Athenos, makers of  feta cheese and other authentic Greek foods, has this great ad out right now that gives us some perspective on modesty of dress.  Yia Yia (grandmother) is asked what she thinks of three girls in bathing suits and guy sitting by the pool. She says, “This looks like…the pornography.”

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Yep, straight out of Yia Yia’s mouth to our ears, what is considered acceptable swimwear by most women today–including many Christian women–would have been considered pornography just a few decades ago. What makes women think that it is acceptable to bare their bodies in public by wearing bathing suits that contain less material than their undergarments?

Why is this important? Because Jesus said, “You have heard that it was said to those of old, ‘You shall not commit adultery.’ But I say to you that whoever looks at a woman to lust for her has already committed adultery with her in his heart” (Matthew 5:27-28 NKJV). Clearly, sin isn’t just a physical act that we do, it is also our thoughts. And every time a woman wears a bikini so that parts of her body are exposed in public that shouldn’t be, she is causing someone to sin, whether or not that is her intention.

Maybe it’s just me, but I think in order to fulfill the command of Christ to “love your neighbor as yourself” (Matthew 22:39), we need to go back to more modest clothing as the norm so that we do not cause one another to sin through lustful thoughts and we do not objectify women based on their gift of sexuality.

Updated February 3, 2015. Inserted new link for video.
Updated July 7, 2012.