Clothing has been with us from the beginning. Clothing Adam and Eve was one of the first acts of God after they were cast out of the Garden of Eden, so we know that it must be an important thing. On earth, physical clothes give us protection from the harshness of nature and from the temptations that came from the fall. We use clothing to express ourselves, our personalities, and interests. Elder Robert D. Hales of the twelve apostles stated: "Our clothing is more than just covering for our bodies; it reflects who we are and what we want to be, both here in mortality and in the eternities that will follow." Specific types of clothing can help us accomplish different tasks better than if we were wearing something else, like swimming with a bathing suit instead of jeans. We even have sacred clothes set apart which are essential to our temple ordinances.
What about spiritual clothing then? In the scriptures different terms for clothing are used countless times to provide metaphor to spiritual ideas and doctrines. Of of the most famous references to clothing in scripture is the Robe of Righteousness. In 2 Ne. 9:14 it states: "Wherefore, we shall have a perfect knowledge of all our guilt, and our uncleanness, and our nakedness; and the righteous shall have a perfect knowledge of their enjoyment, and their righteousness, being clothed with purity, yea, even with the robe of righteousness." Here the robe is described as the knowledge that the righteous have of their own standing before God. It is a protection to them
Clothing in the scriptures is often used to identify with comfort or protection. In Ephesians chapter six we are told to put on the "whole armor of God". These scriptures go into detail about what each item of clothing relates to spiritually. The whole armor of God is a protection and a comfort to us from the temptations and fiery darts of the adversary. It is interesting that the piece corresponding with righteousness is the Breastplate which protects the heart, the same as the Robe which covers the same area. It seems like the scriptures are saying that righteousness is therefore a comfort and a protection for our hearts and souls. Righteousness makes us happy and fills us with love. In my family obedience to the law of tithing has always been particularly stressed as a protection and comfort. Many times when we have had to scrape through my parents attribute our material blessings to be in direct relation to our obedience to that law. I have grown up knowing that as long as I pay for my tithing and listen to the Lords promptings that I will be taken care of by the Lord. My righteousness or obedience is a comfort to me.
Thirty times in the scriptures does it say that the people "washed their clothes" Often this description is accompanied by other acts such as sanctification, or purifying of selves. In Leviticus many times it is written "wash his clothes, and bathe his flesh in water" These scriptures are referring the the repentance process these people are going through. The Robe of Righteousness therefore could be talking about the righteousness that comes from repentance. Really, none of us can be truly righteous unless we are repenting everyday and always striving to get better by fixing points in us that are not in line with Heavenly Father's plan. When we stand before the judgement bar at the last day I do not think we will be judged only according to our good works, but according to our repentance. Christ said: "Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in Heaven is perfect." (Matt 5:48) This statement sometimes seems daunting to us because of the difficulty of the task, but perfection is attainable to us in this life with constant repentance. We can be perfect as we renew our baptismal covenants every week through the sacrament, and by repenting of sins every day. Therefore we are clothed about in a robe of Repentance, which keeps us safe and testifies of our worthiness at the last day.
I know that If you wrap yourself in the robe of righteousness, that is to say, if you strive to keep the commandments and are continually repenting, that you will be protected and comforted, and that you can stand straight before our Heavenly Father at the last day. I am grateful for the testimony that my Heavenly Father has given me about the importance of obedience, that it is the first law of Heaven, and that by striving to be righteous I will be continually blessed. I challenge each of us to wear righteousness every day as we wear our physical clothes everyday, and to keep it with you as a constant reminder of who you are and what you need to do to return to our Father in Heaven. In the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.
Works Cited:
Robert D. Hales "Modesty: Reverence for the Lord", Liahona, Aug 2008, 18-23
2 Nephi 9:14, The Book of Mormon
Ephesians 6:11-17, The New Testament
Leviticus 16:26, The Old Testament
Matthew 5:48, The New Testament
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9 comments:
Hi Rubie,
This comment is a response to one I read that you posted on the Mormon Truth blog. I found it incredibly hard to read the things you wrote on there, given the horrible travesty of injustice that just took place in California at the hands of the Mormon church. I hope that you will read my words with an open mind. I was once in your shoes, a sophomore at BYU when I was 19 and I look back in horror that ANY of my life was wasted belonging to such an uncaring and bigoted organization. One that would wage a war on equality and justice; and would single a group of people out because of their fear and hatred towards them. I hope to hear a rational response from you and not the tired, old, easy dismissal that "nobody can challenge my beliefs because I'm so faithful" excuse. Thanks for your time - Jinxi
**response to your blog comment**
Hi Rubie,
I have to respectfully disagree with your precipitated conclusion that Samuel misunderstands the church's teachings. Had you taken the time to read his profile, you would see that he spent over 30 years in the church, served a mission, went to BYU and was obedient to the teachings. I too spent over 30 years in the church, attended BYU on an athletic scholarship, had a father who was a Mormon bishop for 8 years, and blindly followed for all of my youth and much of my adult years without ever questioning the life I was living and the tactics used to gain my obedience. It is a BIG MISCONCEPTION that everyone that leaves the church must have left because something "bad" happened to them or they misunderstand what the religion is about. In my case, and I am assuming in Samuel's case as well, that could NOT be further from the truth. You see, it is only when you TRULY DO understand and have really examined the treacherous teachings that you are able to see the "bad" as you refer to it. But when you don't accept that there can be and IS "bad" then you are allowing them to control your life, even when the damage that is done with that control is monumental. If your eyes are not opened to it and you are blindly following, of course, you will only see the good - which is EXACTLY what they are hoping for and counting on; the blind followers that obey.
I must also FERVENTLY DISAGREE with your reasoning for the church's stance on gay marriage. You are greatly discounting the fact that gay couples DO have families, DO have love, DO have commitment. How in the world can they be "attacking" something that they are participating in? How awful that you think this is an "agenda." Don't you see that they have the same dreams and hopes of building long-lasting relationships and families as any straight couple would? I also find it so curious that the bible is brought into the discussion. It's such a cop-out. It really is. If you want to start calling out bible references, then you MUST call out ALL of the inerrant parts of the bible - NOT ONLY this small section (Leviticus 18:22) that refers to homosexuality.
For instance, let's start with Leviticus 20:9 -
"For everyone who curses his father or his mother shall surely be put to death. He has cursed his father or his mother. His blood shall be upon him."
Shall we start lining people up for execution? Because according to your bible - it SAYS we should. Imagine what would happen today if we killed every child who was disrespectful to his parents.
Or this one:
"If a man lies with a woman during her sickness and uncovers her nakedness, he has discovered her flow, and she has uncovered the flow of her blood. Both of them shall be cut off from her people." (Leviticus 20:18)
Imagine what would happen today if we deported every man and woman who had ever had sex together while the woman was having her period.
Have you ever had a ham dinner? Or bacon for breakfast? (I'm a vegan, so I guess I'm good on this one - ha)
"...and the swine, though it divides the hoof, having cloven hooves, yet does not chew the cud, is unclean to you." (Leviticus 11:7)
Or how about shellfish. Ever been to Red Lobster, Rubie?
"But all in the seas or in the rivers that do not have fins and scales, all that move in the water or any living thing which is in the water, they are an abomination to you." (Leviticus 11:10)
"The shellfish shall be an abomination to you; you shall not eat their flesh, but you shall regard their carcasses as an abomination." (Leviticus 11:11)
I think you would agree that there are MANY scriptures in the bible that you DO NOT adhere to, yet you don't preach from rooftops that they are sins. Why is it that you focus on Leviticus 18:22 so fervently? I believe that it is only so you can justify your prejudice and bigotry towards gays. You think it's so easy to spout out, "well, the bible SAYS SO, so we must obey." Yet, you do not hold subsequent instructions to the same regard. That just doesn't make sense to me. Maybe you can explain? Or is it that you really just want a justification for your disgust at the thought of gay people who love each being together??
You say that the LDS church HATES sin, but it seems to me that they hate SOME sins MORE than others, right? A sin is a sin - so why is one SO MUCH more important than the next??
I find THIS statement of yours truly laughable:
"We are not intolerant of gays or wish to take away their rights. We just want to protect the sacred institution of marriage and the family."
You most CERTAINLY ARE intolerant of gays and you DO want to and DID TAKE THEIR RIGHTS AWAY with the passing of Prop 8. How can you honestly say you don't WANT to take rights away when the WHOLE agenda was to do JUST THAT???? Do you understand what Prop 8 was? Did you support it? Then your statement above is a LIE!!
The California constitution already ALLOWED gays to marry in the state of California. The passing of Prop 8 TOOK THAT AWAY!! This was NOT a preventative amendment. The rights were there and NOW they are not. So what you said makes absolutely no sense whatsoever.
Please don't say that you want to protect the "sacred institution." Don't you understand that a religious wedding and a legal marriage are completely DIFFERENT. My husband and I did not have a religious figure marry us. We did not pledge our love in front of some invisible man in the sky. We entered into a marriage in the civil sense. Of course we love each other, but that marriage certificate is NOT a bond with god. It is a social institution under which two adults establish their decision to live together in a legal commitment. Don't force YOUR image of marriage onto people that do not believe it has anything to do with religion or imaginary higher beings; because under the Constitution, religion is completely left out of the equation and when you are thinking of it in regards to laws & rights, YOU need to separate that as well.
Your argument that if gay marriage is legalized, it will take away rights from churches is completely false!
Before Mormons helped to RIP AWAY rights from gays, the actual court decision regarding marriage specifically says “no religion will be required to change its religious policies or practices with regard to same-sex couples, and no religious officiant will be required to solemnize a marriage in contravention of his or her religious beliefs.” This is an actual quote FROM the court decision. It cannot be any more clear, Rubie, can it be? If you see some discrepancy within this, PLEASE present it... because what you are saying is the same old, tired rhetoric that they used in campaign ads to try to "scare" fundamentalists into voting yes.
I now must contend with this statement of yours:
"We know in the LDS church that the family is the main unit of life, and that stable families with a loving mother and father are the most able to rear children with high morals and values."
Oh really? Is that all there is to it? Well, what must we do with single parents then, or widows/widowers, divorcees, or infertile couples? I do believe that there are examples of all of these family units within the LDS church. That seems very wrong to me to diminish their importance. Not to mention the fact that you are completely disregarding the fact that gay couples can and DO rear their children with high morals and values. In fact, I would think that teaching your kids not to be bigots and not to discriminate against certain groups of people would be a very important value indeed!!!
Once again, another of your statements is false, when you say:
"Gay marriage if legalized, will be forced upon children in schools" - NOPE! Wrong again, Rubie!! Don't you see that gay marriage WAS LEGAL already. Gay couples WERE married and getting married and none of these ridiculous statements you are making in regards to school instructions were going on. What was miraculously going to change? Nothing! The Yes on 8 organizers merely tricked people into thinking that things would suddenly change if they didn't strip away rights from gays; when in fact, gay marriage was already happening and there was NOT an epidemic of "gay issues being FORCED on kids at school." Not to mention the fact that the Superintendent of CA Schools, Jack O’Connell, assured parents that Prop 8 has nothing to do with education. What more do you want!!!??
You say that children's parents who are against gay marriage will be taught that their parents are "bigots and discriminatory" - ummmm... YEAH, they are! So either deal with it and face the fact that their kids will hear this said about their parents - or STOP being discriminatory bigots and you won't have to worry about that.
You say that "the issue of Gay Marriage is far greater than just a fight for rights between Gays and the LDS Church. It is a moral issue, and a public social problem." Again, you MUST learn to separate YOUR morals with law, legislation and the Constitution. NO church has the right to enforce their morals on society. You might wish it could be that way and you might feel superior because 85% of Americans are Christians. But you are forgetting a little thing called "SEPARATION OF CHURCH AND STATE." As much as you wish this country was a theocracy, it is NOT and you must learn to keep your religious beliefs separate from laws. The constitution protects us from this. The founding fathers knew what it was like to have a church trying to tell them how they could live and they were trying to escape that. So when it came time to write the Constitution, they were SPECIFICALLY CAREFUL to protect us all from that ever happening again. They had seen it happen before, could foresee churches like the LDS Church trying it again in the future, and had the intelligence and fortitude to be sure that it could not happen. Just because the "majority" votes a certain way and THINKS they know what is best for society, the majority simply is NOT always right. It was not long ago that the "majority" thought it was ok to own slaves. It was not long ago that the "majority" thought interracial couples should not be allowed to get married. It was not long ago that the "majority" thought women should not be allowed to vote. But as you can see, sometimes the "majority" has bad ideas and lucky for us, the Constitution protects us from this "majority rule," as well as churches being able to force their beliefs onto society. I mean, if Mormons had it their way, nobody would have the choice to drink coffee, or drink alcohol, or shop on Sundays. These are things that the Mormons are just as adamant about upholding as they are with protecting from the horrors of gay marriage, yet you don't seem to trying to take these things away from society. If we let Scientologists instill THEIR morals on society, then their belief that psychiatric drugs should not be legal and thus, done away with, then the "Prozac Capital of the Country," otherwise known as Utah, would be quite offended and extremely depressed. Or if we let Jews instill their dietary rules on society, where meat cannot be eaten with dairy products, then many a Mormon casserole at a potluck relief society meeting would have to be thrown in the trash. Simply put, a church just CANNOT enforce their moral beliefs onto the society in which they live. That's what your worship services are for. They do NOT have a place in legislation and societal laws - they just don't!!
You say that the church has been slandered, yet everything spoken about them in advertisements is true. I find it interesting that you just can't handle seeing the church that you love so much exposed for what they really are. You are hurt by the church looking like a "monster," yet you think it's ok to vilify gay people and make it seem as though they have an "agenda" and are trying convert their children to the "gay side." Maybe it hurts to look in the mirror and see the truth, right? It's so much easier to cry "persecution" because it's your religion they speak about. Why can't you step outside of your box and see it for what it really is?
The church likes to paint the facade that they are "all about loving your neighbors," but the fact that you fall for this is apparent proof that they have worked their brainwashing magic on you, Rubie. You need to delve just a little deeper into what your beloved religion is really about. You need to examine the roots of the church's history and really study your scriptures. If you do that with an OPEN MIND, it won't be long until you see the hypocrisy and ridiculousness of the organization you are dedicating your life to. Gay people are and can be happy. They have an immensely more difficult struggle to achieve this when organizations that hate them and don't want them to be free, equal and fulfilled try SO HARD to stand in their way. Please reevaluate your ideals of life, family and happiness without the Mormon blinders on. You will see that the rhetoric used to win your brain over is so old and archaic. Use your mind and THINK about things. Think about love, think about fairness, think about equality. If you do, you will understand that the church stands for exactly the opposite of what you wish it did and have always been told that it does.
I know these things to be true. It is my testimony, in the name of the Flying Spaghetti Monster.
- Jinxi
Rubie,
I love your title! It's so great. And I like the way you talk about "robes of righteousness" in a literal and metaphorical, and symbolic sense. Good job!
Rubie, I truly enjoyed your blog. The symbolism it contains is great.
Aside from your blog; I don't believe that the response to your prior blog from jinxi was very respectful to you.
I know you're testimony is strong and that you know what's right. No one is going to sway your faith with rude comments :)
Thank you Kara.
Wonderful blog, I loved how you discussed the importance of clothing. I'm also so sorry that someone wrote you a nasty comment. Thank Heavens for strong testimonies.
Rubie, I loved all the analogies you used in your blog! Your testimony really shines through in your writing. We are so blessed to be a part of this gospel. Isn't it great to be able to have the relationships we do with our Father? Thank you so much for your incite.
I loved all of your literal references to clothing, Rubie. It was cool to look at our own clothing as relating to the Robe of Righteousness and it was very inspiring.
As for Jinxie, your comment turned from a respectable opinion to an outright rude attack. That was uncalled for and unbelievable. I hope you don't think that speech is going to waver any of us from the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. We all know this church is true, and we support it. I'm sorry you have taken offense to the recent political debate, but that is no reason to lash out at someone who kindly and respectfully gave their own opinion. I feel sorry for anyone that has wasted their time by reading your much too lengthy comment.
I enjoyed reading this blog. Although we read about the armour of God serving as a protection, i have never thought about being a comfort to us also, like the robe of Righteousness. That is a good insight and addition.
Thanks for relating the clothes or righteousness to the clothing that we wear every day. I'm going to remember that every morning when I get dressed now. Thank you.
PS Chin up, life is good. Don't let them get you down.
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