Greg Prince returns to Inside Out for the fourth installment of our deep dive into the LDS temple recommend interview—and this time, some of the most consequential questions take center stage.
Ian, Jim, and Greg tackle tithing: What exactly constitutes a “full tithe”? Gross? Net? Increase? Should someone struggling financially be denied temple attendance because they can’t afford ten percent? And what happens when individual bishops and stake presidents interpret the requirement differently?
From there, the conversation turns to financial obligations to former spouses and children, followed by a wide-ranging discussion of temple garments—the history of how they’ve been worn, changing Church instructions, stories about garments providing physical protection, and the larger question of what the garment is actually intended to represent.
Ultimately, the discussion returns to the purpose of the recommend interview itself. Is it primarily a worthiness test administered by Church leaders, or could it become something more pastoral—a conversation designed to help people draw closer to God?
