That was
some prayer cloth First Lady Meagan Good was rocking at the BET Awards show.
Good left
audiences aghast during her appearance at the BET Awards on Sunday, where she
presented the award in the Best Gospel Artist category, wearing a revealing
dress with a neckline down to her bell button. To put it lightly, the dress was
a show-stopper. Mary Mary won the category but it was Good’s twins who would
accept the award on the gospel duo’s behalf. It was obvious that Good wasn’t
going to let values and opinions of what others think get in the way of an
amazing look for the evening. And she even had the gumption to blow the
television viewing audience a kiss and say, “blessings” before morphing back
into the animated version of Jessica Rabbit and sashaying off the stage. Good
certainly has the tongues waging and church fans waving from the normal
righteous bunch from the front row, who felt the dress to be inappropriate. But
who can blame them: Christians, nowadays, be mad sexi, yo. And I’m not talking
about the everyday Christian folks, who we know spend more time in the club
than they do in Church. Those folks don’t even take themselves that serious.
But I’m talking about the new worldly image of the truly devoted crowd. You
know the sisters from back in the day that were all about buttoning that top
button and honoring the long hem lines for Christ? Nowadays, those holy rollers
are all about the push up bras, the short skirts; the fitted cuts and beat
faces.
There is no
separation of church and state here as clearly these women have traded pearls
for glam and the flash: hair did; nails did; everything did and done to the
utmost of secular perfection. And Good is no exception. For all intents and
purposes, it appears that Good has been pretty conservative and otherwise
consistent in all other religious practices. She has become the poster child
for young Christian couples and have recently appeared on the cover and in the
pages of Ebony Magazine to discuss the value of celibacy and virtuous Christian
marriage to DeVon Franklin, the vice president of production for Columbia Pictures.
But I too have noticed that, since publicly proclaiming (or reclaiming
depending on whom you ask) her devotion to God and husband, it appears that the
former star of the now cancelled Scandal rip-off “Deception,” has been amping
up the sexi. Prior to getting married, Good’s signature style was pretty
low-key in t-shirts and tights – sometimes being photographed rocking the same
pair in consecutive days. Now, she is all about strutting her stuff in glitzy
performance lingerie during a performance as a Pussycat Doll in Las Vegas
In a later interview after her controversial
pre-wedding and celibate performance, Good was quoting in saying, “God gave us
these body parts, not to go and show everything to everyone, but it’s okay to
be sexi and to be comfortable with your sexuality. And I think there’s kind of
a line that gets blurred and I’m very bold about speaking out about it.” It’s a
solid message about women empowerment even within the Church – one that I
(along with others) might be more receptive too if not for the fact that at
least her husband, Franklin is a member and practicing minister of the
Seventh-Day Adventists. In fact Franklin
Along with adequate exercise and rest, we are
to adopt the most healthful diet possible and abstain from the unclean foods
identified in the Scriptures. Since alcoholic beverages, tobacco, and the
irresponsible use of drugs and narcotics are harmful to our bodies, we are to
abstain from them as well. Instead, we are to engage in whatever brings our
thoughts and bodies into the discipline of Christ, who desires our
wholesomeness, joy, and goodness. (Rom. 12:1, 2; 1 John 2:6; Eph. 5:1-21; Phil.
4:8; 2 Cor. 10:5; 6:14-7:1; 1 Peter 3:1-4; 1 Cor. 6:19, 20; 10:31; Lev. 11:1-47;
3 John 2.).” In high school I recall going into the girls bathroom and walking
directly into a menthol flavored smoke cloud form by number of girls smoking
cigarettes. Unfortunately for our collective lungs, girls smoking in the
bathroom wasn’t an unusual occurrence however what made this instance different
was that two of the three smokers were all Muslim and covered in the
traditional Hijab. I tried to hide my confusion, however their smoking cohort
ended up asking them how they could smoke openly even as their religion
prohibits it. To which one of the girls, a brown skinned sister with a raspy
voice, responded, “Smoking is forbidden but as long as we wash our arms and
hands, all will be forgiven.” I share this story in hopes of illustrating how
even among the devoted is a penchant to cherry-pick and find loopholes to
justify things that are clearly frowned upon religiously. Good isn’t the first
sexi first lady. The reality show, “The Sisterhood” had an entire storyline
about a partying, sexi dressing wife of a pastor however I always got the
impression that the character on the show felt smothered by both the religion’s
expectations – as well as her husband. I wouldn’t go as far as to say that Good
is not committed to her faith but you do have to wonder if her new overly sexi
image is an attempt to carve out and/or maintain some sort of autonomy in
beliefs which offer very little room for interpretation.
Culled from madamenoire
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