The Wages of Inappropriate Attire, part 2

In my recent post, "The Wages of Inappropriate Attire, part 1" I took a jab at an imam in Iran who linked earthquakes to immodest attire among the ladies of Tehran and greater Iran. And, given teh restrictive nature of Iranian culture as we see it here in the West, it's not so much the immodest attire, but the "pushing of the envelope" via revealing hair and wearing things a little too close to the hips.

The whole suggestion that the wages of attire led to earthquakes got me to thinking not so much of the folly of teh connection - but it did give me enough fodder tow write, now didn't it? Instead, I was taken back to my mid-1980's involvement in Campus Crusade for Christ where I met up with the 4 Spiritual Laws tract.

Spring Break 1985. Bike Week. People soaked in Panama Jack, Budweiser and Spring Break frivolity in Daytona Beach Florida. And 130 pounds of scrawny little me timidly approaching strangers "to share my faith" via a survey and follow-up presentation of those 4 Spiritual Laws.

I'm not so down with the drive-by evangelism - wasn't so down with it then, and I'm less so now, but  I am down with these "laws" as spiritual principles defining our relationship with God, His authority, and our responsibility to Him.

The idea of consequences for "immoral" behavior reminded me of Spiritual Law #2,

"Man is sinful and separated from God.
Therefore, he cannot know and experience
God's love and plan for his life."

and uses Romans 6:23 to substantiate our separation:

"For the wages of sin is death; but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord."(American Standard Version)

In his khutbah (that's a sermon in a mosque), imam Hojjat Sediqi remarked,

"Now if a natural earthquake hits Tehran, no one will be able to confront such a calamity but God's power, only God's power. So lets not disappoint God."

This is where I love being a Christian - the kind the laws lead you to, the kind with a realtionship with Christ and a community of believers. Yeas, imam Sediqi is Muslim and I am not, but don't for a second go thinking there aren't Christian equivalents to Sediqi's adherence to dogma - plenty of us were raised to avoid dancing, improper hair lengths, and adult beverages becasue they are what separte us from God.

The bottom line truth is that, and I recognize the irony of this, Law #2 is right on the money. We're  not going to avoid God's consequences, earthquake, tsunami, or eternal death, by tucking hair beneath a hijab, concelaing ourselves with a loose-fitting burkah, or cropping hair above our ears or turning it up in a bun, for that matter. Sure, it may reflect a discipline and symbolize a devotion, but regardless of such hollow outer efforts, we still remain separated from God, and our wages for that separation is death, separation from God.

No matter what the Hojjat Sediqi's or (insert dogmatic preacher name here)'s preach our actions are not the bridge; instead, we only cross over closer to God via accepting His gift of "eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord."

-Schlegsofminne