Do you wear "Sunday best" when you watch conference at home?

[Scott Lloyd]

7 hours ago, JAHS said:

Only what you see in church produced photos of a family watching it.
Here is what they say about attending at the Conference center:
"Admission to the Conference Center is limited to those ages 8 or older for each session. No babies, please. Sunday dress is encouraged."

So even if you go in person you don't have to wear Sunday dress.

If they make a point of mentioning it, it’s a safe conclusion they don’t want you showing up otherwise attired. If they didn’t care, they wouldn’t have said anything about it. 

[Hamba Tuhan]

15 minutes ago, Scott Lloyd said:

If they make a point of mentioning it, it’s a safe conclusion they don’t want you showing up otherwise attired. If they didn’t care, they wouldn’t have said anything about it. 

But we don't turn people away based on dress. Not from our public worship, not even from our temples. 'Sunday dress' is a completely subjective term anyway. I used to pick up an elderly convert for church some years ago. Her Sunday dress was a length of fabric hand-stitched down both sides, with two openings for her arms and a hole at the top cut out for her head. This she wore with a belt, a pair of rubber thongs, and a piece of lace on her head. It was, literally, her Sunday best.

[Stargazer]

19 hours ago, Thinking said:

On the Church's home page there is a picture of a family watching general conference at home. The father is wearing a white shirt and tie.

What do you wear to watch conference in your home?

When I was in the US and conference came in the morning, the wife and I would watch the morning sessions on my laptop in our pajamas while we lay in bed.  Later in the day we watched it in whatever casual clothes we happened to be wearing.  Now that I am in England, conference comes at a very inconvenient times, so we watch it on my laptop after it has been released on the church website.  In whatever clothing we happen to be wearing at the time.

On the other hand, when my late wife was still around, we would sometimes get dressed in church clothes and go watch the final session at the Stake Center, just so we could feel like we went to church that day.  But usually not.

[Scott Lloyd]

8 hours ago, Hamba Tuhan said:

But we don't turn people away based on dress. Not from our public worship, not even from our temples. 'Sunday dress' is a completely subjective term anyway. I used to pick up an elderly convert for church some years ago. Her Sunday dress was a length of fabric hand-stitched down both sides, with two openings for her arms and a hole at the top cut out for her head. This she wore with a belt, a pair of rubber thongs, and a piece of lace on her head. It was, literally, her Sunday best.

Agreed that we don’t — nor should we — turn people away. But from the standpoint of an attendee, it is common courtesy, when organizers of an event make a point to specify a standard of dress, to comply with that expressed preference to the extent we are able, be it at church or anywhere else.  

Edited October 1, 2019 by Scott Lloyd

[Scott Lloyd]

20 hours ago, Thinking said:

On the Church's home page there is a picture of a family watching general conference at home. The father is wearing a white shirt and tie.

What do you wear to watch conference in your home?

Sometimes (for a posed picture) it just looks better in print aesthetically to have the models dressed in a certain way. I think it would be jumping to conclusions to infer from a particular photograph any mandate, express or implied.

[JAHS]

9 hours ago, Hamba Tuhan said:

9 hours ago, Scott Lloyd said:

If they make a point of mentioning it, it’s a safe conclusion they don’t want you showing up otherwise attired. If they didn’t care, they wouldn’t have said anything about it. 

But we don't turn people away based on dress. Not from our public worship, not even from our temples. 'Sunday dress' is a completely subjective term anyway. I used to pick up an elderly convert for church some years ago. Her Sunday dress was a length of fabric hand-stitched down both sides, with two openings for her arms and a hole at the top cut out for her head. This she wore with a belt, a pair of rubber thongs, and a piece of lace on her head. It was, literally, her Sunday best.

I think they say "encouraged" and not required because they don't want to turn away any investigators who decide to attend and don't have what we might normally call "Sunday dress".
For some, Sunday dress in my California ward for the women means pants and a blouse or even a T-shirt. There are also a few men who don't wear a tie and just come in everyday street clothes.

[Scott Lloyd]

24 minutes ago, JAHS said:

I think they say "encouraged" and not required because they don't want to turn away any investigators who decide to attend and don't have what we might normally call "Sunday dress".
For some, Sunday dress in my California ward for the women means pants and a blouse or even a T-shirt. There are also a few men who don't wear a tie and just come in everyday street clothes.

I totally get the point about investigators.

Relatively few of us are investigators, though. And if people typically can accommodate a dress code to attend the opera or a symphony or a formal dinner or awards presentation, I don't think it's too much to expect of longtime Church members that we try to look our best clothing-wise to come to church. 

[Ahab]

31 minutes ago, JAHS said:

For some, Sunday dress in my California ward for the women means pants and a blouse or even a T-shirt. There are also a few men who don't wear a tie and just come in everyday street clothes.

Yeah but you do realize those people are headed toward apostasy, don't you, if not already in it.  So said I before and I will say so again. It is not good to have a casual attitude about what to wear to church meetings on Sundays.

And yes if you're not sure I am trying to be humorous here but while still trying to make a good point.  I have family that attends another church, an apostate church, where they wear casual clothing to Sunday church meetings and not only am I not in favor of it but many who are in leadership positions in those kinds of churches aren't really in favor of it either. My Dad and Granddad were both preachers of a church of that kind during their mortal lives and they always dressed in a nice suit, white shirt and tie, while their wives wore a nice dress, and they bemoaned the casual attitude in their own churches as it began to creep in.  There used to actually be a Sunday best dress attitude in those churches but that has been gradually disappearing over the years.  And they knew of other preachers in other churches who weren't happy with that transition either.  And now when I see it start to creep into our church I wonder if we're going to end up the same way.  I'm sure there will always be some who dress nicely, in the best clothing they have and who at least want to get at least one nice dress or one nice suit with a jacket and tie to wear on Sundays, but time will tell if that will be the majority or the minority of the members.

Edited October 1, 2019 by Ahab

[HappyJackWagon]

As someone recently stated in the Celestial room conversation about kneeling... the outward expression is unnecessary because God knows your heart. So not only is dressing in church clothes unnecessary when watching conference at home, it may even be inappropriate

[JAHS]

26 minutes ago, Ahab said:

Yeah but you do realize those people are headed toward apostasy, don't you, if not already in it.  So said I before and I will say so again. It is not good to have a casual attitude about what to wear to church meetings on Sundays.

And yes if you're not sure I am trying to be humorous here but while still trying to make a good point.  I have family that attends another church, an apostate church, where they wear casual clothing to Sunday church meetings and not only am I not in favor of it but many who are in leadership positions in those kinds of churches aren't really in favor of it either. My Dad and Granddad were both preachers of a church of that kind during their mortal lives and they always dressed in a nice suit, white shirt and tie, while their wives wore a nice dress, and they bemoaned the casual attitude in their own churches as it began to creep in.  There used to actually be a Sunday best dress attitude in those churches but that has been gradually disappearing over the years.  And they knew of other preachers in other churches who weren't happy with that transition either.  And now when I see it start to creep into our church I wonder if we're going to end up the same way.  I'm sure there will always be some who dress nicely, in the best clothing they have and who at least want to get at least one nice dress or one nice suit with a jacket and tie to wear on Sundays, but time will tell if that will be the majority or the minority of the members.

Actually in our ward those who wear casual clothes are either investigators or they are already sort of apostate but come anyway. And some may do it to make sure they don't get a calling 😉

[HappyJackWagon]

1 hour ago, Ahab said:

Yeah but you do realize those people are headed toward apostasy, don't you, if not already in it.  So said I before and I will say so again. It is not good to have a casual attitude about what to wear to church meetings on Sundays.

And yes if you're not sure I am trying to be humorous here but while still trying to make a good point.  I have family that attends another church, an apostate church, where they wear casual clothing to Sunday church meetings and not only am I not in favor of it but many who are in leadership positions in those kinds of churches aren't really in favor of it either. My Dad and Granddad were both preachers of a church of that kind during their mortal lives and they always dressed in a nice suit, white shirt and tie, while their wives wore a nice dress, and they bemoaned the casual attitude in their own churches as it began to creep in.  There used to actually be a Sunday best dress attitude in those churches but that has been gradually disappearing over the years.  And they knew of other preachers in other churches who weren't happy with that transition either.  And now when I see it start to creep into our church I wonder if we're going to end up the same way.  I'm sure there will always be some who dress nicely, in the best clothing they have and who at least want to get at least one nice dress or one nice suit with a jacket and tie to wear on Sundays, but time will tell if that will be the majority or the minority of the members.

Apostasy? Oi vey!

What one wears to church his entirely cultural and in no way reflects their attitude towards God. Not only are your comments about apostasy very judgmental, but they also reflect you lack of understanding about what it means to be a follower of Jesus.

I've been to other churches in which the dress is very casual. It was very jarring at first because it was different. I'd always grown up and been taught that one shows respect to God by wearing a suit and tie. As I've attended other churches more often I see no negative difference in the attitude of worshipers there versus worshipers in LDS church. IMO- calling other churches "apostate" is a negative reflection on your, not them. Other Christian churches are part of the body of Christ and it would be really great if they were treated more respectfully by those who claim to be true followers of Jesus.

[Ahab]

1 minute ago, HappyJackWagon said:

Apostasy? Oi vey!

What one wears to church his entirely cultural and in no way reflects their attitude towards God. Not only are your comments about apostasy very judgmental, but they also reflect you lack of understanding about what it means to be a follower of Jesus.

I've been to other churches in which the dress is very casual. It was very jarring at first because it was different. I'd always grown up and been taught that one shows respect to God by wearing a suit and tie. As I've attended other churches more often I see no negative difference in the attitude of worshipers there versus worshipers in LDS church. IMO- calling other churches "apostate" is a negative reflection on your, not them. Other Christian churches are part of the body of Christ and it would be really great if they were treated more respectfully by those who claim to be true followers of Jesus.

You can think what you want about me.  I think you misunderstood some of what I said even though I said I was trying to be humorous but I'm not going to spend a lot of time trying to defend myself or my position.  I know for myself through my own experiences that there are lots of good Christians in other churches even though the churches themselves are apostate, which means they have fallen away and are currently remaining apart from the one true church of Jesus Christ.  if they want to be part of the true church the way to become a member is by being baptized into it and you can help them with that if they'll let you.  But, anyway, back onto the topic of how people dress now.  Casual dress reflects a casual attitude and I would prefer that people try a little more to both look and act like they are more serious about worshiping our Lord and our Father when they come to church meetings on Sundays.

[Thinking]

3 hours ago, Scott Lloyd said:

Sometimes (for a posed picture) it just looks better in print aesthetically to have the models dressed in a certain way. I think it would be jumping to conclusions to infer from a particular photograph any mandate, express or implied.

I think it would be jumping to conclusions to infer that I inferred a mandate. I simply wanted to ask the question after seeing the picture. I had known families who dressed up for GC while watching at home, and I wanted to read the experiences of those who post here.

[snowflake]

23 hours ago, CV75 said:

I watch it topless. #FreetheTemple

#Topless in your own home...maybe not in Utah

[mfbukowski]

This is a thread?

Who the heck cares?

Do you call your friends and ask them what they are wearing?  Isn't that a little creepy?

[Scott Lloyd]

56 minutes ago, Thinking said:

I think it would be jumping to conclusions to infer that I inferred a mandate. I simply wanted to ask the question after seeing the picture. I had known families who dressed up for GC while watching at home, and I wanted to read the experiences of those who post here.

Fair enough. 

[Ahab]

1 hour ago, mfbukowski said:

This is a thread?

Who the heck cares?

Do you call your friends and ask them what they are wearing?  Isn't that a little creepy?

Are you calling girls creepy?  They have conversations like that ALL of the TIME!  Where have you been?

And I mean actual conversations, not just hit and then gone comments about what they are wearing. 

First girl says something like: I'm going to wear my red top with a white sweater over it and some jeans, I think.  

And then the second girl says something like:  Oh won't you wear something blue instead?  I want to wear something blue and I would prefer that we match a little bit!  

And then the first girl says something like:  Well I would if I could but my blue top is still dirty because my Mom hasn't washed it yet.  But I do have a blue and white striped shirt I could wear, I suppose.

And then the third girl says something like: Oh I have this solid blue top that you would just look ADORABLE in!  And it's clean!  I'll bring it over tonight so you can have it to wear tomorrow.

And then the first girl says something like: Oh would you really?!?  Oh that would be so sweet of you!  Sure I'll wear that, but what are you going to be wearing?

And then on and on and on and on it will go for at least an hour and a half, sometimes.  And this is just a typical example of what they talk about and what they sound like.

So do you want to take it back now or do you want to infer that girls are creepy?!?!?!?!?

[Ahab]

On 9/30/2019 at 1:27 PM, Nacho2dope said:

We wear comfortable clothes. Has there ever been any direction given on this?

What kind of directions would you like?  I can accommodate you.

[mfbukowski]

32 minutes ago, Ahab said:

Are you calling girls creepy?  They have conversations like that ALL of the TIME!  Where have you been?

And I mean actual conversations, not just hit and then gone comments about what they are wearing. 

First girl says something like: I'm going to wear my red top with a white sweater over it and some jeans, I think.  

And then the second girl says something like:  Oh won't you wear something blue instead?  I want to wear something blue and I would prefer that we match a little bit!  

And then the first girl says something like:  Well I would if I could but my blue top is still dirty because my Mom hasn't washed it yet.  But I do have a blue and white striped shirt I could wear, I suppose.

And then the third girl says something like: Oh I have this solid blue top that you would just look ADORABLE in!  And it's clean!  I'll bring it over tonight so you can have it to wear tomorrow.

And then the first girl says something like: Oh would you really?!?  Oh that would be so sweet of you!  Sure I'll wear that, but what are you going to be wearing?

And then on and on and on and on it will go for at least an hour and a half, sometimes.  And this is just a typical example of what they talk about and what they sound like.

So do you want to take it back now or do you want to infer that girls are creepy?!?!?!?!?

Wow.

I never said anything about girls.

I have a new word for you to look up.

"Sexism".

Also the difference between "infer" and "imply."

 

Edited October 1, 2019 by mfbukowski

[Ahab]

6 minutes ago, mfbukowski said:

Wow.

I never said anything about girls.

I have a new word for you to look up.

"Sexism".

 

Looks to me like we're having a typical guy conversation now.  I like how girls usually talk to each other a lot better.

[Hamba Tuhan]

7 hours ago, Scott Lloyd said:

And if people typically can accommodate a dress code to attend the opera or a symphony or a formal dinner or awards presentation ...

I think we may run in very different circles, Scott ... 

[Nacho2dope]

2 hours ago, Ahab said:

What kind of directions would you like?  I can accommodate you.

I don’t need any direction I am very comfortable in what I wear during conference. I was just curious if any prophet or apostle had said anything on what was appropriate to wear while watching conference at home. Thanks 

[Scott Lloyd]

7 hours ago, Hamba Tuhan said:

I think we may run in very different circles, Scott ... 

I didn’t mean to imply that. Only that if there are occasions when dressing up is appropriate, worshiping in the Lord’s house on His holy day ought to be among them. 

Edited October 2, 2019 by Scott Lloyd

[Hamba Tuhan]

6 hours ago, Scott Lloyd said:

I didn’t mean TV to imply that. Only that if there are occasions when dressing up is appropriate, worshiping in the Lord’s house on His holy day ought to be among them. 

Oh, I agree. And the last thing my fellow Saints need is for me or anyone else to determine that their best efforts don't cut it.

I had three of our male YSA around for dinner last night, one a recently returned missionary and the other two converts within the past three years.

One of these ended up in gaol within months of being baptised. The Elders and I were able to visit him nearly every week that he was there. He's been off and on in his attendance since his release because of complications, but he fully self-identifies as a Latter-day Saint, and when he showed up at my house last night, he came scriptures-in-hand, assuming that we would be having a message as well as food.

He lives with his mum, a strict Orthodox Jew who originally told him she was OK with his baptism but who quickly changed her mind and now tries to sabotage his participation in Church life, including throwing him out of home whenever she suspects he's attending services, etc. He's learnt that he can't leave their flat on a Sunday wearing or even carrying anything remotely 'dressy' because that will signal he's going to church. Instead, he leaves in his gym attire so that she thinks he's headed to the gym, and then he comes to church. The bishopric, I, and a few others know this context, but he doesn't broadcast it. Thankfully, his fellow Saints just take him as he comes.

The other convert was baptised in a different city, moved here, and was found by the missionaries. At that point, he was staying with a family member, but that didn't last as a consequence of drug- and alcohol-fuelled violence -- which also marked his growing-up years. He now sleeps in his car, which he has permission to park every evening behind a service station near a shopping centre. This gives him access to public amenities. He works odd-jobs to survive, including catering gigs, but he doesn't have much, as you can imagine. Outside of the bishopric, I think I'm the only ward member who knows that he's homeless.

This young man comes to church faithfully every Sunday. He wears his best black jeans, best black T-shirt, black army boots, and black army coat. This all coordinates quite well with his black nail varnish and long black hair. The last thing in the world he needs is someone to think he didn't 'dress up' when, in his mind, he did. Thankfully, our ward members just take him as he comes too, and he seems to sit with a different family every Sunday. He's a gentle soul who revels in the new life that finding the Restored Gospel has given him.

I shudder to think what would happen to either of these fragile young men if they were to ever pick up a 'you don't look like you belong here' vibe from their fellow members.

Edited October 2, 2019 by Hamba Tuhan

[SettingDogStar]

1 hour ago, Scott Lloyd said:

I didn’t mean TV to imply that. Only that if there are occasions when dressing up is appropriate, worshiping in the Lord’s house on His holy day ought to be among them. 

To me, however, dressing up really fancy for operas and such is a “worldly” tradition. It was intended to show off wealth, fancy, and fashion. All those events you dress up for are things the world has created and that the world views with a certain respect and dignity. If you showed up to a very fancy ball with jeans people would stare and judge you.

I don’t really dress up to church because God doesn’t look on the outside at all, He only cares about the inside. He won’t judge me at all and since I’m not there to judge anyone or to be judged by anyone but God, I just wear a nice pair of jeans and a collared shirt (can’t wear my T-shirt’s, wife doesn’t approve haha).

Wearing a suit will get you no more revelation then a t-shirt and Jeans. I don’t think It’s disrespectful because I don’t think God cares. 

But it also doesn’t matter in the end. If you, or anyone, is pulled closer to God because you part of your preparation includes dress then more power to you! Whatever works to get you closer to God is a good thing.