Posted by Editormum on 8 January 2010 in
News Commentary |
∞
This one is for my lady friends only, please. If you are one of my gentlemen friends, please come back tomorrow, because today’s topic is not suitable for mixed company.
Like many people yesterday, I reviewed my Facebook home page in puzzlement as friend after friend posted an apparently random colour on her status. I did not know what it was about until this morning, when a male friend asked on his profile “what’s with the colours?” and several of his friends posted that these people were posting the colour of their brassieres to help raise awareness for breast cancer research. I was shocked.
I was even more shocked (and I think my friends would have been, too) by the comments left by the men who were answering the question. More than one of them said he wanted to see pictures! And while I know that some of those men don’t profess to be Christians, at least a couple of them do.
So I was glad to see that at least one of my Facebook friends had taken exception to the idea — publicly. Her status said, “As Christian women we wouldn’t stand up in church and announce such things as ‘colors’ to our fellow brothers, so why would we do it here on FB? Please ladies, don’t do things that may cause our brothers to sin.”
And wow, did she take some flak! While there were several women who thanked her for the different perspective and stated that they were going to change or remove the colour posts from their FB pages, there were a few who responded with a vitriolic attack.
I’m no prude, but I don’t think it’s appropriate for others to know what colour undergarments I am wearing. I would be horrified and disgusted if random women walked up to my brothers and announced that they were wearing black undergarments. If I were married or engaged, and other women came up to my husband or boyfriend and announced that they were wearing red underwear, or no underwear at all (and yes, I did see a few people post “commando” or “none”), I would probably have to be physically restrained. Because I would be outraged by such an offensive comment made to a man who was clearly committed to me. I don’t want to imagine what you look like in your underwear — whatever colour you may choose — and I don’t want my husband or boyfriend visualizing you that way, either.
Beyond that, for those who claim to be Christians, we are under orders to live modest and seemly lives, to refrain from causing others to sin or be tempted to sin, and to maintain purity in our actions. We are called to practise Christian charity. It is, at the very least, an affront to charity to announce the colour of your undergarments to the world. It is certainly immodest. And from the men’s responses, it is clear that both Christian and non-Christian men were being tempted to impure thoughts by the postings.
So, to my Christian sisters, I say: before you join in a trend or movement — even one that seems to support a good cause — please think carefully, or even pray for wisdom. Make sure that it is something that God would want you to do. Something that, should you have to stand before Jesus and talk about it, you wouldn’t be ashamed. I can’t speak for others, but I would be ashamed to stand face-to-face with Jesus and say, “Yes, I told several thousand people what colour my underclothes were.” Not that I am ashamed of my underclothes, but the immodesty of having announced it to the world would make me ashamed before my Lord.
To my friends who do not claim to be Christians, I appeal to your own sense of rightness. Would you want some random female coming up to your husband, boyfriend, brother, or dad, and saying, “I’m wearing pink underwear”? Do you really think that such announcements trigger thoughts like “Oh, I need to contribute to breast cancer research”? I don’t want to be offensive, but if you really think that the average man would think about breast cancer research after being told what colour your underwear is, then you are very naïve and do not understand men’s thought-processes at all.
Just because it’s typed on Facebook doesn’t mean that it’s any less outrageous or immodest. Now, if you are looking to outrage and cause discomfort, that’s a whole nother issue altogether — one that I do not intend to address. But if you are hoping to raise awareness about breast cancer and hoping to inspire people to support breast cancer research, there are much better, much more socially appropriate ways.
Tags: breast cancer, Christianity, Facebook, Ladies Only, modesty, Online Life, Religion, respect
For Ladies Only: Regarding Modesty
This one is for my lady friends only, please. If you are one of my gentlemen friends, please come back tomorrow, because today’s topic is not suitable for mixed company.
Like many people yesterday, I reviewed my Facebook home page in puzzlement as friend after friend posted an apparently random colour on her status. I did not know what it was about until this morning, when a male friend asked on his profile “what’s with the colours?” and several of his friends posted that these people were posting the colour of their brassieres to help raise awareness for breast cancer research. I was shocked.
I was even more shocked (and I think my friends would have been, too) by the comments left by the men who were answering the question. More than one of them said he wanted to see pictures! And while I know that some of those men don’t profess to be Christians, at least a couple of them do.
So I was glad to see that at least one of my Facebook friends had taken exception to the idea — publicly. Her status said, “As Christian women we wouldn’t stand up in church and announce such things as ‘colors’ to our fellow brothers, so why would we do it here on FB? Please ladies, don’t do things that may cause our brothers to sin.”
And wow, did she take some flak! While there were several women who thanked her for the different perspective and stated that they were going to change or remove the colour posts from their FB pages, there were a few who responded with a vitriolic attack.
I’m no prude, but I don’t think it’s appropriate for others to know what colour undergarments I am wearing. I would be horrified and disgusted if random women walked up to my brothers and announced that they were wearing black undergarments. If I were married or engaged, and other women came up to my husband or boyfriend and announced that they were wearing red underwear, or no underwear at all (and yes, I did see a few people post “commando” or “none”), I would probably have to be physically restrained. Because I would be outraged by such an offensive comment made to a man who was clearly committed to me. I don’t want to imagine what you look like in your underwear — whatever colour you may choose — and I don’t want my husband or boyfriend visualizing you that way, either.
Beyond that, for those who claim to be Christians, we are under orders to live modest and seemly lives, to refrain from causing others to sin or be tempted to sin, and to maintain purity in our actions. We are called to practise Christian charity. It is, at the very least, an affront to charity to announce the colour of your undergarments to the world. It is certainly immodest. And from the men’s responses, it is clear that both Christian and non-Christian men were being tempted to impure thoughts by the postings.
So, to my Christian sisters, I say: before you join in a trend or movement — even one that seems to support a good cause — please think carefully, or even pray for wisdom. Make sure that it is something that God would want you to do. Something that, should you have to stand before Jesus and talk about it, you wouldn’t be ashamed. I can’t speak for others, but I would be ashamed to stand face-to-face with Jesus and say, “Yes, I told several thousand people what colour my underclothes were.” Not that I am ashamed of my underclothes, but the immodesty of having announced it to the world would make me ashamed before my Lord.
To my friends who do not claim to be Christians, I appeal to your own sense of rightness. Would you want some random female coming up to your husband, boyfriend, brother, or dad, and saying, “I’m wearing pink underwear”? Do you really think that such announcements trigger thoughts like “Oh, I need to contribute to breast cancer research”? I don’t want to be offensive, but if you really think that the average man would think about breast cancer research after being told what colour your underwear is, then you are very naïve and do not understand men’s thought-processes at all.
Just because it’s typed on Facebook doesn’t mean that it’s any less outrageous or immodest. Now, if you are looking to outrage and cause discomfort, that’s a whole nother issue altogether — one that I do not intend to address. But if you are hoping to raise awareness about breast cancer and hoping to inspire people to support breast cancer research, there are much better, much more socially appropriate ways.
Tags: breast cancer, Christianity, Facebook, Ladies Only, modesty, Online Life, Religion, respect