Free The Lie: Evolution by Ken Ham

CLOTHES?
     
    Consider why we wear clothes. Is it to keep warm? What then if we lived in the tropics? Is it to look nice? If these are our only reasons, why wear clothes? Why not take them off when we want to, where we want to? Does it really matter if one goes nude publicly? Ultimately, the only reason for insisting that clothes must be worn is a moral one. If there is a moral reason, it must have a basis somewhere; therefore, there must be standards connected to the moral reason. What then are the standards? Many in our culture (including Christians) just accept the fashions of the day. Parents, what about the training of your children? What do you say to them about clothes?

    In her paper "Greek Clothing Regulations: Sacred and Profane," Harrianne Mills has this to say: "Since the demise, roughly one hundred years ago, of the biblically based theory that clothes are worn because of modesty, various theories have been put forward by anthropologists concerned with the origins and functions of clothing." 1
    Why do we wear clothes? There is a moral basis if you go back to the Scriptures. We read in Genesis that when God made Adam and Eve they were naked. But sin came into the world, and sin distorts everything. Sin distorts nakedness. Immediately Adam and Eve knew they were naked, and they tried to make coverings out of fig leaves. God came to their rescue, providing garments by killing an innocent animal. This was the first blood sacrifice; it was a covering for their sin.
    Men are very easily aroused sexually. That is why semi-naked women are used in television and magazine advertisements. Parents need to explain to their daughters how easily a man is aroused sexually by a woman’s body. They need to know, because many of them do not understand what happens to a man. At one church, after I had spoken on the topic of clothing, a young woman came up and told me that she had only been a Christian for six months. She was dating a young Christian man and was perplexed as to why he often told her not to wear certain things. Every time she asked him why, he started to feel embarrassed. She had not realized before that what she wore (or did not wear) could put a stumbling block in a man’s way by causing him to commit adultery in his heart.
    Fathers need to explain to their daughters about how men react to a woman’s body. They also need to explain to their sons that although women’s clothes, or lack of them, can be a stumbling block to a male, it is not an excuse for them in relation to what their mind does with what they see. Job had an answer for this problem: "I made a covenant with mine eyes; why then should I think upon a maid?" (Job 31:1). As Christians, males should have a covenant with their eyes and be reminded of this when lustful thoughts come as a result of what they see or hear.
    Jesus states that if a man lusts after a woman in his heart, he commits adultery in his heart: "But I say unto you, That whosoever looketh on a woman to lust after her hath committed adultery with her already in his heart" (Matt. 5:28). Sin distorts nakedness. Even the perfect relationship experienced by Adam and Eve before the Fall degenerated. After the Fall, they hid from God and were ashamed of their nakedness. Many Christian women wear clothes that really accentuate their sexuality. And many a roving eye follows every movement. But what is happening? Men are committing adultery in their hearts. Adultery for which they and the women will have to answer.
    In many Christian homes, parents have certain beliefs about clothing. They say to their teenager, "You can’t wear that."
    The teenagers reply, "But why not?"
    "Because it is not the Christian thing," answer the parents.
    "Why not?" ask the teenagers again.
    "Because Christians don’t wear that," the parents insist.
    "Why not?" the reply comes.
    Then you often hear daughters saying, "You’re old-fashioned, Mom and Dad." They are saying that their parents have one opinion but they