On church and clothing.
I read this article about a man going to church in a Hooters t-shirt and it reminded me of a similar incident in my church.
Only, in this instance, no one said anything.
The man was a member of the church. He and his wife show up every week.
However, one week he came in with a shirt with what looked like a cigar advertisement on it with a woman on top of a cigar. He sat in front of me, so as service went on, I could get a better look at his shirt.
It was a play on the Lewinsky/Clinton scandal. The woman on the cigar was Lewinsky (in the blue dress), and the front of the shirt had a Presidential-looking seal on it reading “From The Oral Office”.
Now I’m a very open-minded person, but that’s pretty vulgar. It really blew my mind that someone thought this was appropriate attire in church. But no one said a thing to him or to the minister (that I know of).
But is it wrong? Is it disrespectful? It bothers me. *I* think it’s inappropriate.
But I don’t think it bothers God. God loves everyone, regardless of what they are wearing. Maybe that was the only clean shirt he has. I don’t know his situation.
Perhaps my church was right in not even making an issue out of it. I still don’t know. I have no definitive answers. Only that compassion should be our primary goal. And we should not bar someone from worship due to their clothing.