We have been having excellent discussion at our Singles Source group on Thursdays. More people are coming each week. Plan to join us as McAlisters for dinner and discussion 6:00-7:15pm this Thursday. We will head to Minors Lane for 7:30 revival service and CGI ordination.
*******Plan on coming to our Bonfire/Hayride Friday Oct. 22 7:30-10:30pm 9508 Fairmount Rd. 40291 (Hoagland Farm) *******
Look for details on forthcoming email.
Bring lawnchair, flashlight, warm jacket, and any food/snack to cook in bonfire.
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Modesty: Character as simplicity
read pages 63-72 "Character matters" by Mark Rutland
Discussion of Church History: Acts 19 The impact of Christianity at Ephesus was an immediate change in lifestyle.In Jerusalem, Christianity was a theological issue. 30 years later, Christians were asking: "How do we do business? Should we buy meat dedicated to pagan gods? How should we treat slaves? How should our women dress?" By the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, Western civilization had been Christianized. Not everyone was honest, but there was a societal consensus about what honesty was. Not everyone went to church but going to church was considered a "good" thing to do. Likewise, not everyone was modest, but modesty was considered a virtue. That is not necessarily true anymore. Modesty is now more often considered the neurotic repression of both sexuality and individuality. Now, we are in the post-Christian era of the West. The moral decay around us is forcing Christians to come up with answers that are no longer "givens." In many ways, the author suggests, we are headed back to Ephesus.
Living Within Limits:
Most modern Americans understand the word MODESTY to have reference only to one's manner of dress, and even then it is mostly used with regard to women. Yet modesty actually has far more to do with self-respect and self-control than with how revealing one's garments are. Style of dress is an application of modesty, not a definition. Modesty, in its classical sense, means living within limits. Modesty submits to the boundaries of propriety. It is the opposite of putting oneself forward in the sense of being overly aggressive or presumptuous. Modesty has to do with being other than boastful and arrogant. Modesty springs from a tempered and humble estimation of one's own importance. It is unobtrusive. Modesty sees restraints as being positive safeguards, not negative hindrances. IMMODESTY denies responsibility to law, culture, authority and tradition. Modesty says,"Ther are things in this world that are right for me to do and things in this world that are not right for me to do. I am not too good, too big, too rich or too powerful for someone else to point those out to me." Modesty is the conviction that there are correct limits on life. The modest learn to set their own limits. Modesty has a great deal to do with one's self-view.
Read Romans 12:1-3 This is the Biblical insight on Modesty. This scripture helps pagans in ancient Rome and modern America understand that modesty means much more than how a woman dresses!
If your body is a sacrifice that is acceptable to God, then treating your body with respect is also important to God. Note that a sacrifice is acceptable to God only as long as it is on the ALTAR. When I take my body and my life in my own hands, I make myself meaningless and valueless; my life becomes an unending search for ways to convince myself and the world of my significance.
Modesty is unassuming and genuinely humble. The immodest announce by demeanor, dress and attitude, to everyone in general and to the opposite sex in particular, "Look at me. I am what is important in this place."
We will conclude our discussion on Modesty next Thurs. at Minor Lane (Oct. 14) pages 72-75.
Seeking for More of God together,
Becky
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