No Shorts for Christians.
One of the funniest things I have read to date. Props to Erik for finding this one….
ESPN recently featured some of the embarrassing cousins within the church family. They ran a story about a tiny Pentecostal High School in Virginia who require their basketball teams to wear long pants on the court. No, not just during warm ups, but the whole game.
ESPN has a guy who keeps up to date with the various uniform trends within sports. The writings are typically interesting and funny. In this case, at least for me, not funny. Though I’m sure the rest of the audience enjoyed the feature displaying Christians as painfully weird.
The kicker in this story is in the interview. Watch the flow:
ESPN: A basketball team wearing long pants is new to me. What’s it all about?
Principal Wayne Elliott: We’re a small Christian school, about 52 kids, and it’s just a school dress code that we have, based on our Biblical beliefs and standards. It goes back to dressing in modest apparel — that’s the dress code we set, and the kids abide by it here at the school and at all school functions.
ESPN: And that code would be “no short pants.”
WE: Correct.
ESPN: Please forgive my ignorance on this point, but is there a specific verse of the Bible that addresses this?
WE: There is, but I’d have to look it up — I don’t have it handy, but it’s definitely in Scripture.
First of all, I love how the ESPN guy goes to the Bible for his authority. The principal should have done the same. He then fumbles the question and tosses up a half-court-prayer-shot, “There is, but I’d have to look it up — I don’t have it handy, but it’s definitely in Scripture”
Actually, Wayne, its not. There is not a Bible verse that tells men that they can’t wear shorts or that they have to wear matching short sleeve shirts under their tank tops. If you are a legalist you should at least have your out of context verses handy.
But it gets worse.
Principal Wayne then goes on, almost bragging, that the girls basketball team wears “skirts” and the cheerleaders wear “long skirts”.
I don’t know if Wayne has noticed this before but the ’skirts’ that girls wear are actually shorter than most men’s basketball shorts. But they want the girls to look like girls (never mind showing off the skin that they so ardently oppose with the boys’ team).
We should just make things easier. The boys should wear snowsuits and mittens and the girls can wear burkhas. This will prevent any questions.
What is so sad is that this school is training their students and the watching world that godliness is gained by what you wear or do not wear.
As if this was all that it took.
What gets lost in this whole discussion is that God came in the flesh and earned a righteous standing before God for his people and he died to pay the death penalty that his people had earned from their sin. This is the basis for standing before God. This is the basis and the means for godliness.
If the good principal would survey the Bible for his phantom verses that tell kids to wear pants when they play hoops he may stumble across a major New Testament theme: Christ has delivered his people from the weak and worthless elementary things of this world! What you wear or do not wear is not you basis for standing or godliness before God but rather what Christ did or did not do. To turn aside to these things as a basis before God (demonstrated by their obligation here) is to turn away from Christ. Paul makes the point in Galatians 4.8-11 that to do this is to turn away from Jesus and turn to Paganism.
You look so pious and religious in your long pants. People are impressed. In the midst of a litany against such false thinking Paul writes:
“These are matters which have, to be sure, the appearance of wisdom in self-made religion and self-abasement and severe treatment of the body, but are of no value against fleshly indulgence.” (Col 2.23)
It is all show. It doesn’t work. It actually distracts from the gospel, veils Christ’s work, confuses the unbelieving world, and exalts your own ability to earn and keep God’s favor.
If Christians are to be laughed at for something (and we should be) let it be our view of the Bible, our understanding of God, our relentless trust in Christ, or our proclamation of the gospel! But don’t let it be these whacy hermenuitics that promote rocking the fundi-wear pants for boys and the hoop skirts for girls.
As a Pentecostal girl myself, one who has not grown up in the church, but has been converted of my own free will. I do understand your point where as the principal should have known the Bible verse and at the very least looked it up right there on the spot. I know for me personally I carry my Bible with me everywhere for instances such as this. We do not believe that the way you dress is how our godliness is determined, our apparel is to be modest and not to disgrace our bodies.
Deuteronomy 22:5 tells us that women are not suppose to wear clothes that pertaineth to a man and man are not to wear clothes that pertaineth to a woman
Reason one is to be visually able to identify the difference between a man and woman. 1 Timothy 2:8-10 tells us that women are suppose to dress with modest apparel. It is impossible to be modest when a woman is wearing jeans that hug her every curve and crevice. Though i do agree the skirts do need to be longer and for safety measure shorts need to be worn underneath.
Yet again I emphasize the fact that we are not about what we look like, we want to appear appropriate and modest before our Lord. The way the article was written portrayed us to be that way but perhaps the wrong questions were asked. So many times people are concerned with how people belonging to a certain religion dress, and act one never really finds out what the religion is about.
Pentecostals believe in the oneness of God; Jesus is God manifest in the flesh, and The Holy Spirit is God manifest in the spirit. The different names are titles; for example a man say named Joe; he is a son, a father, and a lawyer, he is not a different person just one person with many different titles. We believe in the enfilling of the Holy Ghost evidenced by speaking in other tongues and we beleive that by the washing and regeneration of the Holy Ghost are we saved(Titus 3:5) We believe in baptism in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of our sins (Acts 2:38)
People often react negatively to a situation or idea because they do not understand it and in honesty I didn’t understand it until I was filled with the Holy Ghost. Our actions, beliefs, and dress may be a little different that what you agree with but we do not do them to please you we live a life that is pleasing in the eyes of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Spot on Sierra. After school today I had track practice, and because I am Pentecostal, I wore pants. A girl asked me why I was wearing pants and I was able to tell her verses in the Bible that said men are not to wear short pants. Keep following what you believe in and God bless.
Having come out of some similiar beliefs i can tell you for sure that it is for show most of the time and that i was self-righteous to the core!
Thanks for the comment, Shane!
Well, first of all, shame on you for bashing these people for their beliefs and claiming to be a christian when you are not acting like one at all. Second, there is a verse in the bible talking about women wearing pants…no it doesnt say specifically pants, but it says “that which partaineth to a man”
Deuteronomy 22:5
“The Woman shall not wear that which partaineth unto a man, neither shall a man put on a womans garment: for all that do so are abomination unto the Lord thy God”
Also, its not necessarily a matter of godliness to not wear shorts, but a matter of holiness. Also of personal beliefs.
So while the pricipal did not know where the verse is, it IS in the Bible. And dont think that we are just doing it to glorify ourselves and make ourselves look better, but because its what we believe in and we want to please God. You need more than belief in God to get to heaven, my friend. He called us to be seperate and to come out from among them( the world/unbelievers). Obviously, they are when they wear their skirts and long pants.
And they are not teaching their kids that godliness is gained by what you do or dont wear. They are teaching them to follow the bible and what they believe is right. This whole standard thing is also a personal conviction, but not entirely. Wouldnt you rather be safe and wear skirts and long pants than to be sorry and not make it to heaven because you didnt? you know, safer than sorry?
And people should be impressed because these people are not just following the crowd and going with the modern flow and conforming: they are standing for what they believe in. And now days, that is hard to do.
There is nothing wrong with shorts: these people just decided to wear long ones and have their own standards.
And while the “theme” of the bible is christ dying for us, you CAN NOT leave out the littler things. In the bible, everything is important.
Note from Heather’s Dad: My daughter is dead on right! For those who say we are delivered from the verse she mentioned, your theology is out of whack: the verse mentions how God feels about a certain thing–and the Bible says God doesn’t change. His feelings about dress have not changed from the Old to the New Testament, so while styles of dress have changed for God’s people (no robes anymore, for example) the basic precept–distinction between the sexes–is preserved in dress standards–which should not mean we don’t also clean up our inner men and women! In a day when it takes something to stand for one’s beliefs against the ridicule of the world (even the church world it would seem), these kids are heroes in my eyes.
So, I hope you will now see why these people do what they do. So please stop criticizing this school and pentecostals in general, because YOU obviously dont know what you’re talking about.
But anyways, God Bless!
the fact that these boys have to were long pants during their game is, i admit, a little overboard. I am of the same religions as this church, but i think that they took it a little too far. They were trying to keep their games modest bu covering up as much skin as they thought neccesary, but the point of wearing pants or “long” skirts is this: God wants us to be modest in this world, and to keep ourselves seperate. If a girl is wearing a pair of tight, lowrider jeans, or shorts going to her mid to lower thigh, most guys will find it somewhat sexually attractive, including most christian guys. I don’t think that God wants us to be looking at our brothers or sisters with these kinds of thoughts in our head.( i don’t think that basketball shorts bring any kinds of sexual temptation, and there is a bit of a double standard with some becuase they let girls where skirts that are at or below their knees, but not shorts). I think that you need to understand the reason for this church’s somewhat “outlandish” dress code.
Thanks for your comments and thoughts, but you clearly have not done your hermeneutical homework. While I agree that those in Christ (myself, my daughters, and family included) ought to dress themselves in a fashion that is brings about glory to God’s name, you are missing the point of the text. First, this law referenced most likely prohibits transvestitism. The strong Hebrew word (abomination) also suggests transvestite practices associated with pagan temple prostitution. As with vv. 9–11 below, the law seeks to uphold the order and distinction in God’s creation. The primary perfect present verb deals with issues transcending the created order, not pants verse skirts, verses shorts. It’s simple exegesis.
Last, don’t you find it odd that the girls can wear skirts shorter than the guy’s shorts? Even though this is not what the text is referencing there appears to be a presuppositional double standard.
I didn’t write this post to bash on my brother’s and sisters, and I respect you for your choices, but if you are going to reference a text at least use proper exegesis and hermeneutical reference.
In your exegesis of this text, you make use some words that would make me nervous. You use the words “most likely” and “suggests”. While you make good points, you are still inferring soemthing instead of dealing with the literal rendering. The verse simply states that men and women shall not wear the same apparel. It does not mention anything else.
It does not mention temple prostitution.
It does not mention tranvestitism.
It says do not wear apparel of the opposite sex. The clear teaching of the verse here, inferences removed, is that some clothes pertain to a man and some clothes pertain to a woman. Western culture has long understood that pants were men’s apparel and a dress is women’s apparel.
The reason for this pattern fo dress in our country and in Europe for so long was for this very reason–the churches taught Deuteronomy 22:5. I always hear churches and pastors lamenting our culture’s move away from biblical precepts and form our foundations–well, let them examine these old photographs of men and women in the US and how they dressed. It was a breakdown of traditioal Christianity when pants begun to be worn by women in public–it was scandalous. The scandal came because most people revered the Bible and this was seen as ungodly.
Might a lack of reverence for the authority of Scripture be what led to ungodly fashion designers being able to change public perceptions of male and female attire?
And now let me leave with you a radical thought. You have stated that the verse is most likely about transvestitism. Perhaps you are correct. Let me ask you, though: how do you know God doesn’t view unisex apparel as just that? How do you know that he does not view it every bit as abominable when a woman is wearing pants as when a man is wearing a dress? Why would he view it any differently? Do you suppose God is swayed by the advertsising and Hollwyood influence of mostly homosexual fashion designers who have led our nation into these practices?
I suggest that God looks at a woman in pants the same way he views a man in a dress–and the verse in question has made his feelings clear to us should anyone ask how we presume to know. Granted, he realizes they are ignorant of his feelings in most cases and has patience and mercy and there can be no doubt he cares more about them coming to a knowledge of the truth inside.
But we should not suppose he does not wish a person to follow a biblical concept once it is understood, and to not do so wold then become a heart matter as the person would rather do what is culturally accepted than what God desires.
P.S. Please do not judge me by spelling here as I am a poor typist.
Levi, you don’t even have to look at the original Hebrew to understand these laws prohibit mixing various items, reflecting God’s ordering of creation “according to its kind” (e.g., Gen. 1:25). They also reminded Israelites that God had separated them from other peoples to be distinct and holy (Deut. 14:2). Also, consider Deut. 22:13–30 (which provides us with additional contexts) This group of laws deals with infringements to proper moral sexual conduct. All these laws begin with “If . . .” and deal with the response to the criminal. Behind this selection is the seventh commandment, “You shall not commit adultery” (5:18).
Also, though I know that scripture is transcendent in nature you are applying a western cultural phenomena to biblical indicatives. For example: I have served doing missions in a remote village in San Miguel, Guatemala. There it is not uncommon for the men of the village to wear garments that resemble dresses in our society… this is just part of their culture. Do you suppose they are an “abomination” to the Lord because they don’t know the western rules of attire?
As initially posted. I’m not primarily concerned with attire as I am the heart behind attire.
I go to that school, and we have a good basketball team, we enjoy wearing pants…. Say what you want but Jesus WILL judge us 1 day… Oh and being a Pentacostal isn’t a “religion” it’s a way of life… Our belief is stronger than your doubt… We are family
That’s hilarious – i especially liked your editorial, “If you are a legalist you should at least have your out of context verses handy.” Having come out of similiar beliefs i can see the truth in your post!
Why is the wearing of “men’s” apparel only referred to in pants? If the scripture is referring to clothing that people wear in western culture, why do the women in these churches wear button up shirts? How about sneakers? The t-shirt was designed during one of the world wars for men. Why is the emphasis to “men’s’ apparel only in reference from the waist down? We are saved by the pure Blood of the Lamb of God. When people are born again by that blood, they will live Godly and please God. The Holy Ghost will deal with them. Preach Christ and Him crucified and let God take care of the rest. There is too much presumption of what is not in the Book. The focus so often gets off the pure gospel
and on to “things” dos and don’ts. We have birthed a generation that does not know how to hear from God, only follow an organizations rules….not all bad rules either……just not required by God. He said STUDY to show yourself approved unto…GOD. Know what it says. Deut. 22:5 is set in a chapter of ceremonial law. Why would God stick a moral law in the middle of ceremonial law? To cross dress or in this case, dress in military armor…….is an abomination to Him. he wants a distinction between the sexes. Would any of you men wear a pair of pink capris? Why not…There women’s pants you’d say…Exactly. One more thing…If you are gonna say Deut. 22:5 is dealing with what women in our culture wear…what do you do with the rest of the chapter? Those were ceremonial laws. We are not to draw attention to ourselves, but to Christ. A lot of the dress codes are to show the world who you are. Jesus said by your love would the world know you belonged to him. I am Pentecostal by the way. A reformed pharisee.