"Charm in the Hebrew means bodily form. Form and beauty are two things that our culture esteems and pursues with fervor; yet God exposes our pursuit of the perfect figure and beauty to be idolatrous" p. 37
How many of us think about "beauty" or at least our cultures definition of beauty, as idolatrous? Idolatry is defined by freedictionary.com as " 1. the worship of idols or 2. excessive devotion or reverence". How much time do we "devote" to our beauty? How much reverence do we give to our society's definition of beautiful or lovely?
The pursuit or lust of beauty has plagued our humanity since the very beginning of time. I found this article when I googled cultural beauty and I wanted to share how the definition of beauty changes:
The pursuit or lust of beauty has plagued our humanity since the very beginning of time. I found this article when I googled cultural beauty and I wanted to share how the definition of beauty changes:
1700s: The pear
o Necessity of field work makes a large, muscular physique ideal.
o Eyebrows are shaven and replaced with press-on mouse-skin brows.
o The average woman is a mother of eight; large hips are sign of fertility.
Early 1800s: The rectangle
o “Corset Mecaniques” make corsets more user-friendly.
o Indoor lifestyle makes women pale and frail.
o Small feet and rosebud lips accompany prim and reserved personality.
Mid 1800s: The bell
o Ideal woman is curvy with big hips.
o Corset becomes controversial because of restrictiveness.
o Clothing sizes are developed.
Late 1800s: The hourglass
o Beauty culture develops in the U.S.; first notions of mass-produced beauty.
o Through early 1900s women have small waists and large updos.
Early 1900’s: The thin rectangle
o The average woman is 5? 2? tall and weighs 129 pounds.
o The brassiere is patented in 1913.
o In the 1920s women bind their breasts to gain more boyish figure.
o “Flappers” show skin and women become more self-conscious.
o Shaven armpits become popular.
o Comfort and freedom are priorities; bobbed hairstyle popular.
o First Miss America pageant is held in 1921.
Mid 1900s: The hourglass
o Marilyn Monroe embodies the ideal figure.
o Pin-up girls make large breasts popular.
o Large hips come back in style with the baby boom of the 1950s.
o Shaven legs become popular, sometimes by use of sandpaper.
o First official weight-loss drug approved by FDA in 1959.
o The ideal thins out again in the 1970s, repeating trend of the 1920s.
1980s: Muscular and toned
o Death of Karen Carpenter raises awareness of eating disorders.
o Excercise tapes become the new trend.
o Muscular woman is prominent but boyish figure is popular and voluptuous curves gain popularity.
The article was written by Jennifer Miller
Carolyn Mahaney on page 38 in the book asks some questions concerning our motives and goals when we seek beauty. She calls them "heart checks". She points out that our desire for beauty is most often that of "self-glory rather than God's glory". If you have not read them, I suggest you do. Thinking about them often will help" weed out worldly values and cultivate a heart for God's priorities".
We all know that true beauty is defined in scripture as "a gentle and quiet spirit" but how do you not only attain this but live it in a world that screams in our face everyday that beauty is skin deep. How do we raise children to embrace a Godly view of beauty? My son asked me the other day if he was fat. Where does he get that? I know from me. I have been so guilty of telling little girls "how pretty they look today" or "how lovely their dress or shoes are" but how often to I complement on their servant's heart, helping hands, Godly attitude toward others, quiet manner, etc? How many of our daughters are encouraged to dress appropriately, quietly serve, be gentle with others? I know in my own life, I was told more often than not how lovely I looked rather than how ugly I acted and believe me, sometimes my actions were terribly ugly. I did not hold a gentle spirit or quiet manner in higher regard than my physical beauty. I have spent hours looking in the mirror primping and turn around and demolish someone else's self-esteem with my words or action in mere seconds. Ugliness runs rampant in my soul and still I get up every morning and concern myself more with my outward appearance. I guess you could say "My physical beauty is of much more importance than my spiritual beauty". I hate that....
So, how do we reconcile? Is there hope for woman in a culture that is saturated with only physical beauty? Is it wrong to seek to enhance our own appearance? I don't think so myself but I think it all comes down to motive. " It is not necessarily evil to wear stylish clothing and an attractive hairstyle. It is not sinful to wear make-up and jewelry. The Proverbs 31 woman wore colorful, high-quality clothing. The bride in Song of Solomon adorned her appearance with jewelry. We are told that Esther went through 12 months of beauty treatments-six months with oil and myrrh and six with perfumes and cosmetics. The Bible does not condemn wearing and using these things. It is wearing them for the wrong reasons that God's Word forbids"(page 41).
I think it is a fine line to walk and almost impossible to perfect but so is a Christian life in general. We should all encourage and lift up one another in this pursuit of Godly beauty; raise our daughters to embrace a Godly spirit of meekness and gentleness and encourage our sons to view a woman's ability to be beautiful not by her outward appearance but her desire to serve and love God.
What do you think????
o Necessity of field work makes a large, muscular physique ideal.
o Eyebrows are shaven and replaced with press-on mouse-skin brows.
o The average woman is a mother of eight; large hips are sign of fertility.
Early 1800s: The rectangle
o “Corset Mecaniques” make corsets more user-friendly.
o Indoor lifestyle makes women pale and frail.
o Small feet and rosebud lips accompany prim and reserved personality.
Mid 1800s: The bell
o Ideal woman is curvy with big hips.
o Corset becomes controversial because of restrictiveness.
o Clothing sizes are developed.
Late 1800s: The hourglass
o Beauty culture develops in the U.S.; first notions of mass-produced beauty.
o Through early 1900s women have small waists and large updos.
Early 1900’s: The thin rectangle
o The average woman is 5? 2? tall and weighs 129 pounds.
o The brassiere is patented in 1913.
o In the 1920s women bind their breasts to gain more boyish figure.
o “Flappers” show skin and women become more self-conscious.
o Shaven armpits become popular.
o Comfort and freedom are priorities; bobbed hairstyle popular.
o First Miss America pageant is held in 1921.
Mid 1900s: The hourglass
o Marilyn Monroe embodies the ideal figure.
o Pin-up girls make large breasts popular.
o Large hips come back in style with the baby boom of the 1950s.
o Shaven legs become popular, sometimes by use of sandpaper.
o First official weight-loss drug approved by FDA in 1959.
o The ideal thins out again in the 1970s, repeating trend of the 1920s.
1980s: Muscular and toned
o Death of Karen Carpenter raises awareness of eating disorders.
o Excercise tapes become the new trend.
o Muscular woman is prominent but boyish figure is popular and voluptuous curves gain popularity.
The article was written by Jennifer Miller
This was just a short glimpse at how beauty has changed over past 300 years. I read numerous articles about how women used to pluck out their hair one by one because large foreheads were considered beautiful in Victorian England. Foot-binding of baby Chinese girls was practiced for hundreds of years where feet are literally bent in half making woman crippled because small feet were considered beautiful. Lip plating in Southern Africa is still practiced today where the lower front teeth are removed in order to accommodate the large plate that must be worn by all married woman as a sign of true beauty. Not to mention in America today where beauty is defined by plastic surgery, tattooed permanent makeup, liposuction, clothing sizes and these are the common practices. Many, many more are practiced and encouraged everyday in hopes that we are one step closer to perfect, ideal and flawless beauty.
When you look back at the "trends" of beauty, it isn't hard to see how ridiculous some of them were. But how aware of our own time, energy and money is spent on our own beauty? I can't even begin to add up all the ways that I have wasted my life on earthly "beauty". Sadly, its much more that I have spent on my eternal beauty. First Corinthians 6 says" Your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit.... You are not your own...Therefore honor God with your body".
My husband and I have nightly devotions with our boys. We excruciatingly went through Leviticus with them. As I would sit and listen to my husband read the laws that God gave to the Jews regarding the care and reverence of the His temple, it made me think about the verse in 1 Corinthians. Verse after verse in Leviticus reiterates the importance of purity, cleanliness, holiness that one must observe when worshiping in the temple. These laws are made to the point of exhaustion. But it made me think about our bodies as "temples". God expects us to treat them as sacred vessels for the part of Him that ministers and comforts us, the Holy Spirit. It truly overwhelms me with grief when I think about how I have been distracted by my fleshly desires to care for my body and beauty.
When you look back at the "trends" of beauty, it isn't hard to see how ridiculous some of them were. But how aware of our own time, energy and money is spent on our own beauty? I can't even begin to add up all the ways that I have wasted my life on earthly "beauty". Sadly, its much more that I have spent on my eternal beauty. First Corinthians 6 says" Your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit.... You are not your own...Therefore honor God with your body".
My husband and I have nightly devotions with our boys. We excruciatingly went through Leviticus with them. As I would sit and listen to my husband read the laws that God gave to the Jews regarding the care and reverence of the His temple, it made me think about the verse in 1 Corinthians. Verse after verse in Leviticus reiterates the importance of purity, cleanliness, holiness that one must observe when worshiping in the temple. These laws are made to the point of exhaustion. But it made me think about our bodies as "temples". God expects us to treat them as sacred vessels for the part of Him that ministers and comforts us, the Holy Spirit. It truly overwhelms me with grief when I think about how I have been distracted by my fleshly desires to care for my body and beauty.
Carolyn Mahaney on page 38 in the book asks some questions concerning our motives and goals when we seek beauty. She calls them "heart checks". She points out that our desire for beauty is most often that of "self-glory rather than God's glory". If you have not read them, I suggest you do. Thinking about them often will help" weed out worldly values and cultivate a heart for God's priorities".
We all know that true beauty is defined in scripture as "a gentle and quiet spirit" but how do you not only attain this but live it in a world that screams in our face everyday that beauty is skin deep. How do we raise children to embrace a Godly view of beauty? My son asked me the other day if he was fat. Where does he get that? I know from me. I have been so guilty of telling little girls "how pretty they look today" or "how lovely their dress or shoes are" but how often to I complement on their servant's heart, helping hands, Godly attitude toward others, quiet manner, etc? How many of our daughters are encouraged to dress appropriately, quietly serve, be gentle with others? I know in my own life, I was told more often than not how lovely I looked rather than how ugly I acted and believe me, sometimes my actions were terribly ugly. I did not hold a gentle spirit or quiet manner in higher regard than my physical beauty. I have spent hours looking in the mirror primping and turn around and demolish someone else's self-esteem with my words or action in mere seconds. Ugliness runs rampant in my soul and still I get up every morning and concern myself more with my outward appearance. I guess you could say "My physical beauty is of much more importance than my spiritual beauty". I hate that....
So, how do we reconcile? Is there hope for woman in a culture that is saturated with only physical beauty? Is it wrong to seek to enhance our own appearance? I don't think so myself but I think it all comes down to motive. " It is not necessarily evil to wear stylish clothing and an attractive hairstyle. It is not sinful to wear make-up and jewelry. The Proverbs 31 woman wore colorful, high-quality clothing. The bride in Song of Solomon adorned her appearance with jewelry. We are told that Esther went through 12 months of beauty treatments-six months with oil and myrrh and six with perfumes and cosmetics. The Bible does not condemn wearing and using these things. It is wearing them for the wrong reasons that God's Word forbids"(page 41).
"Your beauty should not come from outward adornment, such as braided hair and the wearing of gold jewelry and fine clothing. Instead, it should be that of your inner self, the unfading beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which is of great worth in God's sight. For this is the way of the holy woman of the past who put their hope in God used to make themselves beautiful. They were submissive to their own husbands, like Sarah, who obeyed Abraham and called him her master. You are her daughters if you do what is right and do not give way to fear."
-1 Peter 3:3-6
I think it is a fine line to walk and almost impossible to perfect but so is a Christian life in general. We should all encourage and lift up one another in this pursuit of Godly beauty; raise our daughters to embrace a Godly spirit of meekness and gentleness and encourage our sons to view a woman's ability to be beautiful not by her outward appearance but her desire to serve and love God.
What do you think????
