Going to be offensive again

Why this trendy body image movement fails to grab my support:

"Do not let your adorning be external—the braiding of hair and the putting on of gold jewelry, or the clothing you wear—but let your adorning be the hidden person of the heart with the imperishable beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which in God's sight is very precious." 

1 Peter 3:3-4

Several uncool reflections:

1. When your parents provide you with a godly upbringing, all of this talk about "accepting yourself the way you are" seems almost.....passé. Uh.......duh. I am a woman created in God's image, and I look exactly the way He intended me to be. I don't need a flip-floppy society deciding it's been wrong this whole time to tell me that I am a valuable human being. I found that one out when the Bible told me I am a daughter of God.
2. In the same vein, this is just another example of an obsession with outward appearance. If we are going to focus on how "every body type ought to be considered beautiful," we are setting an extremely shallow standard for what gives us worth. Outward beauty will always fade, and setting our stock in feeling fabulous and sexy and beautiful is just superficial. Christian women ought to be pursuing the inner beauty which never fades; this is the loveliness which lasts, because in adorning ourselves with good works, we are imitating (and, more importantly, pointing to) the unchanging beauty of God Himself.
3. Maybe this is a petty shot, but much of the rhetoric these advocates use reaches my ears sounding like a high-maintenance demand to "TELL ME I'M BEAUTIFUL, DARNIT!!!" It's like turning society into the mirror, mirror on the wall. Do women really want to resemble the stepmother from Snow White? Honestly, this has probably been the biggest reason I've found the movement unattractive. The tone seems completely antithetical to the "imperishable beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit." Don't underestimate the power of graciousness. If God considers it "very precious," it is good enough for me.

Now if you'll excuse me, I'll return to hiding in my bunker underneath Fifth Avenue.