The Temple Garment: Sacrificial By Design & Borne By Choice

"I believe there is a critical body of knowledge relating to the temple garment. When that knowledge is obtained, Latter-day Saints filled with faith wear the garment and wear it properly, not because someone is policing their actions but because they understand the virtues of the sacred clothing and want to “do good and be restored unto that which is good.” On the other hand, when one does not understand the sacred nature of the temple garment, the tendency is to treat it casually and regard it as just another piece of cloth." 

Elder Carlos E. Asay

The Influence of Influencers

I’m not a fan of influencers anyway, but “Mormon Mommy Bloggers” especially have always rubbed me the wrong way. I know there’s a lot of discussion about whether influencers are real entrepreneurs or real celebrities – I’m not going to speak to any of that here. I recognize that most influencers are self-made, and they have worked and continue to work incredibly hard at their trade. I can respect that.

But I’m not convinced that influencers, on the whole, have had a net-positive effect on society. Like celebrities, the general public uses influencers as a sort of measuring stick to determine whether they’re “keeping up” with the latest fashion, makeup, interior design trends, and social obligations. Aside from feeling very superficial to me, I fear influencers inhibit individuality and rob people of their self-esteem as they constantly compare themselves to perfect women with perfect husbands and perfect families and perfect homes they’re constantly confronted with online.

Look, I’m quirky, curvy, texture-haired, and bespectacled. Never in my life have I fit Utah culture’s standards of beauty and social acceptance (thin, blonde, expensive fashion taste, sweet and funny personality). Regrettably, the standards set and promoted by MMBs have only seemed to widen the chasm between normal and awkward over the last decade – a line on which I and so many other girls and women already found ourselves on the less-acceptable side even before the influence of influencers.

Trending Toward Keeping it Casual

I know as well as anyone, it can be tricky to uphold the standards of God without feeling ostracized by people who are members of the same spiritual congregation you are, but who seem to put social praise and acceptance above everything else. One of the ways this has personally and significantly affected me is the gradual trend in the MMB community of wearing the temple garment only casually or not at all.

For anyone reading who isn’t a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (sometimes incorrectly referred to as “Mormon” or “LDS”), the temple garment refers to two articles of sacred underclothing worn by adult members of the faith who have made specific convents with God. Only members who have attended Church temples and participated in certain ordinances (sacred spiritual rituals) to make certain covenants (two-way promises between the individual and God) are eligible to wear the temple garment. The sealing of two people together as husband and wife is one example (check out this video The Church published a few years back for a great summary on the temple garment).
 
There are two factors that I’ve seen MMBs capitalize on regarding the casual wearing of the temple garment: 1.) Wearing the temple garment is a sacred and personal decision made by each member who chooses to participate in certain temple ordinances, and 2.) The wearing of the temple garment is not a covenant members make with God.

Wearing the Temple Garment Daily Builds Spiritual Confidence and Resilience 

I’ll tread carefully here because I do realize and understand that the wearing of the temple garment is personal and sacred. I don’t mean to be insensitive to anyone’s individual experience regarding their decision to wear the temple garment the way they choose. I only mean to help illuminate, as I see it, an increasing misunderstanding about the sacred nature of the temple garment and why we wear it.

As we consider potentially effective ways to explain and understand the nuanced practice of temple-garment-wearing, consider this analogy. You and your siblings are all gifted a plant by your mother who gave you life, raised you, taught you, cared for you, loved you unconditionally, and always came to your aid when you needed her, even when you lived far away from each other. Each of your siblings have different personal qualities, so you're each gifted a unique plant. Your mother asks you all to care for your respective plants the best you can, and tells you that you’ll be giving it back to her after several years of having it in your care. She explains that the care you give to your plant will show her your appreciation and devotion to her. Finally, in addition to all the things that each plant needs to survive – water, sunlight, healthy soil, etc. – your mother also requests that you each verbally recite the same daily affirmations to it, despite the different needs for different plants. You think this a strange request, but agree to care for the plant the way she has entreated because you know how important it is to her, and your relationship with her is important to you.
 
After many years, you and your siblings give your plants back to your mother as she asked. Some plants are healthy and thriving, while some are wilted or dead altogether. You each explain to her the unique challenges you faced caring for your plant over the years. Regardless of the state of the plant, she accepts them all and thanks you each individually for the effort you put into caring for it. Then, she asks about the daily affirmations. Did you recite them to your plant every day, as instructed? Of course, she already knows the answer – regardless of the state of their plant upon its return, the mother can tell which children prioritized their relationship with her by reciting daily affirmations because they’re more confident their own skin, and more importantly in her presence, as a result of verbalizing affirmations daily the way she instructed. As such, the children who recited daily affirmations to their plants are admitted into her home to live with her henceforth, while the rest of the children live in the surrounding apartments on her property.
 
Of course, the mother in this analogy is God – the benevolent parent who gives life and always succors His children. The plant is your body, individual and unique, gifted to you to by God to care for and nurture during mortality, with unique and individual challenges, but accepted by God at the end of mortality and resurrected no matter the state in which it's returned. The daily affirmations are analogous to wearing the temple garment – the importance is not always entirely understood upfront, but after it’s done consistently over a significant length of time, with real intent, it clearly exemplifies an increased relationship with God because of the effect it has on the Church members who wear it. As a result, wearing the temple garment daily builds spiritual confidence and resilience in members, shows God how important His relationship is to the members who wear it determinedly, and ultimately allows members admittance into His physical presence at the end of each mortal journey (sort of as a byproduct of the covenants we make in the temple while wearing the temple garment).

Wearing the Temple Garment is a Sacrifice. It’s Supposed to Be.

Christ once taught, “This people draweth nigh unto me with their mouth, and honoureth me with their lips; but their heart is far from me” (Matthew 15:8). When we maintain an idle relationship with wearing our temple garment, while simultaneously telling ourselves or publicly declaring we are devoted to God, we put ourselves precariously close to the attitudes of the people Christ warned about in this sermon.
 
I’m always surprised when people making a case for wearing the temple garment casually affirm, “You shouldn’t judge someone on their personal relationship with God by observing how they choose to wear the temple garment.” Wearing the temple garment is literally an outward expression of an inward commitment to discipleship. We shouldn’t assume the worst about someone because of a single observed behavior, of course, but the colloquial assumption that a person can wear their temple garment casually and still maintain a devoted relationship with God is flawed.
 
Wearing the temple garment is a sacrifice. It’s often hot, cumbersome, uncomfortable, and inconvenient. It can be isolating – putting us on the outside rather than the in crowd as defined by the world’s influencers. It can be particularly difficult for people with certain medical conditions or sensory affectability, and I do want to be sensitive to those individual challenges while also offering some gentle encouragement to each of us not to use those challenges as excuses where possible. Wearing the temple garment is a sacrifice. The degree to which we each choose to put our comfort or convenience ahead of our discipleship to God is our own, but should be seriously weighed and considered rather than idly justified. As a community, we seem to be collectively creeping toward an idle relationship between individual and temple garment, especially in the wake of so many social voices proclaiming its unnecessity.
 

We Wear the Temple Garment to Show We’re Devoted – Not to Earn a Reward 

It is curious that we don’t covenant to wear the temple garment, but that it’s required for admittance into the temple (the presence of God on Earth), because when we make a covenant we promise God to do something to get something from Him in return. Since wearing the temple garment isn’t a covenant, we do it only because God asked it of us – not to earn ourselves a specific reward in return. Ironically, the argument that encourages people to believe wearing the temple garment isn’t important (i.e., we’re not bound by covenant to wear it) is the very reason it is important (i.e., we choose to make the sacrifice simply to show our devotion to God, rather to receive a specific reward in return).
 
One of the central principles of the gospel is that of agency, and using that agency to make choices that please God while on Earth. Choosing not to wear the temple garment outside the temple, and then putting it on to enter the temple, is selfish upon consideration. Choosing to wear the temple garment casually outside the temple, but always when we attend the temple (it’s required for admittance) suggests we aren’t willing to make that sacrifice for God until we want something from Him – participation in saving ordinances that seal us to the people we love for eternity, or achieving our own exaltation in the next life.

TL:DR, We Wear The Temple Garment For God, Not Our Social Circles

Please understand, I do not write this to suggest we should scrutinize the way others choose to wear the temple garment. I write this as a reminder that the tendency to "judge" others by the way they wear the temple garment is difficult to shake because the purpose of wearing the temple garment is to outwardly show an inward devotion to faith and God. I write this to rebut the attitude growing in popularity online of late, especially among Millennials and Gen Z in the throes of influencer culture, that choosing to wear the temple garment only casually or not at all is personal and therefore acceptable, because personal is not a spiritual justification for optional. And I write this, foremost, to remind each of us that our personal relationship with wearing the temple garment – rather than the way we're perceived by our peers based on standards set by influencers – should be our measuring stick for how important our covenants and our relationship with God are to each of us us individually. 

If we make a habit of only wearing the temple garment while in the temple or only when we feel it’s comfortable or convenient, we demonstrate our misunderstanding of the foundational purpose of wearing the temple garment – to make a consistent, personal sacrifice that affects us on a daily basis and reminds us of the important covenants we’ve made in the temple. The apostle James taught, “But wilt thou know, O vain man, that faith without works is dead?” (James 2:20). If you feel you don’t presently understand the importance and benefit of wearing the temple garment, my experience is that the best way to develop that testimony is to devote yourself to it wholeheartedly until you do understand. I promise it’s worth the sacrifice.