Will someone please explain to me the "Mormon underwear" thing??

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BartBurk said:
Of course in 1990 the LDS Church changed the temple ceremony so that newbies don’t have to make these oaths any longer.
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Actually, that’s not entirely true. You don’t have to go through all the motions of pretending to slit your throat and stuff, but you still say it would be better to die than to reveal the “signs and tokens.”
 
lepanto said:
I’m dead serious.
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I don’t see a big difference between the Mormon Temple garment and wearing a scapular. Or a chain with a crucifix hanging around your neck. It’s a reminder of what you believe and how you are supposed to live. It’s one reason I think priests and nuns should wear traditional clothing – it’s hard to imagine a priest dressed up like a priest walking into a place he’s not supposed to be.
 
 
BartBurk said:
I don’t see a big difference between the Mormon Temple garment and wearing a scapular. Or a chain with a crucifix hanging around your neck. It’s a reminder of what you believe and how you are supposed to live. It’s one reason I think priests and nuns should wear traditional clothing – it’s hard to imagine a priest dressed up like a priest walking into a place he’s not supposed to be.
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Though mormons view their undergarments as a reminder of what they believe and what promises they made in their temples, the significance of their undergarments goes beyond this idea and is rich in symbolism. Including:
  • Sets a standard for modesty. Mormons wear clothing that covers the entirety from knee to neck and never do they wear sleeveless shirts/blouses.
  • The mormon undergarments are considered a sacred and priestly garment that should not be displayed. This sacred secrecy goes from being inadvisable that a garment is displayed in public, to a deep taboo against public display. In my travels with mormon travel companions it causes great anxiety in some of them when an airport security screening necessitates “gentiles” seeing and touching their sacred undergarments.
The undergarments have special markings sewn at the breast, navel and knee that must be cut out when the garment will no longer be used. Once these symbols are cut out, the garment is no longer considered sacred.

Media showings (internet, TV, books, etc) of these sacred undergarments is deeply offensive to mormons.
  • A constant reminder of temple covenants (promises). The undergarment must be worn, “both night and day”. Some mormons, by personal choice, take this point into their intimate lives with spouses.
  • Wearing the undergarment is showing a commitment to the mormon religion. If/when a mormon is not wearing an undergarment other mormons notice and start to wonder what is happening, spiritually speaking, with this person. In addition, mormons recognize each other by noticing that a person is wearing these undergarments.
  • Physical protection to the wearer. Stories abound in mormon lore of people escaping great physical harm because of their sacred undergarments. In this aspect, the undergarments take on a power similar to an object like an amulet.
  • Spiritual protection against temptation and evil. Also similar to the power of amulets.
  • The undergarment is part of the mormon temple ceremony that includes washing, anointing and being clothed. It initiates the wearer into the presence and service of God. It is said to represent the skins that God gave Adam and Eve to wear in the garden. Symbolically it links the wearer to the fall of Adam and to Christ’s atonement, thus it covers the skin in a way that feeble clothing (or fig leafs) cannot.
  • Symbolic of covering one’s nakedness (symbolic to the shame of sin) in preparation for judgment.
  • Symbolic of being clothed in righteousness, purity, humility, charity and strength.
  • Symbolic of being encircled in God’s righteousness and His arms of safety. In this way it can be understood as a sign of grace.
  • Symbolic that the wearer is dependent upon God for all they have and that God promises to provide all that the wearer needs.
 
I find this thread “interesting” but actually I don’t care what sort of underwear Mormons wear because their religion, as precious as it is to them, is not Christianity. Sikhs wear a turban with their uncut hair curled up underneath…interesting…quaint but it has nothing to do with the Christian Church. If the Mormon line currently, is that they are a mainstream Christian sect, then that is just flat dishonest on it’s face.
As long as they are peacefull and allow other religions to exist I will love them in Christ and be thankful that I don’t have to wear a “garment”.🙂
 
pismopal said:
If the Mormon line currently, is that they are a mainstream Christian sect, then that is just flat dishonest on it’s face.
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Quite true. I think most Mormons don’t claim to be mainstream Christian. Rather, the claim is usually, “Christian, but different,” or something to that effect.
 
Lehl said:
As Catholics, we aren’t “felt up” or scrutizined through our mandatory white shirts (men) and later criticized at Mass by other self-righteous Catholics for NOT wearing or displaying medals, crucifixes, etc. at ALL TIMES.

We also aren’t quizzed by our pastors about our lack of wearing medals or crucifixes and rosaries and denied access to places of worship because of it.

It is all about control.
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Not true at all. Let me put it this way: I go to Mass and in the summer it can pretty disconcerting to see young women in short skirts, sleeveless blouses etc. I see no modesty but disrespect in such clothing. If not to god, then to the priest who has taken a vow of celebacy. For a priest to see such clothing is not the best thing for clean thoughts. Sorry, the mormons are correct. Paul also mentions modest dressing in the new testament.

Catholic women with sexy bodies should dress modestly if not for god, then for the poor priest when attending Mass. Perhaps catholic women need control.

Now during the good old days, when the Mass was in latin, women would never dream of dressing in such a way. Heads were covered and veils were worn and the clothes were modest. I miss those days and I think that god does too.
 
pismopal said:
I find this thread “interesting” but actually I don’t care what sort of underwear Mormons wear because their religion, as precious as it is to them, is not Christianity. Sikhs wear a turban with their uncut hair curled up underneath…interesting…quaint but it has nothing to do with the Christian Church.

As long as they are peacefull and allow other religions to exist I will love them in Christ and be thankful that I don’t have to wear a “garment”.🙂
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And yet, during the good old days women needed to have their head covered when they attended mass or went inside the church. But with Vatican 2 this changed and the church has suffered ever since as sunday worship can resemble a day at the beach.
 
why_me said:
And yet, during the good old days women needed to have their head covered when they attended mass or went inside the church. But with Vatican 2 this changed and the church has suffered ever since as sunday worship can resemble a day at the beach.
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And I pay attention to this because I am a Catholic…in fact if I was told I needed to wear a certain hat in order to attend Mass…even though I am an old man I would be shopping for that hat before Sunday. I don’t draw a line at the “garment” either although I am very confident that I will never need to wear one.
 
BartBurk said:
Of course in 1990 the LDS Church changed the temple ceremony so that newbies don’t have to make these oaths any longer.
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Unfortunately, this isn’t the case.
My sister, BIL, and their 3 kids are mormon (they all live in Utah) and I remember when I was little (around 8 or so) I asked my sister what the sayings were on her garments (she was folding clothes at the time) and she told me she couldn’t tell me. When I asked about her wedding, ie: what it was like, etc - she told me (in a nice way) that it was none of my business(!).

2 years ago my nieces got married and when I “stupidly” asked how the weddings went, I was told that it was not for me to know about their temple ceremony, however I could inquire about the reception. :ehh:

:whistle: So I went on-line and researched what exactly happens during a ceremony and every site I went to said they still do the “slit throat” thing and the “handshake” thing, and that they had to promise never to tell anyone who is not in good standing w/ their church anything at all pertaining to their temple business. Of course everything I read was written by ex-mormons, but they didn’t seem hostile about it, just matter-of-fact.

I understand the whole freedom of religion thing, but why would you want to have to live in secret?! When I got married in the Catholic Church, I wanted everybody there, but my sister and her family didn’t attend.

I don’t know, the whole thing just seems kind of sad.
 
The secrecy about the Temple rituals and the garments seems superfluous because one can go on the Internet and find out everything about them.

I also have read the Book of Mormon and I couldn’t find anything in it about the Temple rituals or the garments. Just wondering where they came up with them.
 
What’s even stranger about the Book of Mormon is that there is virtually nothing in there about Jewish life or religious observance at all. That’s funny for a book written by a tribe of observant Jews. In fact, the Book of Mormon people don’t sound like Jews at all, but like 19th-century Protestants. That’s not surprising of course, because the Book of Mormon was written by 19th-century Protestants. :hmmm:

Paul
 
MSParrott said:
:whistle: So I went on-line and researched what exactly happens during a ceremony and every site I went to said they still do the “slit throat” thing and the “handshake” thing, and that they had to promise never to tell anyone who is not in good standing w/ their church anything at all pertaining to their temple business. Of course everything I read was written by ex-mormons, but they didn’t seem hostile about it, just matter-of-fact.
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The throat slitting isn’t a part of it, or at least I never had to do it in the temple I went through. The temple president there wouldn’t even discuss the ceremony inside the temple. He said we were to keep silent during all parts of the ceremony, except for when questions are directly asked us. So even while I was inside the temple, I was unable to ask questions if I had any. We were allowed to talk in the celestial room, but we were told not to discuss the rituals that we had just been through. Rather, we were told to contemplate the ceremony alone as it is something not ever to be discussed aloud, even with worthy members.
 
That’s different from when I was LDS. When I went through the Provo temple the first time, during my time at the LTM (now the MTC), we were invited to the temple president’s office where he answered some questions about the endowment, but some he would not answer.

Paul
 
isaac.madsen said:
The throat slitting isn’t a part of it, or at least I never had to do it in the temple I went through. The temple president there wouldn’t even discuss the ceremony inside the temple. He said we were to keep silent during all parts of the ceremony, except for when questions are directly asked us. So even while I was inside the temple, I was unable to ask questions if I had any. We were allowed to talk in the celestial room, but we were told not to discuss the rituals that we had just been through. Rather, we were told to contemplate the ceremony alone as it is something not ever to be discussed aloud, even with worthy members.
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There is no freaking way I would do anything that I didn’t know WHAT it was and WHY it was being done.
 
Beachcomber said:
I also have read the Book of Mormon and I couldn’t find anything in it about the Temple rituals or the garments. Just wondering where they came up with them.
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Add to that list the doctrine that God is nothing more than an “exalted man with a body of flesh and bones,” the doctrine of Jesus Christ being the “spirit brother” of Lucifer, and the doctrines that men can become gods and that God the Father has a god above him, who has a god above him, ad infinitum.
 
Beachcomber said:
I also have read the Book of Mormon and I couldn’t find anything in it about the Temple rituals or the garments. Just wondering where they came up with them.
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This is not exactly true. The book of mormon is filled with references about temples. For example in Jacob 1:17 Jacob is teaching in the temple. In Jacob 2: 2, 11 the lord commanded jacob to declare word in temple.

There are many other references to the temple in the book of mormon. Go to page 747 in the index of the book of mormon and look them up.

17 Wherefore I, Jacob, gave unto them these words as I taught them in the temple, having first obtained mine errand from the Lord

This is just one example.
 
I think Beachcomber was talking more about the temple doctrines. I find the links few and far between, especially where it concerns similarities between LDS temple rites and elements of Masonry.
 
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