- Mosiah 13: 22…Don’t commit adultery
- Of Souls, Symbols, and Sacraments (Jeffrey R. Holland) “Setting aside sins against the Holy Ghost as a special category unto themselves, it is LDS doctrine that sexual transgression is second only to murder in the Lord’s list of life’s most serious sins. By assigning such rank to a physical appetite so conspicuously evident in all of us, what is God trying to tell us about its place in His plan for all men and women in mortality? I submit to you He is doing precisely that–commenting about the very plan of life itself. Clearly God’s greatest concerns regarding mortality are how one gets into this world and how one gets out of it. These two most important issues in our very personal and carefully supervised progress are the two issues that He as our Creator, Father, and Guide wishes most to reserve to Himself. These are the two matters that He has repeatedly told us He wants us never to take illegally, illicitly, unfaithfully, without sanction.”
- Of Souls, Symbols, and Sacraments (Jeffrey R. Holland) “When one toys with the God-given . . . body of another, he or she toys with the very soul of that individual, toys with the central purpose and product of life.”
- Of Souls, Symbols, and Sacraments (Jeffrey R. Holland) “So partly in answer to why such seriousness, we answer that when one toys with the God-given–and satanically coveted–body of another, he or she toys with the very soul of that individual, toys with the central purpose and product of life, “the very key” to life, as Elder Boyd K. Packer once called it. In trivializing the soul of another (please include the word body there) we trivialize the atonement, which saved that soul and guaranteed its continued existence. And when one toys with the Son of Righteousness, the Day Star Himself, one toys with white heat and a flame hotter and holier than the noonday sun. You cannot do so and not be burned. You cannot with impunity “crucify . . . the Son of God afresh.” Exploitation of the body (please include the word soul there) is, in the last analysis, an exploitation of Him who is the Light and the Life of the world.”
- Of Souls, Symbols, and Sacraments (Jeffrey R. Holland) “Perhaps here Paul’s warning to the Corinthians takes on newer, higher meaning: “Now the body is not for fornication, but for the Lord; and the Lord for the body. . . . Know ye not that your bodies are the members of Christ? shall I then take the members of Christ, and make them the members of a harlot? God forbid. . . . Flee fornication. . . . He that committeth fornication sinneth against his own body. What? 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.”
- Of Souls, Symbols, and Sacraments (Jeffrey R. Holland) “The purchase price for our fullness of joy-body and spirit eternally united-is the pure and innocent blood of the Savior of the world. We cannot then say in ignorance or defiance, “Well, it’s my life’ or worse yet, “it’s my body.” It is not your life or your body. “Ye are not your own,” Paul said. “Ye are bought with a price.” As a result of the excruciating suffering endured by Him in the atonement-the payment, He made for our sins-we are eternally indebted to Jesus. That is the one reason we call Him “Master,” in the holiest sense of the word. So in answer to the question, “Why does God care so much about sexual transgression?” It is partly because of the precious gift offered by and through His Only Begotten Son to redeem the souls-bodies and spirits- we too often share and abuse in such cheap and tawdry ways. Christ restored the very seeds of eternal lives, and we desecrate them at our peril. The first key reason for personal purity? Our very souls are involved and at stake.”
- “I have heard all my life that it is the young woman who has to assume the responsibility for controlling the limits of intimacy in courtship because a young man cannot. Seldom have I heard any point made about this subject that makes me more disappointed than that. What kind of man is he, what priesthood or power or strength or self-control does this man have, that lets him develop in society, grow to the age of mature accountability, perhaps even pursue a university education and prepare to affect the future colleagues and kingdoms and the course of the world, yet he does not have the mental capacity or the moral will to say, “I will not do that thing”? No, this sorry drugstore psychology would have us say, “I just can’t help myself. My glands have complete control over my life- my mind, my will, my entire future.” To say that a young woman in such a relationship has to bear her responsibility and that of the young man too is one of the most inappropriate suggestions I can imagine. In most instances, if there is sexual transgression, I lay the burden squarely on the shoulders of the young man- for our purposes probably a priesthood bearer- and that’s where I believe God intended the responsibility to be.” Of Souls, Symbols and Sacraments, Jeffrey R. Holland
- “Indeed, most tragically, it is the young woman who is most often the victim; it is the young woman who most often suffers the greater pain; it is the young woman who most often feels used and abused and terribly unclean. And for that imposed uncleanliness the man, as well as the woman, will pay, as surely as the sun sets and rivers run to the sea…After a bold confrontation on the subject of sexual transgression among the Nephites, he quotes Jehova: “For behold, I, the Lord, have seen the sorrow, and heard the mourning of the daughters of my people in the land…And I will not suffer, saith the Lord of Hosts, that the crise of the fair daughters of this people…shall come up unto me against the men of my people, saith the Lord of Hosts. For they shall not lead away captive the daughters of my people because of their tenderness, save I shall visit them with a sore curse, even unto destruction.” Don’t be deceived and don’t be destroyed. Unless such fire is controlled, your clothes and your future will be burned, and your world, short of painful and perfect repentance, can go up in the flames. I give that to you on good word: I give it to you on God’s word.” Of Souls, Symbols and Sacraments, Jeffrey R. Holland
- “Aim for 7 or more hours of sleep each night. A large study of adults found that people who sleep at least 7 hours have the lowest risk of mortality.” The New Abs Diet: The 6-Week Plan to Flatten Your Stomach and Keep You Lean for Life (The Abs Diet) (David Zinczenko and Ted Spiker). Page21
- “When I ask parents what their deepest hopes are for their children, they often say they just want them to be happy. But how should we think about happiness? Is it simply a pleasant emotion or something more? According to Aristotle and his latter-day student, Thomas Jefferson, the “pursuit of happiness” has to do with an internal journey to know ourselves and an external journey of selfless service to others. Indeed, the concept of a personal moral compass has been a central motif throughout the lifetime of our civilization.” Wealth in Families Third Edition (Charles W. Collier) Page 10
- “Tender Warrior, written by a Vietnam veteran who served in the Special Forces: ‘A warrior is one who possesses high moral standards and holds to high principles. He is willing to live by them, stand for them, spend himself in them, and, if necessary, die for them.’” Fearless: The Undaunted Courage and Ultimate Sacrifice of Navy SEAL Team SIX Operator Adam Brown (Blehm, Eric) page 234
- “The Fall was an essential part of man’s mortal probation. … Had Adam and Eve not partaken, the great gift of mortality would not have come to them. Moreover, they would have had no posterity, and the great commandment given to them by the Lord would not have been fulfilled. 7The fall of Adam brought to pass all of the vicissitudes of mortality. It brought pain, it brought sorrow, it brought death; but we must not lose sight of the fact that it brought blessings also. … It brought the blessing of knowledge and understanding and mortal life.” Chapter 3: The Plan of Salvation, Teachings of Presidents of the Church: Joseph Fielding Smith, (2013), 58–71
- “Societies depend in large part upon religion and churches to establish moral order. Government can never build enough jails to house the criminals produced by a society lacking in morality, character, and faith. These attributes are better encouraged by religious observance than by legislative decree or police force. It is impossible for government to control the attitudes, desires, and hopes that spring from the human heart. And yet these are the seeds that grow into the conduct government must regulate.” Religion and Government, Elder Wilford W. Andersen Of the Seventy
- “Civility in society is achieved when the majority of people do what is moral because they believe they should, not because they are compelled by law or by police force.” Religion and Government, Elder Wilford W. Andersen Of the Seventy
- “Let us not forget that we believe in being benevolent and in doing good to all men. I am convinced that we can teach our children effectively enough that we need not fear that they will lose their faith while being friendly and considerate with those who do not subscribe to the doctrine of this Church. Let us be involved in good community causes. There may be situations where, with serious moral issues involved, we cannot bend on matters of principle. But in such instances we can politely disagree without being disagreeable. We can acknowledge the sincerity of those whose positions we cannot accept. We can speak of principles rather than personalities.” Manual, Teachings of the Presidents of the Church: Gordon B Hinkley, Chapter 20, Fellowship with Those who are Not of our Faith