Some prophets have stories of their encounters in hell explaining that they have been sent back to earth to warn people who wear wigs, makeup, jewelry because such people would end in hellfire. These people always come back with scary descriptions of the numerous departments in hell for anyone found guilty of all of this.
How true is this?
Let’s clarify a few of these things together. Firstly, any experience which would not draw us back to the scriptures is false because the book of 2nd Timothy 3:16 tells us that “All Scripture is inspired by God and is profitable for teaching, for rebuking, for correcting, and for training in righteousness”. Jesus and his apostles always taught from the scriptures and studies indicate that the old testament was the only scriptures they had in their time, God is not an author of confusion, this is the reason the scriptures were given to us.
Learn to ask the Holy Spirit for answers, do not be scared of asking God what he thinks about all of these.
Now I know you are yearning for an answer from me. Christians would not go to hell for what they put on but on, rather people would only go to hell for unbelief which is by not believing in what Jesus did on the cross for the world, and sin is an end product of unbelief.
Now, let us move to the Christian dress code starting from the popular Deuteronomy 22:5 stating;
“The woman shall not wear that which pertaineth unto a man, neither shall a man put on a woman's garment: for all that do so are abomination unto the LORD thy God.”
For any bible study to be done adequately, reading the Bible in its right context is important. One big question we should ask is if in the bible days men wore trousers, and the answer is No. In fact, historically the men at the time this law was given wore long dresses which is not the norm in our society today. The entire book of Deuteronomy is filled with laws and ordinances which many of us do not abide by today, it, therefore, remains a mystery why people would only deduct a particular verse in the entire chapter and discard all other verses from that same chapter.
In this same chapter, Deuteronomy 22:11 says that;
“Thou shalt not wear a garment of diverse sorts, as of woollen and linen together”,
Truthfully in our age, you can see a cotton material being mixed with other fabrics.
Okay, let us also look at verse 9 of this same chapter which says “Thou shalt not sow thy vineyard with divers seeds: lest the fruit of thy seed which thou hast sown, and the fruit of thy vineyard, be defiled”, this signifies that many of our farmers in our world if we were bound by the law, would be producing a lot of defiled farm produce.
The law was given for a purpose, and this purpose is summarized in Romans 3:19-26;
Now we know that whatever the law says, it says to those who are under the law, that every mouth may be stopped, and all the world may become [e]guilty before God. 20 Therefore by the deeds of the law no flesh will be justified in His sight, for by the law is the knowledge of sin. 21 But now the righteousness of God apart from the law is revealed, being witnessed by the Law and the Prophets, 22 even the righteousness of God, through faith in Jesus Christ, to all [f]and on all who believe. For there is no difference; 23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, 24 being justified [g]freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, 25 whom God set forth as a [h]propitiation by His blood, through faith, to demonstrate His righteousness, because in His forbearance God had passed over the sins that were previously committed, 26 to demonstrate at the present time His righteousness, that He might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus.
The laws were given to reveal how much we needed Christ because we could never fulfill all the laws, the Bible makes us know in James 2:10 that “For whoever keeps to the entire law, yet fails in one point, is guilty of breaking it all”.
Let us move to jewelries, makeups, and hair extensions. 1 Peter 3:3-4 has been used by many as a justification as to why they are sinful; ‘
3 whose adorning let it not be that outward [adorning] of plaiting the hair, and of wearing of gold, or of putting on of apparel;
4 But [let it be] the hidden man of the heart, in that which is not corruptible, [even the ornament] of a meek and quiet spirit, which is in the sight of God of great price.’
1 Timothy 2:9 says in like manner also, that ‘women adorn themselves in modest apparel, with shamefacedness and sobriety; not with broided hair, or gold, or pearls, or costly array’
Apostle Paul did not instruct women not to adorn themselves because doing such would be sinful, instead, he explained that modesty was key for every Christian woman, the physical outlook should not be the yardstick for beauty. If Jewelry was sinful, do we know that Pharaoh gave Joseph his ring to seal he was now the prime minister of Egypt as we can see in Genesis 41:42
Everybody applies make-up in different dimensions, lip-glosses, body lotions, deodorants, are different forms of make-up. Does this make them sinful as well?
Christians can decide to look good in any form they desire taking into consideration that modesty is the standard for every believer.
I must add that Modesty is subjective in every nation of the world, in a country like India where the women are dressed in Saris which is a crop top, or in some parts of Nigeria where the cultural clothing for the woman is short wrappers around their waist and chest, modesty to them would differ.
What then would we say is the standard of modesty? The Holy Spirit should always be the standard, dress in a way you know you can always preach the gospel without feeling uncomfortable at any given time, and always allow the Holy Spirit into your wardrobe.
Yes there are revealing and indecent outfits but as Christians, we should not be found putting on such clothes, we must not allow other unbelievers to fall, our goal is to bring others to the knowledge of Christ in the best possible way ever. Look good because God has given creativity to us for a purpose, be modest according to the leading of the Holy Spirit and this should always be our standard, remember not to conform to the world because we are in the world but not of the world.
And if the Holy Spirit instructs you to put off wearing certain things because you are making an idol out of it, that is a personified sin for you.
Allow the Holy Spirit to take the lead in your life.
