Ministers' Wives' Dresses--Up or Down?

SINCE this special issue is dedicated to those wonderful wives of ours, the editors requested that I slant my thoughts toward women's fashions. I'm a man whose household boasts the presence of three lovely ladies. The smell of hair spray and perfume, the sight of put-up hair and faces masked with cleansing cream, the sound of hair dryers and ladies' electric razors have proved to me that the pull of fashion on the feminine side of the race matches that of a full moon on the ocean. The bewitching power of dress, cosmetics, and jewelry on women is mysterious. This mystery deepens as you witness the development of outlandish and grotesque fashions for both men and women. Where did it all begin and where will it stop?

It started in the Garden of Eden. The first man-made clothes on record were made out of fig leaves. Perhaps their style and lack of modesty were contributing factors that led to their rejection and replacement by God. One thing certain—today's near-naked fashions are a strong indication that a sense of shame and guilt over sin is fast disappearing.

Whole New Set of Traps

Satan's strategy in tempting women to worship the god of fashion changes from time to time. When Ellen G. White wrote on the dress subject, the dress problem involved frills, ruffles, lace, unhealthy length (dresses cleaned the filthy streets), and extreme tightness at the waist. Today most of these mistakes are lacking. A whole new set of traps has been set by the devil.

The question is, what position should Adventist women, and ministers' wives in particular, take in regard to fashion?

I trust that my feminine readers will understand that I am not sitting in judgment on them. Only God knows the struggle that goes on in the hearts of our women over this question of dress. But there is a personal God, invisible to us at the moment, but we are not invisible to Him! His judgment of us covers all of life's areas, including our dress. His words "Well done" or "Depart from me" are based on our actions and habits now!

The majority of ministers' wives are set ting an excellent example in the way they look and dress. The church ought to be, and is, proud of you! I make an appeal for you to continue in the way of plainness, neatness, and modesty. But some wives, I hope ignorantly, are a stumbling block to their own families and to our members. This is a plea for consideration of how the Lord would have you look.

Goldfish and Birds

Ministers' wives, like socialites and politicians, belong to the public. Let's face it, ladies, you are on display like a goldfish in a bowl, a bird in a cage. It is an inescapable fact that ministers' wives are "watched, and more is expected of them than of others. Their dress should be an example."— Testimonies, vol. 1, p. 139. Is there any good reason why this should not be true? It is a law of life as unalterable as the law of gravitation. Accept the situation graciously and the Lord and His angels will praise you.

Is There a Moral Issue?

A question you should settle conclusively in your own mind is whether a moral issue is involved over what you wear or don't wear. Only inspiration can settle this point. Here it is: "The idolatry of dress is a moral disease."—Evangelism, p. 312. (Italics supplied.)

"Satan is constantly devising some style of dress that shall prove an injury to physical and moral health; and he exults when he sees professed Christians eagerly accepting the fashions that he has invented."— Testimonies, vol. 4, p. 634. (Italics supplied.) Note carefully the words "moral disease" and "moral health." Add to these statements, "Obedience to fashion is pervading our Seventh-day Adventist churches and is doing more than any other power to separate our people from God."—Ibid., p. 647. (Italics supplied.)

Anything that separates a man from God is definitely a moral issue. The moral issue in fashion is just as clear as the relation of smoking to lung cancer. The magnitude of the dress problem is inescapable. "Obedience to fashion is ... doing more than any other power to separate our people from God." Could God make this point any stronger?

Exploited for Commercial Reasons

Fashion designers bolster these facts by unashamedly admitting that the female body has been, is being, and will be exploited for commercial reasons, and underlying all is one thought—sex appeal! It is the studied purpose of the manufacturers to focus male attention on the female form. Designers get all the mileage possible out of exposing one part of a woman's body, such as her legs, until the novelty and attraction wear off. Then another part of the female anatomy is exposed. Today, bizarre fashions have blatantly overexposed about everything sacred to a woman until, for many a decent man, her charm and appeal have been exchanged for nausea and repulsion.

If the only by-products of some of today's fashions were nausea and repulsion, com plaints would be greatly reduced. But all are not decent men. Mark it well ladies, that an indecently dressed woman usually magnetizes an indecent man.

An Associated Press dispatch reported a 100 percent increase in sex crimes in the world's largest city, Tokyo, for the first nine months of 1967 over the same period in 1966. Tokyo police blamed the mini-skirt for this astounding rise.

Short Skirts and Rape

The accompanying chart taken from the 1968 United States crime report published by the FBI, to my mind, has a strong message for all of us. Of course, other factors —such as the increase of pornographic literature, lewd television programs, and sex-centered movies and books—enter the picture. Also, the pattern for all forms of crime is rapid growth. But there is a striking resemblance which none can deny between the rise in skirts and the rise in the statistics of forcible rape. Until 1963, the number of cases of forced rape each year was about the same. Then suddenly the graph goes into orbit! It was about this time when women's dress lengths started traveling in the wrong direction.

"In these last days, fashions are shameful and immodest. They are noticed in prophecy. They were first brought in by a class over whom Satan has entire control."— Testimonies, vol. 1, p. 189. (Italics supplied.) Certainly the human race today is in a frenzied condition. Immoral, immodest fashions can be credited to a great degree for our present state of lawlessness and moral collapse.

Isn't it time for many a church member, and even some of our ministers' wives, to let their knees and skirts touch each other! "Our only safety is to stand as God's peculiar people. We must not yield one inch to the customs and fashions of this degenerate age, but stand in moral independence, making no compromise with its corrupt and idolatrous practices."—Ibid., vol. 5, p. 78. I fear that some have yielded far more than one inch on the dress question!

Blame on Males Alone?

Can you blame the male segment of our society alone for these horrible statistics? There is an undeniable connection between the way women dress and act and these atrocities. I speak frankly, but a Sabbath visit to most of our churches today presents a picture of many women in the audience and on the platform who are openly inviting attack by the indecent way they dress. Some attempt to use fans, magazines, or pocketbooks to cover their nakedness. Others uneasily squirm about trying to stretch their dresses enough to cover their hosiery tops or underwear! Some times I wonder if embarrassed angels turn their faces away from these scenes.

Could it be that some of our shepherdesses are unknowingly aiding Satan's crusade for immodesty, seduction, rape, and all the rest by their wrong dress standards?

Consider the influence of an immodestly attired minister's wife on her husband's work. His words in the pulpit lose their force and power to a great extent because of the way his wife looks. Put yourself in the place of an interested or newly baptized person who joins the "perfect" church! Bewilderment must possess him when he sees how some of our members dress. But imagine how he must feel when he meets a minister's wife who is a leader of immodesty in the church. The results are devastating upon the hearts and souls of these novices in the faith.

What Is the Standard?

"Women again must dress in becoming manner, modestly and soberly, not with elaborate hair-styles, not decked out with gold or pearls, or expensive clothes" (1 Tim. 2:9, N.E.B.).* This thought expressed by Paul to Timothy centers on the grand theme of exalting God and not man. The point of dressing modestly and sensibly is to reveal Christian character and personality. These will be shown by the clothes that are worn. I have been amazed to see fashion designers admit that a definite expression of a person's personality and character is shown in the clothes he or she wears. A true Christian will wear clothes that will complement but never detract from his character. Modern fashions center attention on self, never on God. When a woman is crucified with Christ as Paul was, it will be shown in the clothes she wears. Ask yourself the question, Am I seeking my own glory or am I following the Saviour when He declared, "I seek not mine own glory."

Marching to Zion or———?

When the lady saints go marching home, can you imagine them wearing tight skirts, patterned hose, spike heels, low necklines, mini- or near mini-skirts, see-through dresses, bikinis, painted eyes, dyed hair, et cetera? Those dressed like this may be singing "We're Marching to Zion," but I am afraid they have their destinations con fused. Remember that "as soon as any have a desire to imitate the fashions of the world, that they do not immediately subdue, just as soon God ceases to acknowledge them as His children."—Testimonies, vol. 1, p. 137. (Italics supplied.)

How Do I Look, Jesus?

If some of our good women would seek God's desires, God's will, in this area of fashion instead of asking what society, Paris, or Vogue dictate, what welcome major alterations would take place in their dresses.

Would it be childish to suggest that when you get dressed for a public appearance, besides asking for your husband's comment, go to some quiet spot in your home and lift your heart toward heaven and sincerely ask, "How do I look, Jesus? Can You approve of my appearance?" "Always be trying to find out what best pleases the Lord" (Eph. 5:10, Twentieth Century New Testament). What a privilege you have as ministers' wives to influence the world for right by your excellent example in dressing modestly and beautifully.