Watch“Say No to
Strangers”
-What do we allow to
be “strangers” in our lives?
-Safety online
-Facebook friends
(only people you know)
Music
We must be concerned with the violent and
sexually charged lyrics of much of today’s popular music and the relatively new
“art form” of the music video. According to industry observers, 40 percent of
the music video audience is under the age of 18. 4 One study reports that approximately three-fourths of all the music
videos that tell a story utilize sexual imagery, and nearly half involve
violence. 5 And the fashion trends spawned in their images are about as far away
from being “virtuous, lovely, or of good report or praiseworthy” as you can
get. Ours surely is a time when men “call evil good, and good evil” (Isa. 5:20). –Elder Ballard
-Good music and the LDS Youth Music Site
Media
If we do not
make good choices, the media can devastate our families and pull our children
away from the narrow gospel path. In the virtual reality and the perceived
reality of large and small screens, family-destructive viewpoints and behavior
are regularly portrayed as pleasurable, as stylish, as exciting, and as normal.
Often media’s most devastating attacks on family are not direct or frontal or
openly immoral. Intelligent evil is too cunning for that, knowing that most
people still profess belief in family and in traditional values. Rather the
attacks are subtle and amoral—issues of
right and wrong don’t even come up. Immorality and sexual innuendo are
everywhere, causing some to believe that because everyone is doing it, it must
be all right. This pernicious evil is not out in the street somewhere; it is
coming right into our homes, right into the heart of our families.”
The
choices we make in media can be symbolic of the choices we make in life.
Choosing the trendy, the titillating, the tawdry in the TV programs or movies
we watch can cause us to end up, if we’re not careful, choosing the same things
in the lives we live. -Elder Ballard
Pornography
Is pornography or
sexual addiction something that girls can struggle with?
-Mention this article
Pornography is like
that evil stranger, that enemy operating in secret chambers. It targets
children, teens, and adults—both male and female. Its purveyors often operate
in secrecy and seek to deceive us by claiming to offer something normal and
pleasurable that doesn’t harm anyone. Pornography is
more prevalent today than at any other time. For most people of earlier
generations, pornography was something hidden in the dark corners of society.
Nowadays, because of the Internet, it seems that encountering pornography is
increasingly not a matter of if but when. That is why it
is important that you decide now to prepare a way to flee from this evil
stranger.
-Loren Cook
-Share a story about a loved one who struggles/struggled with
sexual addiction
-Share a personal story of someone who has bested the
pornography addiciton
Do
not attend, view, or participate in entertainment that is vulgar, immoral,
violent, or pornographic in any way. Do not participate in entertainment that
in any way presents immorality or violent behavior as acceptable. …
“Have the
courage to walk out of a movie or video party, turn off a computer or
television, change a radio station, or put down a magazine if what is being
presented does not meet Heavenly Father’s standards. Do these things even if
others do not.”- “For the Strength of Youth”
There is help through
the Atonement…
If
you are tempted to view pornography, there are ways to resist. If you have
developed a habit of viewing pornography, there is help. Talking with your
bishop about these things may seem scary, uncomfortable, or embarrassing, but
he, along with your parents and your Heavenly Father, loves you and wants only
the best for you.
The best way
to stay safe is surprisingly simple—talk to your parents and ask for their help
in avoiding pornography. Make a
plan together so that they can support you.
The best way
to escape if you need to repent is also simple, though it may require courage:
go to your bishop and confess completely and honestly. “By this ye may know if
a man repenteth of his sins—behold, he will confess them and forsake them” (D&C 58:43).
Complete truthfulness with the appropriate authority is a necessary step. Talk
to your parents, your bishop, or a professional counselor. You cannot overcome
pornography alone; it will not stop without help. Willpower alone will not be
enough to help you back on the road to recovery and peace.
“I remember one experience I had. It was my sophomore year in college. I
remember I messed up again for the millionth time, and I was so frustrated with
myself. I was praying, but I was yelling at anything that would listen,
“Heavenly Father, how can you forgive me? I keep doing it, then I keep
apologizing, but I keep doing it and then apologizing. Why do you keep buying
it? I’m not even buying it anymore!”
“Then I got this overwhelming impression
saying, “Stop pretending you understand how much I love you or how I can
forgive you, because you never will be able to. Just trust that I can. That’s
all you need to know.” It just hit me that we try to project our own
understanding on God. We think that because we keep messing up He should stop
trusting us, but that’s not how God sees it. He sees our potential and our
desires. He sees everything about us, things we don’t even know about ourselves
yet. So obviously, he has a different perspective on our mistakes than we do,
because He’s God.”
We know that God has a plan for our lives. I
know that God plans for our mistakes. He knows you so well and He knows what
will make you the person you need to become. Your mistakes are part of that
plan. Christ can take those mistakes and make them into something positive. He
doesn’t just erase them—He takes them and uses them to make you into a stronger
person. I wouldn’t trade my addiction for anything. Because of it, I know
without a doubt in my mind that Christ lives and that He atoned for my sins and
that repentance is real. Because of this, Iknow Christ. When
I’m down on my knees, in the pit of despair, He’s the one that comes to me.
Because of this, I’ve developed compassion. Because I’m still not over it,
there’s still more things that it can teach me. I don’t know what they are, but
I know that I’m a much stronger person than I ever would have been without it.
Allow Christ to be there for you. Don’t confuse your mistakes with who you are.”-
–Article from Second Breakfast
-End with my testimony of the Atonement and the Savior’s
love for all of us.
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