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Christian Clothing

Neuropteron

Active Member
It just occurred to me that Christians don't have any specific clothing they wear. It struck me as odd. Why is this? Most religious groups have some kind of requirement; Sikhs have turbans and even swords; Jews have kippot, shaving restrictions etc.; Muslims wear kufis, hijab, thawb, long dresses etc.; Dharmics have salwar kameez, dhoti etc.

I'm wondering why Christians have nothing like this? It seems to be a large feature in many religions.


Hi,

What is important for a true Christian is the inner person.
Wearing special clothing or amulets what not required of followers of Christ, rather it was something the nations did.

"do not let your adornment be that of the external braiding...putting on of...ornaments, but let it be the secret person of the heart..."1Pet 3:3
 

Rival

Si m'ait Dieus
Staff member
Premium Member
Hi,

What is important for a true Christian is the inner person.
Wearing special clothing or amulets what not required of followers of Christ, rather it was something the nations did.

"do not let your adornment be that of the external braiding...putting on of...ornaments, but let it be the secret person of the heart..."1Pet 3:3
But hopefully having such faith would lead one to adopt a certain kind of dress. Modesty has always been prised by Abrahamics.
 

Valjean

Veteran Member
Premium Member
For centuries women had to have their head covered in church, some would simply place a hanky on their head before entering.
I remember my mother doing exactly that when visiting a large Catholic church (we were not Catholics, just tourists).
 

exchemist

Veteran Member
Deuteronomy 22:5
1 Timothy 2:9-10
1 Peter 3:3-4
1 Corinthians 11:14-15
You said "Yes, there actually is a good deal about how Christians should be dressed, and per scripture it would look more like the Amish or Mennonites."

But none of these New Testament passages tell people what sort of clothes to wear. (I ignore the OT one as Christians have never felt bound by all the rules in the OT - and actually all it does is prohibit cross-dressing :D).

The NT passages say one should be modest and avoid bling. And, er, that's it.
 

Shadow Wolf

Certified People sTabber
You said "Yes, there actually is a good deal about how Christians should be dressed, and per scripture it would look more like the Amish or Mennonites."

But none of these New Testament passages tell people what sort of clothes to wear. (I ignore the OT one as Christians have never felt bound by all the rules in the OT - and actually all it does is prohibit cross-dressing :D).

The NT passages say one should be modest and avoid bling. And, er, that's it.
Modest dress is more like the Amish or Mennonite. It certainly disqualifies someone's "Sunday's best." It also says it's shameful for men to have long hair. And no tattoos. It's not overly strict, but it doesn't allow for much.
 

exchemist

Veteran Member
Modest dress is more like the Amish or Mennonite. It certainly disqualifies someone's "Sunday's best." It also says it's shameful for men to have long hair. And no tattoos. It's not overly strict, but it doesn't allow for much.
Don't be ridiculous. It does not disqualify most people's "Sunday best". It might disqualify hot pants or a deep decoletage, but most people would not describe that sort of thing as "Sunday best".

Dressing modestly and not having tattoos leaves enormous scope and does not equal dressing like some antiquated European Puritan.
 

pearl

Well-Known Member
Mormons must ware special 'temple undergarments'. My daughter use to work for a company that sold systems for garment production. She was sent to Utah to oversee the transition. She commented the Mormons were such a gracious people, inviting her into their homes for dinners.
 

Vouthon

Dominus Deus tuus ignis consumens est
Staff member
Premium Member
It just occurred to me that Christians don't have any specific clothing they wear. It struck me as odd. Why is this? Most religious groups have some kind of requirement; Sikhs have turbans and even swords; Jews have kippot, shaving restrictions etc.; Muslims wear kufis, hijab, thawb, long dresses etc.; Dharmics have salwar kameez, dhoti etc.

I'm wondering why Christians have nothing like this? It seems to be a large feature in many religions.

This is a great question to consider Rival.

It's true that quite a few of the world religions have prescribed religious garments and dress, whether in their scriptures or arising from time-honoured custom and tradition.

Christianity, in the main, is notable for lacking any real interest in external dress, other than some exceedingly vague injunctions in the New Testament for believers to strive for 'modesty' or simplicity (a standard which differs immensely between cultures, given that Amazonian tribesmen may consider near-full nudity as 'modest' according to their social mores).

This is concerned mostly with elaborate, expensive clothing that signifies a person has inordinate attachment to material pleasure ('bling' in other words).

More specific modesty guidelines, historically in Catholicism, have been emphasised only within sacred spaces such as churches - the Vatican retains this for visitors but it isn't particularly onerous and still involves a degree of individual discretion and judgment:


What to Wear to the Vatican - An American in Rome


Millions of people visit the Vatican (St. Peter’s and the Vatican Museums) every year. And yes, some are turned away because of what they are wearing! Even though it is a major tourist attraction for people of all backgrounds, Vatican City is also a major holy site in the Catholic religion. As such, it is important to think about what to wear to the Vatican (or t0 any church in Italy, for that matter).

Vatican Dress Code
First things first: what are the actual rules about what you can wear to the Vatican? It is actually more about what you CAN’T wear. The following items of clothing are not allowed in the Vatican Museums (including the Sistine Chapel), St. Peter’s Basilica or the Vatican Gardens. If you are visiting it is prohibited to wear:

  • Mini-skirts
  • Shorts above the knee
  • Sleeveless tops
  • Lowcut clothing
  • Hats
The Vatican’s dress code applies to both men and women and essentially comes down to ensuring that your knees and shoulders are covered.


These kind of standards have generally not been imposed, historically, upon believers in the secular sphere outside worship settings. For example, pre-Vatican II Catholic women typically wore head-coverings - such as lace mantillas - when entering church but took them off once outside, which is where this old requirement of canon law differed from Islamic hijab or Jewish mitzvah on dress (which extends to daily life outside worship as well).

Also, it was only a custom or “changeable discipline of canon law, not some irrevocable commandment, hence it no longer being in force. The male version was and remains ceasing to wear a hat or any headgear when in church (this has been maintained!) out of deference.

Canon 1262 §2 of the 1917 Code of Canon Law, maintained this Pauline discipline which was amended to be no longer binding but optional for women in the revision of the code in the 1980s, under Pope John Paul II:


"Men, in a church or outside a church, while they are assisting at sacred rites, shall be bare-headed, unless the approved mores of the people or peculiar circumstances of things determine otherwise; women, however, shall have a covered head and be modestly dressed, especially when they approach the table of the Lord.”


As stated, the female dimension of this (head covering with a mantilla) is no longer in force today except for when women have private audiences with the Pope in the Vatican, where it is still customary and followed. And, as already noted, even at that, it was purely for worship - never imposed outside of a worship context in daily life for either sex.

In the ninth century, a Bulgar Khan seeking to convert his people from their traditional pagan religion Tengrism to the new faith of Christianity that he had himself only just embraced, dispatched a list of searching questions to Pope Nicholas about the requirements for conversion.

One of the matters he raised concerned this topic of 'dress' and external religious law. The Pope answered as follows:


Internet History Sourcebooks (fordham.edu)


The Responses of Pope Nicholas I to the Questions of the Bulgars A.D. 866 (Letter 99)

Chapter I.

Now then, at the very beginning of your questions, you properly and laudably state that your king seeks the Christian law. If we attempted to explain this law fully, innumerable books would have to be written; but, in order to show briefly in what things it chiefly consists, one should know that the law of the Christians consists in faith and good works. For faith is the first of all virtues in the lives of believers. Whence, even on the first day there is said to be light, since God is portrayed as having said: Let there be light,[Gen.1:3] that is, "let the illumination of belief appear." Indeed, it is also because of this illumination that Christ came down to earth. Good work is no less demanded from a Christian; for just as it is written in our law: Without faith it is impossible to please God,[Heb. 11:6] so it is also written: Just as a body without a spirit is dead, so, too, faith without works is dead.[James 2:20] This is the Christian law, and whoever keeps this law properly, shall be saved.

Chapter LIX.

We consider what you asked about pants (femoralia) to be irrelevant; for we do not wish the exterior style of your clothing to be changed, but rather the behavior of the inner man within you, nor do we desire to know what you are wearing except Christ — for however many of you have been baptized in Christ, have put on Christ [Gal. 3:27] — but rather how you are progressing in faith and good works.

But since you ask concerning these matters in your simplicity, namely because you were afraid lest it be held against you as a sin, if you diverge in the slightest way from the custom of other Christians, and lest we seem to take anything away from your desire, we declare that in our books, pants (femoralia) are ordered to be made, not in order that women may use them, but that men may.

But act now so that, just as you passed from the old to the new man, [cf. Eph. 4:22-24; Col. 3:9-10] you pass from your prior custom to ours in all things; but really do what you please.

For whether you or your women wear or do not wear pants (femoralia) neither impedes your salvation nor leads to any increase of your virtue
.

Of course, because we have said that pants are ordered to be made, it should be noted that we put on pants spiritually, when we restrain the lust of the flesh through abstinence; for those places are constrained by pants in which the seats of luxury are known to be. This is why the first humans, when they felt illicit motions in their members after sin, ran into the leaves of a fig tree and wove loin cloths for themselves.[cf. Gen. 3:7] But these are spiritual pants, which you still could not bear, and, if I may speak with the Apostle, you are not yet able; for you are still carnal.[I Cor. 3:2] And thus we have said a few things on this matter, although, with God's gift, we could say many more.


I think Pope Nicholas's response clarifies the underlying Christian rationale here (with reference to, and exegesis of, New Testament scripture as above). Note his very libertarian advice for clothing: "but really do what you please." It really couldn't be more open-ended than that!

Our religion has no sacred positive law, akin to Sharia or Torah, which covers society or 'externals' for the individual beyond what is deemed prerequisite for their salvation, namely the conviction of faith in God and his divine revelation accompanied by an ethical upright life defined by an interior purity of mind and heart.

The exterior dress of persons corresponds to the 'outer person' which is mutable and perishable, to use St. Paul's language in Corinthians, and not the inner being of the spiritual soul which endures for eternal life (i.e. "though our outer self is wasting away, our inner self is being renewed day by day...because we look not at what can be seen but at what cannot be seen; for what can be seen is temporary, but what cannot be seen is eternal" (2 Corinthians 4:16)) and thus exterior clothing isn't deemed to be of paramount importance for Christians but rather more of a peripheral, or at least secondary consideration.
 
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Heyo

Veteran Member
Don't be ridiculous. It does not disqualify most people's "Sunday best". It might disqualify hot pants or a deep decoletage, but most people would not describe that sort of thing as "Sunday best".

Dressing modestly and not having tattoos leaves enormous scope and does not equal dressing like some antiquated European Puritan.
That's not so ridiculous. Many clothing rules in the past were about the "Sunday best". It was less about showing of the carnal assets as it was to show off wealth (which, sometimes wasn't there). People were competing with clothes as status symbols, which included an abundance of fabric not the lack of. The authorities didn't like that because those fabrics were often imported and they'd have liked people to invest money in strengthening the local economy.
 

Shadow Wolf

Certified People sTabber
Don't be ridiculous. It does not disqualify most people's "Sunday best". It might disqualify hot pants or a deep decoletage, but most people would not describe that sort of thing as "Sunday best".
Yes, it does.it says no expensive clothing, no dressing to impress, and no external adornments. It's not saying to dress like a bum, but it's also saying typical blue collar attire is more appropriate and suitable than a costly suit or dress and perfumes and jewelry a lot of people wear to church.
 

exchemist

Veteran Member
Yes, it does.it says no expensive clothing, no dressing to impress, and no external adornments. It's not saying to dress like a bum, but it's also saying typical blue collar attire is more appropriate and suitable than a costly suit or dress and perfumes and jewelry a lot of people wear to church.
Maybe where you live, but not in my experience;). But in any case, it is a million miles away from saying Christians need to dress like Amish or Mennonites. Which is why they don't.

By the way, is it compulsory for Amish men to wear braces* ? Every photos of them seems to involve braces to hold up their trousers. Do they think belts are the work of the Devil, or something?



* Braces in English English are what Americans call "suspenders". Whereas in English English, suspenders are what Americans call a garter belt. I don't want to cause any confusion about this.
 

InChrist

Free4ever
Mormons must ware special 'temple undergarments'. My daughter use to work for a company that sold systems for garment production. She was sent to Utah to oversee the transition. She commented the Mormons were such a gracious people, inviting her into their homes for dinners.
That’s called “ friendshipping” and it is a means of proselytizing Mormons are encouraged to do to get converts.
 

InChrist

Free4ever
It just occurred to me that Christians don't have any specific clothing they wear. It struck me as odd. Why is this? Most religious groups have some kind of requirement; Sikhs have turbans and even swords; Jews have kippot, shaving restrictions etc.; Muslims wear kufis, hijab, thawb, long dresses etc.; Dharmics have salwar kameez, dhoti etc.

I'm wondering why Christians have nothing like this? It seems to be a large feature in many religions.
Why do you think Christians should have certain clothing requirements? That type of thing is indicative of religious groups or cookie cutter cults, where everyone is expected to look the same. Jesus is about relationships with unique individuals who make up the church, not a human created religion.
Therefore if the Son makes you free, you shall be free indeed. John 8:36
 
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