Chastity

One of my favorite parts of our home is our wood-burning stove.  As a child, I didn’t appreciate the fact that we heated our home primarily with a wood stove instead of our gas furnace.  It meant a lot of extra work for me.  But now, every fall, we carry on a longstanding Jensen tradition of traipsing up to the mountains for firewood.  I really enjoy it and hope that my boys will continue when they have sons of their own.   To me there is nothing that feels better on a cold winter day than coming in from the weather to get warmed by the heat from our wood-stove.

When my kids were younger I used our wood-stove as an analogy for human intimacy.  Obviously, we don’t just build a fire in the middle of the room because of the great damage it would do to our house. 

Because we are all red-blooded mortals, the Lord’s law of chastity is something we all encounter as we mature from childhood and into adulthood.  It is one of the areas we are tempted and often struggle with.

When we are young, sometimes the commandments might seem restrictive. But like the wood-stove, when we keep these things within the bounds the lord has set then sexual intimacy becomes a great blessing.  In like manner, any other use becomes destructive and leaves lives filled with pain, regrets and sorrow. 

Alma taught his son that these things are “most abominable above all sins save it be the shedding of innocent blood or denying the Holy Ghost” (Alma 39:5).  Satan has done an incredible job in our society of taking this most serious offense and making it seem acceptable, normal and no big deal.  He has taken something incredibly sacred and profaned it.  We are all constantly bombarded by his lies throughout our society.  Many have been deceived.  Sadly this is not limited solely to those outside the church.  Many within also lose sight of how serious a matter this law is with the Lord.

Proverbs 6:32 states “But whoso committeth adultery with a woman lacketh understanding: he that doeth it destroyeth his own soul.”  Our bodies and spirits are more closely linked than we probably realize.  Those who transgress these physical laws suffer spiritual consequences.  One of the reasons that adulterers seek signs and disbelieve is a result of the spiritual damage their actions have wrought in their lives.  We tend to lose sight of the gravity of this matter.  Perhaps one of the reasons this offense was punishable by death under the law of Moses was to impress upon their minds continually the seriousness of this law (Leviticus 20:10).  If we still had this penalty today, we would have a lot less immorality in our society.  (And probably a lot fewer politicians, lawyers and judges, as well.)

On the positive side, the Lord has two great blessing in store for us through the proper use of our sexuality.  First is the blessing of children and of becoming parents.  And second, sex is intended to create a bond between a husband and wife.  The two are to become one.  This bond is more than physical, it is also an emotional and spiritual bond.  It is sacred.  When we see these things, we begin to understand why you can’t mess around with this and walk away unscathed—contrary to what the world teaches.

I taught a lesson today to our BYU students on this topic.  Some have struggles in this area.  The pain in their lives is far greater than any momentary satisfaction or pleasure they derived from their transgressions.

On the positive side, I used Jess and Devin as an example.  While they were engaged and in the months prior to their wedding, they sat down together and made a few rules that they decided to follow.  I don’t remember exactly what they were but it was something like they would only kiss on Saturday night and then only 2 kisses.  They had fun with it and teased each other a bit but stuck to it.  They entered the temple clean and worthy of the blessings the Lord had for them there.

Sometimes people want to see how close they can get to the line.  The Savior admonished us to stay so far away from the line that we don’t even allow improper thoughts into our lives.  (3 Nephi 12: 27-30)  This is where the battle should be fought--keeping our thoughts pure. 

How many marriages and lives would be spared heartache and misery if this commandment were observed?  How many lives have been destroyed by the ocean of pornography and filth that surrounds us?  Mom and dad have a great saying that says in effect:  ‘All the water in the world cannot sink a ship unless it gets inside.’  Likewise, although we live in an immoral, filthy world we are okay unless we let it inside.

The law of chastity is one of the things we specifically covenant to live in the temple.  This law is given by a Father who knows and understands the weaknesses inherent in mortality, who knows the pain and suffering and consequences of violating this law, and who gives us this commandment to bless us and to insure our happiness.  Solomon with all his “wisdom” failed to observe this law.  On the other side of the failures of his life, he finally did gain true ‘wisdom’.  May we be wise without the painful experience.

I really like how one author put it.  I close with his words:

Of all the powers given to mankind by God, the one most like God Himself is the power to create offspring. The sexual union of the man and woman resulting in children is a power so great it is called God's reward. (See Psalms 127: 3.) God's covenant with Abraham was based upon a numerous posterity. (Gen. 22: 17.)

Sex involves not only "knowing" (i.e., intercourse) between a man and woman (Gen. 4: 1), but also the woman "conceiving" a child (Id.). Sex also includes the woman bringing forth the child, and the father then naming the child (Matt. 1: 25.) It includes teaching the child the ways of God (Deu. 6: 6-7). It extends to a parent's duty to provide care, food, clothing and shelter for the child as well. (1 Tim. 5: 8.)

When the child is raised, the child then is obligated to honor and care for the parent. (Deu. 5: 16.) The cycle binds together generations in care, nurture and honor, altogether a godlike process. (Enos 1: 1.)

In a word, sex is life. It is the entirety of life. It produces and provides for generation after generation in a godly connection between man, woman and God.

If sex is separated from the entire scope of the Divine order, and redefined to be nothing more than orgasm, then it ceases to be life and becomes chaos and death. For example, if the ability of a homosexual union to produce physical gratification for the participants is regarded as the same thing, it not only fails to comply with the Divinely ordained order, it results in death. Homosexual unions produce no offspring and the participants go down to the grave childless. Their sexual powers have failed to result in creation, order, or fulfilling the pattern for life to continue.

If sex is separated from the entire scope, then children are born unwanted and are not raised with the care, love and sacrifice of the parents. They are not taught in the ways of God. They become less than what they were intended to be because they have inherited less than God intended for them to inherit.

Our society has largely confined its understanding of sex to nothing more than physical gratification. It is an orgasm and nothing more. Once we loose that single component from the Divine order, we have changed godlike creation into disorder and chaos. Ultimately it is the difference between life and death.