I haven’t really been blogging about Christian stuff because frankly, I can’t with the level of stupidity I’m seeing displayed online at the moment. That said, every so often I like to spice things up by highlighting something sensible said by Christians. Granted, she posted this a while ago but anyway shout out to Hannah Lee Yoder for posing an interesting question.

I’ll be the first to say I like looking at hot men. I don’t know why “Christians” like Dale Partridge and Lori Alexander of the Transformed Wife act as if women don’t have a sex drives and thus, don’t enjoy seeing men with nice abs walking around. It’s called self-control, bro. Women have historically been encouraged to have it, men have not despite there being no Biblical basis for this attitude.

When people question whether or not men should be held to the same modesty standards as women, they’re essentially saying no women will ever struggle with lust, which is simply not true. It’s also, per Hannah, hypocritical since nowhere does the Bible even explicitly say the female body is inherently sexual, rather we’re told to gouge our own eyes out if we’re struggling with lust.

Anyway, as is my answer to everything let’s see what the Bible says.

“I desire then that in every place the men should pray, lifting holy hands without anger or quarreling; likewise also that women should adorn themselves in respectable apparel, with modesty and self-control, not with braided hair and gold or pearls or costly attire, but with what is proper for women who profess godliness—with good works,” and “[f]or you were called to freedom, brothers. Only do not use your freedom as an opportunity for the flesh, but through love serve one another.“

The Bible doesn’t really say much about clothing as it relates to modesty (or clothing at all) so it’s amazing how much time Christians (particularly male pastors) spend on this topic, far more time than the actual God on whom our Christian faith is built upon did. On a practical level, God is all-knowing, probably knew clothing would change over time, and thus what is and isn’t considered modest over time would change too, which is probably why specific rules aren’t mentioned.

On a more spiritual level, God cares about our hearts (1 Samuel 16:7). Sure, our actions do matter and evidence that one is a Christian is seen in displaying the fruits of the spirit per Galatians, so there should be some outward evidence that one is a Christian. Yet, all the outward attempts at Godliness are worthless if one’s heart is not in the right place and many Christians practice modesty as a way of appearing holier or better than others, which is why you will see Christians posting stuff like this instead of just like not wearing leggings and taking pictures in them if you find them that immodest? That’s why Jesus was always coming after the Pharisees, who were the religious leaders of His time. Their hearts were not in the right place even though outwardly they were doing the right things.

Similarly, modestly is an issue of the heart. One should dress a certain way to please God, not to please men or women. Many Christian influencers have built their entire brands upon making women feel bad for a body God gave them in an attempt to win male validation and it’s sad to see these women care more about what random dudes online think, than what God thinks.

So are Christian men in boxers immodest?

As was my answer with women wearing bikinis, no. I find little evidence in the Bible to support the idea human bodies are inherently sexual and there is a difference between looking at someone and finding them attractive (normal) and lusting after someone. It’s not a sin to look at a dude in boxers, think they’re handsome, and then go about your day, but too many corn addicts (and this includes the ladies) out there have eyes so warped that when they see an attractive individual minding their own business in boxers or bikinis or whatever, their minds automatically go into lusting.

However, we as Christians, “have divine power to demolish strongholds. We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ.” Just as David asked the Lord to create in him a clean heart and renew his spirit, we too can learn to look at our brothers and sisters in Christ in purity.