Coming from a fundamental Baptist Background we were always taught that women should not wear pants. According to our pastors the reason for such is that the Bible says in Deuteronomy 5: 22 that "The woman shall not wear that which pertaineth unto a man, neither shall a man put on a woman's garment: for all that do so are abomination unto the LORD thy God" I have not intention of turning this into a theological debate, but I might very well do so sometime. This position taken by our church leaders just makes me wonder if Deutoronomy 22:5 applies for pants exclusively for women. Dogmatic preachers would say yes, but is this position Biblically correct ? Culture and the traditions of a society and age dictates what pertains to man or woman. It is not proper that we establish a set of rules and judge which belongs to who. If we do that we become legalistic and violate what the essence of Christianity is. I can cite various examples that can be found all throughout history and in modern times. Just to cite a few, Scottish men wear "kilts" that look like women's skirts during special occasions. There was a time in our history when men wear corsets for aesthetic purposes. In modern times some men do wear corsets for medical purposes. The Greeks, Romans and even people in the Medievel ages wore Tunics, which look like a women's blouse. Even in modern times in some parts of Asia, parts of Africa, and on many Pacific islands many men still wear the traditional "Sarong." It is described as a large sheet of fabric wrapped around the waist often worn as a skirt. In Bible lands, even until today some people still wear the same robes and sash that was the traditional clothing that was worn in ancient times. If we were to judge these men wearing the kilt, sarong, tunic and robes using our own Western Culture and tradition, we could easily conclude that these people violated Deuteronomy 22:5 since according to our culture, these kinds of clothing are associated women. We cannot deny that in our own culture, there are pants that are made exclusively for women. Before we use Deutornomy 22:5 to judge women who wears pants, we need to know what the verse truly means by considering the contextual and cultural background of the text. There are certainly a lot of issues that could be further discussed to support the argument theologically. I wish to write about this more in the future.
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