"These days, anything goes. Shorts and flip-flops are fine for any occasion. And so are pajamas."
Yes I wore jeans to work today, and that’s normal for my type of job in DC. But I rode the metro with 30 high school students about to do a tour of the US capitol in gym shorts and t-shirts. How embarrassing.
I’m not sure I understand your point. Does popularity make it acceptable practice?
Why is it that my voice always seems to be loudest when I am saying the dumbest things?
Let me get this straight. CCM = Good. Jeans = Shorts = Bad. Got it.
Do you feel that slope we’re standing on? Nahhh…couldn’t be.
The sloppiness of our culture is an expression of what Francis Schaeffer concluded in “How Should We Then Live” about where we are after we’ve tried all the “isms” and found them wanting - apathy.
I want to make a prediction… Kent Brandenburg will blog about this soon and crusade for one of his many oft repeated hobby horses that he feels so superior about. I’m sure he’ll mention the munching of potato chips by the tomb of the unknown soldier.
[Chip Van Emmerik]I’m not sure I understand your point. Does popularity make it acceptable practice?
He probably means the nature of the occasion warrants what should be worn. If he is active, moving a lot and prone to get dirty, jeans are the best fit for the job. To tour the capitol building in gym shorts is just a lack of respect for one of the most important buildings in the country. Unfortunately, that’ s normal today.
See, William, I think he’s saying the opposite, that anything goes and nothing matters in dress except modesty. But, I’m not sure and don’t want to jump to conclusions and put words in his mouth.
Why is it that my voice always seems to be loudest when I am saying the dumbest things?
[WilliamD] I want to make a prediction… Kent Brandenburg will blog about this soon and crusade for one of his many oft repeated hobby horses that he feels so superior about.
Seems perhaps you have a hobby horse of your own. I won’t speculate about how it makes you feel.
[WilliamD]To tour the capitol building in gym shorts is just a lack of respect for one of the most important buildings in the country.
Why does that demonstrate a lack of respect? And, why is the capitol building “one of the most important buildings in the country”?
I must admit that I am bothered by both extremes on this issue. I think the sloppiness that is so common in our culture is a worthy topic to address, but I am also frustrated by those who figure their way of dressing up is the only way. For example, in some places in this country, to put on a collared shirt and a pair of black jeans is really dressing up, yet there are still some who think that wearing jeans to church is taboo.
With that in mind, would it be wrong for a Christian man who is dirty from working on the construction site all day to pick up a gallon of milk on his way home instead of going home to change first before going into the store?
I actually wrote a blog post on this subject for the blog and the newspaper article a few months ago. You can find it here http://bancroftbaptist.blogspot.com/2013/02/dont-wear-pajamas-to-church.html
That article reminds us that we are not to look down on others for how they dress and shows that there are different ways of dressing up, yet tries to bring some balance to the issue of wearing pajamas to church.
Shorts and T-shirts are for playing ball at the gym or walking on the beach. The gravitas of such activities is pretty low. Inconsequential ball games are won or lost at the gym and suntans are made at the beach.
The Capitol of the USA is the place (for better or worse) where the laws of the land at the Federal level have been made since the 1700’s. Federal laws that impact millions of people are more important than a Jr. High basketball game.
So, to dress in a way that communicates that such a place is about as important as a Jr. High basketball game is akin to dressing that way for a wedding or graduation which tells the bride and groom how important you think their event is. Of course, I recognize that is an old fashioned way of thinking and people just don’t care anymore…..like I said…Francis Schaeffer hit the nail on the head…”apathy”
[DavidO][WilliamD] I want to make a prediction… Kent Brandenburg will blog about this soon and crusade for one of his many oft repeated hobby horses that he feels so superior about.Seems perhaps you have a hobby horse of your own. I won’t speculate about how it makes you feel.
I have several hobby horses too I guess.
How it makes me feel? Annoyed lately. I’m sure I’ll get over it soon.
One stifling hot July Sunday morning I left for church dressed in my suit, tie, and wing tip shoes. knowing that, when I arrived, I’d be surrounded by men who would be in similar uncomfortable but conforming attire. My son, dressed in a neat polo shirt, khakis, and Chuck Taylor’s, was attending another church. He sent me a text that said, “Dad, my pastor is wearing sandals!” I responded, “WWJD?”
"Some things are of that nature as to make one's fancy chuckle, while his heart doth ache." John Bunyan
[WilliamD][Chip Van Emmerik]I’m not sure I understand your point. Does popularity make it acceptable practice?
He probably means the nature of the occasion warrants what should be worn. If he is active, moving a lot and prone to get dirty, jeans are the best fit for the job. To tour the capitol building in gym shorts is just a lack of respect for one of the most important buildings in the country. Unfortunately, that’ s normal today.
WilliamD is making precisely the point I am. My job is more likely to make me run into an Xbox One than a US Congressman. Context is king, even with dress. I work in an environment where dress doesn’t matter and if you’re wearing a tie, it is assumed that you might be preparing for a meeting in which you will be fired later on that day. I can say that jeans are great and fine in my workplace while being generally critical of the sloppiness of the culture.
[T Howard][WilliamD]To tour the capitol building in gym shorts is just a lack of respect for one of the most important buildings in the country.
Why does that demonstrate a lack of respect? And, why is the capitol building “one of the most important buildings in the country”?
Because it does and because it is.
Why is the US Capitol one of the most important buildings in the country? A quick illustration. True story: I walked out of work this evening with the Potomac in view. I noticed a very low plane making the customary approach into Reagan Airport. It was super low and super to the DC side of the Potomac such that if it were any more towards DC it would have likely been shot down with Stinger missiles. I watched it disappear behind some buildings and waited for possible impact and smoke plume. It never came thankfully, but it was on track for the Capitol. I briefly thought of the war it would start if the Capitol were destroyed, the cultural impact ect. The US Capitol is a big deal of the first order in this country. Why? Because common sense, which these high school students on the Metro didn’t have.
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