Does God Care What You Look Like?

[sun rise]

To me, it ideally comes down to love. If I invite someone I love and respect to dinner at my place, I'm more likely than not to want to offer that person the best meal, whatever that means in terms of food, dishes and the like.

For some, it might be a dinner with candlelight and flowers on the table. For others it might be hot dogs on a paper plate because that's what would make the guest happiest.

Applying this to worship, it would be natural to dress in whatever way you felt would please and delight God.

And, of course, the ritual element @Windwalker discussed would be a natural consideration as well.

 

[Unveiled Artist]

In my youth, when I attended church, there were expectation with regard to dress to attend mass, and this was stepped up during the sacraments.

I could never reconcile what one wears with how devoted one is to God or how one worships or why God would care given one came into this world naked. Wiccan rites in the Gardnerian tradition are performed in the nude, and I had an easier time wrapping my head around why with this than I did with wearing a suit and tie to church.

Do you have a dress code where you worship? Do you have a dress code mandated by your religion in daily life?

If so, why that is? Does God care more (or at all) about your appearance than God cares about your devotion? Why do you think God might find your appearance important?

I went to a lot of church funerals when I was young. We always dressed up to present ourselves in good shape to (their) lord. When I was catholic, they wore shorts and t-shirts sometimes at mass unless it's holidays and Easter Vigil. A total culture shock. The general consensus is come as you are.

I don't believe god would care. It's more of respect and tradition not really about god from my experience.

 

[Aupmanyav]

The Puranic Shiva isn't very important in my version of Saivism, so I don't know. Mr. Google is far smarter than me.

Smart, you do not commit to anything.

Yes, Shiva wears elephant skin. He killed the elephant demon, Gajasura and danced on his hide. A metaphor for the dangers of sensual pursuits undoubtedly. Elephant’s skin cannot be tanned easily. Thus it rots. Shiva by wearing it reinforces his role as one who holds all things material in disdain.
Why Shiva wears an elephant’s skin

"The chief temple of Gajasurasamhara (killing of the elephant demon, Gajasura) is at Valuvur (Vazhuvur), Tamil Nadu, where the chief icon is an eight-armed bronze Gajasurasamhara. Valuvur is one of the Atta-virattam temples, the eight sites of the heroic acts of Shiva."
Gajasurasamhara - Wikipedia

But all that does not bar Shiva from wearing a tiger skin or a leopard skin in the myths.

Gajasurasamhara (killing of the elephant demon, Gajasura)

 

[Glaurung]

Not that long ago I was empaneled on a jury. I was offended by the utter lack of occasion displayed by most of the panel. I wore black trousers, black shoes, a long sleeve dress shirt and a blazer. The others, all but one were in everyday casual wear. The one exception (excluding me) at least had the decency to wear a dress shirt. It offended me because a criminal trial is a serious occasion. You are here to decide on a person's guilt and you are dressed for a barbecue. The disconnect was offensive to me.

Now, if you are a believing Catholic then you believe that God himself is truly present in the sacrament. This is an occasion far more solemn than a criminal trial. The creator of the universe deigns to make himself present for you in a sacrament so it is only fitting that you dress like you give a damn. The externals influence the internals. Dressing well has a subjective effect on your internal dispositions. Looking like you have your life together goes further than you think it actually having it together.

It boils down to reverence. If you believe your place of worship is a place where the divine is encountered then surely you would want to dress and conduct yourself reverentially. That people think the T-shirt they wore sleeping is suitable for a place of worship speaks to a culture of laziness that has become near omnipresent. At least in Australia.

Wiccan rites in the Gardnerian tradition are performed in the nude

Well, that's one way to solve the issue. But I don't think it's a viable option for most places of worship. But you never know, I'll put it in the suggestion box at my church.

 

[1213]

...Does God care more (or at all) about your appearance than God cares about your devotion? Why do you think God might find your appearance important?

I believe God cares more about the attitude/motive, reasons why people do something as I think these following scriptures show.

One man has faith to eat all things, but he who is weak eats only vegetables. Don't let him who eats despise him who doesn't eat. Don't let him who doesn't eat judge him who eats, for God has received him. Who are you who judge another's servant? To his own lord he stands or falls. Yes, he will be made to stand, for God has power to make him stand. One man esteems one day as more important. Another esteems every day alike. Let each man be fully assured in his own mind. He who observes the day, observes it to the Lord; and he who does not observe the day, to the Lord he does not observe it. He who eats, eats to the Lord, for he gives God thanks. He who doesn't eat, to the Lord he doesn't eat, and gives God thanks. For none of us lives to himself, and none dies to himself. For if we live, we live to the Lord. Or if we die, we die to the Lord. If therefore we live or die, we are the Lord's… … Therefore let's not judge one another any more, but judge this rather, that no man put a stumbling block in his brother's way, or an occasion for falling. I know, and am persuaded in the Lord Jesus, that nothing is unclean of itself; except that to him who considers anything to be unclean, to him it is unclean. Yet if because of food your brother is grieved, you walk no longer in love. Don't destroy with your food him for whom Christ died. Then don't let your good be slandered, for the Kingdom of God is not eating and drinking, but righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Spirit. For he who serves Christ in these things is acceptable to God and approved by men. So then, let us follow after things which make for peace, and things by which we may build one another up. Don't overthrow God's work for food's sake. All things indeed are clean, however it is evil for that man who creates a stumbling block by eating. It is good to not eat meat, drink wine, nor do anything by which your brother stumbles, is offended, or is made weak.
Romans 14:2-8, 13-21

Whether therefore you eat, or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God.
1 Cor. 10:31

If you have the "correct appearance" for wrong reasons, it is pointless:

He answered them, "Well did Isaiah prophesy of you hypocrites, as it is written, 'This people honors me with their lips, But their heart is far from me.
Mark 7:6

Good looks in the “heart” of people, and the state of heart is what matters the most. If you are evil, it really doesn’t matter much how you look outside. And if you are good, it really doesn’t matter what you look outside. Person with good heart does good things with what he has.

The good man out of the good treasure of his heart brings out that which is good, and the evil man out of the evil treasure of his heart brings out that which is evil, for out of the abundance of the heart, his mouth speaks.
Luke 6:45

 

[alypius]

Does God care more (or at all) about your appearance than God cares about your devotion? Why do you think God might find your appearance important?

If we dress up for an audience with a head of state, then could dressing up for worship be an expression of interior devotion to God?

 

[SalixIncendium]

If we dress up for an audience with a head of state, then could dressing up for worship be an expression of interior devotion to God?

I don't know. I've never had an audience with the head of state, and I don't worship.

When you dress up for an audience with the head of state, do you do it for him, for you, or so others don't think you're underdressed?

 

[alypius]

When you dress up for an audience with the head of state, do you do it for him, for you, or so others don't think you're underdressed?

Could someone dress up for all three reasons?

 

[Ashoka]

I don't know. I've never had an audience with the head of state, and I don't worship.

When you dress up for an audience with the head of state, do you do it for him, for you, or so others don't think you're underdressed?

I can only speak for myself, but definitely the third option. We do it to stick to the status quo.

 

[Jainarayan]

In my youth, when I attended church, there were expectation with regard to dress to attend mass, and this was stepped up during the sacraments.

I could never reconcile what one wears with how devoted one is to God or how one worships or why God would care given one came into this world naked. Wiccan rites in the Gardnerian tradition are performed in the nude, and I had an easier time wrapping my head around why with this than I did with wearing a suit and tie to church.

Do you have a dress code where you worship? Do you have a dress code mandated by your religion in daily life?

If so, why that is? Does God care more (or at all) about your appearance than God cares about your devotion? Why do you think God might find your appearance important?

Funny, when I was Catholic I thought like you. I mean, Jesus was all sweaty, bloody, smelly, stinky when he offered himself to God so why can’t I wear a tee shirt and jeans.

But when I became Eastern Orthodox I dressed nicely. It was the whole attitude of Orthodox Christians, the ambience of the church, the “pageantry”. The idea is that it’s all a reflection of God’s kingdom. So, when in Rome... y’know.

Now as a Hindu in a Hindu temple, I dress. No tie, but maybe an open collar shirt, polo shirt, dress slacks, Dockers, etc. I see men wearing shorts despite the sign on the door “No shorts”. I don’t even wear jeans to temple.

At home I usually wear my business casuals. I still get dressed most days even though I’m not working. On rare occasions, like in my video, I wear dhoti and angavastram. And of course, always after morning shower. Even if I’m not dressing for the day, I will dress for puja. Then I get changed again.

What I learned from someone is that when we invite the gods, they’re honored guests. We treat them like royalty or with as much decorum as possible. When I have company at home I don’t wear sweats. So there’s my thinking on it.

 

[SalixIncendium]

Could someone dress up for all three reasons?

I couldn't. Could you?

 

[TheBannerofHomuraAkemi]

I don't know, but until said God decides to come and show itself it can **** off on how we dress.

 

[Twilight Hue]

In my youth, when I attended church, there were expectation with regard to dress to attend mass, and this was stepped up during the sacraments.

I could never reconcile what one wears with how devoted one is to God or how one worships or why God would care given one came into this world naked. Wiccan rites in the Gardnerian tradition are performed in the nude, and I had an easier time wrapping my head around why with this than I did with wearing a suit and tie to church.

Do you have a dress code where you worship? Do you have a dress code mandated by your religion in daily life?

If so, why that is? Does God care more (or at all) about your appearance than God cares about your devotion? Why do you think God might find your appearance important?

Guess it depends on how people were raised.

My parents viewed it as being respectful dressing up in one's Sunday best. I hated suits and ties. Ugh.