I really don’t want to keep banging on about modesty, but really, no one else seems to want to join me here perched on this third rail. So here I perch, I can do no other, so help me God.
It really is beyond time for the church, and in particular pastors, to lead when it comes to obedience of being modest. This won’t be news to anyone in particular but just because a teaching has been abused in the past does not mean we get to jettison it today. We can acknowledge the past sin while calling out the current one. It is possible to walk and chew gum at the same time. God has opinions on how Christians present themselves. And just at its base modesty is not even about showing skin but flaunting what God has given in order to stir up envy or lust or to massage a prideful ego. All sin. And it all takes glory from God and gives it to man.
Our radio silence causes problems in two ways. First it is simple disobedience on the part of preachers, teachers and elders to teach the whole counsel of God. But secondly by not teaching others are filling the void with the opposite and sinful message. Nature does indeed abhors a vacuum. Into that empty space that should be filled with what God says is the below example. I quote from the recent article on The Free Press about the Cavinder Twins:
The Cavinder Twins, Moore said, have benefited handsomely from “their very blonde, girl-next-door looks,” posting videos of themselves in bikinis and tight-fitting dresses. Lots of their videos hint at the possibility of one twin having a boyfriend. Others wink at the male fantasy of group sex with identical sisters, featuring captions like “when he asks for blonde twins for Christmas” and “I want a girl with a twin sister.”
“We’re 22-year-old girls,” Hanna says. “I love fitness. I like to showcase my body in a way that makes me feel confident.”
“After all, the market favors top male college athletes—like USC quarterback Caleb Williams, with a NIL valuation of $2.6 million, and University of Colorado cornerback and wide receiver Travis Hunter, with a valuation of $1.6 million—and, for the most part, attractive female college athletes. Or, as a source said, “those who are willing to show more.”
And then there’s the way things really are, a world in which most people who watch sports are dudes with paunches and six-packs of beer. They appreciate girls who can shoot three-pointers, but really, they like girls in bikinis making mindless videos—OnlyFans with a dollop of “wellness.”
None of this would strike me as out of place in the modern American secular environment were it not for the following quote:
They were into basketball and wellness. And Jesus. “At the end of the day, I know who my audience is,” Haley said. “ ‘He’s the audience of one’ is what I always tell myself. That’s who I’m living every single day for.”
And that is the problem.
Both of these girls profess to follow, serve, and obey Christ; while openly flaunting their rebellion or ignorance. But more than that they are speaking into the void left by pastors and teachers who are scared. The Cavinder’s are teaching a lesson that you can serve God and licentiousness. They are preaching a false gospel that sin is what you determine it is and Jesus is just a motivational speaker. It is the same lie as the serpent in the garden.
To use Martin Luthers rubric they are, charitably, swine who need to be rebuked. Uncharitably they may be wolves. Either way the daughters of the church are listening to them, have been listening to them. For some the moment a pastor could speak and be heard has passed.* The twins have become the authoritative voice in the lives of these young women. The abdication on the clear teaching of modesty has led to clear rebellious sin or ignorance (which is still sin).
Modesty does matter.
So, here I sit, on my third rail, lit up like a sixty watt bulb and it’s hight time some pastors, teachers, and elders joined me, no matter the cost. It’s their job.
*There is a place for fathers in all of this. However, I have observed two majority trends. 1. Fathers who do not care and should have been taught by their pastors and elders. 2. Fathers who do care but are undermined by rebellious wives who have drunk the same immodest poison and needed to be rebuked on the issue by… guess who?
Southern Reformed Smoker 