Many Christian women are told that it is immodest for them to consider any type of strapless wedding dress. The primary reason they are told strapless wedding dresses are immodest is because they expose a woman’s shoulders and draw more attention to her cleavage which in turn will cause the men at the wedding and reception to lust.
The problem with this condemnation of Christian brides wearing strapless wedding dresses is that it is based on a faulty understanding of how the Bible defines modesty and lust.
In my new article for BiblicalSexology.com entitled “Are Strapless Wedding Dresses Immodest for Christian Women” I answer this question from the Bible and show how some traditional teachings about lust and modesty are not actually in line with the Biblical definitions of lust and modesty.
Biblical Gender Roles 
Hi
I agree with your analysis and explanation of “lust”. You have also argued that Christian women can wear strapless dresses, and that God does “compel” a women to hide her beauty.
So are we now saying *all this time THE CELEBRITY dress code, and “Red carpets” dressing and all those dresses celebrities wear on BET , Grammy awards, are morally right?
Are you saying we can now point our daughters to celebrities as role models for dress code. Are you saying celebrities got it in the way they dress?
pvdvine,
There is a difference between saying a woman does not have hide her beauty from the world, such as in the case of her wearing a strapless wedding dress and then encouraging young women to follow celebrities in how they dress. What I said at then end of this article answers your question:
Biblical speaking, women should get their dress code not from celebrities, but rather from their fathers and then their husbands after they marry. And it is the job of husbands and fathers to teach their wives and daughters how to dress appropriately to the occasion. So for instance, if the young woman is going to church she will dress in away which is very conservative and would not draw attention to her so as not to distract from the worship service. And if she were dressing for school, she would dress appropriately for that as well, and then when she goes out with her friends that may be another way. If she is going to ball, a banquet, other fancy event she may dress another way. And if she is going to the beach she will dress yet another way.
When she is going out with a man she is courting (under supervision of course) she may dress in a more appealing way, yet still within the confines of her father’s dress code. And when she is married and going on a date with her husband, he may wish for her to dress in more arousing ways.
Certainly there are extremes. On the one extreme we have some Muslim women who are required to cover themselves from head to toe and cover their faces as well and only see through a screen in their face cover (think Taliban women). Then we have the other extreme which is nudists walking around naked. What is good is something in the middle, God requires that we always wear some type of clothing, but he does not require that we always be fully covered at all times. There are times where it is acceptable for us, both men and women, to be less than fully covered.
Think for example in the summer time when it is hot. It is common for people, both men and women, to wear tee shirts and shorts. And sometimes people even wear tank tops with shorts. So how do we determine if this is appropriate? We go back to father and husband rule. The Patriarch of the home determines the dress code for his women.
Larry