CLEAN AND UNCLEAN, DRESS AND ORNAMENTS by Carl A. Patton

Greetings Brethren,

We pray that women and men will seek out God and not the evils of the world. Casual attire in the formal setting of the Church is not acceptable to God. Is God Formal or Informal? Is God a Casual God? Would you want God to be casual when you are on the brink of death? Peace and Love, Carl Patton writing for the FreedomJournal October 29, 2002 in the year of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

BIBLICAL ROLE OF WOMEN (HOME, CHURCH, SOCIETY) PART 6: CLEAN AND UNCLEAN, DRESS AND ORNAMENTS In the name of Jehovah God, Master of the universe, Ruler of the earth.

Peace to the righteous and those that willfully reject God and to those who reject God out of ignorance. Is there a difference in those ignorant of God and those who know God but do not believe? Thanks be to God our Father which art in heaven. We are eternally grateful for the Savior Jesus Christ and for sending us the Holy Spirit.

Do believers have the responsibility to know what is clean and what is unclean with God? "There was a man who stood as the head of his house. He did not allow those that were unclean in dress and of spirit to enter his house without a move to clean their outward body. However after this was done, he sought to render the inner cleanness of the Truth of God."

"Meanwhile there was a Preacher man who headed a church. He allowed all types of people of unclean nature to enter the House of God. Although the Church is a hospital for the Spiritual Sick, this Preacher man did not acknowledge that many of these people were unclean and sick. We saw him with a priority of gaining material (money) possessions and not a priority of saving souls."

In the Bible the idea of clean and unclean is not identical to the modern notion of sanitary and unsanitary. Impurity can be physical, ritual or moral. Uncleanness is especially opposed to holiness, and so Old Testament law attempted to separate the unclean from the holy.

Priests were obligated to distinguish between the holy and the profane and the clean from the unclean. They were also obligated to teach Israel the laws of purity to avoid offending God's holiness. (See Leviticus 10:10-11, Ezekiel 22:26, 44:23). Ancient Israel's purity laws were concerned with the nation's relationship with God. Holy and unclean were incompatible. For example uncleanness was considered infectious or contagious.

Purity laws also regulated other areas of life where boundaries became blurred. For example adultery, incest, bestiality and homosexuality were forbidden. (See Leviticus 18:6-23, 20:10-21). There is also evidence that the notion of clean or unclean also served as a symbolic way to describe moral or ethical categories. In Isaiah 6:5 "unclean lips," stood for sinfulness. In Psalms 24:4 "clean hands and pure hearts," were symbols of moral uprightness.

Meanwhile we see consistently in the Old Testament that Jewish purity laws were for Jews. However, the Gospel was/is for Jews and Gentiles. We will as we continue this series look at particular references in the New Testament that apply to women and purity laws. For example Gentiles preferred to understand clean and unclean primarily as ethical categories. (See Acts 10:15, 15:19-29).

In the New Testament we also saw Jesus criticizing Jewish purity laws and allowed his disciples to violate them (Mark 7:1-23). Jesus touched and healed those who were ritually unclean. He healed lepers Mark 1:40-45, Luke 17:11-19. He healed the woman with a hemorrhage Mark 5:25-34. Jesus also associated with known sinners as he witnessed to them about His Father. Also in the New Testament clean and unclean is often linked to the authority of Jesus and the meaning of his death and resurrection (See Mark 1:27, Galatians 2:15-21).

Attire in the church is very important. Proper attire is necessary for men and women. However, this discussion has an expressed mission to note certain realties about women in the Bible. Women gradually progressed in personal dress and decorations from Eve's day to the time of Isaiah; we see an extensive wardrobe and jewelry. Some Bible historians argue that the modern woman would find it hard to match the feminine attire of women 2,000 years ago. In Isaiah 3:16 we see that the Prophet warns the women about extravagance. In Isaiah 47:2 we see that women even dressed up to grind meal.

There is much confusion today about the style and dress of women and men in the church. Hebrew women were forbidden to wear the same clothing as men. (See Deuteronomy 22:5). What of make-up and how much should a woman use/wear. We said women here and not men. However the world and the church are so defiled that men and women are putting color in their hair and using make-up.

Should women paint eyelids, pluck out eyebrows to enhance beauty? Are the women that do this noted in the Bible as a device unworthy of God-fearing women? Just how much make-up should women use? All make-up is not unworthy but how do you decide what is good and what is bad? The treacherous Jezebel painted her eyes to trap Samson. (See 11 Kings 9:30).

In the Bible men and women wore ear rings. Is this one of the reasons many men think that it is Hip (HOP) to wear ear rings today? Do you honestly believe that any reasonable percentage of the male ear ring people have any knowledge of the Bible? Women today and even some men are also wearing rings on other places of their bodies. Nose rings and rings were often worn on the toes and anklets of women during Biblical times. (See Isaiah 3:18).

For the record why do the Preachers (Are they Hip-Hop Preachers) allow the body piercing and ear rings among men in the Church? Why don't Preachers ever preach about tattooing and piercing? What does the Bible say about this question? See Leviticus 19:28 and 21:5. "Ye shall not make any cutting in your flesh for the dead, nor print any marks upon you: I am the Lord."

So where is the Godly woman? The woman of God is noted in Proverbs. What is the Godly woman?

Cont. Part 7: The Godly Woman: Proverbs 31