(To start at the beginning of this series, see *Why Chastity. To see the previous post in this series, click Why Chastity V)
From the previous post, Why Chastity V: There is a last irony—but only for those who need it: The great apostle of love, John, reminded us that this world will pass away “and the lust thereof.” (see John 2:17) This means, quite frankly, that not only can lust ruin this life, but it is also pandering to an appetite that will have no existence at all in the next world! Continuing. . . .
If we had the full record of what happened at Sodom and Gomorrah, we would see the same cumulative giving way with each individual failure at each human intersection putting even more pressure on the remaining junctions until they too gave way. Contrast all that happened in the decadent destroyed cities of the plain with the marvelous period of time when, at least for a few brief decades, there was righteousness that did not lapse. There was a sweet Nephite society in which there were no whoredoms, nor any manner of lascivousness, and “surely there could not be a happier people who had been created by the hand of God.” (4 Nephi 1:16.)
Let us resist the rhetoric of the world and its conceptual caresses, and we will find that, if we stand fast, so will others—some surprisingly. Remember the lesson in the lines of Sadie Thompson in Somerset Maugham’s story “Rain”? She said, after being disillusioned during a brief walk on the road to repentance, “You men, you filthy, dirty pigs, you are all the same, all of you.” Men are not all the same! Latter-day Saint men must act in such a way that women can experience that reality—just as Latter-day Saint women must be women of God, not of the world.
The seventh commandment has never contained more than a single standard!
Let us build our strong personal link in a chain of chastity and family fidelity, so it can proceed forth from grandparents to parents to children and then on to their posterity. To be so welded together is, of course, to be drawn together in the strongest kind of bond, and is to affirm, that we believe in the commandments in spite of what is going on in the world around us.
Let us not company with fornicators—not because we are too good for them, but, as C.S. Lewis wrote, because we are not good enough. Remember that bad situations can wear down even good people. Joseph had both good sense and good legs in fleeing from Potiphar’s wife.
Moreover, along with the traditional predatory, selfish male there is now the “liberated,” selfish female. Both driven by appetite, having a false sense of being free—but it is, alas, the same sort of empty “freedom” Cain possessed (after he had broken the sixth commandment by slaying Abel) when, ironically, he said, “I am free.”(Moses 5:33.)
When mistakes have been made, remember that we have the glorious gospel of repentance. The miracle of forgiveness awaits all who are seriously sorry and who will follow the necessary steps. Bear in mind, however, that the breaking of the seventh commandment creates situations in which the soul must be scalded by shame, for only with real cleansing first will real healing occur.
When the impulse to do wrong appears, let us act against that impulse while the impulse is still weak and while the will is still strong. Dalliance merely means that the will weakens and the impulse grows stronger.
Since temptation and its thought patterns expand so as to fill the time made available, let us keep anxiously engaged in safe and good things. Idleness has a way of wrongly insisting, again and again, that it is ourselves that we must think of pleasing.
Because our behavior patterns are different, we must come to despise the ridicule of the world. The scorn and derision of the world are fleeting. James, who was not shy concerning the truth, counseled, “Ye adulterers and adulteresses, know ye not that the friendship of the world is enmity with God?” (James 4:4)
Those who are in error must not call the cadence for our lives, for those who boast of their sexual conquests are only boasting of that which has conquered them—in the same way that drinkers who make nervous jokes about drunkenness are only mocking that which has come to mock them. We may pity behavioral clones, but we do not envy them.
In our concern for justice, let us, therefore, deal justly with ourselves. . . . and . . . .These next blessings and others shall come on us and overtake us if we keep the seventh commandment. (Conclusion of this series, next Saturday.)
~Neal A. Maxwell, Not Withstanding My Weakness (Salt Lake City: Deseret Book, 1981), 99-103 (Continued, final. . .Why Chastity VII)
