Are We Too Casual?

[Hammster]

It does if you habitually come to worship in shorts and a tee when you have better clothes to wear.

Who decided that a suit is better than shorts and a T-shirt? What exactly is "better"?

 

[twin1954]

Who decided that a suit is better than shorts and a T-shirt? What exactly is "better"?

It isn't a matter of a suit being better but a matter of taking the worship of God casually. The clothes you wear mean nothing but they are an indicator of how seriously you take the worship of God. I am not against shorts and a tee shirt I am against taking the worship of God casually. If you can't afford anything more than a set of pajamas then come to worship in your pajamas. But if you are not willing to give God your best then you have a problem.

BTW I wear shorts and a tee or polo shirt almost every day during the summer.

 

[Hammster]

The clothes you wear mean nothing but they are an indicator of how seriously you take the worship of God.

So which is it? They either mean something (an indicator of how seriously you take worship), or they really don't mean anything.

 

[Kenny'sID]

The fact is that you would never visit the President of the United States unless you were wearing a suit and tie.

FWIW, far from it. A suit is just something that never crosses my mind...never...don't own one and would likely never wear one.

If the President wants to visit a suit, he needs to go to a clothing store. and I seriously doubt most presidents do. That's not to say I don't get what you are saying and agree to a point, but best jeans and a dress shirt should do nicely. Here where I live, in this heat, maybe less.

 

[mikedsjr]

I personally think the greatest trick the devil ever pulled was to be cause to fracture the universal spiritual body of Christ into denominations . That all came to claim they possessed the trademark on him.

Being that Jesus is God and God is a Spirit who we cannot possibly comprehend, as he inspired us to know in the words he inspired us to copy down, I believe how I dress for worship is a sign of how much I respect myself.

Atta k the strawman


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[twin1954]

So which is it? They either mean something (an indicator of how seriously you take worship), or they really don't mean anything.

It isn't a requirement that people dress up to go to church. But if you are able to dress nicely why wouldn't you if you are worshiping God? The worship of God is taken too casually in this age in this country. We are rich in comparison to the rest of the world and we take the worship of God for granted. Just like the Jews in the Old Testament every time God blessed them with peace and prosperity they became casual about worship and turned the worship of God into an abomination to God. They began to bring the sick of the flock and deformed and the sacrifices meant nothing to them.

Certainly it is an individual thing about how you dress for worship but it often is a symptom of a deeper spiritual sickness.

 

[98cwitr]

Let's get a little broader for a sec: What makes one form of dress more casual than another? Who decides that? What makes a suit "better" than jeans and a collared shirt? Price? Social perception? God? You? Me? Who?

Also, there is zero form or functional reason ties should even exist anymore...so why do we wear them?

I agree...casual worship can be a very bad thing, but I'm not sure clothes have anything to do with the form of "casual" we're talking about.

Anyway, I digress. I will get off the subject of clothes and onto the subject of the heart. Is the heart casual in worship, or does the heart take worship in a true light?

 

[twin1954]

FWIW, far from it. A suit is just something that never crosses my mind...never...don't own one and would likely never wear one.

If the President wants to visit a suit, he needs to go to a clothing store. and I seriously doubt most presidents do. That's not to say I don't get what you are saying and agree to a point, but best jeans and a dress shirt should do nicely. Here where I live, in this heat, maybe less.

I have no problem with someone wearing a nice pair of jeans and a nice shirt. What I have a problem with is taking the worship of God casually.

 

[twin1954]

Let's get a little broader for a sec: What makes one form of dress more casual than another? Who decides that? What makes a suit "better" than jeans and a collared shirt? Price? Social perception? God? You? Me? Who?

You decide how you want to dress for worship. If you take the worship of God casually then dress in a casual manner. Wear pajamas if you want to but be aware that it is the heart that God looks on and the heart decides what is casual or not.

 

[Hammster]

It isn't a requirement that people dress up to go to church. But if you are able to dress nicely why wouldn't you if you are worshiping God? The worship of God is taken too casually in this age in this country. We are rich in comparison to the rest of the world and we take the worship of God for granted. Just like the Jews in the Old Testament every time God blessed them with peace and prosperity they became casual about worship and turned the worship of God into an abomination to God. They began to bring the sick of the flock and deformed and the sacrifices meant nothing to them.

Certainly it is an individual thing about how you dress for worship but it often is a symptom of a deeper spiritual sickness.

You keep trying to make a connection between dress and worship. But all you've given is your opinion that we should dress nice.

It's not a requirement, but we should (requirement). You keep saying one thing, and then saying the opposite.

It could be that it's a symptom of a deeper spiritual sickness to make dressing nice a "should".

 

[98cwitr]

You decide how you want to dress for worship. If you take the worship of God casually then dress in a casual manner. Wear pajamas if you want to but be aware that it is the heart that God looks on and the heart decides what is casual or not.

I wonder what God considers casual.

I think of this verse:

12 Therefore, my dear friends, as you have always obeyed—not only in my presence, but now much more in my absence—continue to work out your salvation with fear and trembling, 13 for it is God who works in you to will and to act in order to fulfill his good purpose.

(does a good job at contradicting libertarian free will too )

 

[Kenny'sID]

I have no problem with someone wearing a nice pair of jeans and a nice shirt. What I have a problem with is taking the worship of God casually.

But in your very next post, you more than imply, my dressing casually means I take Gods word casually. As in:

You decide how you want to dress for worship. If you take the worship of God casually then dress in a casual manner.

You are way off base my friend. What concerns me is how you see yourself with that suit on...do you think that makes you more holy? take Gods word more seriously that someone else? Yes, that is exactly what you imply in case that sounds off kilter to you.

 

[twin1954]

You keep trying to make a connection between dress and worship. But all you've given is your opinion that we should dress nice.

It's not a requirement, but we should (requirement). You keep saying one thing, and then saying the opposite.

It could be that it's a symptom of a deeper spiritual sickness to make dressing nice a "should".

It is true that it is my opinion but the question is whether my opinion is based in Scriptural truth or not. I have given Biblical examples and tried to show how human nature downgrades the worship of God. I make no claim that people ought to dress a certain way but only that it often shows how serious you take the worship of God. I have the same opinion about people who move around or allow their children to cause a commotion during the reading of the Scriptures, prayer and preaching. I don't make a big deal of it but I do notice it.

 

[Frisky Wren]

Atta k the strawman

No idea how that is relevant to what I said.

 

[twin1954]

But in your very next post, you more than imply, my dressing casually means I take Gods word casually. As in:



You are way off base my friend. What concerns me is how you see yourself with that suit on...do you think that makes you more holy? take Gods word more seriously that someone else? Yes, that is exactly what you imply in case that sounds off kilter to you.

I don't consider a nice pair of jeans and a nice shirt as casual but comfortable. I am comfortable in a suit and tie. No I do not see myself as more holy or more serious about worship than others I just am convinced that the common way people seem to dress for worship, such as shorts and a tee shirt when they have a nice pair of pants that are just as comfortable speaks to how serious they take the worship of God. Why bring to God that which is common when you have better? If you can dress up to go on a date or out to dinner then why can't you when you worship God?

 

[Hammster]

It is true that it is my opinion but the question is whether my opinion is based in Scriptural truth or not. I have given Biblical examples and tried to show how human nature downgrades the worship of God. I make no claim that people ought to dress a certain way but only that it often shows how serious you take the worship of God. I have the same opinion about people who move around or allow their children to cause a commotion during the reading of the Scriptures, prayer and preaching. I don't make a big deal of it but I do notice it.

Almost every post you've made you've indicated that people should dress a certain way, even to the point of implying that some forms of dress indicate spiritual sickness.

 

[twin1954]

Almost every post you've made you've indicated that people should dress a certain way, even to the point of implying that some forms of dress indicate spiritual sickness.

True. I have indicated that people ought to dress nicely and comfortably but I make no requirement of a suit and tie. I wear a suit and tie because I am comfortable in it and I like how I look in one.

And I am convinced that it does. Dressing in a way that you would't go on a date in or out to dinner in speaks to how common you think the worship of God is.

 

[Hammster]

True. I have indicated that people ought to dress nicely and comfortably but I make no requirement of a suit and tie. I wear a suit and tie because I am comfortable in it and I like how I look in one.

And I am convinced that it does. Dressing in a way that you would't go on a date in or out to dinner in speaks to how common you think the worship of God is.

And how do you know that? How is this knowledge informed?

 

[twin1954]

And how do you know that? How is this knowledge informed?

It is informed by years of experience in life and by a Scriptural understanding of human nature. It is informed by observation and interaction with people over 62 years of life. It is informed by grasping the examples in Scripture and noticing the similarities. And lastly it is informed by the Spirit that has given me light and understanding in the things of God.

 

[98cwitr]

Reminds me of C.S. Lewis - The Screw Tape Letters

One of our great allies at present is the Church itself. Do not misunderstand me. I do not mean the Church as we see her spread out through all time and space and rooted in eternity, terrible as an army with banners. That, I confess, is a spectacle which makes our boldest tempters uneasy. But fortunately it is quite invisible to these humans. All your patient sees is the half-finished, sham Gothic erection on the new building estate. When he goes inside, he sees the local grocer with rather an oily expression on his face bustling up to offer him one shiny little book containing a liturgy which neither of them understands, and one shabby little book containing corrupt texts of a number of religious lyrics, mostly bad, and in very small print. When he gets to his pew and looks round him he sees just that selection of his neighbours whom he has hitherto avoided. You want to lean pretty heavily on those neighbours. Make his mind flit to and fro between an expression like ‘the body of Christ’ and the actual faces in the next pew...Work hard, then, on the disappointment or anticlimax which is certainly coming to the patient during his first few weeks as a churchman.