Post by Johnny Gotham on Jan 17, 2005 23:17:18 GMT -5
www.wayoflife.org/fbns/bibleguidelines.htm
by Bruce Lackey
The following article by the late Bruce Lackey is like a cry in the wilderness today. There was a time, just a few years ago, when a message like this was heard from fundamentalist and independent Baptist pulpits across the land. No longer. All too often, any kind of preaching about clothing has become an oddity, an embarrassment. The resistance of the rock & roll culture to such preaching is so pervasive that many pastors have decided to ignore matters of dress. To do so, though, is to ignore the fact that clothing is a language. George Harrison of the Beatles, who rebelled against the way his father wanted him to act and dress, testified: “Going in for flash clothes, or at least trying to be a bit different … was part of the rebelling. I never cared for authority” (Hunter Davies, The Beatles, p. 39). The designer who invented the mini-skirt admitted that her aim was to entice men and promote licentiousness. Vivienne Westwood, who helped create the rock punk look, said, "I think fashion is the strongest form of communication there is. … It’s only interesting to me if it’s subversive: that’s the only reason I’m in fashion, to destroy the word ‘conformity’" (Jon Savage, Time Travel: Pop, Media and Sexuality 1976-96, p. 119). Hair styles are also statements. Long hair on men and short hair on women are not merely harmless fashions but are statements of rebellion against God’s created order (1 Corinthians 11:14,15). The androgynous unisex image was not innocent. It was created by rock musicians who consciously intended to overthrow tradition. One of the rock songs of the 1960s called upon young men to grow their hair long and “let your freak flag show.” David Lee Roth of Van Halen testified: “[My long hair] is a flag. It’s Tarzan. I’ll always be anti-establishment” (cited by John Makujina, Measuring the Music, p. 73). Dennis Wilson of the Beach Boys sported long hair and popularized the "surfer cut" in the early 1960s. Commenting on the significance of this hair length, Wilson’s biographer observes: “The ‘surfer cut,’ as it came to be known, was a radical thing to behold in 1962. Few parents would permit their sons to sport the look” (Jon Stebbins, Dennis Wilson: The Real Beach Boy, p. 24). Dennis Wilson was a rebel and his appearance was merely a reflection of this. Paul McCartney of the Beatles mockingly acknowledges their role in overthrowing sexual distinctions: “There they were in America, all getting house-trained for adulthood with their indisputable principle of life: short hair equals men; long hair equals women. Well, we got rid of that small convention for them. And a few others, too” (Barbara Ehrenreich, “Beatlemania: Girls Just Wanted to Have Fun,” cited by Lisa Lewis, The Adoring Audience: Fan Culture and Popular Media, p. 102).
If ever there were a time in which preachers need to warn their people about clothing issues, it is today. Standards of morality are not to be left the pew or the home. It is the obligation of the preacher to set forth these things. Has God not given clear standards? We know that holiness is a matter of the heart, but is it not a matter of the body, as well? Every man knows that it is. What man has ever lusted after a woman’s heart! How, then, can we ignore this part of Scripture and refuse to preach it boldly and uncompromisingly? That is what the New Evangelical does. He has determined that there are some things he will not preach. Separation is one of them. But the Bible speaks as much about moral separation as it does about ecclesiastical separation. The faithful fundamentalist cannot ignore either.
Those who are crying “legalism” today are hypocritical in this matter. They, too, draw lines for clothing, even as they decry the old-time fundamentalist for the lines he draws. For example, will they allow a woman to teach a Sunday School class in a bikini? Of course not. They draw lines. And if it is right to draw a line in clothing; it is wise to draw the line at a biblical place.
Let’s make a clear difference between ourselves and the world. Let’s stand in the old paths. Those who are giving up high, plain standards of holiness in dress and are moving closer and closer to the fashions of the world should remember that the world is moving farther and farther from God’s Word.
I commend to you the following excellent message by Pastor Bruce Lackey.
by Bruce Lackey
The following article by the late Bruce Lackey is like a cry in the wilderness today. There was a time, just a few years ago, when a message like this was heard from fundamentalist and independent Baptist pulpits across the land. No longer. All too often, any kind of preaching about clothing has become an oddity, an embarrassment. The resistance of the rock & roll culture to such preaching is so pervasive that many pastors have decided to ignore matters of dress. To do so, though, is to ignore the fact that clothing is a language. George Harrison of the Beatles, who rebelled against the way his father wanted him to act and dress, testified: “Going in for flash clothes, or at least trying to be a bit different … was part of the rebelling. I never cared for authority” (Hunter Davies, The Beatles, p. 39). The designer who invented the mini-skirt admitted that her aim was to entice men and promote licentiousness. Vivienne Westwood, who helped create the rock punk look, said, "I think fashion is the strongest form of communication there is. … It’s only interesting to me if it’s subversive: that’s the only reason I’m in fashion, to destroy the word ‘conformity’" (Jon Savage, Time Travel: Pop, Media and Sexuality 1976-96, p. 119). Hair styles are also statements. Long hair on men and short hair on women are not merely harmless fashions but are statements of rebellion against God’s created order (1 Corinthians 11:14,15). The androgynous unisex image was not innocent. It was created by rock musicians who consciously intended to overthrow tradition. One of the rock songs of the 1960s called upon young men to grow their hair long and “let your freak flag show.” David Lee Roth of Van Halen testified: “[My long hair] is a flag. It’s Tarzan. I’ll always be anti-establishment” (cited by John Makujina, Measuring the Music, p. 73). Dennis Wilson of the Beach Boys sported long hair and popularized the "surfer cut" in the early 1960s. Commenting on the significance of this hair length, Wilson’s biographer observes: “The ‘surfer cut,’ as it came to be known, was a radical thing to behold in 1962. Few parents would permit their sons to sport the look” (Jon Stebbins, Dennis Wilson: The Real Beach Boy, p. 24). Dennis Wilson was a rebel and his appearance was merely a reflection of this. Paul McCartney of the Beatles mockingly acknowledges their role in overthrowing sexual distinctions: “There they were in America, all getting house-trained for adulthood with their indisputable principle of life: short hair equals men; long hair equals women. Well, we got rid of that small convention for them. And a few others, too” (Barbara Ehrenreich, “Beatlemania: Girls Just Wanted to Have Fun,” cited by Lisa Lewis, The Adoring Audience: Fan Culture and Popular Media, p. 102).
If ever there were a time in which preachers need to warn their people about clothing issues, it is today. Standards of morality are not to be left the pew or the home. It is the obligation of the preacher to set forth these things. Has God not given clear standards? We know that holiness is a matter of the heart, but is it not a matter of the body, as well? Every man knows that it is. What man has ever lusted after a woman’s heart! How, then, can we ignore this part of Scripture and refuse to preach it boldly and uncompromisingly? That is what the New Evangelical does. He has determined that there are some things he will not preach. Separation is one of them. But the Bible speaks as much about moral separation as it does about ecclesiastical separation. The faithful fundamentalist cannot ignore either.
Those who are crying “legalism” today are hypocritical in this matter. They, too, draw lines for clothing, even as they decry the old-time fundamentalist for the lines he draws. For example, will they allow a woman to teach a Sunday School class in a bikini? Of course not. They draw lines. And if it is right to draw a line in clothing; it is wise to draw the line at a biblical place.
Let’s make a clear difference between ourselves and the world. Let’s stand in the old paths. Those who are giving up high, plain standards of holiness in dress and are moving closer and closer to the fashions of the world should remember that the world is moving farther and farther from God’s Word.
I commend to you the following excellent message by Pastor Bruce Lackey.