Redirection

Wednesday, June 19, 2013

Chastity And Modesty

Some time ago I wrote several posts covering lessons from Helen Andelin's famous book Fascinating Womanhood. They were quite a success judging by the amount of traffic they received and I was planning to write more but my attention became diverted by other things. So many subjects to blog about, so little time:)

Anyway, today I decided to return to the topic of good character and what qualities constitute it, as described at length in the Chapter 16 of the book The Worthy Character. You can find my previous posts about it if you click on the label Fascinating Womanhood on the right side of the blog.

So far I have written about self-control, moral courage and diligence. Today I'd like to talk about chastity. Chastity nowadays is a very politically incorrect subject, and one needs a lot of moral courage to discuss it in public:) Isn't it strange that certain sins have become so politicised that in some countries they are protected with a special set of laws? According to Mrs Andelin, chastity "...means to be sexually pure, to not have sexul relationships with anyone but the person to whom you are legally married, and not to have any impure thoughts or actions. " (FW., p. 220, Bantam Books 1992).

The author goes on to enumerate various sins against chastity and proceeds with a list of reasons why sexual immorality is harmful. She mentions such consequencies as broken relationships, emotional illness resulting from the rebellion against the spiritual laws and even downfall of the nations.

Since the majority of my readers are probably Christians and have heard about theTen Commandments, I don't think there is need to go into much detail on this topic, however, there is something which I'd like to point out. Nowadays we have a tendency to talk about things which are better left to the private sphere. When watching "I Love Lucy" I noticed many times that men would not discuss certain things in the presence of the women and vice versa.

In one episode Lucy pretends to be a man but is easily outed by Ricky because she won't listen to a dirty joke. Chastity is more than not commiting adultery or fornication, it's also refraining from watching porn or reading trashy novels with pornographic themes in them, or discussing bedroom preferences of your husband with others.

Chastity is closely connected with modesty as modesty is based on the same idea: not revealing things which should be private to the eyes of strangers. As Mrs Andelin puts it: "Higher types of civilisation have traditionally been modest." (FW., p. 250). Which reminds me: it's summer again!

The weather may be warm, but still it's better to resist the temptation of going out in the equivalent of underwear (actually, Victorian underwear used to cover more than what some people are wearing now), if only from the purely practical point of view. While we need some exposure to the sunlight for the vitamin D production, sun burns can lead to skin cancer, and it's a serious thing.

Summer modesty and summer fashions could be the topic of discussion on their own, so I'll quit here. Next time I'm planning to write about some home magazines, as requested. Stay tuned!

6 comments:

  1. Hi, this is on another subject, sort of. I've been listening to audios about forces behind what is going on in the world and when I checked out your subject matter today it got me to thinking how being a homemaker is an act of none conformity, it is a act of resistance, it is an act of revolution. Cleaning your own toilet, baking your own bread, growing your own, whatever, has transformed into acts of defiance. Defiance against those who want to transform societies in every country against what is natural, wholesome, and God in Jesus Christ ordained (these days I make clear of the God in whom I'm referring - there seems to be confusion on the part of some folks).

    It is a high honor to care for ones home, husband and children. To behavior in a self disciplined manner. How grateful I am to sites like this that take time out of their day and express their positions. I never thought I would ever see the day that being a housewife would be considered counter culture, but I also never thought I'd see the day I would see my beloved country fall so far down into a cesspool. BUT while I'm washing the dishes, hanging out the wet laundry, scrubbing out dirt stains from upholstery, milking my goat, weeding my garden, etc., I realize that these very acts of maintaining my home and my families lives is helping my countrymen, my state, my city. I only recently had that revelation. The more women that do this the more stability will be brought to bare. To abandon the social engineers and live a goodly life uplifts ourselves and our men. Men are in great need of good wives in order to help them be the strong men that they were meant to be. And together man and wife is the foundation of the family. And family is the first government. No wonder the powers that be want to destroy the family. Ok, so that is my rambling for today spurred indirectly by your subject. Sorry, that it didn't have to do with chastity per say but I hope you don't mind too much. I usually try to stay on topic, but today I had much to contemplate and some of it spilled out.

    Be well.





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  2. Well said! Nowadays, housewives are the real revolutionaries, or should I say, counter-revolutionaries?:)

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  3. Being normal has become a counterrevolutionary act. Dominating familiy life means dominating the whole world. If the familiy decays, people turn into weak costumers of manufactured demand. That's all. Why undergo such a destructive change even more than feminism has already been doing this? We can start changing our own yard and then many well kept yards will make a good street. Several well kept streets will form a strong city. More strong families can make a tighter society, although we make a very poor number. Power relies not in great number, but in TRUTH.

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    1. Isn't that the truth?! "Being normal has become a counter revolutionary act." It's quite surreal. Though this question has been answered by some, and I quess I know the answer - but I still ask - how did we get here? How did we fall so far so fast AND has affected all of Europe and the USA, christian based countries?!!!! How did so many people get duped and fall away from the ways of Christ (the teaching of the bible)?

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