Mormons address mystery surrounding undergarments

[kentuck]

http://www.kentucky.com/2014/10/21/3493771/mormons-address-mystery-surrounding.html#storylink=omni_popular#wgt=pop

<snip>
SALT LAKE CITY — The Mormon church is addressing the mystery that has long surrounded undergarments worn by its faithful with a new video explaining the practice in-depth while admonishing ridicule from outsiders about what it considers a symbol of Latter-day Saints' devotion to God.

<snip>
The latest video dispels the notion that Latter-day Saints believe temple garments have special protective powers, a stereotype perpetuated on the Internet and in popular culture by those who refer to the sacred clothing as "magical Mormon underwear."

"These words are not only inaccurate but also offensive to members," the video says. "There is nothing magical or mystical about temple garments, and church members ask for the same degree of respect and sensitivity that would be afforded to any other faith by people of goodwill."

<snip>
The garments, which resemble a T-shirt and shorts, are shown laid out on a table in what marks a rare public glimpse at clothing that normally is hidden from outsiders. Members are taught not to hang the garments in public places to dry or display them in view of people "who do not understand their significance."

..more

[CBGLuthier]

1. they are starting a wholesale campaign to prepare for Romney

Documentaries like Meet the Mormons and other efforts to attempt to lessen people's fear of their cult.

[JaneyVee]

17. Yup, I remember all those mormon ads during 2012...

Not so much around any more.

[calimary]

27. GREAT point, CBGLuthier!

I hope it sinks in with people. PROPAGANDA. Perception management in high gear, here. And knowing and understanding EXACTLY what it is, and what's going on here - the agenda that's VERY SUBTLY being promoted here, is the first step. Not only did Mad-Eye Moody warn Harry Potter about "CONSTANT VIGILANCE!!!!" - he also warned "You've GOT to KNOW!!!!!!"

They are indeed attempting to change perception here, soften up the ground so that seeds can be planted. We need to make sure we're always pouring sugar into the gas tank of their engines, and inserting sticks and twisting pipe-cleaners and other obstructions into their wheel spokes.

[Dont call me Shirley]

2. Special secret garments for special, secretive people.

Does not sound like what Jesus would do. Openness, equality and inclusion were his real message.

[pscot]

4. Special, secretive people

who belive in an imaginary being who conveys messages to them through a special angel that only 1 person ever saw. It's hard to imagine why any reasonable person would find this concept risible.

[Dont call me Shirley]

10. Joe was a very special conman

[TlalocW]

3. Well, of course they're going to say the notion is wrong to outsiders...

But we know they're really magic underwear.

I actually own a pair. A friend of mine visited Salt Lake City, and according to her, you need a "Mormon ID card," to get one. I don't know she was joking, or if it's just something that shows you're in good standing with the church, etc. but she "looked Mormon" enough she says and was able to convince the sellers she had left hers at home. I got them for Christmas.

I don't care much about the shorts, but the t-shirt is one of the best made ones I've ever seen even with the small symbols embroidered into it. We joked that I should spend my Saturday mornings wearing just those waiting for Mormons to knock on my door so I could answer wearing the underwear, holding a beer in one hand, and a Playboy in the other and exclaiming, "It does my heart good seeing young Mormons out on a day like this!" Never got the chance though.

TlalocW

[UTUSN]

7. "say... to outsiders" = the milk-before-meat strategem. Plus, minorities in the video.

And they CRAVE respect, acceptance, "legitimacy." Hence, the khakis and blue shirts that are "normal."

When Mittens was running the first time, the Mormons in my area (and I'm guessing, everywhere) were buoyed at the status of the high profile and appeared to interpret this as a rising tide for them.

I was in the yard and, instead of the usual pair of young dudes with bicycles, there were four adult males approaching me in the middle of the street, abreast, dress shirts and ties, looking like Sears catalog dudes, laughing and chatting as they came.

I kept at my tasks, and they asked whether they could talk to me. I said, "I'm busy." They politely and sheepishly excused themselves.

Plus, a couple of years ago, in tandem with their commercials touting their "normalcy," their local temple underwent a major construction modification. They erected a New England style steeple on it. I think this is going on systematically.

[riderinthestorm]

5. Bull. Ex-Mormons would dispute that

For example in this blog...

http://mormoncurtain.com/topic_garments_section1.html

The article still says that the underwear's sacred significance is "secret" and won't disclose any details of that "secret sacredness"....

[Adrahil]

6. Yeah, and magic underwear is the LEAST of their weird beliefs.

Joseph Smith was a con artist. And not really even a very good one. It's MAYBE possible to understand why people would have believed his insane, self-serving nonsense 150 years ago, before most people understood hieroglyphs and had a good understanding of North American archeology, but there is just no excuse to believe these made up stories today. The existence of such a
large community which believes such obvious lies from less than 200 years ago is what made me look into the origins of my own religion 2000 (and more) years ago and conclude it to was complete nonsense.

[Dont call me Shirley]

12. Could the Catholic Church have been created to hide the failing Roman Empire?

[Adrahil]

15. I don't know about that. It may be possible.

Certainly there are those who think , with some strong evidence, that Revelations is related to events in the Empire within 100 years of Jesus' death. But I think that, as always it's about power, and modern Christianity was essentially manufactured.

[Dont call me Shirley]

30. The creation of Christianity, and the invasion and fall of the empire were about 100 years apart.

The rulers could have seen it coming.

[LiberalElite]

8. "Mormon's Secret"

http://mormonssecret.com/pages/about-us

"WHAT IS MORMON'S SECRET?
Mormon's Secret is the first and only site in the world selling real Mormon underwear (temple garments) to all adults, regardless of their religious affiliation. For the first time in history, online shoppers can purchase these magical temple garments without first joining the Mormon church and giving up 10% of their income in tithes. Our goal is to make “magical” underwear available to the masses for use as costume wear, fetish wear, and all your kinky, dress-up needs."

[Tierra_y_Libertad]

9. Will they be advertising in Victoria's Secret?

[pscot]

19. The go to source

for magical underwear.

[LiberalElite]

11. This has been on YouTube since 2010:

[randome]

13. Far too many religions use clothing as a way to define everyone else as 'not us'.

I mock Mormons just as I mock Jews with their special hats and Catholics for their headgear and Muslims for their turbans.

All the 'hat religions' highlight how different they are from everyone else because they are in a special club.
[hr][font color="blue"][center]“If you're not committed to anything, you're just taking up space.”
Gregory Peck, Mirage (1965)[/center][/font][hr]

[malaise]

14. It is what it is - as is their special food

guaranteed income from the faithful. Humanity is so damned gullible.

[Adrahil]

16. Religions have been the basis for tribal differentiation for millenia.

When trying to justify why you need to kill your neighbor and thke their stuff, what better reason than "god said to?" It can't be reasoned with... It can't even be argued with. And once you define those others as "infidels," you have to have some way of identifying them. Holy symbols, sacred clothing, grooming standards, food taboos.... Anything which widens the cultural divide and makes it possible to identify "them" as "other."

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

20. Wonder why the Mormons went for special underwear instead of special hats?

[pipi_k]

24. sniff, sniff...

I was brought up Protestant, and we never had any special clothing...


Also, for Communion, we had grape juice in teeny little cups and chunks of what tasted suspiciously like Wonder Bread for the body of Christ.

[Hekate]

26. Mock? How tolerant of you.....

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

18. Joseph Smith was a pretty clever con man for his time.

Considering that traditional Christianity was the dominant, almost exclusive religion of the U.S. at the time, he had to come up with some pretty good enticements to get people to convert to his new cult. Of course he needed to have something that made converts feel special and chosen, and obviously the holy undies were part of this enticement. But where he really hit it out of the park was with Mormon theology, which totally outdoes conventional Christianity in terms of the goodies it offers. For regular Christians, if you follow the Bible and go to church you have a shot at going to heaven and hanging out with Jesus and the angels in a state of permanent bliss for all eternity. Sounds like a good deal, right? But Smith came up with an even better one, at least for the men: His church said that you can have a whole bunch of wives in this world, and in the next world you can be a god and spend eternity producing spirit children! In other words, where the Methodists and Episcopalians just gave you heaven and Jesus, the Mormons gave you the planet Kolob and lots and lots of sex for all eternity. And special underwear.

[kestrel91316]

21. If they are not magical then why do Mormons always have to remain in contact with at least a tiny

portion of them, even while BATHING? They have to hang a leg over the edge of the tub and keep it touching the garments. I have no idea how they manage to shower, given this requirement.

And yes, my grandmother was raised a devout Mormon. My g-g-g-grandfather was a Mormon polygamist who served Smith and Young personally and was given ten wives. So what I know is what came down through the family.

[Oilwellian]

22. Dang

I really wanted it to remain a mystery.

[pipi_k]

23. So they've been pissed off

and offended for a real long time over peoples' misconceptions about their underwear.

Well, what the hell did they expect??

When something is kept secret, of course people are going to make up shit about it.

[Hekate]

25. Oh good grief, progressives/liberals. Grow up. All religions think they are special, & some of them

...designate special garb for some or all of their adherents. Clothing always serves more of a purpose than just protecting our skin and core temperature from the elements.

Do you all also want to pitch a fit about American Muslim women who wear a hijab, or just let assimilation take its course over a few generations? Not very many American Jewish women still adhere to the dress code of their Eastern European ancestresses from a century ago, after all.

Cheers.

[DirkGently]

28. The "normal" Bible discusses magic underwear too.

Exodus 28:42-43New International Version (NIV)

42 “Make linen undergarments as a covering for the body, reaching from the waist to the thigh. 43 Aaron and his sons must wear them whenever they enter the tent of meeting or approach the altar to minister in the Holy Place, so that they will not incur guilt and die.

It's odd, but it's not uniquely Mormon. The Abrahamic religions are chock full of bizarre clothing, grooming, and dietary commandments from their god. Some are just ignored or forgotten.

[jwirr]

29. Anthropologist James Mooney thought that the Native American ghost shirt idea that the shirt would

protect the Native Americans from harm in war came from the Mormon teaching about their magic underwear.

The Mormons have been "teaching" Native Americans since the early 1800s and still are. I do not know if Mooney was correct but it is possible. If the is so then the Mormons owe Native Americans a big apology.