I used to look good. I used to dress well. In early 2008, however, I let myself go. I started growing a beard. I started going to shul with an untucked shirt. I became a slob. Women have noticed it. "I remember when you used to look hot," they say.
Ouch!
On the third hour — the ultimate issues hour — of his radio show today, Dennis Prager talked about the importance of looking good.
A lot of Christians say that it does not matter how you dress to church. It only matters that you show up. God looks on the heart. If you’re there in flipflops, or shorts, it does not matter.
Dennis: "I find that almost incomprehensible it is so foolish to me. If a woman came in a bikini to church, would you say that God knows the heart? If a man came in a speedo? Why not come naked? Why not have a nudist service?
"The God I worship does care about how you dress at services. My God has more common sense than people and people with common sense know that how you dress is a statement about how you feel about the occasion.
"If you would go in flipflops and shorts to the Academy Awards, then I can respect you going to church in flipflops and shorts, but if you would go to the Academy Awards in the finest clothing you can buy, then you obviously value the Academy Awards more than church. You gave more time, more thought, more planning, more money into getting dressed and looking spectacular for the Academy Awards.
"If you dress up for some things but not church, then you feel that church isn’t worth it. That God does see."
"My mother, may she rest in peace, dressed up and wore make-up every day of her life until the last week. A week before she died, she went to the beauty parlor. She was quite weak then. She had her hair done. She wanted to look great. She always looked great. Her hair, her make-up, her clothing. She was a model for me.
"I come in to work virtually every day in a shirt or die. No need, it’s radio. I could theoretically broadcast in a jockstrap. I don’t think many would stop by as they do now if I did…"
"This notion that some women have of not wearing make-up because it is not natural, I don’t get. Of course it is not natural. Clothing isn’t natural. It’s not natural to smell nice. Soap isn’t natural. Deodorant isn’t natural. Toothpaste isn’t natural. So what?"
"It adds to the quality of life when you are surrounded by people who care about how they look, not just their clothing, but their make-up, their cleanliness.
"Isn’t that vain? The definition of vain is excessive pride in one’s appearance."
