Modern-day pop culture is quite the fickle beast, isn't it? Buzz-generating trends in music, food, fashion--they all tend to suddenly burst onto the scene with much fanfare and applause but more often than not, they usually fade into obsolescence and obscurity just as equally. I don't know what it is about human nature that compels us to gravitate to particular products simply because a certain "celebrity" or some for-whatever-reason "noteworthy" person endorses them; I irresistibly think of possibly the most powerful name, marketing wise, to ever push anything on the American public: Michael Jordan. Yes, Mr. Jordan has pushed everything from shoes to underwear, from hot dogs to cigars and is doing it well, even after his legendary professional basketball career has long since ended. It's been said that as long as it's made to look good, Americans will buy it.
America has, almost from her inception, been a culturally diverse nation with a mainstream, nearly universally accepted macro-culture, and thriving deep in the subcutaneous layer of American skin has lain the myriad of micro-cultures belonging to the peoples of the melting pot. Style of clothing has always been one of the most effective vehicles to express one's individual or group culture (and norms and traditions). When one sees the jet-black suit and full ear-to-ear beard of a burly, rugged man you think Amish or Orthodox Jew. When a spry, yet serious-faced, redheaded man attends a board meeting with a "power tie" and a forest-green and black plaid kilt you obviously say, "Ah, must be Irish." These styles of dress are distinctly connected to proud cultures and peoples, respectively. But when looks out onto the streets of say, Chicago, and sees a young man, braids or dreads flowing, white tee-shirt untucked with his baggy blue jeans literally falling off of his body to the point he has to hold them up, what goes through you mind?
The fact remains that our outerwear (even, dare I say, our underwear) says quite a deal about our culture and, more importantly, how we think. What can be said about the thinking of a young man that bares his underwear to the world's eye? This disturbing trend (that had been thought of as a fad) of letting pants "sag" says much about the susceptibility of young minds to the suggestions of those clearly not under the leading of the Word of God. I know some might say that I'm being "legalistic" or that I'm just being an old stick-in-the-mud, steeped in traditional modes of stuffy, boring dress, but to that I say that the Scriptures have much to say about modesty, about carrying oneself in dignity befitting those who bear the Name of the Lord Jesus Christ.
But on a deeper, less obvious level, I posit that the roots of this sagging trend go all the way back to the Garden of Eden; before you check out, believing this to be a far-fetched, ridiculous connection, look at the response of Adam and Eve when confronted with the infernal birth of that which has ruled the human heart since that fateful moment: sin.
A very brief overview of what we call the Fall of Man, shows us simply that man was given complete blessing and privilege to indulge in everything present in the Garden--with only one restriction--which was JEHOVAH'S right to do. Man stepped outside of God's will by acting independently of his own volition. He intentionally violated just one inhibition--99.99% of the entire world wasn't good enough for Adam. He was duped in trading peace, joy, perfect love and Divine fellowship for the 1% that brought with it thousands of years of unrelenting pain, suffering, violence, and death.
The first thing that our original parents did when "the eyes of both of them were opened" (Genesis 3:7) was cover themselves. The full weight of guilt and the awful "wrongness" in their spirit came down on them with an asteroid's strike force and the best they could do to dissuade the horrible spiritual stain was to pitifully sew fig leaves together in a futile attempt to stand before a perfect, holy God that they absolutely, unequivocally, positively knew would visit them and demand explanation. I would imagine that since clothing was unnecessary up to this dark point that the first foray into raiment style was absolutely horrendous.
Their regret could only be balanced by the promise of the only hope, the only one who could balance the scales, the One with full power to pay the incalculable debt of sin: the Lord Jesus Christ. I would imagine the load of guilt is comparable to the guilt of Judas Iscariot that compelled him to take his own life after betraying One so perfect, so innocent, so honorable to those he clearly knew were duplicitous, wicked, and corrupt. But it's in our clothing that along with style and character that we find the sign of our inward shame and guilt that we inherited from our first parents. Man has been trying to cover up his shame ever since then, like a child who knows he stands before his parents who know his deviant behavior. While we have made creative use of fabrics, colors, and clothing-related accessories, clothing is just a sign of our profound sin, our irreconcilable separation from our Creator. Man in his basic nature is a rebel against all that is godly, holy, and morally upright in accordance with the Scriptures.
Yet looking at recent modern (and disturbing) trends in fashion, especially in Western cultures, the order of the day appears to cast off as much clothing as possible, to bare as much flesh as possible. Modesty is the antithesis of pop-culture and the Bible calls for men and women of God to be modest, because of the One the people represent. It's a casting away of our shame that is one of the most prominent indicators of sin in our hearts and in the world. So not just with women showing as much skin as possible to stay (barely) within legal limits, the men have followed suit and in the urban centers of America it's a common thing to see in the hot months, multiple scores of young men walking the streets shirtless and with exceptionally baggy jeans literally falling off of their bodies. The first thing that Adam and Eve noticed was that they were naked--their shame was rooted in the awful birth of Self on that day. As man continues to descend rapidly into the uttermost depths of lasciviousness he seeks to more and more display the spiritual state of his rebellion against holiness--whether he knows it or not. The showing of that which should not be publicly seen is clear evidence of modern man attempting just the opposite of what Adam and Eve tried and failed to do--to hide their shame and guilt. Man, in essence is saying, "God, there's nothing to be ashamed of anymore! I'm fine just the way I am and I don't need You to cover me!"
As already mentioned, our first parents attempted to cover themselves with their own works, with their own ingenuity which was not nearly enough. Man will try to cover himself but does not want God to cover his sin and guilt, and now in our popular culture we are unabashedly casting off even our own coverings of our sin and guilt and virtually every media outlet almost twenty-four hours every day is attempting to brainwash children to believe that "having it and flaunting it" is a sign of personal freedom from dogmatic and societal restriction just as Adam and Eve sought freedom from God's limitation for their good. Our clothing is a reminder of our great fall from grace and we spend great energy trying to forget it.
And now, those who carry themselves in such ways lock themselves into certain sectors of society. For the ladies, they force themselves into professions that abuse them and denigrate them; for the men, society tends to fear them and not take them seriously. Of course, I am not suggesting they be locked out of the Church, for the blood-bought Church is exactly what these men and women need so that Christ can bring about an everlasting transformation that will produce many fruits (e.g. love, joy, peace, etc.) among which are godly modesty and personal dignity in public as well as in private in dress and behavior.
"Therefore gird up the loins of
your mind, be sober, and rest your
hope fully upon the grace that is
to be brought to you at the
revelation of Jesus Christ;
as obedient children, not
conforming yourselves to the former
lusts, as in your ignorance;
but as He who called you is holy,
you also be holy in all your conduct,
because it is written,
"Be holy, for I am holy.""
(I Peter 1:13-16)
