Bad Clothes

Last summer, I went to Ichthus Music Festival in Kentucky. It had almost every big Christian band out there: Casting Crowns, Swiftfoot, RED, Lecrae, Thousand Foot Krutch, Aaron Gillespie, Disciple, The Afters, Addison Road, Skillet, The Devil Wears Prada, Philmont, tobyMac, Newsboys, Barlowgirl, and scores more. Since music is such a huge obsession of mine, this was naturally a heaven-on-earth experience. The only downside is it an's outside event, so it was very hot, day and night. Tempurature never fell below 90. Everyone was sweaty, stinky, and desperate for shade or water. Nevertheless, it was a great experience. The festival is held at a farm with seven stages, at which artists perform from noon to 2 AM. Twenty-five thousand people attend the festival last summer, most of them teenagers. I went with some friends, among them being my best friend David. As we walked around the festival, it felt as if we were at a small town. It had skating parks, showerhouses, merch tents, food vendors, autograph tents, radio tents, seven stages, and hundreds of camp sites, overfilling with RVs and tents. It was surreal!

It's a Christian event with scores and scores of popular and unknown Christian bands. Chick-Fil-A was there, along with many big name speakers, and several well-known Christian radio stations were there as sponsors. So naturally, my friend David and I believed that many people there would be Christians. Right? Not exactly. David and I were surprised at the many teenage couples there. Not everybody was a couple, but there were far more pairs or threes than I expected. But that wasn't what really caught my eye. What truly shocked us was the immodesty of the girls. I only saw a few of girls wearing modest shorts. Only a handful of teenage girls wore long shorts or jeans. Granted, it was very hot, but I had a feeling it wasn't simply the heat to blame for the incredible amount of skin shown. The shirts were not as immodest, but there was still an very surprising amount of cleavage revealed. The countless number of short shorts and diving necklines that the young women clad themselves in worried me. As David and I discussed the issue, we were very surprised at the lack of integrity or modest at a Christian event. The Bible makes it clear Christians should "flee from sexual immorality", and these girls were literally dressing in sexual temptation!

If these girls dressed that way at a hot festival away from home, they likely dressed that way when it was hot at home, too. What did that mean? While I won't jump to conclusions and say that girls who dress poorly aren't Christians, I am saying that girls who dress poorly are sinning. And while I'm not saying that simply attending Christian festivals makes you a Christians, I'm saying that around 90% of the teenage girls at this Christian festival (a festival with 25,000 people) were not dressed like a strong Christian girl would. And while I certainly don't want to judge anyone based on their clothes, I do dare oppose the young women who call themselves lovers of God but willingly dress as prostitutes. If you feel like I'm stepping on your toes here, think about it this way. If 90% percent of the young men at a Christian festival or conference were cussing, or getting into fights, or being handsy with girls, wouldn't you say they would be acting like non-Christians?

I expected a few immodestly dressed girls, and I wouldn't be upset if a few scantily clad girls showed up at church. But what if almost every teenage girl at your church dressed poorly? How could that reflect on the church, or the youth ministry, or even the young girls' relationship with God? It'd be wrong to say that wearing skimpy clothing makes you a non-Christian. But it'd be incorrect to say that racy clothing isn't harmful or appropriate or that it doesn't tempt.