At what point are people going to start quoting the Bible and not their personal opinions?

Frankly, I find Solie Osorio sort of hilarious because she’s like not even 25, yet speaks as if she has some wealth of knowledge to share about marriage, children, etc. Job 12:12 says, “[w]isdom is with aged men, [a]nd with length of days, understanding.” Surely the Lord can and does empower young people with wisdom, but Solie is not wise, nor is what she’s saying backed with scripture. Fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, but that wisdom will never contradict or add to the Word of God either.

And nowhere in the Bible does God put the blame of grape (lol) on what someone is wearing. In fact, God basically says stone rapists in Deuteronomy. Adultery was also punishable by death for both the man and the woman, and this would include looking at pornography, or lusting after a woman. Porneia is a Greek word that basically means any sexual activity and is used in the Bible several times. Since all sexual activity outside of marriage is forbidden, if Solie was truly interested in being Biblically accurate here and not just sexist, she would blame both the man lusting and the woman dressed immodestly equally in her post. Tellingly, she does not which reveals this is just another pick-me type post, or worst some sort of trolling attempt, which is not very Godly and not what Christians should be known for online.

The Bible is what our faith is based upon and when Christians are consistently preaching things with nay a Bible verse in sight, that’s a red flag. Scrolling through Solie’s Instagram, 90% of it is personal opinions with sporadic Bible verses out of context. Troubling that she has such a large following of Christians when very little of what she says is backed by Scripture. It’s why it’s crucial to read your Bible daily and familiarize yourself with the Word of God, so when people preach Biblical clownery you already know what God has said.

In Matthew, Jesus puts the blame of lust squarely on the shoulders of those who are lusting. Jesus says not once, but twice to pluck your eyeballs out if you have an issue with lust. I’m not against dressing modestly even though Solie and I would probably disagree on what dressing modestly means. But I do have a lot of sympathy (particularly as I’m a very visual lady myself and no cap, I like looking at shirtless, hot men lol) towards men who are struggling in our hypersexualized culture. So I agree generally that as women (and men) we shouldn’t dress provocatively – just not for the sake of man, but because rather to honor the Lord.

That said, modesty teachings are the lazy way out of fostering self-control, particularly in regards to male sexuality. This is none more evident than among Christian men who seem even weaker than their secular counterparts in this area. Jesus says they will know us by our fruits; Galatians lists “self-control” as one of the fruits of the Spirit. Thus, evidence that one is actually a Christian isn’t in how they dress, how closely they follow gender roles, how early they marry and have kids, but rather in the fruit they produce. This is why Jesus further warns against wolves in sheep’s clothing – those that look the part but underneath all their prairie dresses, sourdough breads, and Christianese are actually producing bad fruit. Consequently, it’s perfectly reasonable to expect Christian men, who are tasked as being spiritual leaders (and this includes leading in the fruits of the Spirit) to exhibit self-control. Not only is it an expectation, but it’s the clearest evidence that a person is actually a Christian and not just using religion to live a certain lifestyle.

Nonsense like this discourages men from fostering self-control and is frankly the opposite of what the Bible actually says – in fact, it feels very boys will be boys, which is a very secular attitude. Here, modesty and purity culture serve as a band-aid to lust, and inevitably we’ll see Christian pastors and other prominent Christian men falling to sexual sin again and again, and Christians are always shooketh. But it’s nothing more than the fruit of what modesty and purity culture has produced over the years, which is telling. If one never learns to discipline themselves in the way of self-control, than they will stumble the minute they encounter anything outside of their carefully curated world of modesty, no leggings, and no cleavage. And as Christians we are told to be in the world, not of the world. But how are Christians to be in the world when they can’t even stand the sight of a woman in leggings?

Christians like Solie, Dale Partridge, and Owen Strachan’s answer to this is telling women to cover up and hide the way God literally made them. Again, a band-aid and these teachings are evidence of a lack of self-control in their own lives. Troubling because many of these folks are in authority over others. Yet the amount of times I’ve seen the women shouldn’t wear leggings debate brought up by Christians is remarkable. Far more time is spent telling women not to dress a certain way so that men don’t lust after them, which isn’t even in the Bible, as opposed to telling men to foster self-control, which is in the Bible. But ya know, the latter actually requires one to be a Christian and not just cosplaying as one, and I have a feeling a good many popular Christian influencers fall in the the second category.

Dressing modestly is great but it’s not the answer to lust. Nothing gives anyone else the right to assault them, whether they’re naked, or dressed like the Amish. And as for my dear sister in Christ, Solie, she may want to spend some time looking at the *probably should include a trigger warning* What I was Wearing Exhibit, and of course, a little more time reading her Bible.