Servants of the Lord have always counselled us to dress appropriately to show respect for our Heavenly Father and for ourselves. The way you dress sends messages about yourself to others and often influences the way you and others act. Dress in such a way as to bring out the best in yourself and those around you. Avoid extremes in clothing and appearance, including tattoos and piercings.

President Thomas S. Monson    www.lds.org/ldsorg/v/index.jsp?hideNav=1...


What creation is more magnificent than the human body? What a wondrous thing it is as the crowning work of the Almighty.
Paul, in writing to the Corinthians, said: “Know ye not that ye are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you?
“If any man defile the temple of God, him shall God destroy; for the temple of God is holy, which temple ye are” (1 Cor. 3:16–17).
Did you ever think that your body is holy? You are a child of God. Your body is His creation. Would you disfigure that creation with portrayals of people, animals, and words painted into your skin?

I promise you that the time will come, if you have tattoos, that you will regret your actions. They cannot be washed off. They are permanent. Only by an expensive and painful process can they be removed. If you are tattooed, then probably for the remainder of your life you will carry it with you. I believe the time will come when it will be an embarrassment to you. Avoid it. We, as your Brethren who love you, plead with you not to become so disrespectful of the body which the Lord has given you.

May I mention earrings and rings placed in other parts of the body. These are not manly. They are not attractive. You young men look better without them, and I believe you will feel better without them. As for the young women, you do not need to drape rings up and down your ears. One modest pair of earrings is sufficient.

I mention these things because again they concern your bodies. How truly beautiful is a well-groomed young woman who is clean in body and mind. She is a daughter of God in whom her Eternal Father can take pride. How handsome is a young man who is well groomed. He is a son of God, deemed worthy of holding the holy priesthood of God. He does not need tattoos or earrings on or in his body. The First Presidency and the Quorum of the Twelve are all united in counseling against these things.

President Gordon B. Hinckley       www.lds.org/ldsorg/v/index.jsp?hideNav=1...

SIGNS of the times:


(Revelations 8:9) When the second destroying angel poured out his vial upon the earth, "the third part of the creatures which were in the sea, and had life, died.”

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In the opening of this dispensation the foretelling of the Church’s remarkable family history work occurred on the initial visit of Moroni to the boy Joseph Smith on the evening of 21 September 1823. In answer to his supplication, Joseph’s bedroom was filled with light until it was “lighter than at noonday” and a personage, standing in the air, appeared before him.

He addressed the 17-year-old youth by his first name and said that “he was a messenger sent from the presence of God … and that his name was Moroni; that God had a work for [Joseph] to do; and that [his] name should be had for good and evil among all nations, kindreds, and tongues” 

He then told of the Book of Mormon record, and after speaking in detail concerning this, he quoted from the book of Malachi and particularly from the last verses of that book with some differences from the language of the King James Bible.

He declared: “Behold, I will reveal unto you the Priesthood, by the hand of Elijah the prophet, before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the Lord. …“And he shall plant in the hearts of the children the promises made to the fathers, and the hearts of the children shall turn to their fathers. If it were not so, the whole earth would be utterly wasted at his coming”.

I repeat, my brothers and sisters: it is tremendously significant to me that this declaration, this repetition of the wondrous words of Malachi concerning the work for the dead, was given to the boy Joseph four years before he was allowed to take the plates from the hill. It was given before he received either the Aaronic or Melchizedek Priesthood, before he was baptized, and well before the Church was organized. It says much concerning the priority of this work in the plan of the Lord.

It would be 1836 before Elijah came with the keys of this work. Little could be done concerning it for some years after that. But can anyone doubt the importance with which it is regarded by the Almighty, who, in His infinite wisdom, had a plan under which the full benefits of the atonement wrought by His Beloved Son might be made available to all of the sons and daughters of God of all generations of time? And without this work, the Lord indicated, the whole purpose of creating and peopling the earth would be frustrated, would be wasted.

There are today many genealogical and family history societies in the world. I think they all have come into existence subsequent to the visit of Elijah. One of the oldest and most prestigious is the New England Historic Genealogical Society, organized in 1844, the year of the Prophet’s death. Since then, and in more recent years particularly, there has been a tremendous surge of interest in family history. With that surge, the Family History Department of the Church has grown to be able to accommodate it.

When the Utah Genealogical Society was organized in 1894, the charter members contributed 11 volumes. That original rootstock has grown to a library of 258,000 volumes. Each month another thousand books are added to this collection. The collection also includes 1.9 million rolls of microfilm to which are added an additional 5,000 rolls each month. This has become the world’s largest collection of family history data.

Only a handful of our people used the modest family history resources of the Church around the turn of the century. How things have changed! During each of the last five years, more than 750,000 researchers have used the main library here in Salt Lake City and the more than 2,650 family history centers scattered across the world. Approximately 40 percent of those using the Family History Library and 60 percent of the patrons using local centers are not members of the Church. We offer a tremendous service to those not of our faith. 

There is nothing else to compare with this treasury of family history on the face of the whole earth. I feel the Lord has designed that it should be so. This is His church which carries His name, and one of its purposes is to make available to the millions beyond the veil of death the full blessings that lead to eternal life.

There are millions across the world who are working on family history records. Why? Why are they doing it? I believe it is because they have been touched by the spirit of this work, a thing which we call the spirit of Elijah. It is a turning of the hearts of the children to their fathers. Most of them do not understand any real purpose in this, other than perhaps a strong and motivating curiosity.