I dressed up more for church when I lived in a larger city as most others did as well. I've been in a rural area where jeans are the norm for church for over eleven years now. In the last year I've given in and usually wear jeans just like the rest of the congregation.
I get ya ~
It USED to be people dressed in their FINER clothing to attend Church.
Well, if jeans and a flannel shirt is ones FINER clothing, so be it.
It USED to be people dressed in MODEST clothing, to attend Church, meaning actually COVERING their FLESH.
WHY? Because it was mans FLESH that sinned against God, and it was RESPECTFUL to enter the Lords House of Prayer, with their SHAMEFUL FLESH COVERED.
The world (society) teaches, promotes, and dictates..... FLESH is pretty, delightful, sexy. The MORE you REVEAL, the better. The more PEOPLE that SEE your FLESH, the better!
Thus PEOPLE'S clothing .... ie "their FINER" clothing, may be dictated, by fabric, by expense, by revealing, skimpy, form fitting.... AND....thus, wearing "their" FINER clothing does the complete opposite of what was intended to be MODEST, in covering their FLESH, but is OKAY, with the World, society.
Personally, I was turned off, by congregants in a Church, who IMO, treated "going to Church" as a FASHION SHOW. Women sitting in the pews dressed in FINE linen, dripping in diamonds,
gossiping about someone two aisles over dressed plainly.
IMO ~ what is on the outside should be covered but matters little, compared to what is on the inside.
As Scripture says; to believers ~
Matt 6
[
25] Therefore I say unto you,
Take no thought for your life, what ye shall eat, or what ye shall drink; nor yet for your body,
what ye shall put on. Is not the life more than meat, and the body than raiment?
IOW, put something on, cover your flesh, but don't get all concerned about what it looks like.
As Scripture says; to those who spend a great deal of time all concerned with the OUTSIDE, and not the INSIDE.
Luke 11
[
39] And the Lord said unto him, Now do
ye Pharisees make clean the outside of the cup and the platter;
but your inward part is full of ravening and wickedness.
IOW, to be like the Pharisees, one spends a great deal of time making their outer side (FLESH) APPEAR clean, refined, holy......WHILE their INSIDES....were WICKED.
The old adage; Don't judge a book by it's cover.
Modest? Covered? Yes, I believe that has not changed.
All decked out? No, I don't believe that is necessary.
You said "slobs". I get that. It can be a whole range, from dirty, to unkempt, to revealing skin...
And in that context, I agree.
God Bless,
SBC