Tag: worldliness

Long Pants, Basketball, and Modesty in the News

~ fundyreformed ~ 21 Comments

Recently, ESPN.com highlighted a small Christian school that required their boys to wear pants, when playing basketball [HT: Seth McBee]. For a couple years when I was in high school, I encountered the same thing. Check out Seth’s post, or the original ESPN article for the entire interview, as I’m sure many of my readers will have had some firsthand experience with this kind of standard. Let me give an excerpt from the interview, and then my own reflection that I shared at Seth’s blog.

reporter: Please forgive my ignorance on this point, but is there a specific verse of the Bible that addresses this?

school principal: There is, but I’d have to look it up — I don’t have it handy, but it’s definitely in Scripture. And I don’t know if you know this, but our girls’ basketball team dresses in skirts. [And the school’s cheerleading squad wears long skirts.]

reporter: From a layman’s standpoint, it seems like maybe you’d want the girls to wear pants as well, so they wouldn’t show any skin. But I’m guessing you don’t want the girls wearing pants or dressing the same as the boys, right?

school principal: Yeah, because the Bible says there should be a separate distinction between a man and a woman in terms of their apparel, so that’s what it’s all about.

Okay, some are laughing right now. Some can’t imagine this. But the sense of loyalty to the standards of a strict fundamentalist school is quite strong. Consider my own reflections (shared at Seth’s blog).

That brings back memories for me! I was one of those long-pants-ers.

Our school ran about 50-70 or so and we had a very low budget, so we bought uniforms but didn’t order the shorts. The plan was to order them a few years later, or so we were told. So we played in warm-up pants.

But because of this we were able to play one or two other schools that would not play against any team that did not wear pants. We did have a cheer-leading squad and their skirts went down to the knee or below.

We were independent fundamental Baptists, not charismatics.

Looking back on it, we sure looked stupid. And they were uncomfortable.

The college I went to did not allow men to wear shorts except for in the gym, pretty much. Women had to wear skirts/dresses all the time (even in the dorms). And no, there is no verse in scripture about the shorts thing.

There was even a time I wouldn’t wear shorts in the dorm because I just wasn’t sure whether it was sinful or not to wear them.

Boy, God has brought me a long way! And opened my eyes to His grace along the way.

[Just] thought I’d just share my perspective on this interesting story!

Anyone else have any memories about anything similar to this?

“Worldliness: Resisting the Seduction of a Fallen World” edited by C.J. Mahaney

~ Bob Hayton

Authors: C.J. Mahaney (editor), and others
Format: Hardcover
Page Count: 191
Publisher: Crossway
Publication Date: 2008
ISBN: 1433502801
Rating: 5 of 5 stars

Any book entitled Worldliness: Resisting the Seduction of a Fallen World promises not to be your average book on the shelf of today’s Christian bookstore. The subject of worldliness, or love for the values of this fallen world, is not a popular theme.

The contributors of this book, start off by asking if 1 John 2:15 [“Do not love the world or anything in the world”], is really in most Christian’s Bibles. All of us are guilty of worldliness. But how do we go about avoiding this sin? C.J. Mahaney explains:

Some people try to define worldliness as living outside a specific set of rules or conservative standards. If you listen to music with a certain beat, dress in fashionable clothes, watch movies with a certain rating…surely you must be worldly.

Others, irritated and repulsed by rules that seem arbitrary, react to definitions of worldliness, assuming it’s impossible to define. Or they think legalism will inevitably be the result, so we shouldn’t even try.

…Both views are wrong. For by focusing exclusively on externals or dismissing the importance of externals, we’ve missed the point…. the real location of worldliness is internal. It resides in our hearts. (29)

The book goes on to try to navigate between these two extremes and call today’s church to a healthy carefulness about how we interact with the world at large. With chapters on movies, music, money and modesty, the book aims to guide believers as they think critically about the myriad of choices facing us in today’s culture.

As one who came out of a very strict fundamentalist background, this book especially interested me. I was encouraged to see contemporary evangelical Christians warning about the social dangers that abound. And I noted that the book did not offer a list of rules which I should follow more closely than Scripture. Instead the authors were careful to encourage discernment and teach general guiding principles.

To some the book will seem quite strict. Think “radical”, instead. The authors aim to glorify God in everything they do. That will come across as totally radical, and will require a unique focus on the temptations and opportunities that surround us.

While the discussion on media (movies) and music was quite good, the chapter on money and modesty wasn’t quite as captivating for me. I’d heard a lot of Mahaney’s stuff on modesty before, so maybe that’s why. But any lull in those chapters was more than made up by Mahaney’s opening chapter and the closing one by Jeff Purswell.

That final chapter focused on how to love the world. We are to love God’s creation and the people He has made. We are placed within His world and called to serve for its good. Perhaps since externals were over emphasized in my fundamentalist roots, this chapter on healthy interaction with the world resonated with me so well. In any case, Purswell paints a glorious picture of God’s covenant dealings with all the earth.

Moving from God’s overarching redemption plan, he elevates our mundane day-to-day duties as part of that plan. He closes his section on work with this appeal:

So don’t just “go to work” and “do your job”–see your job as a way to imitate God, serve God, and love others. This doesn’t mean work will never be difficult or frustrating or tedious; the curse ensures that it will be at times. But God’s creational purposes and Christ’s redeeming work infuse our work with meaning, and promise God-glorifying fruit as a result. (158)

Purswell calls us to enjoy, engage and evangelize the world. “We receive God’s earthly gifts, pursue God’s purposes in earthly life, and work for the salvation of people made in God’s image. All of life lived for the glory of God (1 Cor. 10:31)”.

The final chapter exposes the tension once again. While we are to be in the world and working for its good, we are also not to love what it loves and prize what it prizes. Once again, the book stresses two bents which typify Christians:

Some have strictly spiritual preoccupations. For them the present is of little consequence, pleasures are perilous, spirituality means self-denial…

Others relish life in this world. Their delight in God’s temporal gifts is unrestrained, their enjoyment of their physical existence untempered, their hope in earthly endeavors absolute…. (168-169)

The answer finally is the cross of Christ. The cross tells us who we are, interprets the world we live in, transforms our view of people and gives our lives purpose. Finding our place in God’s story of redemption is the ultimate cure for a love of this world’s desires.

This book has the potential to transform your view of the Christian life. I cannot recommend it highly enough.

Disclaimer: This book was provided by Crossway Books. The reviewer was under no obligation to offer a positive review.

This book is available for purchase at the following sites: Amazon.com or direct from Crossway.