acceptance vs Christianity

[GrahamB]

I have been reading so many respondents claims that it is the conservative Christians who have an issue with the bra wearing males...
I see that the problem is not with the man wearing the support garment. The PROBLEM is that the conservative Christians are not following the teaching of Jesus. Jesus SAID, "Love your neighbor as, (you would love), yourself. Either these people don't love themselves or they prefer to not follow this commandment. I tend to think it's both. Society everywhere on this earth has cultural standards. I personally don't want to live according to ridged cultural standards. I have seen thousands of humans that feel the same way. Example: the hippies and the punks. Those started out as radicals but eventually culturalized their own movements in a standardized way. 
I say just wear your support garments and don't have a concern about what other people think. Only love the dissenters even with their LIMITED points of view. But resist them pressing you with their unrealistic cultural expectations. 

[OnlyGodKnowsWhy]

I have been reading so many respondents claims that it is the conservative Christians who have an issue with the bra wearing males...
I see that the problem is not with the man wearing the support garment. The PROBLEM is that the conservative Christians are not following the teaching of Jesus. Jesus SAID, "Love your neighbor as, (you would love), yourself. Either these people don't love themselves or they prefer to not follow this commandment. I tend to think it's both. Society everywhere on this earth has cultural standards. I personally don't want to live according to ridged cultural standards. I have seen thousands of humans that feel the same way. Example: the hippies and the punks. Those started out as radicals but eventually culturalized their own movements in a standardized way.
I say just wear your support garments and don't have a concern about what other people think. Only love the dissenters even with their LIMITED points of view. But resist them pressing you with their unrealistic cultural expectations.

I myself am and come from a very conservative faith. Bra wearing isn't a problem in my eyes, it would be more crossdressing which the Bible mentions not being ok. But thats a whole other can of worms, I believe crossdressing to be when you dress up with the intent to look like the opposite sex. Wearing a bra and women's jeans because they fit better doesn't make it crossdressing.
I may be off by a million miles, but thats how I see it. 

[aboywithgirls]

I was and still am Catholic. My mother was too. She gave her son the option of wearing a bra to help. She never asked permission from our priest to see if he thought it was OK with him because his job was to help guide us through life according to Christianity. Neither my mother or myself ever thought that it was any of his business to help us pick out clothing. 

As far as anyone else goes. It's none of their business either. There are actually quite a few women who don't wear a bra at all. Some have breasts very small and wearing a bra has no practical purpose. Some just don't like wearing them. And some go braless out of an act of defiance. 

We all just need to wear or not wear what makes us comfortable. 

Love yah guys 

Sophie ❤️

[blad]

Wearing an article of clothing for the purpose of physical support and comfort to assist a growth pattern we did not ask for is hardly going against christianity or the spirit of the bible. The problem with negative reactions from "conservative christians" is the label they likely immediately fix to it such as assuming deviant sexual behavior etc. They generally assume too much.

I am a "born again christian". I am disgusted with the path of so called conservative christians and their political alignments. They are the ones deviating from the bible and destroying their chance of positive witness to the world with obvious hypocrisy. The devil is being victorious as the bible warns.

[taxmapper]

Talk about a nasty!!! 


OK, open can of pit vipers...  I get it. 


As someone who "identifies" as "Christian Conservative"  yeah I feel the conflict constantly not due to a specifically religious aspect, but there are confines of the modern christian movement that is highly contradictory.  And part of that is that the 'Template" that has been created to describe people is highly simplistic.   


I wont go into alot of passage quotes, but Deuteronomy comes to mind and is one that too have had some problems rectifying. 

But there are two main issues here that I think is overly simplified.  

1:  Having a "personal relationship" with JC means that it's a relationship, not a religion. Your acts become answerable to you and him alone. No one else.  
 
That being said, I have a hard time grasping the fact that people are born "outside the norm" on a daily basis.  Children with various "deformities", "afflictions" and "handicaps" live life every day.  

It wasn't long ago when children with Down's would be dismissed.  Now they are becoming engineers and doctors. 

https://www.forbes.com/sites/allisonnorlian/2020/05/21/the-first-degree-woman-is-first-person-with-down-syndrome-to-graduate-from-rowan-university/?sh=6870908e2e6d

So having boobs I think isn't that big of an issue.  

2:  Unlike the media portrayal, I see every day Christian Conservative actually take in and defend people who the media would say they would reject. I am constantly seeing ALOT of people fall into the category of "...they are all God's Children" and as such their differences is unique to them and applied by God and thus accepted. Not in a pejorative or patronizing way. But because alot of those Christians see the conflict and realize that it's the simpler minded crowd runners that are the real danger.

And why?  Because most of the Christians CAME from that environment. This is the redemption aspect, and everyone that I associate with it realize that the 'template" put out (mostly by the Falwell and Baker types) was misguided to begin with, and Hollywierd and the media ran with it. Stereotyping anyone who isn't part of their agenda.  

Read carefully about the concept of projection.  I experience it everyday and those who do such projections typically are NOT the one who associate or identify as "Christian".  They need to read Matthew 19:12. 


As stated before, I am having alot of body issues now as my body takes in and exploites the estrogen. Trying to hid it is folly. 

So those who use the arguments, I simply don't associate with.  To me its pragmatic. And mostly a non-sequiter.  

[Busted (and happy)]

As Christian am constantly embarrassed by fellow church goers.
Called as we are to  a non judgemental and merciful outlook on others an unconditional love, l struggle to understand attitudes held by fellow believers.

I share my beliefs with evangelical Christian but totally abhor and distance myself from attitudes and behavior.

As male with gynecomastia, l find the only people who in any way have given me grief have been supposed Christians. l say supposed because l cannot reconcile their behavior with the gospels

[usetobeed]

I'm a practicing Catholic, and quite conservative. My wife and I attend services at least once a week, often more than once. I have no confusion about my sexuality. I am heterosexual. I also wear a bra everyday because it is comfortable. While it is a style of underwear that is at odds with the social norm, it is harmless. It does not cause conflict within my marriage or my religious beliefs.

[tryingtoaccept]

I am a devout Christian and see no problem with anyone, male or female, wearing a bra.  If it makes you more comfortable than go for it.  Like Aboywithgirls said some women choose to not wear bras, and I as a conservative Christian see nothing wrong with that.  If a guy wants to wear a bra for comfort it is not cross dressing in my mind. If my breasts grow more than I may start wearing one if my wife suggests it.  I only want her to wear one for comfort and I would only wear one for comfort.  If my wife chooses to stop wearing them she has my full emotional support.  So I said all of that to say that a guy wearing a bra for support is not a problem in my opinion; and should not be a problem in the mind of any conservative Christian.

[Moobzie]

Graham:
Really!?
Try "wearing whatever is comfortable for you" in a moslo-cratic country.  This thread 'threadens' (couldn't resist then pun) the accepting atmosphere of the site.  Bad idea.
Stay open, don't try to shove your views onto others, relax, enjoy the ride.
Your comments about Christians tells a lot more about your issues than any they may have.
Mormons, Orthodox Jews, Moslems ALL have rather rigid moral codes they try to live by - same as Christians.  And 'society' in general will probably continue to consider gynecomastia outside the norm for males.  So what?
Some here express the opinion that society must change, and some have said they wish to effect such change regarding 'acceptance' of bra wearing as 'normal'.  Of course, they're free to try, but will probably wind up even more frustrated than they seem to be now.

[Busted (and happy)]

Godonlyknowswhy.

At the risk of opening your can of worms.The question about dress in Deuteronomy is a strange one seeing that male and female dress is almost  identical apart from colour and maybe a little adornment.

All I would say to anyone who wants to make an issue of it is that Deuteronomy also forbids clothing of mixed fibres.
Any Holier than thou christians wearing poly/cotton items really ought to live in fear  of judgement!!!

Not picking an argument....Just saying

[FredL]

I have been reading so many respondents claims that it is the conservative Christians who have an issue with the bra wearing males...
I see that the problem is not with the man wearing the support garment. The PROBLEM is that the conservative Christians are not following the teaching of Jesus. Jesus SAID, "Love your neighbor as, (you would love), yourself. Either these people don't love themselves or they prefer to not follow this commandment. I tend to think it's both. Society everywhere on this earth has cultural standards. I personally don't want to live according to ridged cultural standards. I have seen thousands of humans that feel the same way. Example: the hippies and the punks. Those started out as radicals but eventually culturalized their own movements in a standardized way.
I say just wear your support garments and don't have a concern about what other people think. Only love the dissenters even with their LIMITED points of view. But resist them pressing you with their unrealistic cultural expectations.

Is that true? Where did you read these claims?

I don't buy the idea that Christian conservatives are "the problem" and I don't buy the idea that "respondents" are claiming such a thing.
I think the only people who would have an issue with gynecomastia men wearing bras are children and immature adults. In both cases it has nothing to do with religion or ideology.

[Busted (and happy)]

FredL 
As a member of an evangelical Church I have say that
from where I stand conservative Christians are the problem (but perhaps not THE problem in society as a whole)
Fellow members are the only ones who have ever given me grief. 

[blad]

I think it is a given that any discussion that includes religion or politics is not going to go well. 

People don't actually listen to each others points or have constructive replies, (a generalization).

But, I think it is also a given that virtually all major religions would be guarded if some one presented obviously wearing a bra. Their minds would first go to places of perceived sexual deviation before finding out the real reason. Some would re evaluate their negative thoughts once they knew it was for a medical condition. 

Or you could wear a T shirt with 'Bras for Christ" on it.

[42CSurprise!]

I think it is a given that any discussion that includes religion or politics is not going to go well.

Yes, to that.  Either topic is a potential mine field.  Honestly, what OP says seems the perfect straw man for an argument.  The reality is each of us has our own relationship with matters of faith and our own calculation of what will be accepted and what will not be accepted in the world we inhabit.  Although I've told a number of people in my life that I've been wearing a brassiere on occasion, I don't tell my closest friend that I'm doing so simply because it would complicate our relationship.  She is my former wife and she knows the full story about my relationship with lingerie that is rooted in early sexual trauma I experienced as a boy.  She also knows about my gynecomastia.  But I don't feel the need to wear a brassiere full-time and don't feel the need to tell her when I do wear a brassiere.  In fact, I won't wear a brassiere when I'm with her.

It would be nice if this whole matter were so precisely experienced and understood that society could come to terms with it all... but it is complicated.  Finding self-acceptance and then living from that place is the challenge we all experience.  Encountering dismissive judgments is not helpful... wherever they come from.  It is generally frightened people who need to find fault with what they don't understand and very often they find kindred spirits with whom to share their ill-founded self-confidence.  We don't need to go there.

[p.r.1974]

Acceptance or denial of acceptance seems to be a matter of character. Religions being about power and control, and faith being about an individual's walk with their beliefs and about their creator. I have known many people of all walks with their faith and how they have treated me and others. Most are pleasant, civil, and accepting. Some have been walking bags of feces, and it was not their faith they were speaking and acting from. Their experiences and their diet of information led them to believe it was okay to treat another human being this way. Some of them choose to expand their understanding, but some choose to remain intentionally ignorant. I do not have polite words for those that choose the latter.