Avoidance of Pornography

Pornography is rampant around the world.  It is destroying families and individuals. The repercussions that pornography has is immeasurable.  Yet we havea choice in this matter.  We must choose to put ourselves in safe places.  We have purpose and responsibility in this life and will be unable to do all that is required of us if we are not careful in our activities.  As we choose to live a disciples life and strive to emulate the characteristics of the Savior we will be able to withstand the sleaze that is all around us. Our daily choices in the little things of life affect if we will be led down the road of temptation or walk the higher paths.  I am raising a family.  This strap of pornography is real.  It has the power to destroy souls if left unchecked.  We strive as a family to be open about the reality of this danger. 
Supporting Quotes:

1.      Pres. Thomas S. Monson April 2015 General Conference “Guided Safely Home” Priesthood Session https://www.lds.org/general-conference/2014/10/guided-safely-home?lang=eng “Ours is the responsibility to be worthy of all the glorious blessings our Father in Heaven has in store for us.  Please before you put yourself and your priesthood in jeopardy by venturing into places or participating in activities which are not worthy of you or of that priesthood, pause to consider the consequences.”

2.      Pres. Thomas S. Monson April 2015 General Conference “Guided Safely Home” Priesthood Session https://www.lds.org/general-conference/2014/10/guided-safely-home?lang=eng Quoting N. Eldon Tanner, President Monson delivered the reminder, “Every one of us has been foreordained for some work as [God’s] chosen servant on whom he has seen fit to confer the priesthood and power to act in his name.  Always remember that people looking to you for leadership and you are influencing the lives of individuals for either good or bad, which influence will be felt for generations to come.” 

3.      Elder Dallin H. Oaks – April 2005 General Conference “Pornography” https://www.lds.org/general-conference/2005/04/pornography?lang=eng - “Don’t accommodate any degree of temptation. Prevent sin and avoid having to deal with its inevitable destruction. So, turn it off! Look away! Avoid it at all costs. Direct your thoughts in wholesome paths. Remember your covenants and be faithful in temple attendance. The wise bishop I quoted earlier reported that “an endowed priesthood bearer’s fall into pornography never occurs during periods of regular worship in the temple; it happens when he has become casual in his temple worship” 

4.      Elder Dallin H. Oaks – April 2005 General Conference “Pornography” https://www.lds.org/general-conference/2005/04/pornography?lang=eng “We must also act to protect those we love. Parents install alarms to warn if their household is threatened by smoke or carbon monoxide. We should also install protections against spiritual threats, protections like filters on Internet connections and locating access so others can see what is being viewed. And we should build the spiritual strength of our families by loving relationships, family prayer, and scripture study.”

5.      Elder Dallin H. Oaks – April 2005 General Conference “Pornography” https://www.lds.org/general-conference/2005/04/pornography?lang=eng “Patrons of pornography also lose the companionship of the Spirit. Pornography produces fantasies that destroy spirituality. The immediate spiritual consequences of such hypocrisy are devastating. Those who seek out and use pornography forfeit the power of their priesthood.”

6.      Elder M. Russell Ballard – April 2008 General Conference “The Truth of God Shall Go Forth” https://www.lds.org/general-conference/2008/10/the-truth-of-god-shall-go-forth?lang=eng (Only one reference to pornography but I felt like it applied to the general filth and what the Lord wants us to do.)

“Of course, our challenges are different today, but they are no less demanding. Instead of angry mobs, we face those who constantly try to defame. Instead of extreme exposure and hardship, we face alcohol and drug abuse, pornography, all kinds of filth, sleaze, greed, dishonesty, and spiritual apathy. Instead of families being uprooted and torn from their homes, we see the institution of the family, including the divine institution of marriage, under attack as groups and individuals seek to define away the prominent and divine role of the family in society.”

“This is not to suggest that our challenges today are more severe than the challenges faced by those who have gone before us. They are just different. The Lord isn’t asking us to load up a handcart; He’s asking us to fortify our faith. He isn’t asking us to walk across a continent; He’s asking us to walk across the street to visit our neighbor. He isn’t asking us to give all of our worldly possessions to build a temple; He’s asking us to give of our means and our time despite the pressures of modern living to continue to build temples and then to attend regularly the temples already built. He isn’t asking us to die a martyr’s death; He’s asking us to live a disciple’s life.”

7.      Elder Quentin L. Cook – October 2013 General Conference “Lamentations of Jerimiah: Beware of Bondage” https://www.lds.org/general-conference/2013/10/lamentations-of-jeremiah-beware-of-bondage?lang=eng “God intended that men and women would be free to make choices between good and evil. When evil choices become the dominant characteristic of a culture or nation, there are serious consequences both in this life and the life to come. People can become enslaved or put themselves in bondage not only to harmful, addictive substances but also to harmful, addictive philosophies that detract from righteous living.”

8.      Elder Quentin L. Cook – October 2013 General Conference “Lamentations of Jerimiah: Beware of Bondage” https://www.lds.org/general-conference/2013/10/lamentations-of-jeremiah-beware-of-bondage?lang=eng “First, addictions that impair agency, contradict moral beliefs, and destroy good health cause bondage. The impact of drugs and alcohol, immorality, pornography, gambling, financial subjugation, and other afflictions imposes on those in bondage and on society a burden of such magnitude that it is almost impossible to quantify.”

9.      Elder Christofferson – October 2014 General Conference “Free Forever to Act for Themselves” https://www.lds.org/general-conference/2014/10/free-forever-to-act-for-themselves?lang=eng “It is God’s will that we be free men and women enabled to rise to our full potential both temporally and spiritually, that we be free from the humiliating limitations of poverty and the bondage of sin, that we enjoy self-respect and independence, that we be prepared in all things to join Him in His celestial kingdom.”

10.  Elder Christofferson - October 2013 General Conference “The Moral Force of Women” https://www.lds.org/general-conference/2013/10/the-moral-force-of-women?lang=eng My plea to women and girls today is to protect and cultivate the moral force that is within you. Preserve that innate virtue and the unique gifts you bring with you into the world. Your intuition is to do good and to be good, and as you follow the Holy Spirit, your moral authority and influence will grow. To the young women I say, don’t lose that moral force even before you have it in full measure. Take particular care that your language is clean, not coarse; that your dress reflects modesty, not vanity; and that your conduct manifests purity, not promiscuity. You cannot lift others to virtue on the one hand if you are entertaining vice on the other.