I respond to a prompting I have had for a very long time to speak to the
youth of the Church who face challenges unknown to us in our youth.
President J. Reuben Clark described our youth as "hungry for things of the
spirit; they are eager to learn the Gospel, and they want it straight,
undiluted.
"They want to know about . . . our beliefs; they want to gain testimonies of
their truth; they are not now doubters but inquirers, seekers after truth. . . .
"You do not have to sneak up behind this spiritually experienced youth and
whisper religion in [their] ears; you can come right out, face to face, and talk
with [them]. . . . You can bring these truths to [them] openly. . . . Youth may
prove to be not more fearful of them than you are. There is no need for gradual
approaches" ("The Charted Course of the Church in Education" in Boyd K. Packer,
Teach Ye Diligently, rev. ed. [1991], 365, 373-74).
I agree with President Clark and will speak plainly to the youth about things I
have learned and know to be true.
When I was 18, I was called into military service. I had not received my
patriarchal blessing, so the bishop recommended me to a patriarch near the air
base.
Patriarch J. Roland Sandstrom of the Santa Ana California Stake gave me my
blessing. In it I was told this: "You made a free and willing decision to abide
by the laws of Eternal Progress as outlined by our elder brother, the Lord Jesus
Christ. You . . . have been . . . given a physical body with which you might
experience Earth Life, . . . a body of such physical proportions and fitness as
to enable your spirit to function through it unhampered by physical impediments.
. . . Cherish this as a great heritage" (patriarchal blessing of Boyd K. Packer,
15 Jan. 1944, 1).
That was a great comfort to me. Because of childhood polio, I was not able to
participate in sports and was left with a feeling of inferiority when compared
to my friends.
My patriarchal blessing counseled: "Guard and protect [your body]--take nothing
into it that shall harm the organs thereof because it is sacred. It is the
instrument of your mind and the foundation of your character" (patriarchal
blessing of Boyd K. Packer, 15 Jan. 1944, 1).
I found in the Word of Wisdom a principle with a promise. The principle: Care
for your body; avoid habit-forming stimulants, tea, coffee, tobacco, liquor, and
drugs (see D&C 89:3-9). Such addictive things do little more than relieve a
craving which they caused in the first place.
The promise: Those who obey will receive better health (see D&C 89:18) and
"great treasures of knowledge, even hidden treasures" (D&C 89:19).
The Prophet Joseph Smith said: "We came to this earth that we might have a body
and present it pure before God in the celestial kingdom. The great principle of
happiness consists in having a body. The devil has no body, and herein is his
punishment. He is pleased when he can obtain the tabernacle of man. . . . All
beings who have bodies have power over those who have not" (Teachings of the
Prophet Joseph Smith, sel. Joseph Fielding Smith [1976], 181).
Even the severe tests of health or a handicapped or disabled body can refine a
soul for the glorious day of restoration and healing which surely will come.
Your body really is the instrument of your mind and the foundation of your
character.
President Harold B. Lee taught of the important symbolic and actual effect of
how we dress and groom our bodies. If you are well groomed and modestly dressed,
you invite the companionship of the Spirit of our Father in Heaven and exercise
a wholesome influence upon those around you. To be unkempt in your appearance
exposes you to influences that are degrading (see The Teachings of Harold B.
Lee, ed. Clyde J. Williams [1996], 220).
Avoid immodest clothing. Dress and groom to show the Lord that you know how
precious your body is.
President Hinckley has warned you not to decorate your body with pictures or
symbols that will never wash off or to pierce your body with rings or jewelry
after the manner of the world (see "Your Greatest Challenge, Mother," Ensign,
Nov. 2000).
You would not paint a temple with dark pictures or symbols or graffiti or even
initials. Do not do so with your body.
"Know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you,
which ye have of God, and ye are not your own?
"For ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body, and in your
spirit, which are God's" (1 Cor. 6:19-20).
"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).
There is in your body the supernal power to create life. Boys grow up to be men
and may become fathers; girls grow up to be women and may become mothers.
Natural and good feelings draw men and women together.
"All human beings--male and female--are created in the image of God. Each is a
beloved spirit son or daughter of heavenly parents, and, as such, each has a
divine nature and destiny. Gender is an essential characteristic of individual
premortal, mortal, and eternal identity and purpose" ("The Family: A
Proclamation to the World," Ensign, Nov. 1995, 102).
"Marriage between a man and a woman is ordained of God and . . . the family is
central to the Creator's plan for the eternal destiny of His children" (Ensign,
Nov. 1995, 102).
You should be attracted to one another and to marry. Then, and only then, may
you worthily respond to the strong and good and constant desire to express that
love through which children will bless your lives. By commandment of God our
Father, that must happen only between husband and wife--man and woman--committed
to one another in the covenant of marriage (see 1 Cor. 7:2; D&C 42:22). To do
otherwise is forbidden and will bring sorrow.
It is about controlling these natural desires that the strictest commandments
are given in the revelations (see Smith, Teachings, 181; Gal. 5:19; Eph. 5:5;
Morm. 9:28).
Young men and women, keep yourselves worthy. Stay away from those environments,
the music, the films, the videos, the clubs, and the associations that draw you
into immoral conduct (see 1 Cor. 6:9; 1 Thes. 5:22; 2 Tim. 2:22; D&C 9:13).
Now, I must speak of another danger, almost unknown in our youth but now
everywhere about you.
Normal desires and attractions emerge in the teenage years; there is the
temptation to experiment, to tamper with the sacred power of procreation. These
desires can be intensified, even perverted, by pornography, improper music, or
the encouragement from unworthy associations. What would have only been a more
or less normal passing phase in establishing gender identity can become
implanted and leave you confused, even disturbed.
If you consent, the adversary can take control of your thoughts and lead you
carefully toward a habit and to an addiction, convincing you that immoral,
unnatural behavior is a fixed part of your nature.
With some few, there is the temptation which seems nearly overpowering for man
to be attracted to man or woman to woman. The scriptures plainly condemn those
who "dishonour their own bodies between themselves . . . ; men with men working
that which is unseemly" (Rom. 1:24, 27) or "women [who] change the natural use
into that which is against nature" (Rom. 1:26).
The gates of freedom, and the good or bad beyond, swing open or closed to the
password choice. You are free to choose a path that may lead to despair, to
disease, even to death (see 2 Ne. 2:26-27).
If you choose that course, the fountains of life may dry up. You will not
experience the combination of love and struggle, the pain and pleasure, the
disappointment and sacrifice, that love which, blended together in parenthood,
exalts a man or a woman and leads to that fulness of joy spoken of in the
scriptures (see 2 Ne. 2:25; 9:18; D&C 11:13; 42:61; 101:36).
Do not experiment; do not let anyone of either gender touch your body to awaken
passions that can flame beyond control. It begins as an innocent curiosity,
Satan influences your thoughts, and it becomes a pattern, a habit, which may
imprison you in an addiction, to the sorrow and disappointment of those who love
you (see John 8:34; 2 Pet. 2:12-14, 18-19).
Pressure is put upon legislatures to legalize unnatural conduct. They can never
make right that which is forbidden in the laws of God (see Lev. 18:22; 1 Cor.
6:9; 1 Tim. 1:9-10).
Sometimes we are asked why we do not recognize this conduct as a diverse and
acceptable lifestyle. This we cannot do. We did not make the laws; they were
made in heaven "before the foundation of the world" (D&C 132:5; 124:41; see also
Alma 22:13). We are servants only.
Just as with the prophets in ancient times, we have been "consecrated priests
and teachers of this people, . . . [responsible to] magnify our office unto the
Lord, taking upon us the responsibility, answering the sins of the people upon
our own heads if we did not teach them the word of God with all diligence"
(Jacob 1:18-19).
We understand why some feel we reject them. That is not true. We do not reject
you, only immoral behavior. We cannot reject you, for you are the sons and
daughters of God. We will not reject you, because we love you (see Heb. 12:6-9;
Rom. 3:19; Hel. 15:3; D&C 95:1).
You may even feel that we do not love you. That also is not true. Parents know,
and one day you will know, that there are times when parents and we who lead the
Church must extend tough love when failing to teach and to warn and to
discipline is to destroy.
We did not make the rules; they were revealed as commandments. We do not cause
nor can we prevent the consequences if you disobey the moral laws (see D&C
101:78). In spite of criticism or opposition, we must teach and we must warn.
When any unworthy desires press into your mind, fight them, resist them, control
them (see James 4:6-8; 2 Ne. 9:39; Mosiah 3:19). The Apostle Paul taught, "There
hath no temptation taken you but such as is common to man: but God is faithful,
who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able; but will with the
temptation also make a way to escape, that ye may be able to bear it" (1 Cor.
10:13; see also D&C 62:1).
That may be a struggle from which you will not be free in this life. If you do
not act on temptations, you need feel no guilt. They may be extremely difficult
to resist. But that is better than to yield and bring disappointment and
unhappiness to you and those who love you.
Some think that God created them with overpowering, unnatural desires, that they
are trapped and not responsible (see James 1:13-15). That is not true. It cannot
be true. Even if they were to accept it as true, they must remember that He can
cure and He can heal (see Alma 7:10-13; 15:8).
Now, what of you who have already made mistakes or have lost yourselves to an
immoral lifestyle? What hope do you have? Are you cast off and lost forever?
These are not unforgivable sins. However unworthy or unnatural or immoral these
transgressions may be, they are not unforgivable (see D&C 42:25). When
completely forsaken and fully repented of, there can open the purifying gift of
forgiveness, and the burden of guilt will be erased. There is a way back--long,
perhaps; hard, certainly; possible, of course! (see Acts 5:31; Eph. 1:7; Mosiah
4:2; 26:29; D&C 1:31-32; 58:42; 61:2).
You need not, you cannot find your way alone. You have a Redeemer. The Lord will
lift your burden if you choose to repent and turn from your sins and do them no
more. That is what the Atonement of Christ was for.
"Come now, and let us reason together, saith the Lord: though your sins be as
scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they
shall be as wool" (Isa. 1:18).
The choice rests with you; you are not cast off forever. I repeat, these
transgressions are not unforgivable.
One may think, It is too late, my life will soon be over, and I am eternally
doomed. Not so, for "if in this life only we have hope in Christ, we are of all
men most miserable" (1 Cor. 15:19).
Just as the physical body can be cleansed and healed, so can the spirit be
washed clean by the power of the Atonement. The Lord will lift you and carry
your burden during the suffering and struggle required to make you clean. That
is what the Atonement of Christ is all about. He said, "I, the Lord, [will]
remember [your sins] no more" (D&C 58:42; see also Heb. 8:12; 10:17; Alma
36:19).
Our beloved, precious youth, stay in the Lord's way. If you stumble, rise up, go
on. If you have lost your way, we open our arms and await your return.
God be praised for the cleansing, purifying, forgiving power of the Atonement
brought by the Lord Jesus Christ, of whom I bear witness. In the name of Jesus
Christ, amen.
© 2000 Intellectual Reserve, Inc. All rights reserved.
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