Every so often, I hear people discuss what they think are the Lord’s standards. They argue that there’s nothing wrong with certain R-rated films, that a level of immodesty really isn’t that bad, and that there’s nothing all that wrong with pornography. I worry about these people. The more we try to analyze the commandments, searching them out for loopholes and trying to find ways around them, the more we separate ourselves from the Spirit and we lose our compass, which tells us which behaviors are right or wrong.
We never need even wonder what the Lord’s standards are. He has made them very plain, in the scriptures, through the words of His prophets, by the voice of our bishops. His standards are clear and the bar is high. He desires nothing less than our absolute obedience, our commitment to better living. He has proclaimed that we are to live our lives in a pure way, turning aside all that is immoral, everything that would corrupt, and that we are to seek Him in all things.
When it comes to using our free agency in this, it’s not up to us to sit and try to decide what the Lord wants us to do. Our choice is, will we choose to live up to the standard that has been set? We can’t say, “Oh, I don’t think there’s anything wrong with an R-rated movie, so therefore, it’s not bad for me to watch it.” We can’t change the Lord’s standards just because we don’t like them. His standards are set, and they have been since the dawn of time. He’s not going to change His mind just because George P. Doe in Texas doesn’t like the commandments.
We should not seek to justify ourselves when we come upon a commandment we aren’t living to its fullest. We should recognize that we aren’t up to snuff in that area, and make plans to change our ways. If we discover a commandment we don’t feel we can live, we should make that choice consciously, knowing that we’re choosing not to live it, rather than trying to argue it away by saying, “Surely God didn’t mean He wanted me to do that.”
We will always have our free agency. God does not and cannot take that away from us. But we don’t get to decide what God should do with His free agency. Our squawking doesn’t change his immovable course. Nitpicking the commandments doesn’t make them any less binding. Arguing against the tenants of our religion doesn’t make them any less true. Ours is to decide if we’ll live them or not.
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