Few things will complicate your life more quickly than violating this divine law.

Thinking celestial will also help you obey the law of chastity. Few things will complicate your life more quickly than violating this divine law. For those who have made covenants with God, immorality is one of the quickest ways to lose your testimony.

Many of the adversary’s most relentless temptations involve violations of moral purity. The power to create life is the one privilege of godhood that Heavenly Father allows His mortal children to exercise. Thus, God set clear guidelines for the use of this living, divine power. Physical intimacy is only for a man and a woman who are married to each other.

Much of the world does not believe this, but public opinion is not the arbiter of truth. The Lord has declared that no unchaste person will attain the celestial kingdom. So when you make decisions regarding morality, please think celestial. And if you have been unchaste, I plead with you to repent. Come unto Christ and receive His promise of complete forgiveness as you fully repent of your sins.....Choosing to live a virtuous life in a sexualized, politicized world builds faith.

Think Celestial!

October 2023

General Conference

Russell M. Nelson

https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/general-conference/2023/10/51nelson?lang=eng&verse=#p

Chastity is the powerful protector of virile manhood and the crown of beautiful womanhood.

Chastity is the powerful protector of virile manhood and the crown of beautiful womanhood.

Self-Mastery

October 1985

1980–1989

Russell M. Nelson

https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/general-conference/1985/10/self-mastery?lang=eng&verse=#p

Virile: adjective

1. having strength, energy, and a strong sex drive (typically used of a man).

   "he was a powerful, virile man"

“To the youth of the Church … above all we plead with you to live clean, for the unclean life leads only to suffering, misery, and woe physically—and spiritually it is the path to destruction. How glorious and near to the angels is youth that is clean; this youth has joy unspeakable here and eternal happiness hereafter.” (The Improvement Era, 45:273.)
"With All Thy Getting Get Understanding", Gordon B. Hinckley, Ensign August 1988

Self-justification will never mend the heart of a person who has drifted into moral tragedy.

The violation of his commandments in this, as in any other age, brings only regret, sorrow, loss of self-respect, and in many cases tragedy.Rationalization and equivocation will not erase the cankering scar that blights the self-respect of a person who disobeys the law of chastity. Self-justification will never mend the heart of a person who has drifted into moral tragedy.
"With All Thy Getting Get Understanding", Gordon B. Hinckley, Ensign August 1988

How we feel about and use that supernal power [Procreation] will determine in large measure our happiness in mortality and our destiny in eternity.

The power of procreation is spiritually significant. Misuse of this power subverts the purposes of the Father’s plan and of our mortal existence. Our Heavenly Father and His Beloved Son are creators and have entrusted each of us with a portion of Their creative power. Specific guidelines for the proper use of the ability to create life are vital elements in the Father’s plan. How we feel about and use that supernal power will determine in large measure our happiness in mortality and our destiny in eternity.

We Believe In Being Chaste, David A. Bednar, April 2013 General Conference

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

Communicate Openly and Clearly With Your Sons About Sexual Matters...Be Positive About How Wonderful And Beautiful Physical Intimacy Can Be.

I am especially concerned that we communicate openly and clearly with our sons about sexual matters. Your sons are growing up in a world that openly embraces and flaunts early, casual, and thoughtless promiscuity. Your sons simply cannot avoid the blatant sexual imagery, messages, and enticements that are all around them. Fathers and Church leaders need to have open and frequent discussions that teach and clarify how young men of the priesthood handle this issue. Be positive about how wonderful and beautiful physical intimacy can be when it happens within the bounds the Lord has set, including temple covenants and commitments of eternal marriage. Studies show that the biggest deterrent to casual sexual activity is a wholesome attitude that connects such personal relationships with genuine commitment and mature love. Fathers, if you have not had this “big talk” with your sons, please do so, and do it soon.

M. Russell Ballard, "Fathers and Sons: A Remarkable Relationship", Ensign, Nov. 2009, 47–50

Can You Imagine John the Baptist Being Enganged In Any Such Practice as [Pornography]?

The excuse is given that it is hard to avoid, that it is right at our fingertips and there is no escape.

Suppose a storm is raging and the winds howl and the snow swirls about you. You find yourself unable to stop it. But you can dress properly and seek shelter, and the storm will have no effect upon you.

Likewise, even though the Internet is saturated with sleazy material, you do not have to watch it. You can retreat to the shelter of the gospel and its teaching of cleanliness and virtue and purity of life.

I know that I am speaking directly and plainly. I do so because the Internet has made pornography more widely accessible, adding to what is available on DVDs and videos, on television and magazine stands. It leads to fantasies that are destructive of self-respect. It leads to illicit relationships, often to disease, and to abusive criminal activity.

Brethren, we can do better than this. When the Savior taught the multitude, He said, “Blessed are the pure in heart: for they shall see God” (Matt. 5:8).

Could anyone wish for a greater blessing than this? The high road of decency, of self-discipline, of wholesome living is the road for men, both young and old, who hold the priesthood of God. To the young men I put this question: “Can you imagine John the Baptist, who restored the priesthood which you hold, being engaged in any such practice as this?” To you men: “Can you imagine Peter, James, and John, Apostles of our Lord, engaging in such?”

No, of course not. Now brethren, the time has come for any one of us who is so involved to pull himself out of the mire, to stand above this evil thing, to “look to God and live” (Alma 37:47).

Author: Gordon B. Hinckley
Title: A Tragic Evil among Us
Where: Ensign, Nov 2004, 59–62

Focus on Flesh Instead of Faith

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?

Author: Elaine S. Dalton
Title: A Return to Virtue
Where: Ensign, Nov 2008, 78–80

If You Look You Are Not a Missionary!

If you notice it [pornography] I suppose you are a man. However if you look you are not a missionary!

Author: David McQueen
Title: President of the Ukraine Donetsk Mission 1998-2001

1

Pornography Strangles the Life Out of Relationships

Pornography also inflicts mortal wounds on our most precious personal relationships. In his talk to men of the priesthood last October, President Hinckley quoted the letter of a woman who asked him to warn Church members that pornography “has the effect of damaging hearts and souls to their very depths, strangling the life out of relationships” (Liahona and Ensign, Nov. 2004, 60).

Author: Dallin H. Oaks
Title: Pornography
Where: Ensign, May 2005, 87