Hope and Encouragement

[martyev1]

Brethren,

For the past month I have been reading aloud to my family every evening from a two volume biography of Hudson Taylor, founder of the China Inland Mission. We've finished the first volume The Growth of a Soul and we're now about one-third through the second volume The Growth of a Work of God. This book is a glorious testimony of what God can do in our lives if we can only but trust Him and believe his promises.

I must tell you Brethren, that I have been so blessed and encouraged by the Godly, spiritual life of Hudson Taylor and the miracles God performed in his life; a life devoted to God through Jesus Christ! God is no respecter of persons; what he did for Hudson Taylor he can do for you and me! Praise God!

I started to read it on my own and I got about 15 chapters into the first volume when I felt I just had to share this wonderful book with my family so I started over reading aloud every night. The whole experience of reading this wonderful book has been such an encouragement to all of us! It has put me to shame and lifted me up at the same time - God is so good!

Grace to you,

~Marty

[Brother Ben]

Amen! Bro. Marty. What a blessing good biographies are. I had to do a term paper in college so I did mine on Hudson Taylor. What a fascinating study. Thank you for sharing this with us. This is what needs to be going on in our homes. It sure beats SpongeBob Square Pants. UG!

Ben

[Deleted]

I have a question. If it was OK for Hudson Taylor to "go native" so to speak (I believe he wore the native dress, and I'm assuming that his wife did the same-- pants ), why is it not alright for us to dress to fit in with our culture? Just asking--I do believe in, and practice modest dressing.
Linda

[hollydawnr]

My understanding is that the reason we don't wear pants is because pants are considered a masculine garment in our society. For instance, would it be an "abomination" for a man in Scotland to wear a kilt? Technically, it's a skirt, but in that society, it was considered a masculine garment. I also look at the women in the Middle East... Their traditional women's garment is a pantsuit with a long (usually about knee-length) tunic. But in that culture, it is specifically a women's garment.

That said, I don't think it gives us an excuse to dress immodestly. If native dress is Dazey Dukes and a halter top, that's certainly not appropriate. I also think of the example of nurses... I know a handful of Mennonite nurses who wear pants underneath their dresses for work because their work often involves climbing ladders and engaging in other actvities hat would cause the dress to hike up and be immodest. It's certainly better to wear pants under the dress than to expose your panties!

That's just my thoughts on it. Please correct me if I've got it wrong.

[martyev1]

As I understand it Hudson Taylor adopted Chinese dress to identify himself with the people and be able to live closer to them. Many Chinese were mistrustful of foreigners and it appears that mistrust was hindering the work in China. After all, if a foreigner came into your town to preach the gospel wearing his normal foreign dress of a multicolored clown suit, big clown shoes, a rainbow colored wig and a red nose, how many people do you think would take him seriously? Would you trust him?

Why was it OK for H. Taylor to adopt the Chinese dress? Because he did not do it for his own comfort; it was all for the furtherance of the gospel. In a letter he mentioned how uncomfortable the shoes were and how inconvenient that the the Chinese don't wear a cap during the fall, but he bore these annoyances for the gospel's sake. He desperately wanted to get the hindrance of his odd appearance out of the way so that only the gospel could be heard and understood - he wanted to decrease so Christ could increase. And not only did he adopt native clothing but also the externals of Chinese life, using chopsticks and native cookery.

Let us remember that modesty means a lot more than clothing. It also means plain, simple, ordinary, humble, unexceptional, and meek. It’s the attitude of the heart that is reflected in the outward appearance. I agree with Sister Holly about the Daisy Dukes. Such clothing was specifically designed to incite lust, but I often wonder what would Hudson Taylor have done if he were a missionary in Africa where the native clothing is hardly any clothing at all and the women walk around topless, not to incite lust but because that is simply their custom. In this case I think God might have led him a different way. Perhaps he might have simply added some native apparel to his own foreign dress. Then again we might be reading about the missionary who gave up his clothes for the sake of the gospel.

Keep in mind that Hudson Taylor engaged in much prayer in this decision. I doubt there is much prayer going up in these worldly churches today with regard to modesty and clothing. In my own church the girls and women wear dresses or skirts that are far too tight fitting and tops with low neck lines that are so tight I don’t know how they can breathe. The boys are just as vain with their spiked hair and sideburns.

Oh well. May the Lord bless us all that we may declare “Woe is me! for I am undone; because I am a man of unclean lips”

Grace to you all,

~Marty

[benshelpmeet]

Amen! Bro Marty this was a good post!

We know of some Charity Missionaries to Africa, actually they wear long flowing modest dresses and jumpers, and head coverings. Sometimes they make their dresses more colorful ( out of their African material) they will also sometimes make their coverings out of this material. This is as far as they go to fit in , but the Lord greatly uses them, men and women alike. The tribes love them and their welcome with open arms.

If they took off their clothes like the natives, to minister to them, it would be wrong, they would have nothing to offer them, the new birth makes us a ''New Creature'' in Christ, it cleans up and conforms our sinful practices ( which nudity is ). If they became immodest to reach them it would cause confusion.

It's one thing to put on a costume so to speak (A style of dress characteristic of a particular country or people) to be able to blend in and reach them, being in a foreign land where they think differently.

Here in America we do not have a costume so to speak, there are many different and varied styles or trends in America. When someone sees a modest covered lady they automatically think their a christian.

We were at Sam's Wholesale on Saturday and when we were leaving a couple of men were handing out these packages with a witnessing bracelet in it ( the rubber bracelet type ). We walked out they handed us one, I did not even know what they were handing me, the black guy said to the white guy...They know what it is! That caught my attention and I thought to myself...why would he think we knew? It was because we ''looked'' like christians.


Thank you for your thoughtful post Bro. Marty.

I am so glad you joined. We like for Brothers to join, they have so much to offer. I wish more brothers would join.

Blessings to you and your precious wife!

~ sister Darlene ~

[martyev1]

benshelpmeet said:

If they took off their clothes like the natives, to minister to them, it would be wrong, they would have nothing to offer them, the new birth makes us a ''New Creature'' in Christ, it cleans up and conforms our sinful practices ( which nudity is ). If they became immodest to reach them it would cause confusion.

Too true, Sister Darlene . God would never guide his servant to "do evil that good may come".

Thank you for the warm and blessed welcome!

Grace to you,

~ Marty