The Bride Wore White--But Why?<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Newsweek is running a piece, "MySpace Generation Brides Go for Sexy, Not Virgin" that chronicles the sexualization of weddings and offers this concise\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/thoughtlife\/2009\/06\/the-bride-wore-white-but-why\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"The Bride Wore White--But Why?\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Newsweek is running a piece, "MySpace Generation Brides Go for Sexy, Not Virgin" that chronicles the sexualization of weddings and offers this concise\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/thoughtlife\/2009\/06\/the-bride-wore-white-but-why\/\" \/>\n<meta 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{"id":1660,"date":"2009-06-08T17:55:08","date_gmt":"2009-06-08T17:55:08","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/owenstrachan.com\/?p=1660"},"modified":"2009-06-08T17:55:08","modified_gmt":"2009-06-08T17:55:08","slug":"the-bride-wore-white-but-why","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/thoughtlife\/2009\/06\/the-bride-wore-white-but-why\/","title":{"rendered":"The Bride Wore White–But Why?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

$\"cake\"$ Newsweek is running a piece, \u201cMySpace Generation Brides Go for Sexy, Not Virgin\u201d<\/a> that chronicles the sexualization of weddings and offers this concise statement of where things are:<\/p>\n

\u201cIn response, sociologists say, the sexier dresses and the handoff of pin-up pictures\u2014which was introduced into the wedding prep about three years ago\u2014are ways to add spark to an already-established couple\u2019s sex life and mark the marriage as a monumental life change. \u201cWhen a girl left her parents\u2019 house to be married, she was making an enormous transition,\u201d Wallace says. \u201cThe wedding celebration was to help her negotiate the change. Now very often there is no functional difference between marriage and living together.\u201d<\/p>\n

One wonders how long the tradition of the white bridal gown will last.\u00a0 It does not, after all, signal purity for many brides today, as it formerly did.\u00a0 It is merely a holdover from a quaint age and an aesthetically pleasing choice for brides today.<\/p>\n

The sexualization of weddings is really quite strange, if you think about it.\u00a0 Weddings (should) celebrate the complete union of a couple, but this is a private matter, not a public one.\u00a0 It\u2019s very strange, and quite twisted, to have brides attempting to draw the eyes of men other than their husband on their wedding day.\u00a0 One doesn\u2019t need to be a Christian to see this.\u00a0 It\u2019s just common sense.\u00a0 It\u2019s downright weird for a woman to sexually advertise herself on the very day that she announces to the world that she is permanently taken.<\/p>\n

Weddings ceased to symbolize purity long ago, of course.\u00a0 Bachelor parties, for example, have little pure about them as practiced by many men.\u00a0 Though we justly decry this, does it really surprise us?\u00a0 Everything good in this world faces the assault of Satan and his weapon, sin.\u00a0 That includes marriage, and weddings, and everything else.<\/p>\n

This reminds us of the tremendous opportunity every Christian woman has to offer an unmistakably clear witness to lost people.\u00a0 Every act of modesty, however small, is significant.\u00a0 A total commitment to modesty brings great glory to God, firstly, and also has incredible cultural power provided that a Christian woman knows unbelievers to witness to.<\/p>\n

We are reminded on this matter that we Christians need to be in the world so that our witness can shine among the lost.\u00a0 It is great for Christian women to all be modest together\u2013we need that.\u00a0 But we need them, however they can, to be modest as a mode of witness.<\/p>\n

This does not have to mean\u2013in most cases\u2013something extreme.\u00a0 It\u2019s fine for Christian women to look normal and even fashionable.\u00a0 It\u2019s nice for a woman to feel confident about herself and her appearance.\u00a0 Women should not feel the need to wear huge dresses, billowing blouses, or the like to avoid keeping men from stumbling.\u00a0 Honestly, if a woman is being modest, the power of the Holy Spirit is sufficient for men to avoid lust.<\/p>\n

We need to wrap up.\u00a0 Many brides today don\u2019t dress modestly.\u00a0 Christian women should, knowing that they are imaging something greater than their own marriage.\u00a0 As they have preserved themselves for their husband and chosen carefully about how to act and dress, giving constant precedence to modesty, so the church of Jesus Christ will one day meet her husband in a ceremony celebrating the Savior who has given His bride the greatest gift the world has ever known\u2013righteousness, pure and dazzling, that outshines the most immodest show this world can offer.<\/p>\n

Additional reading:<\/p>\n

All Dressed in White: The Irresistible Rise of the American Wedding<\/em><\/a> by Carol Wallace<\/p>\n

Marriage, a History: How Love Conquered Marriage<\/em><\/a> by Stephanie Coontz<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"