[cuppett777]

Many people will say, "Well, God looks on the heart. God doesn't care what you look like on the outside. God just looks on the heart." That is true. God does look on the heart, but man cannot see the heart. Man can only see the outer. Not only that, the outer appearance is usually a pretty good indicator of what is in a person's heart. Although it is possible to look right on the outside and be wrong on the inside, it is well nigh impossible to look right on the outside and be right on the inside. What is on the outside comes from the inside. That is why Jesus said, "out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh" (Matthew 12:34). Granted, a man could say the right things, and have a wrong heart, but a man who had a right heart would never say the wrong things. So the outer appearance is the only indicator that man has that someone is right with God, right in their heart. So God does care how we look. Not only does God care how we look, there are rules in the Bible for both men and women that should govern our appearance. Now, whenever you start to talking about these rules, the women are always the first ones to complain, because there are more rules for the women than there are for the men. And I often wonder why the Bible has all these rules for the women and very few rules for the men, and the reason why is because men and women are made differently. I know that is not a "politically correct" thing to say, but it is none the less true. God made man and women differently.



Men are stimulated by sight. This is why Jesus told the men of His day, "whosoever looketh on a woman to lust after her hath committed adultery with her already in his heart" (Matthew 5:28). Men are stimulated by sight. Men are always attracted to a lady, physically, before they are connected to her emotionally. In fact, they don't even want to pursue the possibility of an emotional relationship, if the physical attraction isn't there.



Women on the other hand are stimulated by touch. It could be a physical touch or an emotional touch. So all a man has to do is look at a woman, and she is stimulated. A woman has to be talked to, and she has to be touched. And as I said, that touch can be emotional. A man could talk to a woman in such a way that she is touched emotionally. Or it could be a physical touch. He could begin to pet her or stroke her in some way and that would begin to stimulate her. That is why pornography is sold mainly to men. There is some pornography that is sold to women, but statisticians tell us that the majority of the pornographic magazines that are published for women are actually purchased by a man, because women aren't really stimulated by sight. That is why you can go to the mall and see some of the ugliest guys with some of the most attractive women, because they know how to touch. They know how to touch emotionally and how to touch physically, so the woman is satisfied, whereas the man has to see something. He is stimulated by sight. Therefore, God has given certain commands to women regarding their appearance, so they will not stimulate men. And God has given different commands to men, such as in First Corinthians 7:1, which says, "It is good for a man not to touch a woman. And then verse two, Nevertheless, to avoid fornication, let every man have his own wife, and let every woman have her own husband." So while a woman is commanded to dress a certain way so the man is not stimulated, the man is commanded to act a certain way, to behave a certain way, so the woman is not stimulated. That is why the commands are different. That is why the man is commanded, "Defraud ye not." That is why they are commanded not to touch. The additional rules for appearance are for the lady's own protection. They are designed to protect her from the lusts of man. But let's start with the rules for men. There are basically only two rules in the Bible for man's appearance, at least that I have found in my studies of the Scriptures. There may be more, but I've only found two. In Deuteronomy 22:5, it says, "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 first command of God, concerning the way a man should appear is that a man should not wear a woman's clothing. I don't know too many men who violate that one. There may be a few, but I have never seen it in a church. And the Bible does not say that a man who puts on a woman's garment has just sinned, but that he has committed an abomination. Lying is a sin. Stealing is a sin. Adultery is a sin. Bestiality is an abomination. Homosexuality is an abomination. So if a man puts on a woman's garment, he has not just committed a sin. He has committed an abomination. He has done something that in the mind of God, is equal to having sex with an animal. The second rule for men regarding appearance is found in First Corinthians 11:14, where the Bible says, "Doth not even nature itself teach you, that, if a man have long hair, it is a shame unto him" The question is always asked, "How long is long?" Long is the opposite of short. Let me ask you, sir. Is your hair short? And if you don't know, then it is long, and if it is long, it is not natural for you to have long hair. So what do you need to do? You need to go to a barber shop.LONG MEANS UNCUT