Why Is It Acceptable for Christians to Dress Like Slobs to Church?

[Baby Cottontail]

The Legalist And The Libertarian. | Christian Forums

Had I not knowing that you were talking about this thread before reading that, I never would have guessed.

I feel like you unfairly represented some of the viewpoints expressed.

For example, I don't think anyone in this thread has exactly advocated for wearing wearing anything that they wanted to church, without some idea of modesty in mind. If you asked everyone in this thread, I am sure that most people (if not, everyone in this thread) would have some sort of line that they wouldn't go beyond.

There is absolutely nothing wrong with dressing up for church and wanting to look nice. I generally do dress up for church. However, I do see that there are reasons why some people don't want to, or why, in some churches, there is not a cultural norm to dress up.

You spoke of a lack of a middle road view in the thread. I think you missed some comments. Most people that I've seen in this thread have expressed that if they don't normally dress up for church, they would if they were going to a fancy church, or if the people in that church dressed up.

There are other issues here besides just it being a respect issue for God. That is one view, and it is valid, but there are other viewpoints, too. There are also cultural factors and other things at play. There is more than one perspective from which we can look at this issue.

Not everyone in this thread has been anti-OP either. There are some people that have very much agreed with then OP.

 

[fat wee robin]

I travel a lot and go to a variety of churches. I have found more formal traditional churches with older members will dress in suits and ties and Sunday best to church while in the freer churches you generally wear what you are comfortable with. In the former churches God is awesome and slightly distant, in the latter churches Jesus is my friend and knows me as I am so I can just be just as I am. There is value in both perspectives. As a culture we do seem to have lost the sense of awe and transcendence that older generations had about God and indeed authority generally. But the insight that God is with us not just on Sundays but everyday of the week and values authenticity over respect is quite important.

So how we dress says more about how we perceive God than it does about how God sees us. God is awesome ruling the universe and he is our friend who walks amongst us also.

God is not just your friend ,He is God Almighty ,and when you are in Church, your are in public with others ,not in private with 'your friend ' . So, when do you worship the Creator of the Universe and all things in it ? Do you keep that for private too ?
This thread has taught me so much about the lack of
reverence for God in some circles . When someone dresses like a 'slob' ,it does not mean his heart is good ,and in some very poor communities it would indicate a complete lack of respect for God, and the people in it . While no one ,should be turned away for inappropriate dress ,a general attitude change .
I went to Notre Dame cathedral in Paris while on holoday some years ago ,and as it was very hot was wearing a dress with short sleeves .The priest at the door said I had to cover my arms ,which I did with a large scarf in my bag . No problem .

 

[samir]

... finding a real job where guys don't have to wear a collared shirt is extremely rare...

People who don't have professional jobs that require them to wear collared shirts aren't working real jobs? That's very snobbish and disrespectful to the majority of men who don't work at such jobs and shows your pride (a deadly sin) is the real problem, not the clothes other people wear to church.

 

[GirdYourLoins]

And in doing so you are being judgmental, too. See? It's quite impossible to be a thinking, moral person with a distinct point of view and not also be judgmental.

I said its up to you how you think you ought to dress and act at church. By that I mean its part of your personal walk with God. Likewise, it is between me and God what convictions He gives me on how to dress and act.

But you think your way of approaching the matter of dressing for church is better than mine, so are you not, then, self-righteous also? Looks like it to me. It seems quite clear to me from what you've written here that you feel your way of carrying on is superior to my own, that you are more and better focused on "fruit and godly works" than I. Sounds self-righteous to me...

I never said mine is better than yours. You are the one saying your way is better than anyone who doesnt agree with you and telling people they dont respect God because they dont do what you want them to do.

I would suggest to you that being careful about good dress for Sunday worship and being concerned about spiritual fruitfulness and godly works are not mutually exclusive things. It does not follow that because I am careful about the former I am careless about the latter.

I never said it was. I said that the people you think dont respect God are doing far more than the people who do.

So? I can say the exact reverse is true in my church. So what?

Exactly, now you say so what, which was my point. Your point was that it does matter, you are now changing it.

I said that the way they view God and the degree of respect they should have for Him is not what it should be. But this isn't to say they have no respect at all for God. That, I didn't say.

No you didnt say we/they have NO respect for God. What you said was we/they have LESS respect than you because you dress up. You must know the minds and hearts of everyone to know that.

The two are related I believe. The latter is a symptom of the former.

The church has been in decline for at least 60-70 years. Far earlier than attitudes to dress changed. Maybe that points to you being wrong.

Which are also in serious decline in North America (and Europe).

Agreed

Worshiping God has nothing to do with the World and its standards and values. Nor does it have anything to do with what makes you comfortable.

Agreed, but you see dressing up for God as a church standard and I see it as an increasingly old fashioned worldly standard.

Making the lost comfortable in church is not a biblical mandate. The lost should feel horribly convicted and out-of-place in the company of believers who are worshiping their holy God and teaching His penetrating and revealing truth. Sunday worship shouldn't be for the unsaved but for the community of the saints.

I think it is a mandate of God to love our neighbour. Making people feel horribly convicted and out of place is not doing this. It is for God to convict them in their hearts of their sin. Do you really want the unsaved to be excluded from church as that is what it sounds like. And yet you blame falling standards of dress for church attendance falling.

Our feelings have little to nothing to do with what is right or determining what is right.

I dont agree. God gives me conviction for my actions and using my feelings is part of that. So saying they have "little or nothing" to do with it is wrong imo.

See above.



You'd have found Christ and the apostles very offensive.

No I haven't, I have found you offensive and I wont respond to you again. What you are saying is not in :the bible. John 7:24 says not to judge by appearances which is exactly what you are doing.

Most of my response got mixed up with yours when replying. Work it out yourself.

 

[samir]

A 'good heart ' is aware of others and unless there is a reason ,like coming straight from work ,being very poor ,respect means creating a standard .So 'heaven'' is going to be a slum ; I think not . God made a beautiful world for us to look after and be creative ,but it seems in America ,for it is an American thing ,sloppiness is 'cool ',even when visiting God's house . No, there is no compulsion to dress up up ,but unless there is good reason , it is a repectful thing to do do .

How is wearing a t-shirt and sweatpants less respectful than wearing business clothes? I can see how wearing business clothes disrespects the poor and others who don't wear such clothes but how does wearing comfortable clothes disrespect anyone?

 

[fat wee robin]

How is wearing a t-shirt and sweatpants less respectful than wearing business clothes? I can see how wearing business clothes disrespects the poor and others who don't wear such clothes but how does wearing comfortable clothes disrespect anyone?

I didn't say such a thing . And how do 'business clothes' disrepect the 'poor' . I did not mention either .You are imagining things .
There are people who turn up in extremes of immodesty ,untidy and dirty ,weird etc .None of the things you mentioned are extremes . Beware of jealousy of those who have more money than you !!

 

[Halbhh]

I recently moved to a new city and I've been checking out a lot churches in the area and I'm curious why it is acceptable to dress like a slob at so many of them. People wear flip-flops, pajama pants, sweat pants, graphic tees that make them look like a billboard, athletic shorts, or shirts that actually might be parachutes I'm not sure. Stuff that doesn't even fall into the casual dress category, just straight up lazy slob.

Clearly it is not a money problem. Everyone has a $2-600 cell phone in their pocket they pay ~$60 or more a month for data, they can afford to go buy a collared shirt and some nice pants. Even designer stores have really nice clothes for ~$20-30 during their seasonal clearance sales which seemingly go on all year round these days.

I can only guess it's a respect problem? I mean I can't imagine these people dress like that all the time, do they? I know anyplace I've ever worked will tell you to go home if you dress like that, and I know if I was on a date with a woman and she showed up in sweats or flip-flops and we weren't going to the beach I'd just shake my head and leave. I can understand visitors, but why is it acceptable for Christians to dress like slobs to church?

"Stop judging by mere appearances, but instead judge correctly."
(Matthew 7, v 24)

It's ok you wear your 'nice' clothes. Many do.

It's profoundly dangerous for anyone on the coming day of judgement if they here and now judge others by appearances! "The measure you use will be measured to you," He said.

I don't know about you, but I want a lenient measure!

In fact, we should only judge actions, not people, and only "correctly" (some translations have "righteously"), and "not by appearances." This is Christ's Word to us about how to judge actions.

Here's something to check. Do you welcome the stranger even if he is dressed in a way you don't like?

 

[RDKirk]

How do you dress around your wife and kids on a daily basis?

Well, I certainly do take my wife and daughter's sensibilities into account in how I dress around them.

My wife is the only one who gets to walk around naked.

 

[Rose_Water]

I recently moved to a new city and I've been checking out a lot churches in the area and I'm curious why it is acceptable to dress like a slob at so many of them. People wear flip-flops, pajama pants, sweat pants, graphic tees that make them look like a billboard, athletic shorts, or shirts that actually might be parachutes I'm not sure. Stuff that doesn't even fall into the casual dress category, just straight up lazy slob.

Clearly it is not a money problem. Everyone has a $2-600 cell phone in their pocket they pay ~$60 or more a month for data, they can afford to go buy a collared shirt and some nice pants. Even designer stores have really nice clothes for ~$20-30 during their seasonal clearance sales which seemingly go on all year round these days.

I can only guess it's a respect problem? I mean I can't imagine these people dress like that all the time, do they? I know anyplace I've ever worked will tell you to go home if you dress like that, and I know if I was on a date with a woman and she showed up in sweats or flip-flops and we weren't going to the beach I'd just shake my head and leave. I can understand visitors, but why is it acceptable for Christians to dress like slobs to church?

I think times have changed. Where I am in the UK we'd be happy for all to come regardless of what they are wearing as church membership has fallen.

 

[Tutorman]

Viewing this thread I am reminded of a time in this country where there was respect in this country and people dressed appropriately when they went places like Church, Weddings, Funerals. There were manners all around, of course not everyone used manners but a majority did and not everyone dressed out of respect but a majority did. Now in moderns times there is no respect and no manners, people dress anyway they please and don't use any manners but who cares it's modern times and we all can do anything we want so there!

So how are we a peculiar people if we dress and act like the world?

11 “But when the king came in to see the guests, he noticed a man there who was not wearing wedding clothes. 12 He asked, ‘How did you get in here without wedding clothes, friend?’ The man was speechless.

13 “Then the king told the attendants, ‘Tie him hand and foot, and throw him outside, into the darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.’

14 “For many are invited, but few are chosen.”

St. Matthew 22:11-13

Of course many will these verses are about this or that, it's also about wearing the right clothing if your invited to the banquet. You all can fight me and belittle me because I choose to show respect to God by dressing in a tie for Sunday that's fine, and you can dress like a bum I will not judge but weep over the lack of general respect everywhere.

 

[Baby Cottontail]

It seems to me like there is some black and white thinking going on in this thread. (It's either all this...or all that....)

In this case, the black and white thinking boils down to (and I see this on both sides of the argument):
1.) You dress nicely to church = you have complete and total respect for God
You don't dress up for church = you dress like a complete slob to church all the time, and you have no respect for God or for the people attending with you, and your faith in God isn't as strong as those who dress like they respect God. It also means that you are okay with people wearing whatever they want to church, dirty clothing, not putting any effort into your appearance -- and you regularly wear the extreme end of not dressing up -- flip flops, jeans or pants with holes, graphic t-shirt that doesn't look very nice, tank top, immodestly dressed, etc.

2.) You dress nicely to church = you are proud, you look down on those who don't dress nicely, you completely disrespectful all poor people, you have no compassion for others, etc.
You don't dress up for church = you are being a normal human being in today's world. You are being approachable to the unchurched and to those who don't have nice clothing.

 

[Swan7]

Luke 11:37-41

 

[aiki]

Had I not knowing that you were talking about this thread before reading that, I never would have guessed.

I wasn't referring to this thread in the blog post. But some of what was going on in the other thread I wrote about is going on in this one, too.

For example, I don't think anyone in this thread has exactly advocated for wearing wearing anything that they wanted to church, without some idea of modesty in mind. If you asked everyone in this thread, I am sure that most people (if not, everyone in this thread) would have some sort of line that they wouldn't go beyond.

But is the issue what line people wouldn't cross in their attire for church worship? No. The issue, it seems to me, is about how best to respect our holy and awesome Maker in how we dress, not what, precisely, we would or wouldn't wear in church. Not everyone's best will be the same.

There is absolutely nothing wrong with dressing up for church and wanting to look nice.

I don't dress up for church and/or to look nice. My dress at church is a reflection of my respect for the God I'm there to worship.

 

[AlexDTX]

So how are we a peculiar people if we dress and act like the world?

Which came first? People dressing up for dinner and the opera or church?

 

[Baby Cottontail]

I wasn't referring to this thread in the blog post. But some of what was going on in the other thread is going in this one.

But is the issue what line people wouldn't cross in their attire for church worship? No. The issue, it seems to me, is about how best to respect our holy and awesome Maker in how we dress, not what, precisely, we would or wouldn't wear in church. Not everyone's best will be the same.

I don't dress up for church and/or to look nice. My dress at church is a reflection of my respect for the God I'm there to worship.

Okay. Sorry. I misunderstood you then. I thought because you posted a link to your blog on here without explanation that you were referring specifically to this thread.

Yes, it is true that not everyone's best will be the same. I do realize that it is a respect issue for you, and I did not word what I said as well as I could have. I didn't mean to suggest that you were just dressing up for yourself or because you wanted to do so for fun.

By looking at your recent posts, I think I figured out which thread you were referring to. I still think an explanation as to why you posted the blog link would have been helpful, but I see that you weren't specifically talking about this thread.

 

[seeking.IAM]

Christians have a variety of practices to praise, honor, and worship God. From church house to church house practices vary according to our traditions and individual acts of personal piety. To list some of them...

Raising hands in prayer
Waving arms
Clapping
Singing
Chanting
Using a prayer rope
Saying a Rosary
Kissing icons
Liturgical dance
Lighting a candle
Use of incense
Genuflecting
Making the sign of the cross
Prostrating oneself
Bowing

I submit that dressing-up for church can be added to that list for some people as a way of honoring God, not that God requires any of it. In the Anglican tradition there are practices about which we say..."All may. Some should. None must."

 

[Anguspure]

People who don't have professional jobs that require them to wear collared shirts aren't working real jobs? That's very snobbish and disrespectful to the majority of men who don't work at such jobs and shows your pride (a deadly sin) is the real problem, not the clothes other people wear to church.

For example, I have a highly qualified role, as a manager responsible for a multimillion dollar plant along with staff and management duties relating to it. This is my uniform and what I wear daily for 6 months a year (it doesn't normally look anywhere near as clean as this BTW):

​

Should this be what I wear to a church service? What about the steel cap boots, gloves, glasses and hard hat that go with it? They are a bit like a tie I guess (except that the tie is designed to strangle a person whereas the others are designed to protect the safety of the wearer).

 

[Anguspure]

I don't dress up for church and/or to look nice. My dress at church is a reflection of my respect for the God I'm there to worship.

So when you are before God as you go about your day do you also dress out of reverence and respect for Him? I ask because the truth is, even if you are not aware of it, He is at least as present with you during those times as He is when you are in a special meeting place.

 

[SBC]

I recently moved to a new city and I've been checking out a lot churches in the area and I'm curious why it is acceptable to dress like a slob at so many of them. People wear flip-flops, pajama pants, sweat pants, graphic tees that make them look like a billboard, athletic shorts, or shirts that actually might be parachutes I'm not sure. Stuff that doesn't even fall into the casual dress category, just straight up lazy slob.

Clearly it is not a money problem. Everyone has a $2-600 cell phone in their pocket they pay ~$60 or more a month for data, they can afford to go buy a collared shirt and some nice pants. Even designer stores have really nice clothes for ~$20-30 during their seasonal clearance sales which seemingly go on all year round these days.

I can only guess it's a respect problem? I mean I can't imagine these people dress like that all the time, do they? I know anyplace I've ever worked will tell you to go home if you dress like that, and I know if I was on a date with a woman and she showed up in sweats or flip-flops and we weren't going to the beach I'd just shake my head and leave. I can understand visitors, but why is it acceptable for Christians to dress like slobs to church?

I do not believe it is intended as "disrespect", even though it certainly can be view that way.

I think it is out of total ignorance.

Churches "advertise" on their marquee's, local papers, flyers, etc....
"ALL Welcome"...."Come as you are"...

IMO that is welcoming all to come as you are; saved or not saved;
to hear the Word of God.

However it is not a secret, today's society tolerates and promotes ignorance.

God Bless,
SBC

 

[AlexDTX]

I made a reply to a comment that "if we were to meet the president wouldn't we dress our best?" My reply is that we dress up for strangers. I know many love Jesus and know him intimately and regard dressing your best for church as a tribute to the King. My current comment is not addressed to them. In this forum we have many who call themselves Christians yet do not have the new birth, nor know Jesus personally. For those people I want you to know that your nice church clothes are seen as filthy rags by God. You need to be clothed in his righteousness which comes from the blood of Jesus. You need the new birth. Going to church does not make you a Christian.