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Temple Grooming Standards


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16 minutes ago, emeliza said:

No offense taken.  I have a friend with a similar situation and shaving.  I don't understand that part of the rules.  I am sorry you thought I was talking about the clean shaven part.  I was more thinking of the clothing and jewelry part. 

No worries, and thank you. I am just a little gun (keyboard) shy, as I have been misunderstood a lot lately. I tend to use different posts as a mean to address, a lot of different thoughts n any given topic. I do this because it, being a public board, I am addressing all...or that is my sappy dream that all are listening, well reading me. 

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2 hours ago, mfbukowski said:

The standards come from the Temple Department and are enforced by visits to the temple presidency.  We even had candy stashed in a co-ordinator's desk for use during off-times sitting around waiting for a veil, and that was a violation and was stopped.

As you have noticed, there are a lot of old people who serve in the temple.  Have you seen handicapped people in wheel chairs or walkers being ordinance workers?

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Generally correct, although we had disabled internet missionaries from MTC serve regularly for years, at one shift a week as veil workers, and in other functions in the temple where their disability (including wheel chair) would not stop their useful function (witnesses at baptisms, confirmations, and the like).

Within Judaism, a priest (kohen) serving a sacrificial or other holy function may not have a disability, deformity, or defilement.  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_disqualifications_for_the_Jewish_priesthood .

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4 hours ago, CV75 said:

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.................................I don’t think this a good example of Pharisaism.

I agree, and it can be confusing -- since both Jesus and Paul were Pharisaic rabbis who adhered to the POV of Beth Hillel, which is to say that the high moral and ethical standards of rabbinic Judaism found in the Talmud are the same standards preached by Jesus and Paul.

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19 minutes ago, VideoGameJunkie said:

We all know the only people who will have beards and long hair in the Celestial Kingdom will be Jesus and Heavenly Father. Everyone else will be clean shaven with short hair.

If I read you right, I don't think so, especially women will not, unless they choose will not have short hair. As for the Celestial Kindom, no one knows what men will have, short or long hair, clean shaven or not. If Jesus and Heacenly Father will have long hair and beards, then who wouldn't many men...after all we are free to choose in this life and the next. Just a our early Church leaders...all the way up to (I think) Heber J Grant. I know Joseph F Smith did, but his sone did not. Many believe that "Follow the Prophet", means to look like this as well. David O McKay (again if I am not mistaken) changed rules for missionaries and GA's. Just as many men had a certain style Luke the Amish and Quakers, because many early leaders. Some called us a cult, because everyone wanted to dress and have certain facial hair because their leaders did. Such behavior does have Cult-like overtones. If a Prophet or Apostle were to show up at the new General Conference wearing a blue shirt, every blue shirt in Urah (and elsewhere)  would be sold out in three days, with others ordered and on the way. In other States, Bishops would be wearing them the following Sunday, and the rank and file within those Ward, the following Sunday, BTW, this is not uncommon, while in the Army, if I was on leave and had something to do on base, whenever I got around my friends or have lunch, I would feel so out of place, because everyone else had on the uniform. I remember once getting very sick, and I felt out of place for not being in uniform...it is a powerful pull and force to look like everyone else. 

 

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1 hour ago, VideoGameJunkie said:

We all know the only people who will have beards and long hair in the Celestial Kingdom will be Jesus and Heavenly Father. Everyone else will be clean shaven with short hair.

This has been acknowledged by the Brethren as a temporary situation. In the next life if you want a beard you can have one. Whether the Father and the Son have one is also up to them.

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2 hours ago, Robert F. Smith said:

Generally correct, although we had disabled internet missionaries from MTC serve regularly for years, at one shift a week as veil workers, and in other functions in the temple where their disability (including wheel chair) would not stop their useful function (witnesses at baptisms, confirmations, and the like).

Within Judaism, a priest (kohen) serving a sacrificial or other holy function may not have a disability, deformity, or defilement.  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_disqualifications_for_the_Jewish_priesthood .

Interesting!  Maybe that was a specific "dispensation" for that location and circumstances.  Every missionary should serve for a while in the temple, I am totally convinced.  We have many pre-mission and post-mission workers, both male and female obviously.  And there are those who cannot go on missions due to medical circumstances which require special medication or daily treatments, dialysis, lupus, etc who in essence serve service missions by being ordinance workers when they are well enough to do so.

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It does appear that some of us seek out the smallest of gnats to choke on.  

I served for many years in the temple.  There was a consistent process of striving to do everything we could to allow each patron to focus on the spirituality of the temple rather than the actions of any temple worker.  Part of this was having standards of dress that were as uniform as possible as well as general appearance.

It has not been that long ago that the rule of being clean shaven was begun for temple workers. Again, the objective is for temple workers assist each patron to focus on the Spirit as much as possible.

It would be worthwhile to spend some time on why this offends you or why you think this is remotely similar pharisees of old.  From what spirit do these types of thoughts come?   

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I think it's prudent to set strict grooming standards for the temple since things can quickly get out of hand.  I like the effort to help improve the temple experience by removing as many distractions as possible.  I am still confused why I couldn't work in the temple as a single man once I turned 30.  I've never heard the explanation.  Anyone know why?  I wasn't offended, but thought it was odd since there is often a shortage of temple workers.

While visiting a ward in Provo nearly 15 years ago, I heard the stake president announce the same beard restriction for Bishoprics.  The next week, the Bishop dutifully shaved off his mustache.  I admired him a lot for that.  He actually looked better with his mustache, but he was willing to follow his leaders, even when it was for something that may not have eternal significance.

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1 hour ago, Duncan said:

Perfume or Cologne can be distracting, you're sitting in there and wondering why your eyes are watering and then you realize someone is wearing No. 5 Chameleon Paris or Eau du Arrogance 

Which is probably why temple workers (at least in the temples I served in) were also asked not to wear strong smelling perfumes. 

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All us Gui men have heavy dark beards. My son Artistifero uses his as an art medium. Two of them, Hairsuticus and Bushy, had to shave twice a day while at BYU especially when they went to the testing center. My lawyer son Abogatofero is a veil worker but he shaves for the one day a week assignment and has a healthy shrub by the next week. If I let mine grow long I look like Gabby Hayes, so most the time it stays short. At one point last summer for our family reunion all 8 of us had beards...kind of a tradition. Our Arkansas son-in-law had a James Longstreet that was awesome. Fortunately our daughter Bellisima does not have that problem. I was in the last BYU class that was allowed to have beards and had to remove my goatee , but in the summers I went full Robert E. Lee at times. I got busted for too droopy a mustache one year at BYU registration.

Most here may see me as about as rigid a Mormon line toer as there can be, but I do have my fleeting moments of non-conformity. I understand the reason for banning them in the 60s, but those things have passed. Time to move one.

Edited by Bernard Gui
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19 hours ago, VideoGameJunkie said:

We all know the only people who will have beards and long hair in the Celestial Kingdom will be Jesus and Heavenly Father. Everyone else will be clean shaven with short hair.

How do we know this?  If everyone is seeking to be like Christ..why would this make a difference?

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On 04/02/2017 at 8:23 AM, HappyJackWagon said:

With rules like this for temple workers, is it any wonder there is rampant Pharisee-ism in the church? 

This is a difficult concept to understand if one is that Pharisee.  You may encounter persecution from members
of the church for speaking openly about it.

Jim

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6 hours ago, bluebell said:

I get that and I support most of it. But having a well kept beard is not any more distracting than sisters having a myriad of hair lengths, hairstyles, and colors of hair. 

 

Blue, I have similar feelings to yours, but the temple does not request that women wear a specific hair style; it does ask that men be clean shaven.  When I worked in the temple I was clean shaven, yet for all the other years of my adult life I have had some type of facial hair; either a full beard or a goatee.    

To me this is akin to Moses raising up the brass serpent in similitude of the need for the Redeemer to be lifted up.  The children of Israel needed to look at the brass serpent to be healed - if they did not look they were not healed.  It is such a simple thing, but it was absolutely required if one desired to be saved.  Male temple workers are asked not to have facial hair.  There can be exceptions, but for the vast majority it is asked of us.  It is so simple, but some will kick against it and complain and lose the opportunity to serve while others without a second thought shave their beard and serve.  

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4 hours ago, Duncan said:

Perfume or Cologne can be distracting, you're sitting in there and wondering why your eyes are watering and then you realize someone is wearing No. 5 Chameleon Paris or Eau du Arrogance 

Just wondering: are "perfume" and "cologne" euphemisms?

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43 minutes ago, VideoGameJunkie said:

My post was a joke about how strict grooming standards are now in the church whIle every prophet through George Albert Smith had beards.

:lol:I am sorry...gosh..i thought you were serious and didn't even think of past prophets..color me red..very embarrsed!!

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