Why Do People Wear Jeans and T-shirts to Church?

I am surprised at the way people dress at church. Jeans and t-shirts with slogans and favorite teams, rock bands, and advertisements seem to be the norm in many churches. Women are wearing clothes that the cleavage on doesn't leave much to the imagination. I can remember when people use to dress up and put some thought into what they were going to wear to church. If you look around at any church today you will see men in suits and ties and then others in jeans and sweatshirts. Women are in dresses and suits and just across the isle is the jean and t-shirt lady. What gives?

I have had this discussion with other churchgoers and the most popular reply is "God just wants us in church he doesn't care how we look. The most important thing is we are here". I agree up to a certain point. I agree that the most important thing is that we go to church but I also think that there is a thing called respect that seems to get ignored. If you were invited to the Presidents house, how would you dress? What about a friend or relatives wedding? I don't think any of us would even consider wearing anything but our best to either of these invitations but yet we come to the Lord's house dressed in jeans and a t-shirt. How disrespectful is that?

God expects us to dress appropriately. I think it speaks volumes about how we personally feel about the church when we dress in our less then even casual clothes. If a person has nothing more then a t-shirt and a pair of jeans then that is what he or she should wear but how many of us can honestly say that is what our circumstances are? I think we have our priorities messed up when we dress up for a friends party but show up for church dressed in what looks like thrift store rejects.

If you work in an office would you show up for work in sweatpants? I think your boss would have something to say about that. What we wear shows how we feel about where we are going. When going to church does not require any forethought or preparation I think it says something about where we are headed as a society.

There are parents who complain that their children are disrespectful yet those same parents think nothing of coming to church dressed like they are going to spend the day working in the yard. What are you teaching your child? I have seen children wearing slogans on their clothes to church that I know they would not be allowed to wear to school. I haven't even touched yet on modesty. Women come to church dressed like they are going to a nightclub. I honestly think there are people who do not know any better but shouldn't we be discouraging such behavior and not encouraging it?

I think it's time we showed God the respect he not only deserves but requires of us. God does not want us to dress in our best to impress others, that is wrong, and just like any other sin there will always be those who do that regardless of how anyone else dresses but dressing in our worst is no better.