|
|
September 10, 2010
Ten Commandments: Great Quotes and Stress Management
Ten Commandments 4
Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy.
 Many of us would have the vigor without the observance of the health laws, prosperity through the opened windows of heaven without the payment of our tithes. We would have the close communion with our Father without fasting and praying; we would have rain in due season and peace in the land without observing the Sabbath and keeping the other commandments of the Lord.~ Spencer W. Kimball
Perhaps now more than ever, we need the spiritual sustenance that comes from sincere observance of the Sabbath. ~ Lloyd D. Newell
A Measured Pace
Dinner Talk Topic: Burn-out can be avoided. *Order, Sabbath observance
Teach them to never be weary of good works, but to be meek and lowly in heart; for such shall find rest to their souls. ~Alma 37:34~
In the throb of our modern pace of life, there is much talk about stress, burnout, and chronic weariness. Few have time for meditation. In the rush for “stuff” and “fun,” there is never time left over for the things that matter most. It has been said of us that we “are in the thick of thin things.” Yes, there may be endless obligations to activities, organizations, clubs, and programs. All have their place, and most offer something positive. We try to do them all, and yet we often feel like we are marking time and getting nowhere. And we are not enjoying the journey. How can some people carry on unceasingly, and seem never to grow weary?
We can find a pattern in the pace taken by the children of Israel as they journeyed in the wilderness in a much simpler era.
 So it was alway: the cloud covered it by day, and the appearance of fire by night. And when the cloud was taken up from the tabernacle, then after that the children of Israel journeyed: and in the place where the cloud abode, there the children of Israel pitched their tents. At the commandment of the LORD the children of Israel journeyed, and at the commandment of the LORD they pitched: as long as the cloud abode upon the tabernacle they rested in their tents.
And so it was, when the cloud abode from even unto the morning, and that the cloud was taken up in the morning, then they journeyed: whether it was by day or by night that the cloud was taken up, they journeyed. Or whether it were two days, or a month, or a year, that the cloud tarried upon the tabernacle, remaining thereon, the children of Israel abode in their tents, and journeyed not: but when it was taken up, they journeyed (Numbers 9:16-18,21-22)
At times their heavenly guide would call upon them to “regroup” for a lengthy time. But in this way, all things were done in order. When they did move, it was assuredly toward their goal. There were none of those decisions made in panic, which always end up being foolish decisions, and which interfere with our progress. When spirit-led priorities are addressed first, then we need not be too weary for the good works.
Belle Spafford counseled, “The average woman today, I believe, would do well to appraise her interests, evaluate the activities in which she is engaged, and then take steps to simplify her life, putting things of first importance first, placing emphasis where the rewards will be greatest and most enduring, and ridding herself of the less rewarding activities.”
One of these basics, if done simply, can provide the family with important “regrouping” time on a daily basis. The family dinner hour can become a time of refreshment instead of burn out, and can have enduring rewards as well.
Excerpt from Epic Stories for Character Education,
New book coming soon by your Dinner Talk Blog author, Christine Davidson
September 9, 2010
 Ten Commandments 3: Great Quotes on Reverence in our Language
Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain.
“The world is growing more profane, more coarse in speech, but we cannot suffer ourselves to fall into that pattern. Cursing and coarse language mock God and Christ and their creations.”
~D. Todd Christofferson
Swearing is not the only way to take the Lord’s name in vain. Some people’s conversation is laced with the expression “my God”. . . . as if they were using it as a filler. When we use His name like that, it is taking it in vain, because we are not thinking about Him with reverence, but using His name for effect. Profanity and vain expressions offend the Holy Spirit.
A soft answer turneth away wrath. Proverbs 15:1
Controlling our emotions, such as anger, gives us great power that many people do not have. ~Old Testament for LDS Families, p.457
We can lower our voices a few decibels. We can return good for evil. We can smile when anger might be so much easier. We can exercise self-control and self-discipline. ~Gordon B. Hinckley
We can respond to irritation with a smile instead of scowl, or by giving warm praise instead of icy indifference. By our being understanding instead of abrupt, others, in turn, may decide to hold on a little longer rather than to give way. Love, patience, and meekness can be just as contagious as rudeness and crudeness. ~Neal A. Maxwell
When we love, even in the presence of bitterness and anger, we create ever-widening circles of kindness and compassion. Peace comes to us when we return good for evil, when we are considerate in the presence of cruelty, when we are gentle in the presence of harshness. ~Newell and Millet, A Lamp Unto My Feet, p.249
More about reverence
Related Post:
The Ten Commandments, defended
September 8, 2010
The Ten Commandments
What is your focus?
1. Thou shalt have no other gods before me.
2. Thou shalt not make to thyself any graven images.
 Vigilance and a constant reminder of the commandments of God are forever necessary to avoid the golden calves that beckon our attention. ~ Newell, Millet. A Lamp Unto My Feet, p. 69
It may seem a little difficult at first, but when a person begins to catch a vision of the true work, when he begins to see something of eternity in its true perspective, the blessings begin to far out-weigh the cost of leaving “the world” behind.
Modern idolatry
By Spencer W. Kimball
Few men have ever knowingly and deliberately chosen to reject God and his blessings. Rather, we learn from the scriptures that because the exercise of faith has always appeared to be more difficult than relying on things more immediately at hand, carnal man has tended to transfer his trust in God to material things. . . . . men have lost the faith, they have put in its place a hope in the “arm of flesh” and in “gods of silver, and gold, of brass, iron, wood, and stone, which see not, nor hear, nor know” (Dan. 5:23) — that is, idols. This I find to be a dominant theme in the Old Testament. Whatever thing a man sets his heart and his trust in most is his god; and if his god doesn’t also happen to be the true and living God of Israel, that man is laboring in idolatry.
Idolatry is among the most serious of sins. . . .
Modern idols or false gods can take such forms as clothes, homes, businesses, machines, automobiles, pleasure boats, and numerous other material deflectors.
Intangible things make just as ready gods. Degrees and letters and titles can become idols. . . .
Many people build and furnish a home and buy the automobile fist— and then find they “cannot afford” to pay tithing. Whom do they worship? Certainly not the Lord of heaven and earth. . . (p.146)
In spite of our delight in defining ourselves as modern, and our tendency to think we possess a sophistication that no people in the past ever had— in spite of these things, we are, on the whole, an idolatrous people— a condition most repugnant to the Lord.
 I am reminded of an article I read some years ago about a group of men who had gone to the jungles to capture monkeys. They tried a number of different things to catch the monkeys, including nets. But finding that the nets could injure such small creatures, they finally came upon an ingenious solution. They built a large number of small boxes, and in the top of each they bored a hole just large enough for a monkey to get his hand into. They then set these boxes out under the trees and in each one they put a nut that the monkeys were particularly fond of.
When the men left, the monkeys began to come down from the trees and examine the boxes. Finding that there were nuts to be had, they reached into the boxes to get them. But when a monkey would try to withdraw his hand with the nut, he could not get his hand out of the box because his little fist, with the nut inside, was now too large.
At about this time, the men would come out of the underbrush and converge on the monkeys. And here is the curious thing: when the monkeys saw the men coming, they would shriek and scramble about with the thought of escaping; but as easy as it would have been, they would not let go of the nut so that they could withdraw their hands from the boxes and thus escape. The men captured them easily.
And so it often seems to be with people, having such a firm grasp on the things of the world— that which is telestial— that no amount of urging and no degree of emergency can persuade them to let go in favor of that which is celestial. Stan gets them in his grip easily. If we insist on spending all our time and resources building up for ourselves a worldly kingdom, that is exactly what we will inherit.
We should use our resources to build up the kingdom of God.
The Lord has blessed us as a people with a prosperity unequaled in times past. The resources that have been placed in our power are good, and necessary to our work here on the earth. But I am afraid that many of us have been surfeited with flocks and herds and acres and barns and wealth and have begun to worship them as false gods, and they have power over us. . . .
Forgotten is the fact that our assignment is to use these many resources in our families . . . .to build up the kingdom of God— to raise our children up as fruitful servants unto the Lord; to bless others in every way, that they may also be fruitful. Instead, we expend these blessings on our own desires, and as Moroni said, “Ye adorn yourselves with that which hath no life, and yet suffer the hungry, and the needy, and the naked, and the sick and the afflicted to pass by you, and notice them not.” (Morm. 8:39)
Love and follow the Lord with all our hearts.
It is not enough for us to acknowledge the Lord as supreme and refrain from worshiping idols; we should love the Lord with all our heart, might, mind, and strength.
We must leave off the worship of modern-day idols and a reliance on the “arm of flesh”, for the Lord has said to all the world in our day, “I will not spare any that remain in Babylon.” (D&C64:24)
“For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.” (Matthew 6:21)
Blessings we receive from serving the Lord far exceed the rewards offered by the world.
“Prepare ye, prepare ye for that which is to come, for the Lord is nigh.” (D&C 1:11-12)
It may seem a little difficult at first, but when a person begins to catch a vision of the true work, when he begins to see something of eternity in its true perspective, the blessings begin to far out-weigh the cost of leaving “the world” behind.
*Teachings of Spencer W. Kimball, pp. 145-153
Dinner Talk
1. Why do you think “Thou shalt have no other gods before me” is the first of the Ten Commandments?
2. Ponder this statement. “Whatever thing a man sets his heart and his trust in most is his god”.
What are some false gods in the world today? Can philosophies of men be idols? Can TV, computer games, internet, famous people?
3. When can hobbies make us closer to God? At what point can hobbies pull us away from God?
4 What can we learn from the story about monkey traps? What do we risk if we take too firm a hold on the things of this world?
5. Why do you think some people willingly forfeit the blessings of serving in the Lord’s kingdom? What should be our motivation when we serve?
6. What do you think it means to “love the Lord with all our heart, might, mind, and strength”? What can parents do to help their children love the Lord?
 If you watch less TV and electronic games, what else might you do?
September 3, 2010
Attitude: Great Quotes
 Attitude
The adventure of life is to learn.
The purpose of life is to grow.
The nature of life is to change.
The challenge of life is to overcome.
The essence of life is to care.
The opportunity of life is to serve.
The secret of life is to love.
The spice of life is to befriend.
The beauty of life is to give.
~James LeVoy Sorenson
I’m a great believer in luck and I find the harder I work, the more I have of it. Thomas Jefferson
We could never learn to be brave and patient if there were only joy in the world. ~Helen Keller
I like living. I have sometimes been wildly, despairingly, acutely miserable, racked with sorrow, but through it all I still know quite certainly that just to be alive is a grand thing. ~Agatha Christie
Cultivate an attitude of happiness. Cultivate a spirit of optimism. Walk with faith, rejoicing in the beauties of nature, in the goodness of those you love, in the testimony which you carry in your heart concerning things divine” ~Gordon B. Hinckley
We must look forward to the unknown with optimism and confidence; look to tomorrow with happy expectancy, realizing that with God’s help we can do all things. We need to constantly build faith in ourselves and those about us. We need to personally make dark days brighter. ~Gordon B. Hinckley
Be believing. Be happy. Don’t get discouraged. Things will work out. ~Gordon B. Hinckley
Even in the midst of our commotion, we, too, are to save a starving world, a world hungry for the word of God. ~Maurine Proctor
Don’t be afraid your life will end; be afraid that it will never begin. ~Grace Hansen
Some succeed because they are destined to, but most succeed because they are determined to.
The best thing about the future is that it comes one day at a time.
Everyone is trying to accomplish something big, not realizing life is made up of little things.
No one can make you feel inferior without your consent. ~Eleanor Roosevelt
Attitude is a little thing that makes a big difference.
Success is a journey, not a destination.
In the confrontation between the stream and the rock, the stream always wins—not through strength, but through persistence. ~Buddha
Home School Teaching ideas: Awakening curiosity in children
Teaching ideas: Awakening curiosity in children
Darla Isackson wrote this article with Lynn Stoddard. This is part 4 in the series Educating for Human Greatness.
We all want to create a learning climate in our homes that makes learning fun and encourages children to exercise their natural curiosity– but don’t always know how. Consequently, I was excited to find specific “how to’s” in Lynn Stoddard’s book, Educating for Human Greatness.
Education Should Be Inquiry-Based
Brother Stoddard says, “A metaphor for the brain could be a vacuum cleaner, or an aggressive octopus. When information is sucked into the brain and processed by one’s free will, it has a much different effect on us than does unsolicited information. This is why it is so important and powerful to Invite Inquiry.
A home or school organized for the purpose of helping children become avid seekers after knowledge and wisdom is very different from those focused on dispensing a body of predetermined information. When the desire of the child to learn is not taken into consideration, results can be dismal. A long time ago Plato wrote that “knowledge acquired under compulsion obtains no hold on the mind.”
Brother Stoddard makes the important point that the spirit of inquiry stimulates curiosity, awakens a sense of wonder and appreciation for nature and for humankind. Those with the spirit of inquiry ask important, penetrating questions and are highly motivated to find answers. We can make our homes into “inquiry centers,” as Stoddard calls them.
Home Applications
There is no end to the ways you can make inquiry-based learning centers at home, such as:
• Develop any kind of a library/media center that fits your home situation. When public libraries are selling surplus materials, you can pick up excellent books and audio/visual products for pennies on the dollar. Church Distribution Center is an excellent source for low-cost religious materials.
• Create what Lynn Stoddard calls a “realia center.” You might want to go on nature hikes with your children in order to equip it with rocks, seashells, bird nests, beehives, pine cones, insect collections, etc. If financially feasible, add binoculars, a magnifying glass, a telescope, and a microscope to encourage in-depth investigation.
• At Brother Stoddard’s school they made what they called “inquiry boxes.” Typical of these boxes was one that contained some electric wire, batteries, bulbs, switches, a large nail, a small compass, and an inquiry guide for learning about electric currents. These boxes could be created for any area of curiosity a child might have to encourage experimentation.
• Invite your kids to help you make maps of inquiry sites that might be of interest to them within a two-, five-, and ten-mile radius of your home. Lists of field-trip possibilities can be helpful to give you ideas when you need them.
• If you have access to old National Geographics magazines, or science books or magazines, you can have your children help you tear them apart and divide them into individual inquiry notebooks on a great variety of topics. (Costco has low-price boxes of 500 page protectors which makes such projects glue-less, easy, and durable for future use.)
• Aquariums can be wonderful for children, stocked with any variety of sea creatures. (Even most apartments that don’t allow other pets will allow them.) In Lynn Stoddard’s school, they obtained some war surplus 5-gallon glass jugs that they used to study leeches and other interesting water creatures.
• An arts and crafts center with a rotating supply of materials can spark creativity and make it easy for parents to suggest possible projects and let children choose the medium that interests them most.
Continue
September 2, 2010
Character education: self discipline
 The door to permissiveness, the door to lewdness and vulgarity and obscenity swings only one way. It only opens farther and farther; it never seems to swing back. Individuals can choose to close it, but it is certain, historically speaking, that public appetite and public policy will not close it. No, in the moral realm the only real control you have is self-control. ~Jeffrey R. Holland
We live in an impatient and intemperate world full of uncertainty and contention.
Security for our families comes from learning self-control, avoiding the excesses of this world, and being temperate in all things.
When we are confronted with affliction, He said: “Be patient in afflictions, revile not against those that revile. Govern your house in meekness, and be steadfast.” (D&C 31:9) ~Kent D. Watson
Internal Government
September 1, 2010
Islam beliefs and public schools
Is Islam the new state religion, or what?
 In 1963 a Supreme Court ruling banned prayer in the schools. For years, Bibles, Nativities, Christmas songs, Easter—anything having to do with Christianity has been strictly taboo. Christmas vacation became “Winter Break”, and Easter vacation became “Spring Break”.
Apparently our State Religion of 50 years is now showing some inconsistencies.
Syndicated columnist and Fox News contributor Cal Thomas says he doesn’t see Christian students getting similar accommodations around the country.
“It is instructive to me that schools are going out of their way to discriminate against Christians by denying them the right to voluntarily pray with coaches and other players before games, but those same schools bend over backwards to accommodate Muslim student athletes for Ramadan,” Thomas told FoxNews.com.
“This is worse than a double standard. It is singling out one religion and giving it priority over all others. And that is, or ought to be, unconstitutional.”[]
According to the group Act for America, the debate in public schools has gone beyond classes on world religions, and respect for all religions.
Brigitte Gabriel regularly speaks out about a three week Islam course used in some public schools, which sanitizes the history of Islam and is essentially a proselytizing tool that requires students to memorize verses from the Qur’an and say the Islamic shahada, the words spoken when one becomes a Muslim.
According to the New York Post, apparently some religions are “more equal” than others.
HS test ‘slams’ Christianity, lauds Islam
By YOAV GONEN Education Reporter
State testmakers played favorites when quizzing high-schoolers on world religions — giving Islam and Buddhism the kid-gloves treatment while socking it to Christianity, critics say.
Teachers complain that the reading selections from the Regents exam in global history and geography given last week featured glowing passages pertaining to Muslim society but much more critical essay excerpts on the subject of Christianity.
“There should have been a little balance in there,” said one Brooklyn teacher who administered the exam but did not want to be identified.
“To me, this was offensive because it’s just so inappropriate and the timing of it was piss-poor,” he added, referring to the debate over the plan to build a mosque near Ground Zero.
The most troubling passage came from Daniel Roselle’s “A World History: A Cultural Approach,” observers said.
The passage reads: “Wherever they went, the Moslems [sic] brought with them their love of art, beauty and learning. From about the eighth to the eleventh century, their culture was superior in many ways to that of western Christendom.”
Meanwhile, an excerpt listing the common procedures used by Christian friars to introduce the religion in Latin America stated that “idols, temples and other material evidences of paganism [were] destroyed,” and “Christian buildings [were] often constructed on sites of destroyed native temples” — and built with free Indian labor, to boot.
“I can see why some people might see these questions as skewed,” said Mark MacWilliams, a religious-studies professor at St. Lawrence University in upstate Canton. “Why does the exam seem to have only documents that portray Islam as a religion of peace, civilization and refinement, while it includes documents about Christianity that show it was anything but peaceful in the Spanish conquest of the Americas?”
 At the same time, MacWilliams criticized the presentation of Hernando Cortes’ conquest of Mexico — which he said portrayed him as a “choirboy” rather than a “conquistador.”
“It’s quite a whitewash,” he said.
Some other religious-studies experts contacted by The Post said they didn’t see what the fuss was all about.
“[The] selections seem about equal in terms of being historically/culturally focused, all relatively positive about the contributions made by each religion as it was introduced into various societies,” wrote Barbara Sproul, an associate professor of religion at Hunter College in Manhattan.
Yet Michael Dobkowski, chair of Religious Studies at Hobart and William Smith Colleges in upstate Geneva, asserted that it was only Christianity for which both positive and negative aspects were highlighted.
“Some [essays] suggest a kind of Christian triumphalism and the desire to convert the other that is not present in the treatment of Islam,” he said. “My impression is that there is certainly a divergence of approaches and impressions that should not appear in a Regents exam of this caliber.”
State education officials said that every effort had been made to present accurate historical information through the excerpts.
They said the questions had been developed over a four-year period and require students to use their own knowledge of social studies to produce answers.
They added that they weren’t aware of any complaints about the exam.
The Muslim reading:
* “Wherever they went, the Moslems [sic] brought with them their love of art, beauty and learning. From about the eighth to the eleventh century, their culture was superior in many ways to that of western Christendom.
* “Some of the finest centers of Moslem life were established in Spain. In Cordova, the streets were solidly paved, while at the same time in Paris people waded ankle-deep in mud after a rain. Cordovan public lamps lighted roads for as far as ten miles; yet seven hundred years later there was still not a single public lamp in London!”
Source: Daniel Roselle, A World History: A Cultural Approach
The Christian reading:
Common Procedures used by Friars in Converting Areas in Spanish America:
* “Idols, temples and other material evidences of paganism destroyed.”
* “Christian buildings often constructed on sites of destroyed native temples in order to symbolize and emphasize the substitution of one religion by the other.”
* “Indians supplied construction labor without receiving payment.”
* “In a converted community, services and fiestas were regularly held in the church building.” []
Source: Based on information from Charles Gibson, Spain in America
Additional reporting by Chuck Bennett
According to Associated Press:
WASHINGTON – The good will tour of the Middle East by the imam behind the proposed mosque near “Ground Zero” is just part of the U.S. government’s outreach to the Muslim world.
This year, the Obama administration will spend nearly $6 million to restore 63 historic and cultural sites, including mosques and minarets, in 55 nations, according to State Department documents.
That includes $76,000 for a 16th century mosque in China, $67,000 for a mosque in Pakistan, $77,000 to restore minarets in Nigeria and Mauritania, and $50,000 for an Islamic Monument in India.
But that’s a fraction of the total in the 2010 Ambassadors Fund for Cultural Preservation, which also will fund projects to restore Christian and Buddhist sites as well as museums, forts and palaces. []
Should the government use taxpayers’ money for these projects in foreign lands, when there are so many in the U.S. who are jobless, and when our own freedom of religion is so under fire here at home?
 So what do you think? Is Islam now replacing atheism as the new state religion, or what? I am all for freedom of religion. I just always thought Christianity was a religion, too, and qualified for the same freedom. Jesus taught love and respect. He never forced anyone to follow Him.
Related post:
American History : Freedom of Religion, or enforced State Religion?
August 31, 2010
This is a revised post with an important news update.
Freedom of Information Act; It Pays to speak up!
Feds embargo, then release pro-abstinence findings
 What happened to academic freedom? Should the Department of Health, of all people, be allowed to stifle health information that they don’t agree with?
In an earlier post I wrote of a state religion enforced in the schools. There is much talk about not imposing certain “values” on anyone, but the following article clearly demonstrates how a belief system is still being imposed on students, giving them no options. Just as atheism, even though godless, is still a system of beliefs, in the name of tolerance and so-called “non-values”, it is being enforced, to the detriment of our freedom of information, and of the health of our young people. No one need ramrod either point of view. Simply present the students with the truth. They are intelligent people; they will make good decisions.
Flash update! In response to criticism, the feds release the findings. See link at end of this article.
Feds embargo pro-abstinence findings
By Bill Bumpas and Jody Brown – OneNewsNow -
The full results of a national study that favors abstinence education is being withheld from researchers and the public.
The taxpayer-supported survey from 2008 found that around 70 percent of parents and their teenagers believed that teens should wait until marriage to have sex. Despite release of the study’s summary and its highlight at two major public health conferences last year, the Department of Health and Human Services is withholding the full results according to Valerie Huber, executive director of the National Abstinence Education Foundation.
“When a researcher [Dr. Lisa Rue] asked the HHS for the full results, she [was told it] is not public information and it has not been released to the public and so you don’t have access to it,” relates Huber. “[I find that] a little incredulous since it was shared publicly at two different venues.”
Huber questions the motivation of the Obama administration, noting that “as of this past fiscal year, President Obama specifically put in his budget a desire to end all funding for abstinence education.”
She hopes a change will be made soon. “We think that an administration that wants things to be open and clear should certainly do something different than the decision that is currently being exercised,” Huber remarks.
Continue reading Story . . .
Flash update! In response to criticism, the feds release the findings
It pays to speak up!
Related Post:
American History : Freedom of Religion, or enforced State Religion?
August 30, 2010
Famous Paintings: Story of the Praying Hands
 Late in the fifteenth century, two young and zealous wood-carving apprentices in France confided in each other their craving to study painting. Such study would take money and both Hans and Albrecht had none. Their joint solution was to have one work and earn money while the other one studied. When the lucky one became rich and famous, he would work and aid the other one. They tossed a coin and Albrecht won. Albrecht quickly went to Venice to study painting while Hans worked as a blacksmith.
After many hard years, at last Albrecht returned home as an independent master. Now it was his turn to help Hans. However, when Albrecht looked at his friend, tears welled in his eyes. Only then did he discover the extent of his friend’s sacrifice. The years of heavy labor in the blacksmith shop had calloused and enlarged Hans’ sensitive hands. Hans could never be a painter. In humble gratitude to Hans for his years of sacrifice, the great artist, Albrecht Durer, painted a portrait of the work-worn hands that sacrificed so much so that he might develop his talent. He presented this painting of praying hands to his devoted friend. Today, this master piece is a symbol of love and sacrifice and is familiar to millions of people throughout the world.
~Ellsworth Publishing Co.
August 27, 2010
Abstinence Education
The Law of Chastity
Spencer W. Kimball
 The Lord has only one standard of morality—total chastity for both men and women before marriage and complete fidelity afterward.
From the Life of Spencer W. Kimball
In counseling Church members about dating, courtship, and marriage, President Spencer W. Kimball emphasized the importance of living by the Lord’s law of chastity and fidelity. He also warned against Satan’s attempts to make the violation of this law seem justified or harmless. He told of a young couple who had fallen prey to this deception of the adversary:
“The boy said, ‘Yes, we yielded to each other, but we do not think it wrong because we love one another.’ I thought I had misunderstood him. Since the world began, there have been countless immoralities, but to hear them justified by Latter-day Saint youth shocked me. He repeated, ‘No, it is not wrong, because we love one another.’
“They had repeated this abominable heresy so often that they had convinced themselves, and a wall of resistance had been built, and behind this wall they stubbornly, almost defiantly, stood.”
To their rationalization, President Kimball responded, “No, my beloved young people, you did not love one another. Rather, you lusted for one another. … If one really loves another, one would rather die for that person than injure him. At the hour of indulgence, pure love is pushed out one door while lust sneaks in the other.”1
President Kimball also testified that joy and peace come from obeying the law of chastity. He saw these blessings in the lives of faithful members, as in this experience he had in the temple:
“Here were peace and harmony and eager anticipation. A well-groomed young man and an exquisitely gowned young woman, lovely beyond description, knelt [at] the altar. Authoritatively, I pronounced the heavenly ceremony which married and sealed them for eternity on earth and in the celestial worlds. The pure in heart were there. Heaven was there.”2
The law of chastity prohibits all sexual relations outside marriage.
The law of the harvest has not been repealed [see Galatians 6:7].
Chastity part 2: Love vs. lust
Love is wholesome and selfless, but lust is corrupt and selfish.
The young man is untrue to his manhood who promises popularity, good times, security, fun, and even love, when all he can give is passion and its diabolical fruits—guilt complexes, disgust, hatred, abhorrence, eventual loathing, and possible pregnancy without legitimacy and honor. He pleads his case in love and all he gives is lust. Likewise, the young lady sells herself cheap. The result is damage to life and canker to the soul. …
And still these young people talk of love. What a corruption of the most beautiful term! The fruit is bitter because the tree is corrupt. Their lips say, “I love you.” Their bodies say, “I want you.” Love is kind and wholesome. To love is to give, not to take. To love is to serve, not to exploit. …
What is love? Many people think of it as mere physical attraction and they casually speak of “falling in love” and “love at first sight.”… One might become immediately attracted to another individual, but love is far more than physical attraction. It is deep, inclusive, and comprehensive. Physical attraction is only one of the many elements; there must be faith and confidence and understanding and partnership. There must be common ideals and standards. There must be great devotion and companionship. Love is cleanliness and progress and sacrifice and selflessness. This kind of love never tires or wanes, but lives through sickness and sorrow, poverty and privation, accomplishment and disappointment, time and eternity. For the love to continue, there must be an increase constantly of confidence and understanding, of frequent and sincere expression of appreciation and affection. There must be a forgetting of self and a constant concern for the other. Interests, hopes, objectives must be constantly focused into a single channel. …
The young man who protects his sweetheart against all use or abuse, against insult and infamy from himself or others, could be expressing true love. But the young man who uses his companion as a biological toy to give himself temporary satisfaction—that is lust.
A young woman who conducts herself to be attractive spiritually, mentally, and physically but will not by word or dress or act stir or stimulate to physical reactions the companion beside her could be expressing true love. That young woman who must touch and stir and fondle and tempt and use exhibits lust and exploitation. …
Beware of the devil’s trick of making evil seem good by giving it a label that conceals its character. Just such a device is the rationalization that lust is love.9
Even though sex can be an important and satisfactory part of married life, we must remember that life is not designed just for sex.10
The union of the sexes, husband and wife (and only husband and wife), was for the principal purpose of bringing children into the world. Sexual experiences were never intended by the Lord to be a mere plaything or merely to satisfy passions and lusts. We know of no directive from the Lord that proper sexual experience between husbands and wives need be limited totally to the procreation of children, but we find much evidence from Adam until now that no provision was ever made by the Lord for indiscriminate sex.11 (Source: “Chapter 17: The Law of Chastity,” Teachings of Presidents of the Church: Spencer W. Kimball, (2006), 178–88)
Chastity part 3: fighting internet obscenity
Chastity part 4: Dating
Related post:
Return to Virtue, Chastity
August 26, 2010
Dear Readers: Several of you have requested email subscription to this blog. In the right sidebar is now a link where you can enter your email, and you will receive a notice every time I post. I generally post every business day–about five days a week. If you missed yesterday’s post, its link is in the upper right corner of the title bar. Related posts often run a week or more, so hopefully this will help you follow the sequence. Thank you for all your kind comments. I have a blast doing this blog. I’m glad you enjoy it, too. ~C.A.Davidson
Moral Responsibility: a Return to Virtue
I truly believe that one virtuous young woman or young man, led by the Spirit, can change the world, but in order to do so, we must return to virtue. Now is the time for each of us to arise and unfurl a banner to the world calling for a return to virtue. ~Elaine S. Dalton
The following is quoted from the American Family Association Journal.
The Barna Group, a polling firm that analyzes U.S. cultural and religious trends, has examined the issue of morality in a nationwide survey in 2006 and found a very muddled morality indeed. Two-thirds of older adults said God’s principles should guide human beliefs about right and wrong, while less than half of Busters did. (The Busters generation—those in their 20s and 30s.) ~Vitagliano, AFA Journal, August, p.15
The link for this complete article, which explains the results of unrestrained promiscuity, is at the end of this post. But first, let’s consider how we can clear up this moral confusion for the younger generation.
 wise virgin All morality is rooted in something outside itself—a philosophical worldview that often has religious overtones. ~Ed Vitagliano
As several previous posts have shown, when we sow atheism, we reap misery and destruction. When we abandon God, there is no anchor for the soul. The solution is to return to virtue.
A Return to Virtue
Elaine S. Dalton
Virtue is a word we don’t hear often in today’s society, but the Latin root word virtus means strength. Virtuous women and men possess a quiet dignity and inner strength.
Virtue is a prerequisite to entering the Lord’s holy temples and to receiving the Spirit’s guidance. Virtue “is a pattern of thought and behavior based on high moral standards.” It encompasses chastity and moral purity. Virtue begins in the heart and in the mind. It is nurtured in the home. It is the accumulation of thousands of small decisions and actions. Virtue is a word we don’t hear often in today’s society, but the Latin root word virtus means strength. Virtuous women and men possess a quiet dignity and inner strength. They are confident because they are worthy to receive and be guided by the Holy Ghost. President Monson has counseled: “You be the one to make a stand for right, even if you stand alone. Have the moral courage to be a light for others to follow. There is no friendship more valuable than your own clear conscience, your own moral cleanliness—and what a glorious feeling it is to know that you stand in your appointed place clean and with the confidence that you are worthy to do so.”
Could it be that we have been slowly desensitized into thinking that high moral standards are old-fashioned and not relevant or important in today’s society? As Elder Hales has just reminded us, Lehonti in the Book of Mormon was well positioned on the top of a mountain. He and those he led were “fixed in their minds with a determined resolution” that they would not come down from the mount. It only took the deceitful Amalickiah four tries, each one more bold than the previous, to get Lehonti to “come down off from the mount.” And then having embraced Amalickiah’s false promises, Lehonti was “poison[ed] by degrees” until he died. Not just poisoned, but “by degrees.”
Could it be that this may be happening today? Could it be that first we tolerate, then accept, and eventually embrace the vice that surrounds us?10 Could it be that we have been deceived by false role models and persuasive media messages that cause us to forget our divine identity? Are we too being poisoned by degrees? What could be more deceptive than to entice the youth of this noble generation to do nothing or to be busy ever-texting but never coming to a knowledge of the truths contained in a book that was written for you and your day by prophets of God—the Book of Mormon?
What could be more deceptive than to entice women, young and old, you and me, to be so involved in ourselves, our looks, our clothes, our body shape and size that we lose sight of our divine identity and our ability to change the world through our virtuous influence?
What could be more deceptive than to entice men—young and old, holding the holy priesthood of God—to view seductive pornography and thus focus on flesh instead of faith, to be consumers of vice rather than guardians of virtue? The Book of Mormon relates the story of 2,000 young heroes whose virtue and purity gave them the strength to defend their parents’ covenants and their family’s faith. Their virtue and commitment to be “true at all times” changed the world!
I truly believe that one virtuous young woman or young man, led by the Spirit, can change the world, but in order to do so, we must return to virtue. We must engage in strict training. As the marathon runner Juma Ikangaa said after winning the New York Marathon, “The will to win is nothing without the will to prepare.”12 Now is the time to prepare by exercising more self-discipline. Now is the time to become “more fit for the kingdom.” Now is the time to set our course and focus on the finish. A return to virtue must begin individually in our hearts and in our homes.
What can each of us do to begin our return to virtue? The course and the training program will be unique to each of us. I have derived my personal training program from instructions found in the scriptures: “Let virtue garnish thy thoughts unceasingly.”“Cleave unto [your] covenants.”“Stand … in holy places.” “Lay aside the things of [the] world.” “Believe that ye must repent.” “Always remember him and keep his commandments.” And “if there is anything virtuous, lovely, or of good report or praiseworthy, … seek after these things.” Now more than ever before, it is time to respond to Moroni’s call to “awake, and arise” and to “lay hold upon every good gift, and touch not the evil gift, nor the unclean thing.”
Recently I attended the blessing of our newest granddaughter. It was a holy sight to me as my husband and our sons, along with many other loved ones, encircled this little infant. She was so elegant all dressed in white—and it didn’t hurt a bit that she was named after her two grandmothers! But the thing that touched me most was the blessing given by her father, our son Zach. He blessed little Annabel Elaine that she would understand her identity as a daughter of God, that she would follow the examples of her mother, grandmothers, and sister, and that she would find great joy as she lived a virtuous life and prepared to make and keep sacred temple covenants. In that sacred moment, I prayed that every young woman might be encircled, strengthened, and protected by righteous priesthood power, not only at the time of birth and blessing but throughout life.
During the solemn assembly last conference . . . I watched the entire congregation of . . . brethren arise and stand. I felt your strength and your priesthood power. You are the guardians of virtue. Then I was overcome with emotion when he said, “Will the young women please arise?” From my seat, I saw all of you arise and stand together. Today there could be no more powerful force for virtue in the world. You must never underestimate the power of your righteous influence.
I testify that a return to virtue is possible because of the Savior’s example and the “infinite virtue of His great atoning sacrifice.” I testify that we will be enabled and strengthened not only to do hard things but to do all things. Now is the time for each of us to arise and unfurl a banner to the world calling for a return to virtue. May we so live that we can be instruments in preparing the earth for His Second Coming, “that when he shall appear we shall be like him, … purified even as he is pure.”
AFA: Unrestrained promiscuity–Freedom that kills
Related Post:
Moral Discipline
|
Note to Readers In the link above, you can enter your email to receive notice of new posts. I post every business day. Yesterday's post in upper right title bar. Related posts run a week or more, so this will help you follow the sequence. Thanks for all your kind comments. I have a blast doing this blog. I'm glad you enjoy it, too. ~Christine Davidson
|
