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The church’s constant efforts to coerse members into attending the temple seems quite telling about how membership, as a whole, feel about temple worship/ritual. Yesterday, a Provo temple worker told me “if it weren’t for the missionaries (being marched over) even the Provo temple would be grossly underutilized”….and they are building another one in Provo? :lolno: I’d like to be a fly on the wall at the Q15 meetings, as they try to figure out why temple attendance is falling, even with years of building scores of conveniently located and elegant temples around the world. When will they realize that the convenience and the elegance of the structure soon loses its novelty and members are stuck with the same old tired, plagiarized (but repeatedly modified) masonic ritual?….oh, and don’t forget the ritual of donning those peculiar and cumbersome costumes.
Give us something fresh and spiritually uplifting when we go and all the arm twisting will NOT be necessary…and I just might want to renew my club card.
Sounds to me like you might have had an overly zealous HCman (Bishop wannabe) on an ego trip. I’ve served on several HCs and extended many stake callings. Unless things have recently changed, worthiness interviews are to be conducted by Bps and/or SPs prior to name submission to the stake for HC approval. If the HC or SP still have questions about worthiness, the Bp is notified and asked to act in his role of Judge in Israel. (conduct another worthiness interview) Once cleared by the Bp and SP, a HCman is assigned to extend the calling, with NO need to question further about worthiness. foodoctor33 wrote:I wasn’t able to read all the above posts but I will say one simple thing:
If Joseph Smith and Hyrum took off their garments before going to Carthage Jail because “it is hot in the summer” according to John Taylor, that is all I need to know to determine when I feel it’s ok to wear or remove them.
Touche! It is little nuggets of information like that the church wish would stay buried…but those pesky journal entries just keep popping up.
🙂 GITO (Garments in Temple ONLY) Temple worship is largely symbolic…the garment nicely compliments what happens in the temple. Why not limit the wearing of the garment to temple worship, and simply include the garment as part of the peculiar garb worn in the temple? Temples are all air conditioned, making all our previous discussions about climate moot. GITO seems like such a no brainer…and a change I see eventually happening. What say you? ShipwreckLo wrote:I feel like I’ve lost my agency to decide what to wear and that violates the very premise of God’s plan…for us to choose for ourselves. If the Church thinks that Heavenly Father is concerned with my underwear, then we are doing it wrong.
I agree ShipwreckLo…I think Heavenly Father hardly cares what kind of underwear we wear. They tell us “the wearing of Gs is an outward expression of your inner devotion to God”. I have come to believe TGs have been/are used as a behavior control and screening measure by the church, designed to keep temple admission exclusive. Club membership becomes more desirable when membership is extended to only a select (worthy) few. Remember how special you felt as a kid when you were finally found worthy and admitted into the older kid’s “club”…this same practice applies to temple admission requirements. Other enduring examples of clubs: exclusive Golf and Country Clubs, Free Masons, Sororities and Fraternities, etc….all simply clubs you have to pay, earn, and/or prove yourself worthy for admission.
GITO (Garments in Temple ONLY) is destined to fail, because this would remove an easily detected club membership requirement.
Here is an image posted on New Order Mormon (NOM). GITO (Garments in Temple Only) is a proposal which seems to be catching on among temple recommend holding members around the world. Like you, I’m all for it…the sooner the better. keepswimmin wrote:Hi, I posted in the introduction section earlier, maybe this will get me some more opinions although I enjoyed the others. Can I just take a “step back” for a while.. not feel obligated to church every sunday and be myself for a while? I almost feel I’m being rebellious and need to see if I just need a true break. If you hadn’t read my introduction, I’m struggling with WoW and garments.. I feel so overwhelmed and constricted, plus obligations that I feel come with church.
DW and I have found doing church on our own terms to be quite liberating. Being less invested frees us from the guilt. Since voluntarily turning in my TR (see my intro) I no longer feel compelled to wear garments, or attend church weekly. We still like to attend SM a couple times a month to take the sacrament, sing some old familiar hymns (when not sung like funeral dirges), and
perhapshear an inspirational message. Staying home and watching Music and the Spoken Word has become an uplifting and inspirational way to worship. (the music cannot be beat, the images from nature are awesome, and the messages are short, sweet, and to the point) Having an occasional night cap with my wife has also become a relaxing way to end our day. I encourage you to seriously consider taking a break to reflect upon which spiritual path is best for you. Best wishes…
