Devoted to the Propagation and Defense of New Testament Christianity
VOLUME 21
February 12, 1970
NUMBER 44, PAGE 3b

Could Not Blush

James Sanders

Blushing has come to be a sign of weakness. It is reserved for the shy and the backward and for only the extreme circumstances of embarrassment.

Judah before her destruction as a nation was also timorous about blushing. Her iniquities and hardness of heart had made her so. She had no shame and nothing to indicate that shame. Blushing to the Judean inhabitant was reserved for only the bashful.

"Were they ashamed when they had committed abomination? nay, they were not at all ashamed, neither could they blush: therefore they shall fall among them that fall: at the time that I visit them they shall be cast down, saith the Lord." (Jer. 6: 15).

Paul admonished the Fairer sex to "adorn themselves in modest apparel with shamefacedness and sobriety" (I Tim. 2:9). Hence, raiment is to be modest, worn with sobriety, respect and shamefacedness. The wearing apparel of today, however, is often just the opposite! Clothing is everything but modest with shamefacedness and sobriety the last virtues ever thought of! Near or complete nudity is the style; the briefer the better is the fashion!

Consequently, with many blushing is sooner practiced over odd socks worn than over apparel which leaves little to the imagination. "Nay, they were not at all ashamed, neither could they blush" (Jer. 6:15a).

A tight pair of shorts or a scanty bikini may well show all a woman has but it also shows what she lacks — sobriety and respect for both herself and for God.

Still, some respect and shamefacedness remain — call it a double standard of modesty if you like. But it's presence strengthens our case and defends our contention fully...For an example, a gust of wind may blow a dress over the head of a woman and she be embarrassed beyond words. But when the weather is hot, that same woman may expose herself in the briefest of garments without shame or embarrassment. Why?

Someone has well said, "Once women dressed like old Mother Hubbard but now array themselves more like her cupboard" (i.e., BARE)! Where is our blushing and what has happened to our decency?

— Route No. 3, Greencastle, Indiana 46135