Opinions of Monday, 25 February 2013
Columnist: Adorsu-Djentuh, Franklin Yayra
The eye of a man is his devil and the cause of his destruction. Men are moved by sight and their eye sure leads them in to temptations. Man’s eyes is the widow of his heart, that is why men fall for outwardly beautiful women whiles women are not moved by the same sight of beauty. Many of us men have fallen to the desire of our eyes and have committed grievous sins. When Christ was teaching about adultery and fornication, his definition raised the bar to a higher pedestal. This made the Law of Moses concerning adultery just a dress rehearsal of what actually ought to be. In the days of Moses adultery and fornication are just limited to the physical sexual act between two people. The rules concerning adultery and fornication changed when Jesus appeared on the scene. As he explained to his disciples in
Mathew 5:27 “You have heard the commandment that says, you must not commit adultery, but I say, anyone who even looks at a woman with lust has already committed adultery in his heart”
Now the rules are clear and it does no longer require a man to take a woman to bed before adultery and fornication takes place, the thought of it alone makes you guilty of the offence. Now how many of us in our hearts haven’t fall foul of this law million times already? Yea, that is the nature of man, sinful but the gracious lord forgives us time and time again whenever we confess and ask for forgiveness. But should we continue to sin because the grace is abound? Certainly not, as asked and answered in the books of Romans chapter 6 verses 1 and 2.
Men are trying their best but the devil is always at his worse, the times are full of evils, In today’s world you don’t need to intentionally look at a woman lustfully or with amorous thoughts but the deafening nakedness of women that greets you at work, church, classroom and on the street is so frightening and provocative to say the least. Women in the name of fashion expose a whole lot of body parts that are so seductive to the eyes to behold. There are times when you turn your head in a different direction in the bid to avoid the temptation, only for you to land a bigger deal where your eyes may be heading. Every corner is choked and infested with fresh and pale torso of women. The situation on the street is much I do nothing about, you can’t complain! The rule is “ wo b? hw? aaa hw?! S? wo’n hw? aaa yi woe ni” an Akan mantra literally meaning if “you either shut up and watch or take off your eyes” but the truth is that these images do not just easily wither away after the window-shops. They something snakes their way to our sub-conscious mind which may end up poisoning our thoughts. And you will agree with me that poisoned mind is definitely a recipe for disaster. I wonder how many men walk in town these days with a bulge in front of their flaps and the numbers of men who easily get electrocuted by the images of seminude women, have to deal with blue balls and priapism.
The power of a woman is her body and it may take grater grace for a man to overcome that force. When it comes to the body of a women, there is nothing like might, not even your prayers in tongues can parry it away, that is why the bible warns us to flee. If you are a strong man go try your bravado somewhere else not on a woman.
Decency and modesty have been thrown to the dogs and now branded as ancient, antiquated, old fashion, outmoded and archaic whilst obscenity and lewdness are associated with modernity and trendiness. Women of the old were not impressed upon by anyone to be decent in their dressing. They know the virtues of a woman and they kept them sacred. They wear long and loose dresses that cover their vital assets, and they kept natural hairs and natural facial appearance. At least their men were spared of the crude and grotesque sexual image of naked women in the open. The burden of self-control was somehow minimal and within a manageable limit, because they were not tempted indiscriminately, but in today’s world men are taunted with cleavages and butt cracks at workplaces, buses, on the street and even in the church the sacred house of God, where believers are supposed to gather for worship. Christian women are now the ones championing this kind of dressing in the name of fashion. At least the church is supposed to serve as a fortress for us the men to seek refuge after fleeing from the monsters on the street but now the house of God is also struggling to distinct itself from the injustice that is being perpetuated on us the street. The church nonetheless is also infested with curves, protruding ass, cleavages and butt cracks. Dare not sit behind or beside any stray bird at church service and your attention will be rob from the gospel, dare not even open your eyes amidst prayers, you may not be lucky to continue in prayers because of that succulent cleavage winking at you.
The bible says in Mathew 5:29 “if your right eye causes you to sin gouge it out and throw it away. It is better for you to lose one part of your body than for your whole body to be thrown in to hell” if we have to go by this passage literally then true men and servants of God will have no choice than to go completely blind for the sake of the kingdom of God. And woe unto you the one who cause a believer to go astray and be misled in to sin, that person’s blood will be on you hands, just like Abel’s blood is on the hands of Cain.
The question is what are our men of God doing about this? Why have they kept mute pretending they’ve not seen? Why have they failed to protect their fellow men from these daughters of eve? Yes we know the women are the pillars of the church, they attend the crusades, the revivals and the most generous at giving to the church. But should they be allowed to continue toppling mighty men of faith through their subtle overture to commit adultery and fornication? Even the angles of God couldn’t resist the beauty of the naked women bathing, how much more weak souls like us?
The clergy must start admonishing our women in our churches to deviate from the standard of the world and conform to Christian way of dressing, a dressing that exudes the glory of God, a dressing that will win soul for Christ. The problem is that the Christian woman is not told what constitute her beauty, the only thing she is told is how her enemies will die, how she will get a husband, how she will bear child, how she will prosper and all the juicy promises of life in God’s name, which they easily fall for. Just like how their mother Eve fell for all the juicy promises of the devil, which eventually landed us all here. Yes that is what they want to hear and that is what grows the church. You will see them jumping and grabbing the pronouncements with their breast almost falling out of their dresses.
Now some may argue that, it is not the fault of the women rather they are just responding to the demands by men, men crave for it and they provides. Very true, some of the men are the causative factors but must all of us be inflicted with this rude invitation to treat? They argue that the men will always prefer the ones that looks trendy than the decent ones. It is very true, most of us young men base our decision to marry on such frolicsome attributes and ignore the substance of the woman. We are influence by what we see, a young man wants a coca cola shaped lady to marry, how will a young man crave for a coca cola shaped woman if he is not exposed to different kind of shapes via indecent dressing? How will a young man know what kind of figure is underneath a decent dress that hides everything? There is too much exposure and our minds are corrupt to choose the way of decay. It will be a bad investment for any man to base his marriage decision on physical attribute of a woman, because these attributes are transient and will fizzle away with time. What is then left for you to hold on? Divorce is the ultimate answered.
The beauty of a Christian woman is not the expensive cloths, jewelry, and heavy makes she wears to church. The bible admonishes in
1Peter 3:3 “Your beauty should not come from outward adornment, such as braided hair and the wearing of gold jewelry and fine cloths. Instead, it should be that of your inner self, the unfading beauty of a gentle and quite spirit which is of great worth in God’s sight”
And this is what our women must be reminded of frequently. Instead we allow Hollywood to take precedence over the bible for the sake of the offering and the numbers. We permit the mini skirt, trousers, apuskeleke, “am aware” etc. in the church without question and we hypocritical turn around to ask ushers to stand behind them with cloth during falling sessions to cover them when they fall. Why can’t they be asked to have a full covering from their homes to church? A woman of faith needs not expose her shape; add artificial nails, hairs, eye leads, and a heavy make up to get a good husband and be respected. You should rather get trendy for God like Sarah, Esther and other great women of the old did, not for a man who will end up using you, abusing you and then turn around to refuse you.
Be warned women! Your actions and inactions, commissions and omissions in the way you dress is inadvertently causing some servant of God to fall and you will be liable to answer for his fall. I know my medieval views on this topic as some may view it, may not necessarily deter women from these kind of dressing but I will do my best to trumpet my views and they who have ears to hear let them hear
Franklin Yayra Adorsu-Djentuh
[email protected]/www.yayrafranklin.wordpress.com