say that, as i didn't serve a full time mission. The thing that would be bad about it is that the number of 18 year olds that can pull off a beard is few and its even lower for sister missionaries.

The no shorts or flip flops thing is part of the reason i refer to BYU-I as BYU-Afghanistan.

I get that the church has an image they want to uphold and i would appreciate it if that was the reason actually given for why the ban is in place, but currently it gets sold as some sort of higher law that is supposed to make me more spiritual by following it.

I think the usage of that scripture about intent vs appearance hits the nail on the head. By and large the kids at byu are good people who want to represent their church well and who love the church (note there are those who dont but theyre no where near to a majority).

Much of the angst behind all this is the rules that they have to follow make them feel like children, when many of them are adults with responsibilities.