Here are some links to content mentioned in this week’s podcast, plus a little extra, like Mr. DeSimone’s coincidentally titled LCN article. Check them out!
A change of pace this week, since my podcast partner, Mr. Robinson, is out of town. It’s a bit nerdy (specifically of the “soundtrack nerd” variety of nerdy), but there has long been a subtle cue in the movie music of John Williams that I have appreciated. Not only has it helped me to admire him as a composer, it has provided for me an illustration of the need for spiritual discernment. If you will forgive my lack of technical prowess (I just play the music right out of my speaker instead of editing it into the video), I hope this discussion helps get that idea across. If it isn’t terrible (and be honest with me, I can take it…), I’ll try to follow up in the future with a Michael Giacchino-themed lesson that goes hand in hand with this one.
We mentioned in the last post that we would put up a telecast by Mr. Michael Heykoop and a Viewpoint by Mr. Javid Khan. So, here they are! Actually, Mr. Khan works on graphics for many of the Viewpoints, if not all of them. But he does the presentation on this one. Give them both a watch!
The last podcast mentioned the article “The War Against Normal” that was published in the January 2023 Tomorrow’s World magazine. If you are interested in checking it out, here’s a link:
We mentioned in the last podcast that the Tomorrow’s World magazine was upgraded ten years ago this month, and some of you would be too young to remember! So, here are the two covers on either side of that change, from March-April 2013 to May-June 2013. And we are working on additional “refreshing” of the inside this year, so we’d appreciate your prayers!
And, while you’re at it, check out the newest issue! Yes, it talks about WWIII possibly making life terrible—but, hey, it talks about A.I. possibly making life terrible, too! No, seriously, give it a read. It will keep you up to date, and you get to see the adorable and totally fake space kitty that Mr. Ben Graham whipped up for us with a little A.I. help.
In Muslim nations and communities, women dress in burkas or long-sleeved abaya in order to be considered appropriate in their culture. Yet in Indian culture, an exposed belly is not considered revealing—whether it is 20 years old or 80, and whether its size is 2 or 32. Meanwhile, in the United States, Amish women dress only in dresses comprised of a simple scoop-neck bodice attached to a loosely gathered straight skirt, and perhaps only pinned together, because pleats and buttons are considered too ostentatious.
Depending on where you live, culture does play into how one should dress. However, with a few exceptions here and there, most Western nations have a lot of leeway in what is considered appropriate or inappropriate for women to wear. But do we have that much latitude in God’s view?
Biblically, women should not be ashamed of their bodies. When God created Eve, He made her beautiful, and women are designed to want to be that way. Peter acknowledges that women want to be beautiful, and he extends that to beauty that is more than skin deep (1 Peter 3:3). Our character needs to be beautiful, and every godly woman wants to be beautiful on both the outside and the inside.
So, if God meant for women to be beautiful, why must Christian women be concerned with what they wear in public? Does God care if we wear yoga pants and a cropped sweatshirt to the mall? Does God care if we wear a low-cut blouse with a keyhole opening? Does God mind if, when we sit down and cross our legs, anyone in front of us can see halfway up our thighs? Although it is godly for women to desire to be beautiful, is that the same as being sexy—by definition, “sexually suggestive or stimulating”—in public?
Read moreOne of the biggest complaints I ever heard from my students was about the school’s dress code, and these complaints sometimes caused me to think about the relationship between female modesty and male thoughts. The students had been told that boys were easily distracted by female dress—hence, at least one of the reasons to have a dress code. While the students did not like to acknowledge that connection, the Bible also points out in 1 Timothy 2:9 that women should “adorn themselves in modest apparel” and focus more on “the hidden person of the heart, with the incorruptible beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit” (1 Peter 3:1-6). Young ladies in the Church are taught this principle and given instructions on how to put it into practice, and if you’re one of them, a great place to start is the companion to this post, Mrs. Jeanine Smith’s “Women and Modesty.”
But this post is for young men: When you think of modesty, do you think it only applies to the ladies? That can be a dangerous trap, for two reasons.
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