Too great care cannot be exercised that liberty shall not degenerate into license, and not to convert that which should furnish enjoyment and simple pleasure into a means of producing unhealthful excitement or corrupting morals.

 Social enjoyment and amusements are not incompatible with correct conduct and true religion. Instead of forbidding the theatre and placing it under ban, it has been the aim of the Latter-day Saints to control it and keep it free from impure influences, and to preserve it as a place where all could meet for the purpose of healthful enjoyment. Our leading men have, therefore, gone to these places with the view, by their presence, of restraining all practices and influences that would be injurious to the young and rising generation. Too great care cannot be exercised that liberty shall not degenerate into license, and not to convert that which should furnish enjoyment and simple pleasure into a means of producing unhealthful excitement or corrupting morals. … Committee-men and officers in charge should see that dances of every kind are conducted in a modest and becoming manner and that no behavior be permitted that would lead to evil or that would offend the most delicate susceptibilities

Chapter 11: Finding Joy in Life

John Taylor

Teachings of Presidents

https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/manual/teachings-john-taylor/chapter-11?lang=eng&verse=#p

The Savior’s standard is clear and simple: “If ye love me, keep my commandments” (John 14:15).

 The Savior’s standard is clear and simple: “If ye love me, keep my commandments” (John 14:15). Selective obedience brings selective blessings, and choosing something bad over something worse is still choosing wrong. You can’t watch a bad movie and expect to feel virtuous because you did not watch a very bad one. Faithful observance of some commandments doesn’t justify neglecting others. Abraham Lincoln rightly said, “When I do good I feel good, when I do bad I feel bad” (in William H. Herndon and Jesse William Weik, Herndon’s Lincoln: The True Story of a Great Life, 3 vols. [1889], 3:439).

Approaching the Throne of God with Confidence

October 2014

2010–2019

Jörg Klebingat

https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/general-conference/2014/10/approaching-the-throne-of-god-with-confidence?lang=eng&verse=#p

We will limit or eliminate time spent on social media; digital games; wasteful, excessive, or inappropriate entertainment; the allure of this world’s treasures and vanities

 If we trust the doctrine of Christ, we will set aside the shiny things of the world so that we can focus on the Redeemer of the world. We will limit or eliminate time spent on social media; digital games; wasteful, excessive, or inappropriate entertainment; the allure of this world’s treasures and vanities; and any other activities that give place to the false traditions and misguided philosophies of men. It is only in Christ we find truth and lasting fulfillment.

Trusting the Doctrine of Christ

April 2023

General Conference

Evan A. Schmutz

https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/general-conference/2023/04/27schmutz?lang=eng&verse=#p

Nobody talks that way who has the Spirit of the Lord

Every once in a while we hear somebody say, “Oh, I wouldn’t be so particular. The Lord is not going to be very severe with us if we just go part way.” The one who is talking that way is already on the devil’s side of the line, and you do not want to listen to him because if you do, you may be misled. Nobody talks that way who has the Spirit of the Lord. The Lord himself has said that we must keep his commandments: “There is a law, irrevocably decreed in heaven before the foundations of this world, upon which all blessings are predicated.” (D&C 130:20.) The gospel of Jesus Christ is to teach us how to earn that blessing.⁴

Teachings of Presidents of the Church: George Albert Smith, 2010

Why I liked it:  How often do we rationalize our choices in Media with "Oh it wasn't that bad. Or there was only one bad part."  When we say this I think we can say that we are not speaking under the influence of the Spirit of the Lord!

Virtual Tour of Your Home Using Spiritual Eyes

Recently, in a stake conference, all present were invited by the visiting authority, Elder Glen Jenson, an Area Seventy, to take a virtual tour of their homes using their spiritual eyes. I would like to invite each of you to do this also. Wherever your home may be and whatever its configuration, the application of eternal gospel principles within its walls is universal. Let’s begin. Imagine that you are opening your front door and walking inside your home. What do you see, and how do you feel? Is it a place of love, peace, and refuge from the world, as is the temple? Is it clean and orderly? As you walk through the rooms of your home, do you see uplifting images which include appropriate pictures of the temple and the Savior? Is your bedroom or sleeping area a place for personal prayer? Is your gathering area or kitchen a place where food is prepared and enjoyed together, allowing uplifting conversation and family time? Are scriptures found in a room where the family can study, pray, and learn together? Can you find your personal gospel study space? Does the music you hear or the entertainment you see, online or otherwise, offend the Spirit? Is the conversation uplifting and without contention? That concludes our tour. Perhaps you, as I, found a few spots that need some “home improvement”—hopefully not an “extreme home makeover.”

Sacred Homes, Sacred Temples - Gary E. Stevenson - April 2009 General Conference

Soul Numbing To See Men In Such Roles

It is now common in movies and video games to see women in terribly violent roles, leaving dead bodies and mayhem in their wake. It is soul-numbing to see men in such roles and certainly no less so when women are the ones perpetrating and suffering the violence.

 October 2013 The Moral Force Of Women - Elder D. Todd Christofferson

Mormon Lamented the Loss of Virtue...Are We Any Different?

In the decadent society of Mormon’s time, he lamented that the women were robbed of that which was most dear and precious above all—their virtue and chastity.⁷

 What would the world be like if virtue—a pattern of thought and behavior based on high moral standards, including chastity⁸—were reinstated in our society as a most highly prized value? If immorality, pornography, and abuse decreased, would there be fewer broken marriages, broken lives, and broken hearts? Would media ennoble and enable rather than objectify and degrade God’s precious daughters? If all humanity really understood the importance of the statement “We are daughters of our Heavenly Father,” how would women be regarded and treated?

APRIL 2013 GENERAL CONFERENCE - WE ARE DAUGHTERS OF OUR HEAVENLY FATHER - ELAINE S. DALTON

I Do Not Want The Child To Carry Home With It Fear...And Suffer In The Night From Frightful Dreams.

Tragedy is favored by the outside world; I am not in favor of it. I do not wish murder and all its horrors and the villainy leading to it portrayed before our women and children; I do not want the child to carry home with it the fear of … the sword, the pistol, or the dagger, and suffer in the night from frightful dreams. I want such plays performed as will make the spectators feel well; and I wish those who perform to select a class of plays that will improve the public mind, and exalt the literary taste of the community (DBY, 243–44).

Teachings of Presidents of the Church: Brigham Young, (1997), 183–91

Do Not Subject Yourself To The Innuendo and Outright Filth

Many movies and television shows portray behavior which is in direct opposition to the laws of God. Do not subject yourself to the innuendo and outright filth which are so often found there.


Thomas S. Monson, "Priesthood Power",General Conference  April 2011

If You have Any Question About Whether A Particular Movie, Book, or Other Form of Entertainment Is Appropriate Don't See It, Don't Read It....

Don’t be afraid to walk out of a movie, turn off a television set, or change a radio station if what’s being presented does not meet your Heavenly Father’s standards. In short, if you have any question about whether a particular movie, book, or other form of entertainment is appropriate, don’t see it, don’t read it, don’t participate.

Thomas S. Monson, "Preparation Brings Blessings", Ensign, May 2010, 64–67

At The Last Day The Adversary "Will Not Support" Those Who Followed Him Anyway. He Cannot.

Brothers and sisters, the cast of players on this planet for whom the revelations and translations are so pertinent includes those who, in that familiar phrase, are living “lives of quiet desperation” (see Henry David Thoreau, Walden [1965], 7). They have now been joined by those living lives of noisy, slurping indulgence, wrongly celebrating their capacity to feel so that they finally lose their capacity to feel and become “past feeling” (see Moro. 9:20; Eph. 4:19; 1 Ne. 17:45). Hence they lick their particular platters in a desperate search for more sensations. Such individuals, however, are still not a majority but a “lesser part” of the people (see Mosiah 29:26–27).

Notably, at the last day the adversary “will not support” those who followed him anyway (see Alma 30:60). He cannot. Jesus will triumph majestically, and the adversary’s clever constructs, “pleasing to the carnal mind,” will also collapse, and “the fall thereof will be exceedingly great” (see Alma 30:53; 1 Ne. 11:36). Even now, one can see in the lives of those prodigals who come to themselves the devil’s doctrines dripping in early meltdown (see Luke 15:17). Many, having experienced the utter emptiness of the lower ways, are “in a preparation to hear the word” and now await being informed of the rescuing revelations and translations (see Alma 32:6).

Author: Neal A. Maxwell
Title: How Choice a Seer!
Where: Ensign, Nov 2003, 99

Too Many of Us Accept This as Entertainment

Evil that used to be localized and covered like a boil is now legalized and paraded like a banner. The most fundamental roots and bulwarks of civilization are questioned or attacked. Nations disavow their religious heritage. Marriage and family responsibilities are discarded as impediments to personal indulgence. The movies and magazines and television that shape our attitudes are filled with stories or images that portray the children of God as predatory beasts or, at best, as trivial creations pursuing little more than personal pleasure. And too many of us accept this as entertainment.

Author: Dallin H. Oaks
Title: Preparation for the Second Coming
Where: Ensign, May 2004, 7

1

Fearful of the Dawn, Evil Cannot Stand the Steady Scrutiny of Bright Truth

Ever wonder why the sensual scene so often features flashing but fading lights? Or why all the reinforcing glitz? Or why all the loudness masquerading as music? Because, fearful of the dawn, evil cannot stand the steady scrutiny of bright truth, nor can it endure the quiet reflections of soul-searching!

Author: Neal A. Maxwell
Title: The Seventh Commandment: A Shield
Where: Ensign, Nov 2001, 78

He Who Wants to Keep His Garden Tidy Does Not Reserve a Plot for Weeds

You cannot play with the animal in you without becoming wholly animal, play with falsehood without forfeiting your right to truth, play with cruelty without losing your sensitivity of mind. He who wants to keep his garden tidy does not reserve a plot for weeds.

Author: Dag Hammarskjold