How Did SDA's Accept Pants on Women?

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The specific text in the Bible that stirred my soul, eventually leading to this web site was Deuteronomy 22:5.

“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.”

The meaning of this verse should be very clear to the reader. You can read this verse in 20 different versions/translations, and still come up with the same meaning.

From this verse, we know that God does not want women to put on, or wear any article, including articles of clothing that are specifically related to men.

Now, as we consider this clear command from God, we need to apply it to our specific culture and time. As recently as the late 1800's we know from our prophetess that God doesn't even want women to wear clothing that is similar to men's clothing. God wants a clear distinction between the clothing of the two sexes.

We really don't need to go back to Bible times to try and figure out exactly what men and women wore. We do know that women who were obedient to God did not put on robes that were designed for men, and godly men didn't put on robes designed for women, whatever the specific distinction was. The distinction was there, and God's people honored that distinction.

Coming down to our time, many argue that, because our modern culture accepts pants on women, therefore, it is acceptable to follow this custom. Since when have Seventh-day Adventists believed that it is alright to follow the customs of society without close scrutiny to see if they are appropriate for a Christian lifestyle? Our society believes it is acceptable to eat pork, drink, dance, watch worldly movies, get tattoos and so on. Just because society approves, does that make it acceptable for Seventh-day Adventist Christians to follow those customs? Certainly not! We must closely evaluate each custom and see if it measures up to God's holy standards.

Now, regarding the wearing of pants by women, because this development is relatively recent, we have no excuse for blindly accepting the current practice without close scrutiny. If this custom of women wearing pants had developed hundreds and hundreds of years ago, and we had absolutely no recorded history to enlighten us as to how or why the transition in apparel took place, we could then evaluate the modern custom based on its current merit, and ascertain the morality of it based on appearance alone.

But that scenario is simply not the case. This transition from women wearing dresses to wearing pants has taken place largely within the lifetime of many who are still alive. And we have detailed history and photographs from abundant sources documenting the whole process, back to the mid 1800s. There is no mystery as to the purpose and motivation behind this transition of fashion whatsoever.

As we examine the evidence, we can clearly see that the women who introduced the wearing of pants did so for the purpose of removing the distinction between men and women. We can read about the characters of these individuals, the comments they made, and see clearly their intentions. This rebellious uprising that began in the mid-1800s was clearly condemned by our prophetess. It faded out somewhat, only to arise again in the 1920s and onward. It was shocking and reprehensible to God-fearing Christians, who clearly saw it as a form of rebellion against God's order of Creation. It was equivalent to total rejection of God's authority.

As the wearing of pants by women spread in the early 1900s, for the most part these women literally wore men's pants, not just pants similar to men's. Women's pants were not available in the stores. Because of the influence of immoral movie stars, other women in society began copying them. That's when the fashion designers started designing pants specifically for women to meet the needs of this fad. Blatant rebellion against God is what paved the way for women to wear pants.

Because the obvious agenda behind these pants-wearing women was to blur the distinction between the sexes, there was no specific designation given to differentiate them as women's pants. If this development had come through a God-fearing society, the pants designed for women would have been distinct from the pants designed for men. It would have been clear when looking at them that they were women's pants, and it would not have caused any confusion whatsoever.

There are many ways this could have been done: color, material, style, embroidery, and so on, just as the robes in Bible times were probably designated. Of course, even if there was such a clear distinction between men's and women's pants, a Christian still would have needed to consider the modesty aspect of each specific style, to see if it was pleasing to God. The modesty of pants on women, or the lack thereof, is another issue altogether.

The reality is, there is not a clear distinction between the pants of men and women. There is nothing that is reserved only for women's pants to make them clearly distinct from men's pants. As the fashions quickly change, it's hard to keep up. In years past, bell-bottom pants were in style for both men and women.

Now, tight jeans are coming in for men, and baggy “boyfriend” jeans are stylish for women. The colors, material, styles are all interchangeable with either sex. Unless you keep up with the fashions you really can't tell if many styles of pants are men's or women's just by looking at them. There are no clear distinctions based on color, style, material or any distinguishing characteristic.

This is a serious problem. That means that when pants are worn, there is a definite blurring of the distinction between the clothes of men and women. Ellen White told us that when we do away with the distinction, we are disregarding God's clear directions.

The other day I went into a thrift store, and asked the manager how they could tell the difference between men's and women's jeans. She said that usually men's jeans had a tag inside with the measurements, and women's had a tag inside with a size number. But other than that, they really couldn't tell just by looking. For an object lesson, I bought six pair of jeans, 3 men's and 3 women's and then asked several people to tell me which were which just by looking at them, without peeking at the labels inside. They couldn't tell the difference.

The rebellious motivation to remove the distinction between the clothes of men and women has led to general gender confusion, just like Ellen White prophesied. If it's not clear to the observer, then isn't the wearer participating in the agenda to blur the distinction between the sexes? As men and women are dressing with increased similarity, morality falls in direct proportion to this trend.

When you study into the agendas of such ungodly movements as the feminists, homosexuals, communists, the new age, witchcraft, spiritualism, and even the United Nations, you find that they all have in them the push to remove the distinction between the genders. Why do you suppose this is? It's because it's actually Satan's plan, and fashion is one way he is carrying out this plan.

Christians are called to promote God's kingdom, and to forsake the customs of the world. That is why we need to consider the history of any custom before we are willing to adopt it. If it is helping to promote Satan's agenda, surely it is not prudent for a Christian to follow.

If God feels so strongly about this, why do we take it so lightly? If something is an abomination to God, wouldn't Christians want to stay as far away as possible from even the appearance of evil?

Let's say a women decides to wear some jeans that are purchased in the women's section of a store. But they are designed just like men's jeans. In fact, they are designed to look just like the jeans that a certain rebellious movie star [Katie Holms] recently wore, which actually were men's jeans. But now, the manufacturer has declared that they are women's jeans. Does that make these jeans acceptable to God? And if a woman buys jeans in the men's section that look identical to these purchased in the woman's section, is this woman an abomination to God, while the other woman is fully approved of God?

What if she buys some jeans from a thrift store that has had the tag removed. She doesn't really know if they are men's jeans or not. Would she be an abomination to God only if they were actually men's jeans?

So where is the line between acceptable pants and abominable pants on women? Who could ever figure it out? It's total confusion, actually, it's Babylon! And God is calling us to come out of Babylon!

One of the mysteries of Babylon is how she succeeds in insinuating her practices into God's remnant church. How has God's Seventh-day Adventist church officially accepted the wearing of pants by women without an outcry or warning?

Satan works by stealth. He starts with something that seems totally innocent. If we are not on guard, it slips right by us. By the time I came on the scene, he had already succeeded in getting Seventh-day Adventist women comfortable with wearing pants. I never remember even a hint of a thought that pants were not appropriate attire for a Christian woman during my formative years in the 1950s and 60s. Not one Seventh-day Adventist that I heard ever addressed the need for women to keep their attire feminine, distinct from men's clothing. I attended Sabbath School and church every Sabbath, 10 days of campmeeting each year, attended only Seventh-day Adventist schools, was involved in Pathfinders, and so on, and I never heard a word expressed by any pastor, teacher, leader or parent that caused me even the slightest reason to believe that pants or jeans, even men's jeans, were not appropriate attire for women. (Actually, Joe Crews and others did sound a warning, but I didn't hear it back then.)

The fact is, we were sleeping at the switch. It crept in slowly enough that no one could see the end result. The first pants did seem more feminine. But, because we weren't paying attention to our prophetess, who warned us that even the wearing of clothing similar to men's clothing by women was an abomination to God, we didn't worry about a few flowery peddle pushers. They seemed rather benign.

If we had been paying attention, and studying the Spirit of Prophecy, we should have sounded an alarm way back when this popular tend was beginning. We shouldn't have nibbled on the seemingly harmless bait. We should have kept a clear distinction between men's and women's dress like we were told, recognizing that Satan always has a way of leading us on and on in a downward trend.

What do we do now, that the situation has become seemingly out of hand? Satan has tricked women into dressing so similar to men that it's not unusual to see a person who looks omnisex, making it difficult to tell if it's a man or woman. With blatant homosexuality, increased cross-dressing, metrosexuality, pansexuality, and so many popular perversions exploding in our society, it's time for Seventh-day Adventist women to stop and take a long, hard look at our role in all this. Do we want to play around the edges of something that is abominable to God, or are we wiling to swallow our pride, put self to death, and turn our backs on this custom of the world?

Since this issue is being agitated currently, it is interesting to see how Seventh-day Adventists react to this message. Some seem to be grasping for straws as they try to read into Deuteronomy 22:5, making it say something God never intended. Others take man's interpretation as found in uninspired commentaries. Still others discount the Spirit of Prophecy account. Popular theories to discredit the truth are passed around to lull the members back to sleep. It seems that some are so determined to keep the ladies wearing their pants that they will use just about any means in their power.

I, for one, am shocked and amazed at my own ignorance and blindness that I manifested for years and years as I wore my jeans almost everywhere I went. This could have been said about me, just a year and a half ago:

“Worldly dress among our people is so noticeable that unbelievers frequently remark, "In their dress you cannot distinguish them from the world." {3SM 243.2}

Let's leave the pants-wearing to men, and do everything that we possibly can to follow God's plan for keeping a clear, plain and obvious distinction between the clothing of men and women!