to the signals she was sending to men by the way she was dressed.)

Now let’s get a few things straight here: I am not expecting ungodly, non-Christian women to do any better than what I have described above. They should! But why would they if they have no godly standard they care about? But many Christian women are guilty of dressing in a way that makes life difficult for the men around them.

Now, the two most common arguments against what I am saying are:

1) Women should be free to dress any way they want to and

2) Christian men should get their minds out of the gutter

No. Neither women nor men should be able to dress however they want to with no regard for others. That is an American value, not a Christian one. In Romans 14:13-15:3, Paul makes it clear that our personal freedoms do not trump the needs of our weaker brothers and sisters.

13 Therefore let us stop passing judgment on one another. Instead, make up your mind not to put any stumbling block or obstacle in your brother’s way. 14 As one who is in the Lord Jesus, I am fully convinced that no food is unclean in itself. But if anyone regards something as unclean, then for him it is unclean. 15 If your brother is distressed because of what you eat, you are no longer acting in love. Do not by your eating destroy your brother for whom Christ died. 16 Do not allow what you consider good to be spoken of as evil. 17 For the kingdom of God is not a matter of eating and drinking, but of righteousness, peace and joy in the Holy Spirit, 18 because anyone who serves Christ in this way is pleasing to God and approved by men. 19 Let us therefore make every effort to do what leads to peace and to mutual edification. 20 Do not destroy the work of God for the sake of food. All food is clean, but it is wrong for a man to eat anything that causes someone else to stumble. 21 It is better not to eat meat or drink wine or to do anything else that will cause your brother to fall. 22 So whatever you believe about these things keep between yourself and God. Blessed is the man who does not condemn himself by what he approves. 23 But the man who has doubts is condemned if he eats, because his eating is not from faith; and everything that does not come from faith is sin. 15We who are strong ought to bear with the failings of the weak and not to please ourselves. 2 Each of us should please his neighbor for his good, to build him up. 3 For even Christ did not please himself…

Yes. Christian men should strive to be pure and feed on what is godly and pure, and to walk in the Spirit. And yes, if a man is not walking in the Spirit he can be tempted easily without even seeing a woman! BUT if a woman wears “gutter clothes” a good man can be lured back to the gutter. To not understand this is to misunderstand the fundamental nature of the flesh and our battle against it! And not just our battle but the other person’s battle. That’s why Paul says “We who are strong ought to bear with the failings of the weak and not to please ourselves.” (Rom. 15:1)

So yes! Men ought to be pure! But there is no excuse for a godly woman to dress in a way that will cause men to look at her or to cause godly men to have to avoid her.