Men, would you have problems being with someone who looks like a Mennonite?

[quietthinker]

so who will help me push my carriage into the sea ?!

you'll need to clarify that one for me Fluffy!

 

[DuckieLady]

you'll need to clarify that one for me Fluffy!

In response to hidden, had a visualization of panicking over the idea of a buggie coming between the possibility of hypothetical Mr. Swag McHottie becoming a thing and discarding the fictional buggie evidence by pushing it off into the sea, past midnight, mafia style. there by which, protecting future said relationship between myself and Captain senor hottie pants. I am slightly ADHD and my brain goes places without me sometimes. its okay to ignore

 

[DuckieLady]

I don't mean to say that I am being superficial with the hottie comment though. God guides my heart and I follow and so far that's been him blocking off my heart and eyes to everyone he didn't choose. For a long time. I am in the passenger's seat until he says so.

 

[lilygrace]

i wear dresses and skirts a lot as well. ill wear sweat pants but the sweat pants im ashamed of say pink down the side. they are hand me downs. but i believe what we wear does make a statement about who we are sometimes.
i agree with the others encouragement to you.

 

[DuckieLady]

i wear dresses and skirts a lot as well. ill wear sweat pants but the sweat pants im ashamed of say pink down the side. they are hand me downs. but i believe what we wear does make a statement about who we are sometimes.
i agree with the others encouragement to you.

thanks lilygrace! i wouldn't worry about the pink thing. its just a clothing brand.

 

[quietthinker]

very good point and i am EXTREMELY picky. so i like the automatic process of elimination.

yeah, so am I. First I blow my nose half a dozen time....that gets rid of most of it.

 

[DuckieLady]

yeah, so am I. First I blow my nose half a dozen time....that gets rid of most of it.

lol, need to do that now myself!

 

[quietthinker]

lol, need to do that now myself!

 

[quietthinker]

I cut my hair about a year ago for the first time in fifteen years. It looked a bit like yours....it was down to my butt and I'd carry it in a bun. One day I'm working in the boat on my back in a very small space on another hot day. When I put my head down on the rubber matting and turn my head the bun would come undone and before I knew it it was all over my sweaty face. The resolve hit me irreversibly; thats it! the time has come, this lot is coming OFF.
Of course now I'm a free man with the breeze blowing around my ears.....a new definition of liberation.

 

[BarneyFife]

I don't like the yoga pants either. I have a pair for working out/winter. It's VERY hard to work out in a full length dress and I have to. I was sick for a long time and was wasting away, so building strength has to be part of my routine. (*Partly from being sick and mostly, but also from severe depression for years. Both were bad. Couldn't get out of bed some days.*)

That said, I got the worst pair on Amazon. (They were $4 and they were just for wearing under dresses during winter at the time. I didn't care.) They look like fabric fleece mom jeans. I sent a less flattering picture to my mother, complaining that the back was also on the front, and her and her friend had tears from laughing.

I did have an atheist gentleman say to me once something on the lines of, "Finally a good, clean (or something) woman in a sea of [REDACTED- bad language]." So, despite being shocked that someone would say that to me with that language, it does say something that if even the ungodly men notice something about it, I would be surprised if the Godly men didn't think about it.

I guess I don't really hate yoga pants. I just kinda wish they'd go away. lol. Did you ever think this thread would go on a "yoga pants" tangent? lol

 

[VictoryinJesus]

I'm feeling pretty insecure today and sometimes I'm painfully aware that as an anabaptist that I look pretty Amish/Mennonite. (Prayer covering/long dresses/not super flashy/etc)

I am not looking to change that and don't want to get into the details about why some of us dress that way, but I do want to know what the outside perspective is. It's just something I'm wrestling with/feeling heavily insecure about as far as outside judgments, but also have to stick to my convictions.

I blame it as being a reason for some things in my life at times. What do you think? Would it bother a man/would it not? Curious.

Edit: I explained it anyway in #11.

haven’t read all the post here. I think you are adorable. (From a womans perspective).
I saw a picture of you with your artwork. You were adorable there and here in these photos also. Not saying it is all about outward appearances. Maybe it is a compliment (unless I’ve misunderstood you) being adorable over sexy or sexual? Yet all that aside. you seem to be a generous and thoughtful woman who doesn’t put all the emphasis on the outside, but instead puts emphasis on the heart. Outward beauty fades away ...I’ve given up on face creams to prevent the wrinkles and to prevent aging from doing its thing, everything sagging. Consider what a man sees valuable about you ...is what he sees as valuable in his heart. Does that define your heart?

 

[BarneyFife]

The point I was making BF was that of the similitude or the principle of justification by using scripture. One justifies slavery from scripture, the other a dress code from a bygone era. It was not intended as making no moral difference between the two.

I favour modesty. Anything that advertises 'look at me, look at me' sends a message I find distasteful.....and that goes for anything that flaunts.

and I will add, because of the subjectivity of this subject it can be difficult to nail.

For me personally, living in the jungle alone means I can make my own dress code which for the most part is pretty scant particularly when the humidity levels rise.

An experience..... it's a hot steamy day.....a quarter of an acre of trees have been taken out to allow sunshine into the otherwise enclosed and thick forest....there is bare earth everywhere and the time has come to get septic disposal trenches in so I get to with pick and shovel....naked.

The sweat is dripping and combined with the dust from the diggings I looked like a moving mud ball. From time to time I'd need to rinse off in an improvised shower under a tree.... Sooo, you get the picture!
I'm engrossed in digging when surprisingly a 4x4 turns up full with people of both genders...Jehovah's Witnesses. They didn't know where to look....up or down or over my shoulder as I stood there shovel in hand. Folks turning up silently and unexpected has happened several times....I've learned to keep articles of clothing in different corners of the property....for their sake......can't offend unnecessarily!

lol, I get it. I lived on Guam for six years. During the rainy season, it gets down to near 70 degrees at night. And I think the humidity never gets below 100%. I also get what you say about the subjectivity of the subject. Which would almost kinda explain my reaction about the slavery/dress code thing, I'm hoping.

Modesty used to be a huge thing in the Adventist church. Not so much anymore. Not that there aren't any modest dressers left but the problem is, you can't legislate or enforce heart service and our habit changes have to reflect our hearts or we just get all confused. And when you're running a hospital for sinners (a church) you can't tell visitors and seekers after truth that they have to get their warts removed before you can treat their pneumonia.

I got a tattoo nearly 40 years ago. I was raised Southern Baptist and I knew full well the Bible said not to mark your body. But it's confusing when the people who point this stuff out to you are constantly flaunting their disobedience of other Bible instructions. Especially when you're young, backslidden, and largely peer-dependent.

I think this why God said:

Now, therefore, take off your ornaments, that I may know what to do to you. (Exodus 33:5)​

We think we're God and can tell people what they must do. It's like I always say: "You must sin as I sin, or you must not sin at all" is truly the attitude of most Christians. I'm guilty, myself.

 

[VictoryinJesus]

I met some Mennonites in the markets in Belize. Their dress made them stand out like a sore thumb (not that they were sore thumbs) I was wearing red shorts which I had just acquired from a thrift shop....the only shorts I could find which reasonably fitted with velcro closable side pockets. It was considerably more comfortable than wearing my riding gear in the sweltering heat (I was travelling by motorcycle)
Anyway, I got chatting with the guys about their story...clothes and all. They told me they would never wear what I was wearing because it drew too much attention.....wow, I thought, I blend into the colourful crowd and they stand out.

I thought it was interesting that they were oblivious to or in denial of the the fact that they drew attention to themselves even while saying it's the last thing they'd do.
The reality as I saw it was they were stuck in the fashion of 150 yrs ago and justified it using scripture. Their dress code was more important than the claims they made.

Was it any different to the southern states justifying their ownership of slaves .....and getting that justification from scripture....blind to the obvious?

“I thought it was interesting that they were oblivious to or in denial of the the fact that they drew attention to themselves even while saying it's the last thing they'd do.
The reality as I saw it was they were stuck in the fashion of 150 yrs ago and justified it using scripture. Their dress code was more important than the claims they made.”

Interesting perspective...

 

[BarneyFife]

When we were first married my wife only owned pants. When she asked me what I liked, I told her the truth and she bought some skirts and dresses for me. When we both met the Lord about 4 years later she went to very long skirts/dresses and stopped cutting her hair short. To this day she always wears long skirts or dresses outside our home. She only trims the split ends of her hair. We are an old fashioned couple for certain. I have not worn short pants or short-sleeved shirts since I can remember. I don't own any and would feel uncomfortable with bare arms or legs in public. My wife wears tops with half or 3/4 length sleeves. I guess some people would call us conservative dressers.

My maternal, maternal great-grandmother never cut her hair. It fell down to her ankles (when she let it down) even when she was in her eighties. She was a minister's wife.

 

[BarneyFife]

I must say for the other side that I was baptized with the Holy Ghost and given the incentive to buy a Bible and start reading it for the first time in my life in the UPC. Not all is bad. However, at the end of 11 years with the UPC and two other closely related groups, it was definitely the end. I had purposed to leave the UPC when I moved from California to Wyoming in 1985, but God gave me no alternatives. When I moved from Wyoming to Oklahoma in 1987 God still gave me no alternatives, but I knew that the UPC was out of the picture for me. We moved to Oklahoma blind to our future in churches. Not being a Trinitarian I really found myself trusting in God for His will. He led me to a place which I thought was better. It was better for the moment, but the best place is always exactly the place God puts us for that moment. In 2018 I found myself outside of all formally organized groups. The advent of Covid-19 and all of its results let me know that it is unlikely I will ever have what people name a 'home church' again. But my vision is improving.

On the woman thing, God granted a boon in that. My wife could and would never fit into the place you have described. As always she knew long before I did that the end in the UPC for us was coming. She did not push me but after so many years, I had finally learned that God always spoke with her first about a need for a change in our work for Him. I knew then from her foreknowledge that it was going to the happen... the final separation from each group, including the UPC and why. God always knows what He is doing but so often we get out ahead of Him as if we knew what we were doing all alone. We don't! My wife gave me the lead but He gave the direction to my wife if you can understand that. Alone we each would have been in trouble. Together? What a mighty God we serve!

I went to church last Sabbath for the first time in a few years. It was wonderful! Not going to make it today. Logistical problems.

 

[BarneyFife]

In response to hidden, had a visualization of panicking over the idea of a buggie coming between the possibility of hypothetical Mr. Swag McHottie becoming a thing and discarding the fictional buggie evidence by pushing it off into the sea, past midnight, mafia style. there by which, protecting future said relationship between myself and Captain senor hottie pants. I am slightly ADHD and my brain goes places without me sometimes. its okay to ignore

That's pretty deep.

 

[amadeus]

My maternal, maternal great-grandmother never cut her hair. It fell down to her ankles (when she let it down) even when she was in her eighties. She was a minister's wife.

Aye, my paternal grandmother was like that. She usually had her hair in some kind of a bun on top of her head but I remember seeing it after she washed it and was combing it out falling down way below her knees. When her own Pentecostal Holiness church [ @rockytopva ] started easing up on their standards, she having her own convictions never did. She had been a widow for 35 years when she finally died in 1985 just one day short of 96 years old. The long dresses and long hair were no empty show for her. She lived the life. I remember her talking to a stranger on a bus and telling him about Jesus as we traveled from Oklahoma to California. She was one beautiful woman [in the Spirit] who loved God and was never too ashamed to share her testimonies with anyone. [She also baked some tremendous pumpkin pies.] She married my grandfather in 1911 and received the baptism of the Holy Ghost at a camp meeting in Oklahoma in 1913. He was a vaudeville tap dancer when he met her. Quitting that when they came to the Lord, he literally wore out the wooden floors of their home in Oklahoma as he continued his dancing at home before the Lord. He died in 1950.

 

[amadeus]

I went to church last Sabbath for the first time in a few years. It was wonderful! Not going to make it today. Logistical problems.

I would like to visit places of prayer and worship again but as things continue to appear all around us at the moment it cannot be. Perhaps it will never be again... but God knows. I will strive to follow His lead!

 

[ReChoired]

I'm feeling pretty insecure today and sometimes I'm painfully aware that as an anabaptist that I look pretty Amish/Mennonite. (Prayer covering/long dresses/not super flashy/etc)

I am not looking to change that and don't want to get into the details about why some of us dress that way, but I do want to know what the outside perspective is. It's just something I'm wrestling with/feeling heavily insecure about as far as outside judgments, but also have to stick to my convictions.

I blame it as being a reason for some things in my life at times. What do you think? Would it bother a man/would it not? Curious.

Edit: I explained it anyway in #11.

I pray that what I am about to say is not taken in the wrong way, as I may use some words, which might offend some, though I do not directly intend for them to do so.

1. Do not feel insecure, for your security (you've been bought with such a price) is Christ Jesus (though I know you know this), and thus to 'feel' (and thus rely upon feeling) is not of 'faith' (which is of Christ). Our flesh and spirit may sometimes 'feel' this or that, but feeling is fleeting and not always accurate (though sometimes can be in harmony with that which is accurate).

2. The Bible states that it is men which looketh on the outward, but God sees the whole picture, inwardly and outwardly. Place your trust in God, and as you follow your conscience in regards the word of God (as Luther once said, (paraphrase), that his mind was captive to the word of God, and to go against conscience (in regards what it knows of God's word) is neither right nor safe). However, if I may make a comment (which might be taken incorrectly), as a male, as a (single) man, you look 'hot' (modern common (vulgar) vernacular, apologies, but I used this to make a point, and mean in it a Christian sense, as the fire of God is in your outward appearance). That is probably uncouth, but allow me to restate it more properly, and more as a Christian would/should state matters. You look very pretty, very attractive (at least to myself, persons differ in what appeals to them I acknowledge in form and shape and outward), and are like a flower blooming amidst the filth of the world. You look very precious, and are very appealing, at least to the eyes, and perhaps also to the flesh (beware here). Your look, and even hair (for long hair is to a woman's glory (that is her real covering, if you study carefully, not a piece of cloth, though I would not forcefully demand a woman under conviction to remove such cloth, though it is unnecessary scripturally speaking), though there might be rational reasons why a woman might wear short hair, though to me, it is less attractive) Yet, all these things, are merely outward, and says only a little of what might actually be present inwardly, for even a pharisee (I do not call you such, nor label you as such in any way), can dress outwardly 'neat', and 'clean', but Christ Jesus was concerned with the inward 'man' (mankind; the human being/person). Thus, if your inward heart, matches the outward adorning in purity, in charity (love, faithfulness, kindness, meekness, etc), then is it truly of beauty, truly gold to be desired (and not merely fools or false glint and gold).

3. I, as a man, do not so much care that you look (as you say) like a Mennonite or Amish (or Anabaptist), for they dress (at least outwardly) very simply, though sometimes a little old fashionedly (for there is nothing wrong with contemporary godly fashion/styles/colours, etc), which I could not fault too far with, being a true Seventh-day Adventist, which desires others who claim such names to dress more like you, and less like the 'world' and its fashions (which are from hell/satan). Your picture, and thus presence, which you present to the world, is very clean, neat, simple, and meek, and I love the musical instrument which says even more about your heart than you might realize. Your smile even more than that, for the whole collection of things in the photo, says something, at least to my own heart based upon God's word, that you know Christ Jesus. Whatever else you might feel about your dress, I know that you know the Saviour.

4. Rather than wrestle with 'men' (mankind), wrestle with God, as Jacob, and obtain the victory over your doubts, worries, fears. For since God loves you, why fear? Why doubt about what others, who are not God, and also not your Saviour, think about you? Is His thought on the matter not enough? (do not think I accuse you of anything, I am merely asking a rhetorical question to think upon) Yes, we can be and ought to be a little concerned about how we present ourselves outwardly, so that Christ is not blasphemed by our appearance, but do not be so overly focused on the outward, that the inward is not the primary concern. For, as a man (flesh and bones as I am), and one who follows Jesus, I am more interested in your kindness, your smile, your gentle heart, a woman of God, a woman, even a sister, as yourself, who loves godly music (may this be a blessing to you -

), loves the word of the Lord, loves the things of God, loves to edify, loves to bring healing, loves to raise a family in God's image, loves to be the support of a husband (if desiring for marriage, though if a woman chooses a single life, that is between her and God, and there is no offense in this), loves mercy and justice, loves to sacrifice for others, see Proverbs 31 (or see attachment). Do not be a modern 'Eve', which listened to the small hiss of the serpent, who placed doubt into her heart about who she was in God. Eve listened just long enough to the devil, to believe his small lie, that Eve was not given enough (and didn't have the right covering, she was clothed with light of God, and satan tried to convince her she needed something more), and was not therefore enough in the sight of God. You have been given Christ Jesus. He is enough. These are all simply statements which I am sure you are aware of, as a Christian. A gentle reminder.

5. I, as a man (of God), am more concerned with what you believe inwardly and theologically (teach and practice), rather than merely your outward appearance (though again, you are lovely, cute even, a picture of grace, a living poem (creation) of the Lord in person, and pleasing to the eyes, and medicine (a balm) to the heart of one who once lived in degrading sin and filth), and what the incorrect theology, therefore teaches about God. Thus my focus, moves past yourself, to the real issue, which is God's appearance. I want to know, as a man (and find most attractive), is my sister faithful to God in what she knows of God? is she merciful? is she kind? is she just? is she sacrificial? In other words, what I find most attractive in a woman, is God, if God be there, even Christ Jesus. For as much as outward things are appealing, at least to the eyes and flesh, my own heart, as a man, desires something much deeper than this. I desire, only that which God can give, and if such be found in a woman, such as yourself, that (being God and godliness) is truly attractive - the most appealing of anything she can say or do. As a Seventh-day Adventist, however, I am limited in what God has for me, as any sister, who would be a spouse, must be (which is to be a Seventh-day Adventist, present truth at that, and thus not just anyone that claims the name, but must walk by the name itself, for it represents non other than the First and the Last, the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the Ending - God, even Christ Jesus).

I pray I have not spoken as to offend, but offered you true statements in regards your question, and hope that it brings comfort to your mind and rest to your troubled heart. Be at peace sister. Continue to walk with God, as your are, and God guide you all the way, as He promised.

 

[TLHKAJ]

It's wonderful to see there are men with values in this day and age.

To all of you men who comment on this thread as relating to a woman's true value ... do you have any input to add to this thread that seems to be in total opposition to what this thread is about? I would love to see some real men of God add some insight (if you will).
God's Favor?

(My apologies if this is wrong...)