Fashion and God - whats the link?

Yeah i know its totally weird to blog about something like that on 5 October 2008, at 1.30 am in the morning, when i should be happy about celebrating my birthday with my family n friends.

and of cos, i had a great time watching movie and having supper with Joan, Melisa, Millie n Ian, and slept until 12 noon before going on a shopping spree with Joan, she gave me $200 credit to buy whatever i like and we spent 2 hours walking around city link and marina square, and eventally bought 2 shirts from Clubmarc, 1 t-shirt from Zara and 1 pair of shoes from some shoe shop i don't even know the brand, but i like the design. then went to Jade room restaurant for dinner with my family n cousin Stevie, supposed to go KTV after that but cancelled cos another 2 cousins couldn't make it (honestly i wasn't annoyed cos i think KTV so often is a little bit boring, hahaha!) so we went to Ben & Jerry at Dampsey road instead, to enjoy ice cream, apple pie, nachos and the live band, actually it was a singer with a guitar, micheal wong or something, and he was pretty good! sounds almost like Jason Mraz, for a local singer i think thats amazing. had a great time with my family n friends, thank God for such wonderful loving people in my life.

Yet, i still need to blog about something that has been at the back of my mind since friday's cell group msg. and oh yes, i'm going to offend pple with this post, but i've discussed the whole issue with Joan for an hour or so today, and with my cousin from FCBC as well (he's leading a small group of youths and is part of TOUCH community services).

Its basically about the sudden talk about fashion during cell group. and its not chit-chat fellowship kind of talk, its a cell group discussion n forms part of the sermon. of cos, a minor part of the sermon, and Kenneth did share soemthing that really impacted me as well, the reversal of the worldly 3 Gs : gold, glory and girls, into the Christian lifestyle 3 Gs : God, goals and growth.

but anyway it was the talk and comments on fashion that really irked me. 3 questions:

1. what kind of fashion impresses you
2. what do you consider common and mediocre
3. what kind of fashion is distasteful

does this sound like part of a sermon? alright, given the benefit of the doubt, it can be about wearing your best for church, dressing up n looking sharp for God, so we not only give him the best worship n offering during service, we look our best for Him as well. sounds pretty much the usual doctrine of a spirit of excellence.

but when comments start coming about how "i really hate girls who wear baggy jeans" or "guys should not wear berms to church" or "i can't stand girls who wear ear rings big enough to put a parrot on" or "an example of mediocre dressing? our whole cell group" or even the ultimate "example of common and mediocre fashion - points at cell group leader!" the criticism flys, the pple who think they know fashion like they are the fashion police, "guys must always gell their hair" or "girls always look better with makeup" or many other statements that were made that honestly i didn't agree with, or even if i agreed with, felt that it has nothing to do with God.

the rationale behind the sermon is that service 4 pple are dressing sloppily to service, our leaders want to address the issue n suggest that we dress better, buy nicer clothes and listen to other pple's opinions on what is appropriate and what is not.

since when did your outward appearance become more important than your inward attitude toward God?

for that matter, since when did Ed Hardy and Skin become associated with cell group leaders, or wannabe leaders in the church?

yes, Sun brought that brand into SIngapore becos she liked it n those designs are one of its kind in singapore, so that is a good thing. bringing creativity and diversity into singapore fashion, excellent!

but why does every city harvest CGL have a longing to own a Ed Hardy or Skin apparel? or even better, as another friend of mine puts it so aptly, the "welcome to the Ed Hardy club" present when a new cell group leader is appointed.

but isn't fashion a matter of personal preference n taste?

i like the wear flowery n "ah beng" kind of clothes which no doubt some will find distasteful. do i need to please them in order to bring glory to God in my dressing? do i need to spend money on new "fashionable" clothes just becos i want to look trendy n by "looking trendy i can glorify God"? (quotations from actual pple)

don't get me wrong, i'm not against wearing nice trendy clothes to church. i'm totally fine with that, dressing well does give pple a good impression, BUT!

spending over half an hour during cell group discussing on fashion tastes and trends, criticising what other pple like to wear or trying to dictate what is considered "fashionable", is, in my opinion, a waste of time, n not only that, encouraging pple to judge themselves based on what others think, and not what God thinks. why spend so much time discussing on superficial issues and personal preferences, rather than exploring biblical principles that will help us understand why dressing well is important?

will God love a person more if he wears Ed Hardy shirts, as compared to a person in plain t-shirt and jeans? honestly isn't the answer painfully obvious?

and does the church expect everyone to be sharp dressers who have the best fashion sense, who wear ridiculously over-priced clothes and hideously fake smiles? is that really such a major factor in reaching out to the lost?

honestly i think some pple look like crap when they try to follow fashion magazines n wear whatever they think is the latest fashion, or if they are trying to be "emo" with thick mascara (even guys) n gothic lolita clothes with fishnet stockings n other weird stuff. but hey, if they wanna dress that way in order to dress their best for God, who am i to judge them? do i try to tell them my opinion n force them to submit to what i think they should be wearing? or are they even bothered by what other pple are perceiving about them?

at the end of the day, what you wear doesn't make you a Christian, its what you say and do, its who you are, on the inside, where pple can't see, where only God can see.