Endtime Survivors
prophecy link in my profile!
No, her motives are irrelevant.
I suppose this is where the crux of the issue is (at least, for me).
It seems to me there is a strong sense of justice being argued here. No one wants to be blamed for the behavior of others. If a woman goes bra-less and a man lusts, it's hardly fair to blame the woman.
I understand your desire to maintain this sense of justice. To some degree, it's fair, but it is this issue of "degrees" where we find our disagreement. I am suggesting the issue cannot accurately (or justly) be defined by an "either/or" position (i.e. either it's the woman's fault or the man's fault).
This is why an examination of motives is so important. Perhaps we have different understandings of what "motive" means. I understand it to mean "the reason why we behave the way we do".
If we stop examining the reasons for why we (or others) behave the way we do, then what do we have? Without reason, we have mindlessness. I don't believe that's something you genuinely support. So, when you say, "the motivation is irrelevant" it comes across more so as a convenient way to sidestep accountability rather than a reasoned position. After all, how can you have a reasoned position when you've already said the reasoning behind the behavior is irrelevant?
On what basis do you decide when motivations should be irrelevant?
Even IF there was no man to take offense, the motivation behind the way she behaves (including how she chooses to dress) would still be important to God. As a result of free will, we have a lot of freedom, even to the point that we can say "no" to the most powerful entity in existence. Of course every, single, tiny little detail as to why we make the choices we do will be incredibly important to God. None of our behavior is irrelevant to him, so why should it be irrelevant to us?
That's the point of integrity; it shouldn't matter if no one is there to complain; we should still behave according to motives (or reasons) which are consistent with what God wants.
Maybe God will have no problem with the bra-less woman, but we (or she) can't know that unless her motivations are examined.
Maybe God will have no problem with me suddenly taking the day off, but unless I carefully examine my motives, I won't really know if it's because I genuinely need the rest or because I'm being lazy, regardless of anyone around me who may, or may not, take offense.
Even BukiRob hinted at the concept of drawing a line somewhere; he suggested that line should be at lasciviousness. He didn't define his understanding of lascivious behavior but at least he had some idea of a situation where it could be appropriate to object.
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