From Brad Wilcox’s book ‘Changed Through Grace’:
In addition to obeying, sacrificing, and living the gospel, God asks us to live the law of chastity. We show we value God and Christ’s purity as we are willing to engage with them in living chaste lives.
Satan and his followers will never have bodies. No wonder they tempt us to misuse ours. They will never have marriages and families. No wonder they attack those of us who do. Breaking the law of chastity weakens and destroys marriages and families and allows Satan to take one more giant step towards making us miserable like he is (see 2 Nephi 2:27).
The world would convince us that by choosing to remain chaste we are missing something—that the Church is holding us back. But God is not asking us to be chaste because He doesn’t want us to be happy or feel satisfied. He asks us to keep sexual desires and expressions within the bounds He sets because He knows that it is only within those bounds that true joy and satisfaction are found. He is not keeping us from something. He is offering us everything! Research shows that those who live together before marriage have higher divorce rates and lower satisfaction in marriage than those who don’t. Similarly, the more sexual partners people have before marriage, the lower their satisfaction in marriage.12
People who choose to live out of bounds often brag about how they are getting something great, but the facts don’t support their claims. If what they get is so great, then why are they rarely satisfied? Why do so many go from Internet site to Internet site, bed to bed, partner to partner. . . . ? If what they have is as wonderful as what they make it out to be, why are they continually searching? Why are they not content? Their boasts may be simply an attempt to convince themselves they are happier than they really are. Look at happily married couples. They aren’t usually looking or (bragging) because they have the true love, oneness, and satisfaction everyone else seeks so desperately.
A fire kept within bounds can be used to warm and feed you. It can light the way. A fire out of bounds can burn down the whole house and everyone in it. This is why Alma told his son, “See that ye bridle all your passions.” He did not say passions are evil or bad—only that they must be bridled. A powerful horse does not reach its potential by being allowed to run wild. Sex can only be as good as it can possibly be within the bonds of marriage . . . . where love, trust, and fidelity abound. “Bridle your passions,” Alma said, “that ye may be filled with love” (Alma 38:12). Love! The very emotion that so many use to justify immoral choices can be the force that keeps us from making them—love for ourselves, our spouses our children, and for our Lord.
Living this way requires more strength than we can muster on our own. It requires grace. By setting bounds, God is not controlling us but teaching and empowering us to control ourselves. He is changing us so we can live as He lives and feel the joy He feels. As we covenant to be chaste, we invite more of God’s power into our lives. ~Brad Wilcox, Changed Through His Grace (Salt Lake City: Deseret Book, 2017), 93-96 Dwarsligger®edition
