Like Vogl, Smith was moved to make clothes that she herself wanted to wear: styles that adhered to her own personal and religious guidelines (to hide her temple garment, which covers her to the knee and over the shoulders) while being fashionable and trendy.
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Bathsheba and Eliza R. Snow designed the original temple garment, at Joseph Smith's request.
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Live Prayer episode for June 1, 2007 "Barry Lynn"Televangelist Bill Keller calls Mormonism and Islam "False Religions" Later, on June 21, 2007, Keller appeared on the show in a Mormon temple garment, which he characterized as "magical underwear". He challenged Romney to make public his own Mormon temple garment. Finally, on June 28, 2007, Keller invited evangelist Ed Decker — a former Mormon priestSaintsalive.com who is critical of the LDS church — to discuss Mormonism, Freemasonry, and an alleged relationship between the two groups.
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The LDS Church has stated "[r]evealing and sexually suggestive clothing, which includes short shorts and skirts, tight clothing, and shirts that do not cover the stomach, can stimulate desires and actions that violate the Lord's law of chastity." The church therefore encourages its members to dress modestly. Men and women who have undergone the endowment ceremony in church temples are instructed to wear a temple garment as undergarments for the remainder of their lives; the temple garment is intended to cover the trunk of the body from the neck to the knees as well as the upper part of the arms.
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Temple garment circa 1879 The garment as first described in the 1840s was a one-piece undergarment extending to the ankles and the wrists, resembling a union suit,Note that the union suit postdates the temple garment by at least two decades, as the first union suit was patented in the United States in 1868. The union suit originated during the 19th-century women's clothing reform, and soon gained popularity among men as well. See: with an open crotch and a collar. It was made of unbleached cotton and was held together with ties in a double knot.
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The garment is given as part of the washing and anointing portion of the endowment. Today, the temple garment is worn primarily by members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church) and by members of some Mormon fundamentalist churches. Adherents consider them to be sacred and not suitable for public display. Anti-Mormon activists have occasionally publicly displayed or defaced temple garments to advance their opposition to the LDS Church.
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All of the restrictions of a formal membership restriction also apply to individuals who have their membership withdrawn. In addition, such a person is not permitted to pay tithing or fast offerings or wear the temple garment. Withdrawal of membership is the most serious sanction a church membership council can impose and is generally reserved for only the most severe offenses. Withdrawal of church membership is mandatory for murder and is almost always required for incest.
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A person with a formal membership restriction may not hold a temple recommend, serve in a church calling, or exercise the priesthood. Members under these restrictions may attend public meetings of the church, but may not give a sermon, teach a lesson, offer a public prayer, partake of the sacrament, or vote in sustaining church officers. However, such members may pay tithing and fast offerings and continue to wear the temple garment. If the member expresses repentance and abides by the conditions imposed upon him or her, formal membership restrictions usually last approximately one year.
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Men performed the ritual for men, and women performed the ritual for women. Also, as part of the ceremony, participants were given a new name and a ritual undergarment in which symbolic marks were snipped into the fabric.. Originally, the recipient of the washing and anointing was naked during the ceremony. Beginning in the 20th century, recipients were given a white poncho-like "shield" to wear during the washing and anointing. Since 2005, participants in the LDS Church-version of the ritual already come clothed in the temple garment and wear it during the washing and anointing.
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To members of the LDS Church, the temple garment represents the sacred and personal aspects of their relationship with God. Church president Joseph F. Smith taught that the garment was to be held as "the most sacred of all things in the world, next to their own virtue, next to their own purity of life." For this reason, most church members feel uncomfortable discussing the garment in a casual or disrespectful manner. Some church leaders have compared the garment to the clerical vestments worn by clergy of other churches.. Church leaders have publicly discussed the above principles and beliefs in general terms since the mid-1840s.
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However, two Lakota warriors and followers of Wovoka, Kicking Bear and Short Bull, thought otherwise, and believed that Ghost shirts would protect the wearer enough to actively resist white oppression.Wounded Knee Museum The shirts did not work as promised, and when the U.S. Army attacked, 153 Lakota died, with 50 wounded and 150 missing at the Wounded Knee Massacre. Anthropologist James Mooney argued that the most likely source of the belief that ghost shirts could repel bullets is the Mormon temple garment (which Mormons believe protect the pious wearer from evil, though not bullets). Scholars believe that in 1890 chief Kicking Bear introduced the concept to his people, the Lakota.
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To be in good standing and to enter the church's temples, church members are asked to tithe their income to the church, which is officially interpreted as 10 percent of annual income. In addition, members are invited to donate monthly charitable "fast offerings" (at least the equivalent cost of two meals), which are used to help the poor and needy in the community; members are also encouraged to make other humanitarian donations through the church. Members who have participated in the temple endowment ceremony are expected to wear a temple garment under their clothing at all times. Members are told that they should not partially or completely remove the garment to participate in activities that can "reasonably be done with the garment worn properly beneath the clothing".
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The celestial room represents the highest level of heaven in LDS theology, and is reached after passing the testing portion of the endowment ceremony. In Mormonism, the endowment is an ordinance (ceremony) designed to prepare participants to become kings, queens, priests, and priestesses in the afterlife. As part of the ceremony, participants take part in a scripted reenactment of the Biblical creation and fall of Adam and Eve. The ceremony includes a symbolic washing and anointing, and receipt of a "new name" which they are not to reveal to others except at a certain part in the ceremony, and the receipt of the temple garment, which Mormons then are expected to wear under their clothing day and night throughout their life.
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