modesty

Interesting read.  On a side note, Josh and I have known the couple that started that blog for quite a while.  Josh since college - me since we moved to Oregon 12 years ago and they moved into our ward soon after.   They've had some interesting things to say...

I LOVED all the "we shouldn't judge" and "spirit of the law" and "blind obedience" comments.  My response to that would be that:
a) we are supposed to judge, we are just not supposed to condemn.  If we are being taught by the Lord to differentiate between right and wrong, at some point we have to make a judgment call.   A judgment is an opinion, and every single anti-judgment person that commented had a strong OPINION.  ;-)   Besides, if there were no judgments allowed, wouldn't it follow that there could be no absolute truth?   Everything goes! Wear whatever!  The Lord doesn't care.  In fact, temple garments are just a general guideline.  If they don't work for a particular shirt you bought that you know is still modest - you know you are still obeying the "spirit of the law", right?    Give me a break!

b) spirit of the law usually means to me that you either pick and choose what you obey OR that you are trying too hard to be an exception to a rule.  In the case of modesty, we have actually been given specific guidelines by a prophet. I love when people treat those as some sort of  lesser law for those who don't truly grasp the true spirit of the law.  Because if we all truly grasped that true spirit (which is, of course, non-judgmental), we wouldn't need prophets to be so specific in detailing what the Lord would have us do.

c) blind obedience?  I don't think the Lord ever expects total blind obedience.  I do think he expects obedience and sometimes he doesn't tell us all the reasons.   I believe that we can feel confirmation from the Spirit that we should follow specific commandments without needing to be told all the whys and wherefores. But sometimes, I guess I think he just says "do this" and we demonstrate our faith by doing it.    Am I wrong?


For me, I have found that teaching your children to make judgments for themselves without condemning people is a useful tool.  We are constantly going to come across people both in and out of the church that interpret things differently than we do.  I understand that, and I'm okay with that.  We are all progressing in various ways and my understanding will continue to grow along with everyone else's.  But we still have to have our own personal line in the sand.