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FAIR is a non-profit organization dedicated to providing well-documented answers to criticisms of the doctrine, practice, and history of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
Members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints perform several sacred ordinances or ceremonies for individuals that they believe are necessary for individual exaltation. A few of these ceremonies are performed in temples: holy places dedicated to serving God.
As part of ceremonies in the temple known as “initiatories”, individuals put on sacred underclothes to symbolize some of the sacred promises that they make in the temple as well as sacred knowledge conferred to them. These underclothes are commonly referred to as "the temple garment", "temple garments", "the garment", or simply "garments".
Members of the Church who go through these ceremonies and put on these sacred garments are sometimes confused as to two things:
This article seeks to answer these three questions given what we know from the temple and other official Church sources.
According to the official leadership handbook of the Church, “[m]embers who receive the endowment make a covenant to wear the temple garment throughout their lives.” Among the questions asked to candidates for temple recommends is "[d]o you keep the covenants that you made in the temple, including wearing the temple garment as instructed in the endowment?" A "covenant" is defined by the Church (and, indeed, by most dictionaries) as “a sacred agreement between God and a person or group of people. God sets specific conditions, and He promises to bless us as we obey those conditions.”
In the temple, we are instructed to wear the garment throughout our life, to not defile it, and to remain true to the other covenants we make in the temple. In exchange, the garment will serve as a spiritual shield and protection (and what good does a shield that isn't worn do?).This clearly follows the definition of “covenant” above. It is understandable and forgivable that confusion would arise on the issue since the endowment does not explicitly state that you receive the garment by covenant, but the instruction given plus the blessings promised for complying with that instruction clearly fall in line with the definition of covenant.
Another way to argue that it is a covenant to wear the garment is to recognize that there is no substantive distinction between an instruction from God and a commandment. The endowment ceremony clearly tells us that we are instructed to wear the garment throughout our lives. We covenant, both at baptism (Mosiah 18:8–10; Moroni 4:3; Doctrine & Covenants 20:37) and in the temple, to keep all of God’s commandments. Thus it is at least part of a covenant to wear our garments.
To “defile” means to violate the sanctity of something. To not wear garments when you have the reasonable opportunity to wear them (as discussed below) certainly falls in line with this definition.
The official leadership handbook section on wearing the garment states that “[t]he garment should not be removed for activities that can reasonably be done while wearing the garment. It should not be modified to accommodate different styles of clothing. The garment is sacred and should be treated with respect. Endowed members should seek the guidance of the Holy Spirit to answer personal questions about wearing the garment.”
What are those activities where it might be unreasonable to wear the garment? Examples might include intimate relations between husband and wife, any period of intensive exercise, and any aquatic activity including showering.
As the quote states, the garment should not be removed nor modified to accommodate different styles of clothing. One of the purposes of the garment is to encourage modesty in how we dress. The garment as currently designed indicates what parts of the body should be clothed in order to meet a more objective/specific standard of modesty in how we dress.
Several concerns have arisen because of various health and practical considerations. The garment, as currently designed, can potentially assuage some of those concerns. If concerns persist, these might be directed to God in prayer, a local bishop, a local stake president, and/or a local temple worker. You might also consider emailing [email protected]. This email is directed to those in the Temple Affairs Department of the Church who frequently take user feedback about garments to better meet the needs of the wearer.
The basic notion that the author wants to express is that garments should not be removed when we have the reasonable opportunity to wear them and that, generally speaking, we should be seeking for opportunities to wear them rather than not wear them. Why would there be so many fabrics and styles that one can choose from if the Church didn't expect us to wear them as much as possible?
Even if this were merely an "instruction", it'd still be an instruction from God. Do we not want to follow God's instructions? Instruction is a firm word by itself. It's certainly stronger than "suggest", "urge", "recommend", etc. Are we showing love to God if we treat our promises to Him lightly? Treat his instructions lightly? That said, we should be intuitive about our garment wearing and be in the communication with the Spirit to know when it may be necessary to remove them.
The best answer to this question comes from the temple itself where instruction and education regarding the garment is given. In that instruction, specifically where the symbols on the garment are explained, the explanation for the knee mark specifically says that the mark should go "over the kneecap". This should hopefully deter many Latter-day Saints from purchasing the shorter styles of garment from the Distribution Centers around the world since the shorter styles were designed for shorter people.
Wearing the garment is a sacred privilege. They are expressly not "just like any other underwear." Wearing the garment communicates love for God by keeping our promises to him and love for others by giving them an example to follow that leads them to Jesus Christ.[6] We often want so much to conform our garment-wearing to the world rather than help the world conform to garment-wearing. We shouldn’t be afraid to be different from others. The Lord has told us that, as Christians, we should “[l]et [our] light so shine before men [and women], that they may see [our] good works, and glorify [our] Father which is in heaven.”[7] He wants us to be "a peculiar people, zealous of good works."[8] Being different by wearing our garments and treating them with sacredness is an excellent way that we can humbly follow the Lord and, by so doing, be peculiar and interesting to other people. This interest may lead them to explore the teachings of The Church of Jesus Christ and be converted to it. Thus, by wearing the garment we can fulfill the Lord’s commandments. As Latter-day Saints, we should be model disciples of Jesus Christ. Wearing the garment is one way that we can do that and it brings tremendous spiritual blessings.
Notes
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