Beyond Mitt's Underwear: Part 5: Temple Recommend and Splinter Groups
The Temple Recommend
Day-to-day religious practice is well summarised by the Temple Recommend. Card-carrying Mormons literally carry a physical card which is required to enter Mormon Temples. To maintain their temple recommend their Bishop gives them a multi-question interview at regular intervals. The temple recommend questions are changed every so often to reflect the changing priorities and practices of the church (the 1857 version allegedly included questions about taking irrigation water and riding mules without consent). The modern version, most recently revised in 2012, asks a variety of questions about belief and practice. The belief questions ask whether Mormons accept Heavenly Father, the Holy Ghost, and Jesus Christ as Saviour. They also require that Mormons accept the restoration, recognition of the Mormon President as a Prophet, Seer, and Revelator, and only person on the earth with the authority to exercise the priesthood keys. The practice questions ask whether Mormons live chastely and deal honestly, meet financial obligations to spouses and children, associate with “groups or individuals whose teachings or practices are contrary to or oppose those accepted by the Church”, wear the Garments “both day and night”, and keep the Word of Wisdom. (“Hot drinks” are prohibited, due to a folk belief of the time that hot beverages were harmful to the body, but this has been reinterpreted as referring to caffeine.) “Wine and strong drinks” are prohibited, which is ironic since Joseph Smith sold liquor and Orin Porter Rockwell to open a bar in his Nauvoo Mansion, but “The Word of Wisdom was enforced differently in the 19th century than today”.) Romney’s tax return showed $7 million in “charitable” donations because the Temple Recommend requires “a full tithe payer”, 10% their “increase” which is variously interpreted as gross or net profits, usually including monetary but not physical gifts. Some current and former Mormons express resentment that the Church is effectively charging 10% of their members’ income to extort access to the saving ordinances required for exaltation, is less than transparent about how much of that money is actually being used charitably, and does not allow in-kind donations to more transparent, explicitly charitable groups.
Splinter Groups
LDS Church doctrine and practice has changed significantly in the last ~175 years. A church founded on “global apostasy” with Protestant preachers being servants of the Devil and the Catholic church as “the whore of all the earth” is now trying to merge into mainstream Protestantism by de-emphasising the major points of Smith’s restoration, especially after the Church temporarily suspended practicing polygamy on Earth. The Fundamentalist Church of Latter Day Saints are a distinct and separate splinter group. They hold to Smith’s original teaching, and say that the LDS church is still the true church but is currently in apostasy for not following Smith’s teachings. The Reorganised Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints now called Community of Christ are on the other end of the spectrum. They view their own church as the True Church, view the Book of Mormon as an additional testament of Jesus Christ and publish their own edition of the D&C, but they’ve made greater efforts to reconcile with traditional Christianity, they’ve always ordained regardless of race, they never accepted polygamy, they accept Trinitarian doctrine, and they have lower requirements for baptism. It’s important for both politeness and intellectual honesty to avoid confusing these separate organisations.
Part 1: Apostasy and Restoration
Part 2: Scriptures
Part 3: Preexistence, Creation, and Plan for Salvation
Part 4: Ordinances
Part 5: Temple Recommend and Splinter Groups
Part 6: My Thoughts
Day-to-day religious practice is well summarised by the Temple Recommend. Card-carrying Mormons literally carry a physical card which is required to enter Mormon Temples. To maintain their temple recommend their Bishop gives them a multi-question interview at regular intervals. The temple recommend questions are changed every so often to reflect the changing priorities and practices of the church (the 1857 version allegedly included questions about taking irrigation water and riding mules without consent). The modern version, most recently revised in 2012, asks a variety of questions about belief and practice. The belief questions ask whether Mormons accept Heavenly Father, the Holy Ghost, and Jesus Christ as Saviour. They also require that Mormons accept the restoration, recognition of the Mormon President as a Prophet, Seer, and Revelator, and only person on the earth with the authority to exercise the priesthood keys. The practice questions ask whether Mormons live chastely and deal honestly, meet financial obligations to spouses and children, associate with “groups or individuals whose teachings or practices are contrary to or oppose those accepted by the Church”, wear the Garments “both day and night”, and keep the Word of Wisdom. (“Hot drinks” are prohibited, due to a folk belief of the time that hot beverages were harmful to the body, but this has been reinterpreted as referring to caffeine.) “Wine and strong drinks” are prohibited, which is ironic since Joseph Smith sold liquor and Orin Porter Rockwell to open a bar in his Nauvoo Mansion, but “The Word of Wisdom was enforced differently in the 19th century than today”.) Romney’s tax return showed $7 million in “charitable” donations because the Temple Recommend requires “a full tithe payer”, 10% their “increase” which is variously interpreted as gross or net profits, usually including monetary but not physical gifts. Some current and former Mormons express resentment that the Church is effectively charging 10% of their members’ income to extort access to the saving ordinances required for exaltation, is less than transparent about how much of that money is actually being used charitably, and does not allow in-kind donations to more transparent, explicitly charitable groups.
Splinter Groups
LDS Church doctrine and practice has changed significantly in the last ~175 years. A church founded on “global apostasy” with Protestant preachers being servants of the Devil and the Catholic church as “the whore of all the earth” is now trying to merge into mainstream Protestantism by de-emphasising the major points of Smith’s restoration, especially after the Church temporarily suspended practicing polygamy on Earth. The Fundamentalist Church of Latter Day Saints are a distinct and separate splinter group. They hold to Smith’s original teaching, and say that the LDS church is still the true church but is currently in apostasy for not following Smith’s teachings. The Reorganised Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints now called Community of Christ are on the other end of the spectrum. They view their own church as the True Church, view the Book of Mormon as an additional testament of Jesus Christ and publish their own edition of the D&C, but they’ve made greater efforts to reconcile with traditional Christianity, they’ve always ordained regardless of race, they never accepted polygamy, they accept Trinitarian doctrine, and they have lower requirements for baptism. It’s important for both politeness and intellectual honesty to avoid confusing these separate organisations.
Part 1: Apostasy and Restoration
Part 2: Scriptures
Part 3: Preexistence, Creation, and Plan for Salvation
Part 4: Ordinances
Part 5: Temple Recommend and Splinter Groups
Part 6: My Thoughts