Teddy Tumble tells… Why We Wear Clothes

Tells: Why We Wear Clothes!

 Why do we wear clothes? When tumbling in the dryer today, it came to me.

 (Oh, who put me in the dryer this week? Chet put me in the dryer.)

So, it is a simple question, why do we wear clothes?! I am talking Homo Sapiens that is, because bears 🧸 sure don’t wear clothes.  In fact, no other species wears clothing. When did humans decide to wear clothes? On the side of evolution, there is no record. In fact, it doesn’t seem to even be a question. The only answer I found was, only humans have enough manual dexterity to make clothing. But that doesn’t answer Why.

 Now on the side of creationist, what I found was fascinating. Here is how it goes….

 God created man, Adam, and then woman, Eve. They were in a beautiful garden, and they had everything they needed. They were very content, happy, and innocent. They were naked. God walked through the garden and visited them often, speaking to them. 

 Then this crafty serpent, not the kind of snake we are familiar with today. This creature could walk and talk. It comes along and tempts Eve to break the ONLY rule God gave Adam and Eve - DO NOT eat from this one specific tree. God called it the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. “If you eat the fruit of it”, said God, “you will surely die.”

 So this serpent, tricky devil, he twisted what the rule was. He asked Eve, Did God really say you cannot eat of the trees in the garden? Eve corrects him. No God said we can eat of every tree only not the one in the center of the garden lest we die. “Ahh, you won’t die,” the serpent tells her. So now Eve sees the fruit is better than all the other fruit and eats it and gives some to Adam who also eats. 

 Then the story goes, “the eyes of both of them were opened, and they realized they were naked.” What did they do? “They sewed fig leaves 🍃 together and made coverings for themselves.”

Fig leaves? You cannot wash fig leaves!

 Continuing the story, this was the first sin - Disobedience. With the first sin came shame and guilt. Adam and Eve now knew they were naked. They knew they did wrong. They offended God and they hid themselves. So, from the very beginning of the human race, clothing has symbolized the need to cover our sin and shame. 

 Now this is where it really gets interesting – What did God do when He found out they sinned and made clothes for themselves?  He made new clothes for them. Genesis says, “The Lord God made garments for them. He made them from the skin of an animal and clothed them.”  🤔 Was it because God didn’t like fig leaves? No, God had a very specific reason for doing this. To cover up the gravity of their sin, the only thing acceptable to a Holy God required a sacrifice. Yep, God had to kill an animal and shed its blood.

This act of God serves as a picture 🖼️ of man’s inability to effectively repair his disobedience. Theologians believe this was a foreshadowing of the sacrifice Jesus Christ would make on the cross. He had to die as the sinless 🐑 lamb of God, the ultimate sacrifice, and shed His innocent blood to cover the sins of the world. And the last book of the Bible, the book of Revelation, says that those who belong to Christ will be dressed in white, “…a great multitude… standing before the throne… They were wearing white robes…” Rev. 7:9.

There you have it. The story of clothing starts in the first book of the Bible and ends with the last book of the Bible. 

And now you know why we wear clothes.

See you soon.