Bikinis Are Not A Christian Liberty Issue

Not leading with a picture of a woman in a bikini for reasons that should be obvious.

As swim season returns, it would seem to be a good time to note something that should be obvious.

Ladies, you do not have ”Christian liberty” to be shameless and naked.

There is a wide range of Christian liberty when it comes to attire, but it is not infinite, and some things should be obvious.

“Moreover, the LORD said, “Because the daughters of Zion are proud And walk with heads held high and seductive eyes, And go along with mincing steps And tinkle the bangles on their feet,

      Therefore the Lord will afflict the scalp of the daughters of Zion with scabs, And the LORD will make their foreheads bare.” - Is. 3:16-17, NASB

Ladies, God holds you responsible for your choices. You cannot say “God is just concerned about the heart.” God is concerned about the total person. What is in the heart comes out of the heart.

“Likewise, I want women to adorn themselves with proper clothing, modestly and discreetly, not with braided hair and gold or pearls or costly garments, but rather by means of good works, as is proper for women making a claim to godliness.” - 1 Tim. 2:9-10, NASB

I am well aware that this is directly referring to the flaunting of wealth, though it is worth noting that the KJV translates the word “modesty” as “shamefacedness.” In other words, this modesty is the exact opposite of shamelessness.

Regardless, the import of the verse is clear, and it obviously does not apply only to flaunting wealth. Paul is encouraging a discreet and shame-sensitive femininity, not a shameless and brazen femininity. If Paul doesn’t want ladies to strut their financial stuff, do you really think it’s a stretch to say that he also doesn’t want them to strut their physical stuff?

The answer is no. It’s not a stretch at all. It would be obvious to any culture that was not insane.

“But I’m not strutting my stuff.”

I don’t believe you. You don’t believe you. And the rich ladies that Paul was addressing probably would’ve said the same thing to him.

“But men are responsible for their own thoughts!”

Yes, they are. And you’re responsible for your own wardrobe choices.

It is actually good to love our family in the faith by not throwing needless stumbling blocks in their way. This doesn’t mean you live life with reference to men or carry responsibility for their lustful hearts, but it does mean that it is completely appropriate for you to ask yourself how you would want other ladies to dress around your teenage sons.

I would also note that you would surely be opposed to a man showing all kinds of special attention to you, building strong, romantic attachments with you, all without ever having any intention of seriously pursuing you. If that would cause you to be attracted to him, and to feel like he was not being considerate of you, flip the script and do you unto others as you would have them do unto you.

Men and women are different, but both are called to be kind and loving to each other.

“But the Bible doesn’t tell us exactly what we can wear!”

You’re absolutely right, but it does give us some basic principles. Detailed lists of specifics actually are legalistic. Which is why I am not giving any. I’m simply saying that the Bible clearly directs us one way, and our culture is clearly running another. And many Christians are justifying their right to take their standards from Sodom and not from Scripture.

Read that last sentence again.

Many Christians are justifying their right to take their standards from Sodom and not from Scripture.

When this conversation arises, the standard is what is normal in our culture – a culture that performs genital mutilation surgeries on children, that murders babies in the womb, that officially recognizes same-sex couples as “married,” that allows men to compete in women’s sports leagues, that allows women to punch each other in the face on national television, that is rampant with divorce, p*rnography, fornication, and all other manner of perversion.

We allow the same people who put nakedness in front of our eyes on television to tell us what it is appropriate for our daughters to wear in public.

Insane.

Our culture is not normal. It is depraved, and it is not a good standard for Christian anything.

God is not obligated to give a detailed list of every single thing we are supposed to do. There actually are areas where we are called to pursue wisdom. Some things should just be obvious.

For example, as John Moody noted, if your attire on a public beach covers less than your lingerie on your wedding night, something is probably amiss.

When your leggings are displaying every curve and contour, that’s nakedness. When your clothes look like they’re hanging onto you by sheer willpower, that is provocative attire. If the only thing that makes your underwear not underwear is that it is marketed as a swimsuit… It’s underwear. If you would be offended by a random guy complementing it, you probably should not be showing it to random guys.

Seriously, this cracks me up. So many young women that I know have left the conservative modesty standards of their upbringing behind. Yet I can only imagine their horror if some man of their acquaintance said “hey girl, nice chest!” or “babe, your legs are fiiiiiiine.”

Which I find so humorous because… If you don’t want people looking at them… Why are you displaying them? Either you are incredibly naïve, or you’re lying to yourself, and deep down you do want people looking at them. I don’t really see a third option, here.

I, for one, would not be going around shirtless unless I was wanting my physique to be admired- or was shameless about it and really didn’t care if people saw. Neither vanity nor shamelessness are Biblically good options.

(And by the way, I don’t go around shirtless. I think men should dress modestly too. There is a reason that smutty novels put shirtless buff guys on their covers. Women have eyes and sex drives too. We should love our sisters in Christ.)

“But it’s hot outside!”

I have an extremely physical outdoor job in the desert of Arizona. I work in triple digit temperatures in blue jeans, work boots, and long sleeve cotton shirts. I don’t want to hear about it.

Seriously though, this is a very poor excuse. Pioneer women traveled across the continent in full length dresses in covered wagons. Somehow, throughout history, women have survived fully clothed and without modern air-conditioning or insulation or instantly available cool water and ice.

But apparently, now, women must be allowed to uncover almost everything in order to survive summer temperatures.

First-world problems, for sure.

It is worth noting that this indicates a broader cultural problem – the idolatry of comfort. I want to wear what is comfortable. I want to say whatever is an authentic expression of myself. I want to listen to whatever music makes me feel good.

Scripture encourages the exact opposite thought process – to consider others more important than our ourselves. To lay aside what is lawful in pursuit of what is profitable.

Comfort is not the highest consideration.

Finally, a note to husbands and fathers.

You need to lead your families. You are responsible here. God gave you authority to use for the good of your people. And this doesn’t simply mean dictating their wardrobe, especially the wardrobe of your wife, who you should be treating with honor and respect, not micromanaging like a child. This actually means leadership. Disciple and teach your wife and your daughters. Lead them in love.

And yes, if necessary, say “no, you can’t go out wearing that.”

But it is the lazy man that relies on putting his foot down.

Be paying attention to what kinds of influences are shaping their affections. If your daughters are scrolling Instagram – why are you letting your daughter scroll Instagram!?! No wonder she wants to dress like that.

If Hollywood has large presence in your home, it will have presence in the wardrobe of your women – and it will have presence in what your sons, and you yourself, find attractive.

Don’t force your wife to be the conscience of the family wardrobe. Don’t push her as far as she is comfortable because you like to see her dressing “hot.” Don’t encourage her to flaunt herself in public, but rather to save herself for you.

Encourage her to be beautiful. To be lovely. To be radiant and feminine and modest. Train your own heart to be attracted to her feminine glory, not to some sort of Hollywood style sexiness.

Complement your daughters on their feminine beauty, their pretty dresses, their long hair. Give them honorable male attention, and pray for them that God will strengthen them to recognize dishonorable male attention.

Men, God designed women to follow our lead. We are responsible to lead them, not to yell at them about their immodesty. So we must deal with our own hearts, our own lust, our own p*rn addictions, our own love of worldly sexiness. We must be men who are walking in the power and purity of Christ. We must chart a new course towards holy and pure beauty, for ourselves and our households.

To Christian Bikini Defenders

Since posting the above on social media, I have, predictably, received a lot of pushback. Since we are on the topic of modest swimwear, and since people are already yelling at me for saying that Christians shouldn’t be wearing bikinis, I thought it would be helpful to post a few excerpts from the history of the bikini. My brothers and sisters in Christ, this is what you are defending. Does it square with a Christian view of the world?

- The following are paragraphs taken from Wikipedia: -

The modern bikini swimsuit was introduced by French clothing designer Louis Réard in July 1946, and was named after the Bikini Atoll, where the first public test of a nuclear bomb had taken place four days before.

When he was unable to find a fashion model willing to showcase his revealing design, Réard hired Micheline Bernardini, an 18-year old nude dancer from the Casino de Paris. He announced that his swimsuit, was "smaller than the world's smallest bathing suit". Réard said that "like the [atom] bomb, the bikini is small and devastating". Fashion writer Diana Vreeland described the bikini as the "atom bomb of fashion". Bernardini received 50,000 fan letters, many of them from men.

As competing designs emerged, he declared in advertisements that a swimsuit could not be a genuine bikini "unless it could be pulled through a wedding ring."

“As subsequent history would show, the bikini was more than a skimpy garment. It was a state of mind.”

— Lena Lenček

Réard himself would later describe it as a "two-piece bathing suit which reveals everything about a girl except for her mother's maiden name."

Fashion magazine Modern Girl Magazine in 1957 stated that "it is hardly necessary to waste words over the so-called bikini since it is inconceivable that any girl with tact and decency would ever wear such a thing".

Playboy first featured a bikini on its cover in 1962; the Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue debut two years later featured Babette March in a white bikini on the cover. This has been credited with making the bikini a legitimate piece of clothing.

- END Wikipedia quotes. -

This is what many modern Christians are defending. What many modern Christian women are wearing. What many modern Christian men are allowing their wives and daughters to wear.

Meanwhile, the Bible says:

“Likewise, I want women to adorn themselves with proper clothing, modestly and discreetly, not with braided hair and gold or pearls or costly garments, but rather by means of good works, as is proper for women making a claim to godliness.” - 1 Tim. 2:9-10, NASB

It is chilling how easily the devil can get Christians to do his work.