However, as the end of time increases, the war on men is also increasing and forming new battle fronts.
Every year there are more and more people who are waging war against male barechestedness. It is mostly legalistic religious people who base their offense upon what they have heard preached by some Babylonian preacher in some traditional church denomination of man. They mostly try to base their false doctrine upon 1 Timothy 2:9 "In like manner also, that women adorn themselves in modest apparel, with shamefacedness and sobriety; not with broided hair, or gold, or pearls, or costly array".
First of all, that verse is speaking specifically of women. Not men! So how can we take it out of context and apply it to men, to people that it is not speaking to? Second, the words "modest" and "shamefacedness" is not talking about the amount of skin that is not covered. The context is very clearly about women who were wearing expensive fancy clothing and decking themselves up. We still have that same problem today with most women. Thank God that there are some humble modest women who do not desire cosmetics, toe polish, a hundred pairs of shoes, expensive hair-dos, expensive clothing and a Gucci bag! We can not apply this verse to whether or not men can go shirtless because it has nothing to do with it!
Jesus died on the cross without a shirt. Jesus also died without any sin. The practice of the Romans were to strip people completely naked when they crucified them in order to bring shame to the people that they were crucifying. Matt 27:35. (Additional source.) But the shame is in the eye of the beholder. Each beholder thinks differently. The Romans may have thought that it brought shame, but that doesn't mean that it was truly shameful. And shame and sin is two different things. Whether Jesus was crucified completely naked as others were, or just with a loin cloth, either way, He was shirtless. Jesus died without any sin. If it had been sinful for him to appear barechested, He would not have allowed it. Of course, it is not a sin to us if someone else forces it upon us. But nevertheless, if nudity or barechestedness had been a sin, Jesus would not have allowed that sin to come upon his body. He nailed our spiritual sins upon the cross, but He did not have sin physically present upon his body. He did not die in a condition of sin.
Jesus was also baptized naked. Historical records show that all Jews were baptized naked. (Source, read sections 4-5.)
Most men of God in the bible probably went shirtless on occasion. Especially John the baptizer who was in the river Jordan baptizing people. When we read the entire bible, we never read anything to even hint at male shirtlessness being wrong, shameful or sinful. The bible is very specific and detailed. History shows that men in ancient times were shirtless the majority of the time in all cultures. Surely, the bible would have spoken against it if it were wrong.
We are to follow the customs of our time and location upon this Earth to a degree. We need clothing. But we must not allow the legalistic pharisees to bring us under total submission to all their rules and regulations. God created males and females differently. There is absolutely nothing about a man's chest that is anti-God, antichrist, anti-Christian, anti-good, anti-society, anti-family or dirty, naughty, sexual, shameful, wrong or sinful. It is just natural for males to go shirtless.
A lot of the anti-masculinity exist because of single mothers who made their sons always wear a shirt and even a t-shirt under their shirt. Wow, 2 shirts. Even in the summer. I have seen mothers and even dads do this. It's cruel inhumane punishment for any young boy to wear 2 shirts in the summer. It's ridiculous. But they learned it from their mothers who learned it from their mothers or some hell bent pharisee church preacher.
We need to dress for the occasion. We need to dress up for funerals, weddings, formal occasions. We need to dress for restaurants accordingly to the style of restaurant. We need to dress proper for school and work. We need to dress proper for services accordingly to the style of services and location. But we also need to dress accordingly (male shirtless) when at home, or jogging, swimming, tanning, on the beach, mowing the yard, walking in the park, playing tennis, driving in the summer, working outside, etc. All of these latter occasions are perfect times for males to naturally be barechested. We should not live in fear of offending others. It is not us who are sinful by being barechested. The problem is not us. If a person is offended by a barechested male, the problem is with their own mind and legalistic mindset.
The male chest is not sexual. Sure, some women and gay men may think that certain men's chest is sexy, but "sexy" is not the same as sexual. Some people may think that feet are sexy, or hair, blue eyes, etc. But feet, hair and blue eyes are not sexual. It is not sinful for someone to be barefoot in public or to wear flip flops or open toe shoes. Even though, there are tons of people with sexual foot fetishes. So even though some people may see a man without a shirt and have a sexual thought, it doesn't mean that the male chest is sexual or that the man is doing something wrong by not wearing a shirt. The problem is not the barechested man. The problem is in the mind of the person perceiving it in a sexual way. If both the barechested man and the woman who is looking is single, then there may not even be any problem or any sin. But if the woman is married, then she needs to get control of her thoughts. She needs to learn to not look upon the male chest in a sexual way except for her own husband. Again, if there be any wrong on anyone's part, it's in the mind of the beholder. Men do not need to live in fear and under bondage of legalism and fear of offending people. For a man to always wear a shirt in public or to button all the way up is the same as a making a Muslim woman wear a veil over their face. It's legalism, unnatural and unnecessary. It is bondage.
Parents that force their boys to wear shirts in the summer and teach their children that it is not acceptable for males to go barechested in public for modesty reasons or any other reason are contributing to the cause of homosexuality and sexual confusion in our modern society. Boys need to learn that male and female bodies are different. When they are taught that both sexes are to cover their chest, they can become confused about their sexuality and become like Bruce Jenner who thinks he is a girl. Boys who are taught that their chest is sexual, dirty, naughty or taboo can become homosexual because they have been taught that a man's chest is sexual. Boys need to naturally learn masculinity which includes male barechestedness. It's part of nature and should not be hindered!
Men & boys, be yourself! Be the male that God designed up to be. Don't let those people feminize you & force you to cover up. Not only is barechested natural but it is also healthy. Men sweat more than women and spend more time outdoors doing chores and wilderness stuff. We get hotter than women and need to be able to feel the breeze and not get our shirt all covered in sweat. It's okay to exercise the liberty that Christ gave us. Stop letting Eve push us around. If you want to go shirtless, do it! There's no reason why you can't. Even Christian men can go shirtless. Many men in the bible did too!
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