Should worship leaders wear yoga pants—or even certain types of jeans—on stage? This was a question Pastor Mike Winger addressed at the beginning of a live Q&A streamed Jan. 13.
“Ladies on the worship team sometimes wear yoga pants and ripped jeans,” wrote a man named Jonathan Youngs. “I think that goes against the Romans 14 principle of not causing your brother to stumble. What do you think?”
Mike Winger on Yoga Pants and Romans 14
Mike Winger is a pastor who runs the ministry, BibleThinker, where he seeks to help people evaluate different areas of life based on Scripture. At the beginning of his Jan. 13 video, he told his audience that he does not want people simply to agree with him, but to draw their own conclusions about issues based on the Word of God.
In answer to Youngs’ question, Winger said he wanted to focus on whether it is even fair to use Romans 14 to answer questions of modesty. “Can we say that this verse is supposed to apply to what other people are allowed to wear?” Winger asked. “Because by ‘stumble’ we mean, ‘I am enticed towards lust by that clothing. Therefore, my sort of internal meter of feeling lustful will indicate whether you can wear this or wear that.’”
Before examining Romans 14, Winger gave his opinion on yoga pants. “I am of the impression that the idea of wearing yoga pants in public…is inappropriate,” he said, noting that his view is an opinion and that he could be wrong. He also believes it is inappropriate to wear “super tight jeans.”
However, said Winger, the Bible does not specify which types of clothing are modest and which are not, although some people use the Old Testament instructions for priestly garments as a guide. Exodus 28:42 says that priests’ undergarments should cover “the waist to the thigh.” While this is not a bad principle to follow, Winger believes that taking this verse as a rule on modesty that applies to everyone is not an appropriate use of the text.
In Winger’s view, “If there’s a part of your body that you don’t want uncovered completely, then you probably don’t want to wear clothing that completely follows the contours of your skin on that same area of your body.” Tight clothing actually reveals what it theoretically intends to cover. “That’s what yoga pants seem to do unless you cover them with a dress or something like that,” said Winger.
He added that he thinks bikinis, “even at the beach,” are inappropriate, as are speedos. Nevertheless, said Winger, “I don’t throw this on anybody else with a real strict judgment…because there’s enough gray in it that I don’t want to cause division over the topics.”
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