Ok, can anyone elaborate exactly what these “garments” are? I have several Mormon friends and this is the first time I’ve heard of them. Is it just underwear with a special name? Or is it specially designed somehow? Granny panties perhaps?
WeRSauron: There is a Stake Conference in each stake immediately prior to the General Conference every six months. In addition, many stakes have a number of events and service activities conducted on a stake level.
If you would like to know more about temple garments than you ever thought to ask, you can go to www.lds.org and click on Gospel Library on the left. When the page reloads, scroll down and click on HTML under Church Publications. Finally, click on the Advanced Search tab and enter “temple garments” in the form & select exact phrase.
One of the results is: [url=http://library.lds.org/nxt/gateway.dll/Magazines/Ensign/2001.htm/ensign%20may%202001.htm/personal%20preparation%20for%20temple%20blessings.htm]Personal Preparation for Temple Blessings, by Elder Russell M. Nelson of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles. Here’s the final paragraph under the section entitled Physical Preparation for the Temple:
[slight hijack] Something which has long puzzled me. I thought the Latter Day Saints disallowed divorce … so how did Marie Osmond manage to divorce her first husband? Was she excommunicated from the church, or did they find a “work-around” in consideration of all the money the family brings in to the church?
Apololgies if the answer is common knowledge - it happened during a time when there was little interest in the Osmonds in the UK, and so it didn’t make the news here. [/slight hijack]
Julie
I work for a Mormon family and have been to their home a few times. I recently noticed that half of their garage is filled with food, water, and supplies. I don’t mean a few cans here and there either, there are shelves up to the roof stacked with cans.
I have heard that they are preparing for the end of the world and they believe that they will be the rulers of the world when that time comes.
Is this true or am I way off here?
Shrinking Violet: The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints does permit divorce.
dreamer: Sounds like something one of the anti-Mormon outfits propogates. The fact of the matter is that the Church encourages every member to be prepared for an emergency, thus the name of the program: Emergency Preparedness.
Thanks for the info Monty
dreamer I’ve noticed stockpilling too. One of the brothers in my friends church has a lot of bb and real guns (which in itself isn’t to unusual) but what I found odd was some were brought to church gatherings for the youngins to practice with. Of course this has led to uncountable jokes about how my friends church is raising an army to take over the world. Other than that I find them to be the some of most easy going polite people I’ve ever met.
Yes, they are very nice people and are very much into Family. I’ve also noticed a large stack of gun magazines in their garage as well.
I wonder though if they are the kind of people that would share what they have stocked up when that emergency happens? Or is that what the guns are for?
I think this is a kind of mixture of the official LDS position (I think Monty mentioned Emergency Preparedness) and the very common belief (at least among the LDS here in Utah) the “end times” are coming, and possibly coming relatively soon.
It’s not that they act like militia groups and worry about this all the time. I don’t think that the vast majority obsesses about it, but it’s a kind of like genealogy: more LDs families do it on a regular or semi-regular basis than you see in the general population.
The general belief is that a family should have up to three years “food storage” (this is kind of the general name the LDS call their stored food and supplies of all kinds). They are encouraged to rotate their storage so that it is relatively fresh.
At least partly because of this sales of things like bulk grains, freeze dried foods, canned foods, etc, are big business here in Utah. And equipment and appliances to prepare food for storage also sell well. Home canning of fruits and vegetables is vary common. The church has (or at least had) facilities the members can go use if they don’t have their own. You can get storage drums (30 or 55 gallon) nitrogen filled and sealed with special gaskets that are supposed to make them safe storage for grains, salt, sugar, or other bulk items for 20 to 30 years.
I don’t think it’s really anything like that. The LDs church has a long standing belief that people should be self sufficient to some degree. And like many Christian groups they believe that at some point Christ will come again, and the world as we know it will end. Add a history of friction (although a hundred years in the past at this point) with government, and I guess it’s not hard to see a belief that they might have to fend for themselves at some point, at least for a while.
Ok, I have a general LDS question.
If access to the temple is restricted, how are things like yearly fire inspections and, for example, say, pest control or whatever dealt with? Obviously, ideally, you find a Mormon fire chief, but what if there isn’t one nearby?
I did see 4 or 5 large, blue drums on the side of their house, I just figured they were filled with water.
The LDS church has no say over legal marriage and divorce. Like most Christian groups, they do tend to discourage divorce, but recognize that sometimes it’s going to happen.
But having said that, note that LDS couples can be married in two different ways.
They may have a standard ceremony, performed by a judge or clerk in a home or office, or by a Bishop (the head of an LDS ward) and done in a church. These are wedding ceremonies pretty much just like you’d see in any western culture, and the same laws apply to them as to any marriage in the same state.
But if a couple chooses to, and if they qualify, they can have a Temple Marriage. Legally, there is no difference. That is, the state doesn’t care which type of ceremony you have, they are treated the same. But in the Temple Ceremony, a couple makes special vows to each other, and are married for “time and all eternity”, and not just until “till death do us part” as in civil ceremonies. Again, this only matters to the participants and to the church. Legally, this extra bit has no significance, and the couple is just plain old married in the eyes of the law.
So regardless of which type of ceremony an LDS couple has, they can get a legal divorce just like any other couple in the same jurisdiction. But if they had a Temple Marriage, they may also need to get a Temple Divorce if one of the parties wants to have another Temple Marriage with someone else.
I say “may need to” because I don’t know all the rules. I’ve only had one small brush with a Temple Divorce, and that is through my Mother-in-Law, who is not very good at relating details. I believe from what I’ve been told that the woman must get a temple divorce if she wants another temple marriage, while a man may get another temple marriage without getting the temple divorce first. I have no idea of the details, however.
And to return to your specific question about Marie Osmond, I don’t know if she got only a civil divorce (all that is legally required), or if she also sought and received an LDS temple divorce so that she could (if she chose) marry someone else in an LDS temple ceremony.
They may have been, most families who store food also store at least some water. But most of the people I’ve seen storing water have it in smaller, easier to handle quantities, such as 1 or 5 gallon sizes.
And I’m not sure how common it is to store drums of things such as grain, sugar, and salt. I do personally know several families who do, but my sample size is not exactly statistically significant. 
I was forcibly baptised as a Mormon when I was 12. When I was in boy scouts (organized through the church) we used to go out ‘shooting’ quite often. Even when I was a young kid I was accustomed to the kick of a 30 odd 6(sp?)
I dont know if anyone mentioned it specifically, but the food hoarding or “Emergency Preparedness” intention is that each household keeps a one year stock of food and rotates the perishables out with groceries and the like.
They are strange folk indeed, but thanks to them forcing my head under the water I have now found freedom of thought by denouncing all religion.
It is also my understanding that every adult male must go on a missions trip which lasts 2-3 years, and that the Prophet tells them where to go.
I once asked a child from a Mormon family what happens if that person doesn’t like where they are and wants to go home. She said that they are “in service” which means they have to be happy where they are and they are not allowed to return home unless they are sick or injured.
I believe it’s good to do service and missions are wonderful things, but that sounds a bit strict IMO.
Mission service is entirely voluntary, and is open to both men and women. The LDS church doesn’t require it in any way. Nowhere near all young men serve a mission, and a relatively small percentage of women do.
Missions are usually 2 years for boys, 1.5 years for girls. (I think this may have changed. I have the vague recollection that when I was active in the church (circa 1969) it was 18 months for boys and the girls didn’t serve.)
No doubt some young men and women are pressured by their family or friends to serve a mission, and this can be very hard for young people to ignore. But it isn’t church policy.
The decision of where someone serves a mission is made by the church, but not by the head of the church (he’s the guy they call the Prophet) personally. I assume they’ve got a committee for that. The LDS church has a committee for everything.
Since service is voluntary, and there are requirements that the kids must actively meet, the kids who serve missions are generally well motivated to be there. So there is less of that kind of problem than you might expect.
But it does happen. I’m sure that many experience bouts of homesickness, and probably not a few have second-guessed their initial acceptance of the job. In these circumstances I’m pretty sure that a young man or woman who approached their mission president (this is the senior church official on site) would be counseled to wait and see. This may be seen as cold and heartless, or realistic, depending on your point of view.
But people are released early from missions for various reasons. I know of a couple of guys who had to come home early for one reason or another. If they are adamant that they have lost their calling, have a sincere crisis of faith, have genuine family emergencies, etc., they may be released. As far as I know, it’s unusual, but it happens.
Also note that there is nothing the church can do if you simply decide to go home. They wouldn’t help or pay for your transportation, but you’re free to go if you can. This would probably have repercussions with regard to your status in the church, but it’s not like they hold you captive. And they probably won’t even throw you out for it. Hell, I haven’t been to a meeting or inside a church in 35 years except for marriages and funerals, and they still keep me on the membership roles, come around to see me now and then and ask how I am, and invite me to the parties.
RJKUgly: Yep, the Church has no say over the legal requirements of marriage and divorce; however, they do have a say over if they will recognize a particular divorce prior to a divorcee or divorce getting married in a LDS chapel or temple.
Missionary service is not only voluntary, it’s also at the cost of the missionary.
Thanks, Monty.
What I meant to say is that gatherings, conferences, classes, etc., are not permitted inside a Temple.
Garments are basically a white T-shirt and long boxers/boxer-briefs. They’re actually very comfortable.
WRS
I live about 1/2 mile from a Mormon temple that opened recently. They did allow non-Mormons to take a tour before it officially opened but I did not go. They had some electrical problems that needed to be fixed after it was open so they had to hire a Mormon electrician to work there. I would assume the same would apply for any work that needs to be done there.
alterego: How about keeping the bigoted comments out of GQ?