Would a mother stand by watching were her son embraced by a cobra?

I remember reading a review of a new movie. The leading actress told the reporter that she objected initially to the script and the part she was to play. The role portrayed her as the sexual companion of a 14-year-old boy. She commented: “At first I said, ‘No way will I agree to such a scene.’ Then I was given the assurance that the boy’s mother would be present during all intimate scenes, so I agreed.”

I ask: Would a mother stand by watching were her son embraced by a cobra? Would she subject him to the taste of arsenic or strychnine? Mothers, would you? Fathers, would we?

Ensign July 2001, Thomas S. Monson, Pornography the Deadly Carrier 

Lateral and Vertical Bonds of the New and Everlasting Covenant of Marriage

 President Nelson has also said: “Celestial marriage is a pivotal part of preparation for eternal life. It requires one to be married to the right person, in the right place, by the right authority, and to obey that sacred covenant faithfully. Then one may be assured of exaltation in the celestial kingdom of God....

What is required to faithfully keep the new and everlasting covenant of marriage?

President Russell M. Nelson has taught there are two types of bonds when we enter into this eternal marriage covenant: a lateral bond between husband and wife, and a vertical bond with God. To have the blessings of exaltation sealed upon us and remain after this life, we must be true to both the lateral and the vertical bonds of the covenant.

To keep the lateral bond with your spouse, God has counseled us to “love [your] wife [or husband] with all [your] heart, and … cleave unto her [or him] and none else.” For those who are married, to cleave unto her or him and none else means you counsel together in love, you love and care for each other, you prioritize time with your spouse over outside interests, and you call upon God to help you overcome your weaknesses. It also means there is no emotional intimacy or sexual relations of any kind outside of your marriage, including flirting or dating, and there is no pornography, which engenders lust.

To keep the lateral bond in the covenant, each partner must desire to be in the marriage. President Dallin H. Oaks recently taught: “We also know that He [God] will force no one into a sealing relationship against his or her will. The blessings of a sealed relationship are assured for all who keep their covenants but never by forcing a sealed relationship on another person who is unworthy or unwilling.”

What is the vertical bond referred to by President Nelson? The vertical bond is one we make with God.

To keep the vertical bond with God, we are true to the temple covenants we have made regarding the laws of obedience, sacrifice, the gospel, chastity, and consecration. We also covenant with God to receive our eternal companion and to be a righteous spouse and parent. As we keep the vertical bond, we qualify for the blessings of being part of the family of God through the Abrahamic covenant, including the blessings of posterity, the gospel, and the priesthood. These blessings are also the fruit that remains

Fruit That Remains

April 2024

General Conference

Matthew L. Carpenter

https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/general-conference/2024/04/34carpenter?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"

Impact of Keeping Inadvertent Pornography Exposure Secret

 If you have experienced any kind of abuse, violence, or oppression, you may be left with the idea that these events were somehow your fault and that you deserve to carry the shame and guilt you feel. You may have had thoughts such as:

I could have prevented this.

God doesn’t love me anymore.

Nobody will ever love me.

I am damaged beyond repair.

The Savior’s Atonement applies to others but not to me.

These erroneous thoughts and feelings may have been a barrier to seeking help from family, friends, leaders, or professionals, and so you have struggled alone. If you have sought help from those you trust, you may still be wrestling with ideas of shame and even self-loathing. The impact of these events can remain for many years. You hope that one day you’ll feel better, but somehow that day has not yet come.

The abuse was not, is not, and never will be your fault, no matter what the abuser or anyone else may have said to the contrary. When you have been a victim of cruelty, incest, or any other perversion, you are not the one who needs to repent; you are not responsible

He Is Risen with Healing in His Wings: We Can Be More Than Conquerors

April 2022

General Conference

Patrick Kearon

https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/general-conference/2022/04/24kearon?lang=eng&verse=#p

Please use your imaginations to increase faith in Christ, not ruin it.

 Of course, imagining lies harms faith. My friends, intentionally envisioning or viewing things that conflict with who you really are, especially pornography, will weaken your faith in Christ and, without repentance, could destroy it. Please use your imaginations to increase faith in Christ, not ruin it...The choice is yours! The Lord said of you, “The power [to choose] is in them.” Elder Neil L. Andersen explained, “Your faith will grow not by chance, but by choice.” He also said, “[Any] honest questions [you may have] … will be settled with patience and an eye of faith.”

You Can Gather Israel!

April 2021

General Conference

Ahmad S. Corbitt

https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/general-conference/2021/04/32corbitt?lang=eng&verse=#p

One can’t help but wonder whether this too is one factor in the growing sexual fluidity reported by so many of today’s youths

Invariably those who criticize services such as OnlyFans are considered “prudes” or worse. And discussions of hypocrisy may ensue, given that large numbers of men and women access pornography at least occasionally. “Sex work” professions are among the oldest professions out there, some point out. But the question is not the existence of pornography, but the ethics and wisdom of legal and cultural frameworks that have made it destigmatized, instantly available, ubiquitous (present, appearing, or found everywhere.), and even celebrated in some circles.

The villains of OxyContin aren’t those who became addicted, but those that pushed it, knowing the dangers.

“Who, cares,” some might counter, “it’s their body and their choice.” But this flies in the face of increasingly overwhelming evidence that our culture of ubiquitous pornography is profoundly damaging in a number of respects, not just to the creators and their inherent worth and dignity, but to those who consume it. It is not a coincidence that as the market for simulated sex expands, the thing itself declines. Every U.S. state now has below replacement fertility. Sexual intercourse in general is down considerably. Many factors may be at play here, but unfettered access to prurient (having or encouraging an excessive interest in sexual matters.)  content certainly doesn’t contribute to stable and lasting relationships.

Further, some online porn platforms promote endlessly bizarre forms of kink that warp the sexual scripts young people mimic. One can’t help but wonder whether this too is one factor in the growing sexual fluidity reported by so many of today’s youths. A recent and comprehensive Gallup Poll showed that while just 1.3% of those born before 1946 identify as LGBT, rising to 2.0% among baby boomers and 3.8% among Gen X, it soared to 9.1% among millennials and a staggering 15.9% among Gen Z (not even including the 5%-8% who declined to state a sexual preference). While some would argue that this is a positive result, allowing those in younger generations to embrace their own sexual identity, dismissing the idea that social contagion may play some part — including the sexual scripts learned via an endless array of pornography — ignores an important variable worthy of investigation. Certainly the long-term effects on family formation of this explosion in nontraditional sexual identification are likely to be profound.

By Jeremy Carl  Aug 30, 2021, 10:00pm MDT, Desert News, Opinion: ‘OnlyFans’ ended its porn ban when it was shamed into staying shameless

We Could See It All Coming

Let’s look at the proclamation on the family through the eye of faith.

President Gordon B. Hinckley introduced “The Family: A Proclamation to the World” with this statement: “With so much of sophistry that is passed off as truth, with so much of deception concerning standards and values, with so much of allurement and enticement to take on the slow stain of the world, we have felt to warn [you].”11
This is the Footnote to the above:

Gordon B. Hinckley, “Stand Strong against the Wiles of the World,” Ensign, Nov. 1995, 100. President Russell M. Nelson recently explained some of the history of the proclamation, as summarized by Sheri Dew in Insights from a Prophet’s Life: Russell M. Nelson (2019), 208:

“One day in 1994, the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles spent a day in their council room in the Salt Lake Temple discussing issues surrounding the family. They considered everything from the increasingly ubiquitous nature of pornography to potential anti-family legislation of various kinds. This was not a new discussion, but that day the entire agenda revolved around this one vital topic.

“The Twelve reviewed both doctrine and policies, considering those things that could not be changed—doctrine—and those things that possibly could be—policies. They discussed issues they saw coming, including an intensified societal push for gay marriage and transgender rights. ‘But that was not the end of what we saw,’ Elder Nelson explained. ‘We could see the efforts of various communities to do away with all standards and limitations on sexual activity. We saw the confusion of genders. We could see it all coming.’

“This extended discussion, along with others over a period of time, led to the conclusion that the Twelve should prepare a document, perhaps even a proclamation, outlining the Church’s stand on the family to present to the First Presidency for consideration.”

The Eye of Faith

April 2019

General Conference

Neil L. Andersen

https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/general-conference/2019/04/25andersen?lang=eng

How Best to Prepare for True Love

Personal purity is the key to true love. The more pure your thoughts and feelings, your words and actions, the greater your capacity to give and receive true love.

Trust me on this: Every time you pour out your heart to your Heavenly Father in prayer, and then listen; every time you study the scriptures seeking answers to the questions of your heart; every time you avoid anything that would wound your spirit (such as pornography); every time you worship in the temple; every time you find an ancestor’s ordinance-qualifying information, you are choosing to increase your personal purity.

Your future spouse will thank you because in that very moment you will be preparing for true marital intimacy. So, if you’re single and wonder how best to prepare for true love, the answer is: Do whatever it takes to keep your thoughts, feelings, words, and actions pure. Invite the Spirit to guide you. He will help you! And if you’re married, my counsel is exactly the same!

As you work to become more pure, you will have the Holy Ghost with you more and more. Your ability to receive personal revelation will increase, which means you’ll have clearer direction for your life. You’ll feel more peace and more joy, less lonely, and more hopeful about your future. You’ll also have increased mental clarity as you study and work. And, in addition to these great rewards for working every day to be just a little more pure, you’ll be increasing your ability to experience true marital intimacy.

This is why pornography is so devastating! Contrary to what all of its promoters claim, pornography will actually prevent you from experiencing the most marvelous kind of intimacy.

Love and Marriage, Wendy Watson Nelson An Evening with President Russell M. NelsonWorldwide Devotional for Young Adults • January 8, 2017 • Brigham Young University

If we, as a society, would contemplate the consequences of sin, there would be massive public opposition to pornography and the objectification of women.

During my lifetime, worldly issues and concerns have moved from one extreme to another—from frivolous and trivial pursuits to serious immorality. It is commendable that nonconsensual immorality has been exposed and denounced. Such nonconsensual immorality is against the laws of God and of society. Those who understand God’s plan should also oppose consensual immorality, which is also a sin. The family proclamation to the world warns “that individuals who violate covenants of chastity, who abuse spouse or offspring [or, for that matter, anyone else] … will one day stand accountable before God.”

As we look around, we see the devastation of wickedness and addiction at every turn. If, as individuals, we are really concerned about the Savior’s ultimate judgment of us, we should seek repentance. I am afraid many people no longer feel accountable to God and do not turn to the scriptures or the prophets for guidance. If we, as a society, would contemplate the consequences of sin, there would be massive public opposition to pornography and the objectification of women. As Alma told his son Corianton in the Book of Mormon, “Wickedness never was happiness.”

Prepare to Meet God, April 2018 General Conference Quentin L. Cook

Totally avoidable if we never partake for the first time—even once

Similarly, even small acts of disobedience or minor failures to follow righteous practices can draw us down toward an outcome we have been warned to avoid. The Word of Wisdom provides an example of this. Likely the effect on the body of one cigarette or one drink of alcohol or one dose of another drug cannot be measured. But over time, the effect is powerful and may be irreversible. Remember the cracking of the sidewalk by the gradual small expansions of the root of the tree. One thing is certain, the terrible consequences of partaking of anything that can become addictive, like drugs that attack our bodies or pornographic material that degrades our thoughts, is totally avoidable if we never partake for the first time—even once.

Small and Simple Things, April 2018 General Conference, Dallin H. Oaks

If we think we can even flirt with pornography or violations of chastity or dishonesty in any form and not have it negatively affect us and our families, we are deceived.

 I may not have the ability of Elder Jeffrey R. Holland when he spoke in a priesthood session a few years ago to “get in your face … , nose to nose, with just enough fire … to singe your eyebrows” (“We Are All Enlisted,” Ensign or Liahona, Nov. 2011, 45); but, dear brethren, we need to wake up to how commonly accepted practices in the world choke our power in the priesthood. If we think we can even flirt with pornography or violations of chastity or dishonesty in any form and not have it negatively affect us and our families, we are deceived. Moroni stated, “See that ye do all things in worthiness” (Mormon 9:29). The Lord powerfully directed, “And I now give unto you a commandment to beware concerning yourselves, to give diligent heed to the words of eternal life” (D&C 84:43). If there are any unresolved sins preventing our worthiness, we need to change.

WHAT MANNER OF MEN? By Elder Donald L. Hallstrom - April 2014 GENERAL CONFERENCE  

We will be careful about which counsel we heed. Many so-called experts give advice for the body—without thought for the spirit.

We will be careful about which counsel we heed. Many so-called experts give advice for the body—without thought for the spirit. Anyone who accepts direction contrary to the Word of Wisdom, for example, forsakes a law revealed to bring both physical and spiritual blessings.27 Some recommendations regarding use of our reproductive organs are based solely—and inadequately—upon physical considerations. Beware of such one-sided views! Paul taught that “if ye live after the flesh, ye shall die: but if ye through the Spirit do mortify the deeds of the body, ye shall live.”28

That caution pertains to pornography, which is highly addictive. Scriptural warning is clear: “Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, that ye should obey it in the lusts thereof.”29 In time, addictions enslave both the body and the spirit. Full repentance from addiction is best accomplished in this life, while we still have a mortal body to help us.

As children of God, we should not let anything enter the body that might defile it. To allow sensors of sight, touch, or hearing to supply the brain with unclean memories is a sacrilege. We will cherish our chastity and avoid “foolish and hurtful lusts, which drown [us] in destruction and perdition.”30We will “flee these things; and follow after righteousness, godliness, faith, love, patience, [and] meekness”31—traits that edify the whole soul.

We Are Children of God, Russell M. Nelson, General Conference October 1998

You Simply Cannot...Spend Endless Hours Scouring Meaningless Points on Pointless Video Games Without Falling Into a Deep Spiritual Sleep

To all missionaries past and present: Elders and sisters, you simply cannot return from your mission, do a swan dive back into Babylon, and spend endless hours scoring meaningless points on pointless video games without falling into a deep spiritual sleep. Nor can you indulge in online pornography and ignore virtue and chastity without dire spiritual consequences. If you lose the Spirit, you are lost. Don’t be distracted and deceived.

Kevin, W. Pearson,  Stay by the Tree, April 2015 General Conference

What a Tradgedy

The proclamation continues, “Children are entitled to birth within the bonds of matrimony, and to be reared by a father and a mother who honor marital vows with complete fidelity.”

Complete fidelity means being physically faithful as well as emotionally faithful to your spouse. Pornography and online relationships are examples of emotional infidelity. When a spouse engages in pornography, he or she violates a sacred trust of the most intimate nature. The innocent spouse feels betrayed. Confidence and trust in the marriage deteriorate. The harvest of adultery is sown in the seedbed of pornography.

I share some feelings from a man who had been sealed in the temple but lost his family because of pornography and an online relationship with a woman. In sorrow he writes: “I did not heed the words given to me in my patriarchal blessing, which stated that Satan would have no power in my life except that which I would give him. I gave him plenty, and slowly and surely he took it and used that power to destroy my life with my wife and my children. I loved them with all my heart and still do and always will, but that love was not enough to defeat the power I willingly gave Satan in my life to destroy it. The Church’s teachings provided [us] a way to return as a family sealed for time and all eternity to our Heavenly Father, would I have but listened and heeded them, but in the end I did not.”

What a tragedy.

Prophetic Principles of Faithfulness, C. Scott, Grow, Ensign January 2017

I explained that a testimony is nothing more or less than the Holy Ghost bearing witness to our soul of the truthfulness of the gospel and of the restored Church.

The Spirit-filled experiences of a mission establish a foundation of faith that can bless you throughout your life. That foundation of faith can be diminished only through neglect or sin.

Recently I interviewed a returned missionary who is less active and claimed to have lost his faith. I asked him if he was praying and studying the Book of Mormon, as he did when he was a missionary. He said he wasn’t because he had lost his faith in Joseph Smith.

I felt prompted to ask him this question: “Are you into pornography?” He answered yes. I told him it was no wonder he had lost his testimony.

I explained that a testimony is nothing more or less than the Holy Ghost bearing witness to our soul of the truthfulness of the gospel and of the restored Church. When we fail to pray and study the scriptures, the influence of the Spirit in our life is weakened, lowering our resistance to temptation. When we sin and become unclean, we lose the companionship of the Holy Ghost altogether. Without the ongoing witness of the Spirit, we can easily begin to think we don’t have a testimony and maybe never did.

Our testimony needs to be continually nourished. That nourishment comes from personal prayer, daily scripture study—particularly the Book of Mormon—and serving in the Church throughout our life.
Prophetic Principles of Faithfulness, C. Scott, Grow, Ensign January 2017

Whether you decide to push a key on your computer which will take you to pornography can make all the difference in your life.

I speak of the results of choice. All of our choices have consequences, some of which have little or nothing to do with our eternal salvation and others of which have everything to do with it.

Whether you wear a green T-shirt or a blue one makes no difference in the long run. However, whether you decide to push a key on your computer which will take you to pornography can make all the difference in your life. You will have just taken a step off the straight, safe path. If a friend pressures you to drink alcohol or to try drugs and you succumb to the pressure, you are taking a detour from which you may not return. Brethren, whether we are 12-year-old deacons or mature high priests, we are susceptible. May we keep our eyes, our hearts, and our determination focused on that goal which is eternal and worth any price we will have to pay, regardless of the sacrifice we must make to reach it.

No temptation, no pressure, no enticing can overcome us unless we allow such. If we make the wrong choice, we have no one to blame but ourselves. President Brigham Young once expressed this truth by relating it to himself. Said he: “If Brother Brigham shall take a wrong track, and be shut out of the Kingdom of heaven, no person will be to blame but Brother Brigham. I am the only being in heaven, earth, or hell, that can be blamed.” He continued: “This will equally apply to every Latter-day Saint. Salvation is an individual operation.”

The Apostle Paul has assured us, “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."

The Three R's of Choice, Thomas S. Monson, October 2010 General Conference

Can Make All the Difference In Your Life

Whether you wear a green T-shirt or a blue one makes no difference in the long run. However, whether you decide to push a key on your computer which will take you to pornography can make all the difference in your life.
Thomas S. Monson, “The Three Rs of Choice,” Ensign, Nov 2010, 67–70

Sin Empties, Isolates, and Separates Us

God’s counsel aligns us and conjoins us with the great realities of the universe; whereas sin empties, isolates, and separates us, confining us to the solitary cell of selfishness. Hence the lonely crowd in hell.
Neal A. Maxwell, April 1985 General Conference, "Willing to Submit"

It Will Take You Down to Destruction As Surely As Anything In This World

Next, the evil one also dangles before us the maka-feke of pornography. He would have us believe that the viewing of pornography really hurts no one. How applicable is Alexander Pope’s classic, An Essay on Man:

Vice is a monster of so frightful mien,
As to be hated needs but to be seen;
Yet seen too oft, familiar with her face,
We first endure, then pity, then embrace.

Some publishers and printers prostitute their presses by printing millions of pieces of pornography each day. No expense is spared to produce a product certain to be viewed, then viewed again. One of the most accessible sources of pornography today is the Internet, where one can turn on a computer and instantly have at his fingertips countless sites featuring pornography. President Gordon B. Hinckley has said: “I fear this may be going on in some of your homes. It is vicious. It is lewd and filthy. It is enticing and habit-forming. It will take [you] down to destruction as surely as anything in this world. It is foul sleaze that makes its exploiters wealthy, its victims impoverished.”

Tainted as well is the movie producer, the television programmer, or the entertainer who promotes pornography. Long gone are the restraints of yesteryear. So-called realism is the quest, with the result that today we are surrounded by this filth.

Avoid any semblance of pornography. It will desensitize the spirit and erode the conscience. We are told in the Doctrine and Covenants, “That which doth not edify is not of God, and is darkness.” Such is pornography.

"True to the Faith" Apirl 2006 General Conference

A Prophets Voice - Messages From Thomas S. Monson p. 405

Scriptural Explanation of Pornography Effects

When I consider the demons who are twins—even immodesty and immorality—I should make them triplets and include pornography. They all three go together.

In the interpretation of Lehi’s dream, we find a rather apt description of the destructiveness of pornography: “And the mists of darkness are the temptations of the devil, which blindeth the eyes, and hardeneth the hearts of the children of men, and leadeth them away into broad roads, that they perish and are lost.”(1 Nephi 12:17)
Thomas S. Monson, "Peace, Be Still,", October 2002 General Conference
A Prophets Voice - Messages From Thomas S. Monson p. 421