>>Christ inside your body. By how ? By readin' and pray everyday right ? <<
I happen to disagree. I've been to church services, saw people praying fervently and later the same people kicking the dog and pushing a homeless person out of their way, beating their kids and/or wife, spreading false gossip about others (that mostly women).
No matter how much you pray, it's only your action that shows if you have Christ in your heart or not. You only fool yourself if you think the more you pray the more Christ you have in your heart.
You can be shy with your relationship with Christ, you may pray scarcely and yet be closer to him than any devout phony in the first row in the Church all agnry and pious because her neighbour went to the beach in thong (after volunteering her services at homeles shelter).
First, He wants His people to look special and separate from the rest of the world.
That's separatism. That's how, for example, racism starts. No he doesn't.
We are ALL special in the eyes of God. God created ALL people, therefore these naked non- Christian tribes too. Jesus was a Jew, BTW.
Second, He wants His people to be a good testimony in every thing that they do, including clothing, speaking, behaving, singing, etc.
But it have to be balanced. You can't be "good testimony" just by wearing ankle lenght dress and steal or cheat, for example. Besides you have to keep in mind it's one's dirty mind that puts special attention to certaing things. If you have pure mind, a piece of naked body will not faze you. If you truly believe, you'll remember your holy duty as a Christian is to love thy neighbour, regardless of his clothing disaster.
Third, He wants His people to focus on and emphasize inward spiritual things, not outward physical things.
Exactly. So stop thingking about someone's boobs and thongs etc..
concentrate on your inward growth
also, this sentence leaves a very big area to speculate... because it is also God who gives us gifts such as talents for art, which is visual =outward. Therefore God wants us to develop not only inwardly, but outwardly as well.
Without, for example, architects, designers, we still would be living in stone caves..
Without ability to draw and create we deaf would have a heck of a time to communicate..
Fourth, He wants to reduce sexual temptations among people.
And yet he created as VERY sexual beings
Naked tribes in South Ameeica are NOT any more tempted than us in fully clothed western parts of the world.
Muslim women are often forced to marry and bear chidlren at very young age, age that is condiered illegal to have sex here.
The code of DRESS doesn't matter. Your personal moral code is what matter.
Fifth, He wants His people to use their money wisely, and not waste too much money on new clothes every season.
hmmm.... this, I partly agree.. I just find it so insignificant comparing to the money we spend needlessly on many other things...
Sixth, He wants to reduce jealousy among people.
again, this has nothing to do with the way we dress, everything with the way we are brought up by our parents who teach us moral values, and in turn, how we ourselves raise our kids and what we teach them.
My daughter is not jealous of anyone's expensive clothes because I thought her it's wrong. I thought her the only thing that matter is what's in everyon'es heart.
I not only teach her to give to less fortunate, I also teach her to accept used stuff too. I believe accepting used stuff is even better than giving stuff away.
BTW this particualr trait, jealousy, has everything to do with self- esteem. Confident people with good self esteem, are not jealous because they are happy with what they have and who they are.
That is the point. I don't think Mother Theresa had a desire to go to the beach in a thong suit. Her character (deep inside) wanted to help other people. Her character did NOT want to get attention for herself.
Yes, of course. I only wanted to point out, since CR is closely connecting the way her mom dress with her black soul, that any particular way of dressing not always reflects our inner beauty.
Mother Theresa would be THE exact SAME great person, thong or no thong, and wearing a thong is NOT neccessarily wanting to get an attention. It may simply mean no tan line (or hardly a tan line), It's YOU who make it into a big deal.
Christians want to dress (speak, behave) the way that pleases Jesus.
Non-Christians don't care how they dress (speak, behave) because they don't care how Jesus feels.
umm Reba.. everyone has his/her own Jesus.
The way you wrote it implicates Christians are way better and above than any other religion, since they care so much for their beloved smart, right, wonderful Christ the Saviour.
Therefore anyone else non- Christian is stupid and bad, since they don't see the light they don't care about anyone and anything. So they walk around being seffish, sinners, exposed.. they are NOT.
It's horrible way of thinking.
I don't buy it.
Fuzzy