How important is a white shirt?

[Superfly2028]

Read the church handbook of instructions.  It says that it´s recommendable, but not necessary.  As longs as conditions allow, all priesthood bearers should dress according to church standards, which normally include a white shirt and tie.  However, if a young man´s family doesn´t have enough money to buy a new white shirt, he should be able to use a t-shirt to pass the sacrament if that´s the best he has.  I see this too many times, bishops and stake presidents that don´t allow youth to pass the sacrament because he doesn´t have a white shirt nor tie.  That is completely absurd!

[Admin]

What about if the teen has many white shirts and ties but just outright refuses to wear them, will you still allow him to pass the sacrament?

[quaper]

The reson we are recomended to wear a white shirt is because if your are wearing a bright pink shirt it's possible that it could distract some people during the sacrament.  It also can signify purity.

[Suzie_Su]

its important if you want to fit in but not a necessity. there are some fanatics out there who think is almost a sin not to wear one but thats their mindset.

[JoePublic]

Name: Ronan

Comments: White shirts are not required but are highly recommended in countries that use the white shirt as a dress shirt.  Really it should be the best you have available as pertaining to your culture.  But should be as close to white as possible. just like the person passing it.  He should be as clean ass possible both inside and out.   

[Happy_LDS]

If they're not required how come some Bishops won't allow kids to pass the sacrament unless they have a white shirt?

[tragula]

I have to agree with Happy_LDS on this one.  I really wonder if we are not becoming a little bit like the Pharisees when whe focus more on form than substance.  As I understand it, there is only one man on earth who has the authority to pronounce policy for the Church, and I am not aware of any President of the Church who has ever thought that whether or not a Deacon wears a white shirt was a subject worthy of even mentioning.  Anyone else who dares to make rules about what must be worn while passing the sacrament is guilty of usurping the authority of the President of the Church, and I think that we can safely say that anyone who is guilty of usurping the authority of the President of the Church is not inspired by the Lord.  Hence, his advice can be safely disregarded.

Years ago, when President N. Eldon Tanner was serving as the Bishop of his ward, he tried to find out why the members of the Aaronic Priesthood were not attending their Sunday meetings.  What he found out was that they were not attending because they did not have suits and coats and ties to wear to church like everyone else did.  He promised his young men that he would wear his overalls to Church if they would wash and wear theirs.  It worked.  The young men started coming to their Sunday meetings because the Bishop was wearing, not the best that he had, but he was wearing overalls so that the young men would not feel out of place.

I hear people saying that the young men should wear the best that they have, and if they only have a t-shirt, then that is okay.  But ask yourself this--how many young men would want to come to Church in a t-shirt if they knew that everyone else there would be dressed in white shirts and ties?  They would feel out of place.  But this is the very position that we put people in when we require our young men to wear white shirts and ties to Church.

In our ward, it has gotten to the point where a white shirt and tie is not enough.  In order to either pass or bless the sacrament, a young man must be wearing a dress coat and white shirt and tie.  It's called "the uniform of the priesthood."  Did this come from the Prophet?  I don't think so.  My son did not have a dress coat, and I did not have enough money to buy him one.  So, what did they do?  They forced him to wear a borrowed coat in order to pass or bless the sacrament, even though the coat was too short for him and didn't really fit his long, lanky frame.  That looked more ridiculous than if they had just allowed him to wear his white shirt and tie.  Are we really honoring the ordinances of the Church when we adhere to such standards so strictly that we make our young men look ridiculous?

[Suzie_Su]

That's fanaticism to its purest form. My issue is that from the top the Church does not seem to make the type of statements that are necessary for these leaders to hear so they won't commit these kind of mistakes you know what am I saying? Its ridiculous really.