Church girls’ dress codes have been a topic of controversy over the past couple of years here in Uganda. A Child of God has an obligation to the Bible to dress correct, go to the right places, and have the right friendships, many are often told.
Dress codes have been considered by many to help foster “fornication” in churches, an environment in which the consensus is that one can avoid certain things by changing how they act.
The debatable message that a controlling dress code sends is that young women must change the way they act and dress to shield themselves from unwanted attention. Funny though, today’s fashions major in bringing attention – especially to every detail of the body. They will sometimes call you “old fashioned” when you show up clad with modesty and decency. Should other people’s opinion matter much more than what God says?
Fashion activists will say every single woman on this planet shouldn’t have to feel ashamed to wear clothing they love. Is everything you love worth wearing? Think about it.
Like any parent, I can imagine how degrading it feels when someone walks up to you and tells you that you can’t wear a certain piece of clothing. Just when you feel confident enough to show off your style, someone plucks you out and says what you are wearing is inappropriate. To avoid this kind of controversy and confrontation, may preachers have put sermons on dress codes into the shelves.
Point is, whether you believe it or not, women would come into the house of God dressed appropriately. By appropriately, I mean, dress in a way that gives God glory.
Our clothing is one of our most elemental forms of communication. Long before our voice is heard, our clothes are transmitting multiple messages. From our attire, others immediately read not only such things as our sex, age, national identity, socio-economic status, and social position, but also our mood, our attitudes, our personality, our interests, and our values.
We should not conclude too quickly that because God looks on the heart, what we wear to church doesn’t matter. Our internal and external states cannot be so easily disentangled. The fact is, when it comes to how we clothe ourselves, our external appearance is often an expression of our internal state. Thus our worship attire may matter more than we think.
We are told that there are a lot more important things to preach on or about. I agree, but if we preach the whole counsel of God, dress codes will come up. The Bible teaches that nakedness is a sin. Remember, your life may be the only Bible that many people will read.
By Paul Dennis.
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He is a contributing writer with UG Christian News.
