Frequently Asked, and Other Questions
Where in the bible does it say that a woman must wear a dress to church?
Response:
The rule against wearing pants in church was created by various religious organizations based on the following scripture:
"The woman shall not wear that which pertains unto a man, neither shall a man put on a woman's garment: for all that do so are abomination unto the Lord your God." (Deu. 22:5).
Pants did not exist when God gave this instruction (ca. 1451 BC). Men and women both wore loose fitting robes and skirts. In fact, down through history, men and women have often worn identical garments.
"Dressing Gown, Undress Gown, Nightgown, Negligee: Term for a comfortably house garment. In the 17th and 18th centuries it was known as a nightgown and worn by both sexes as in informal house-dress. It was originally based on the Far Eastern kimono or banyan."
"This garment [underclothing], basic for both men and women, was straight cut, usually knee length, and had the elbow length sleeves set straight into the shoulders."
"Nightshirt: It was first found in the late Middle Ages under the term bedshirt; until then people had either slept naked or had kept on their day clothes. The first nightshirts were very capacious, otherwise they were by and large similar to a day shirt. In general the nightshirt prevailed first in the 19th century, in many countries later."
From The Pictorial Encyclopedia of Fashion, Kybalova and Herbenova, Crown Publishers, 1968
http://www.carolynjewel.com/references/skivvies.shtml
"Japanese men wear kimonos, Samoan men wear sarongs, and Bedouin men wear flowing robes. Men from Amazonia, Bali, Egypt, Fiji, Ghana, Greece, Hawaii, India, Kenya, Korea, Samoa, Scotland, and Tibet also wear skirts.
As consumer products, pants show an Indo-European design of equestrian origin: "To judge from their first distribution, trousers were invented about 1000 B.C. in response to the chafing of tender parts incurred in the new art of horseback riding. The man's chemise was then shortened (shirt means 'cut short') to allow the straddling position" (Barber 1994:142)."
Copyright 1998, 1999, 2000 (David B. Givens/Center for Nonverbal Studies)
http://members.aol.com/doder1/legwear1.htm
"Trousers in History"
"In Asia both women and men have always worn pants for warmth, comfort, and convenience. In Rome and Greece women and men wore tunics.
In the fourth century, women in the Western world wore pants, which they adapted from the Persians. At that time, pants were considered unmanly.
By the Middle Ages in Europe women were wearing dresses and men were wearing breeches.
After the French Revolution, men took off their high heels, silk stockings, and wigs and began wearing trousers.
In the nineteenth century women put on trousers to ride horses, but they hid them by wearing full skirts on top.
All trousers were pull-ons until the nineteenth century, when front closures using buttons were introduced.
Jeans were the first trousers to put women and men on equal terms.
Until 1970 it was not fashionable and sometimes against the law to wear pants in offices, classrooms, and restaurants in the U.S."Copyright 2000-2002 Family Education Network Jan. 4, 2003
http://www.factmonster.com/ipka/A0767765.html
When the garments are identical, which one sins by wearing it? Many items of current styles are similar if not identical, from underwear to shirts, cowboy style boots, belts, jeans, hats, caps, t-shirts, athletic clothing, etc. But the "church ban" is primarily against women wearing pants to church services. Secondarily, it is used to ban cross-dressing, where one dresses to look like the opposite sex. When one views the Bible altogether, only the latter appears to be what God considers an abomination.
Pants were at one time, in this country, considered male apparel. That is no longer true. In addition, the dressy pants which some women do wear to some churches, are not made to fit men, in other words, they do not technically "pertain to a man".
As far as changing people's attitudes about church rules regarding women, some of the most heated arguments and extreme emotion we have seen on religious forums have been on these topics. Just because one discovers truth, doesn't mean that churches will change their "traditions".
Just based on observation, it appears to us to not be so much a matter of obeying God, as it is a matter of maintaining an air of male superiority in the churches. In some of the arguments on religious forums in which we have participated, over the roles of women in the church, when the "men only" proponents failed to defeat a combination of logic and scripture, they resorted to screaming and condemnation.