The Modesty Survey is an exciting, anonymous discussion between Christian guys and girls who care about modesty.

Orly? It’s a discussion, is it? It looks a lot more list a list of “what happens to my sexy parts when you wear…” There is no discussion. There is no input from women or the “girls” who are referenced in the survey questions. And “exciting” is debatable.

The Modesty Survey results have been released, but there is still an important message for Christian guys to communicate to their sisters in Christ. Whether you participated in the survey or not, the [petition] is your opportunity to affirm and commend the following biblical truths surrounding feminine modesty by adding your name to the hundreds of signatures below. As a Christian guy with a deep appreciation for feminine modesty, I hereby affirm and commend the following biblical truths to my sisters in Christ: · Please, approach the survey as a resource, not a list of rules. · Always honor your parents above the results of the survey. (Ephesians 6:1-3) · Seek personal feedback on your attire from the godly men and women in your life. · Remember, modesty is first and foremost a matter of the heart, not the wardrobe. · Faithfully pursue the imperishable beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit. (1 Peter 3:4) · Let your good works outshine your outward appearance. (1 Timothy 2:10) · Dress for the glory of God. (1 Corinthians 10:31)

That’s not the first time they’ve mentioned their “sisters in Christ.” What’s with that? Why can’t they say “Christian women?” Oh, right, because the women can’t be referenced as individuals, but instead have to be talked about in relation to real people (you know, men, and Jesus). Plus, how can anyone take these verses seriously when you read the verses around them and realize how insane the statements are? The one about honoring your parents is just a few lines before “Slaves, obey your earthly masters with respect and fear.” It would be a hard thing to convince me that biblical rules are important in the present and worth following when it tells me to be a modest dresser and a loyal slave (they talk more about hard things later).

What do they mean by a deep appreciation for feminine modesty? Is there masculine modesty? Robot modesty? This sounds like it is another nail in the coffin for the characterization of it as a “discussion” since it is clearly a one-sided deal and has no requests of men and what they wear or how they behave, or whether they should be modest.

What about bullet point five? Let’s look up that Bible verse (and the verse before it):

Your beauty should not come from outward adornment, such as elaborate hairstyles and the wearing of gold jewelry or fine clothes. Rather, it should be that of your inner self, the unfading beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which is of great worth in God’s sight.

You should have the unfading beauty of a gentle, quiet spirit. Of course, of course. This is just for women, right? Yep, just for women. The verses preceding are the ones about wives submitting to their husbands, etc. etc. Then you get to this gem:

Husbands, in the same way be considerate as you live with your wives, and treat them with respect as the weaker partner and as heirs with you of the gracious gift of life, so that nothing will hinder your prayers.

I digress. We could sit here all day and read the Bible to find the outlandish, archaic, sexist things it says about relationships. Back to feminine modesty and Bible threads.

So, you should have a quiet spirit and not wear gold or have awesome hair. Oh no! I’m out:

And the girl in their video. She’s out for wearing gold (you broke your own rules eight seconds in! Not to mention some of those hussies in slacks…)

Do I really have to point out that The Rebelution, the people who orchestrated the modesty survey, has a series of conferences called the “Do Hard Things” tour? They are clearly unaware of “that’s-what-she-said” jokes.

You have to do some digging through the videos and random, edgy designs for teens (being a teen is so edgy!), but then you find the real description of the modesty survey and its purpose:

1.7% of the guys surveyed feel strongly that girls shouldn’t show their calves. Is it now Burkha Day for all well-meaning Christian women? Absolutely not! In reading through the survey, you might have trouble finding a single item of clothing that someone, somewhere, doesn’t have a problem with. So where do we draw the line? Well, the fact is that 98.3% guys DO NOT feel strongly that girls shouldn’t show their calves. If you look at the survey results you will find that 99.9% of the guys take full responsibility for themselves, and don’t expect women to cover every inch of skin — they’re just asking for help.

Wait, what? What’s that responsibility part? There’s something about that sentence that points to the idea that some men can’t be held responsible for what they do when they see uncovered parts of women’s bodies.

The honest truth is this: We’re not telling you what to wear — we’re just telling you what we, as guys, have to guard against. It is God’s Word, your own heart and conscience, and your parents and godly friends who should help you decide what to do about it.

Right, right. Guard against women and the way that their dirty sexy-parts make you do things that a

ren’t godly. And women, here are some fashion tips from God’s Word:

“A woman must not wear men’s clothing, nor a man wear women’s clothing, for the LORD your God detests anyone who does this.” (Deuteronomy 22:5)



Aaaaahhh! God detests me!!

“Do not wear clothes of wool and linen woven together.” (Deuteronomy 22:11)



Kate wears mixed fabrics! And pants!!!

“In like manner also, that women adorn themselves in modest apparel, with shamefacedness and sobriety; not with broided hair, or gold, or pearls, or costly array.” (1 Timothy 2:9)

“Any clothing or leather that has semen on it must be washed with water, and it will be unclean till evening.” (Leviticus 15:17)

I’ll refrain from making jokes for that last one.

I wanted to draw some conclusions from all of this, but I think it’s nothing that we haven’t heard before. The Bible says a lot of whacky stuff and it seems really silly to try to make modern day life fit into the rules that are stated in the Bible. You can try, but what’s the point? Things change and they have changed a whole lot in 2000 years, so why not accept that times change, get better, and progress? Maybe it’s time to re-assess, and have real discussions about what matters to us as people who want to be happy. I’m not going to hunt down these Rebelution folks and tell them they’re wrong or anything; they are at least partially right about valuing each other based on our actions like being compassionate and generous. I just wanted to post this today because I like to keep in mind that there are people out there who will say that they subscribe to some sort of biblical modesty or biblical view of something, yet a quick read of the verses in context shows just how much we should reject those fundamentalist values because they were written in a time when people did not value creativity, individuality, personal responsibility, and equality (which I think are far more crucial than modesty and Bronze-age standards of purity).

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