Pornography is an activity that
takes away from the spiritual light of every individual it come is contact
with, whether the they know it or not. Pornography has the ability to wreak
havoc and destroy entire families until homes are nothing more than empty
shells where dreams were once made. The pursuit and preoccupation of
pornography makes a person act behind closed and locked doors, pulled blinds,
and encourages each individual to use the language of the devil: secrecy and
deceit. The use of pornography is addictive in nature, ensnaring and compelling
its viewers to crave more of the same drug until the spirit is withered from
lack of light and nutrition from Jesus Christ and His gospel. KW
"We
need to make our homes a place of refuge from the storm, which is increasing in
intensity all about us. Even if the smallest openings are left unattended,
negative influences can penetrate the very walls of our homes."
~Elder L.
Tom Perry, "The
Importance of Families" General Conference 4/2003
"Pornography
is not some titillating feast for the eyes that gives a momentary
rush of excitement. [Rather] it has the effect of damaging hearts and souls to
their very depths, strangling the life out of relationships that should be
sacred, hurting to the very core those you should love the most."
~President
Gordon B. Hinckley, "A
Tragic Evil Among Us" General Conference 10/2004
"Today
we have a rebirth of ancient Sodom and Gomorrah. From seldom-read pages in
dusty Bibles they come forth as real cities in a real world, depicting a real
malady—pernicious permissiveness."
~President
Thomas S. Monson, "Pornography–The
Deadly Carrier" General Conference 10/1979
"Our
Savior emphasized the importance of sexual purity when he taught that it was
sinful for a man to even look upon a woman to lust after her. That teaching
leads me to say a few words about the kind of material we read and the kinds of
movies and television we view. We are surrounded by the promotional literature
of illicit sexual relations, on the printed page and on the screen. For your
own good, avoid it. Pornographic or erotic stories and pictures are worse than
filthy or polluted food. The body has defenses to rid itself of unwholesome
food. With a few fatal exceptions bad food will only make you sick but do no
permanent harm. In contrast, a person who feasts upon filthy stories or
pornographic or erotic pictures and literature records them in this marvelous retrieval
system we call a brain. The brain won’t vomit back filth. Once recorded, it
will always remain subject to recall, flashing its perverted images across your
mind and drawing you away from the wholesome things in life."
~Elder
Dallin H. Oaks, "Things
They're Saying" New Era 2/1974
“… Light and darkness cannot occupy
the same space at the same time. Light dispels darkness. When light is present,
darkness is vanquished and must depart. More importantly, darkness cannot
conquer light unless the light is diminished or departs. When the spiritual
light of the Holy Ghost is present, the darkness of Satan departs."
~Elder Robert D. Hales, "Out
of Darkness into His Marvelous Light" General Conference 4/2002
“Pornography
will always repel the Spirit of Christ and will interrupt the communications
between our Heavenly Father and His children and disrupt the tender
relationship between husband and wife.”
~President
Boyd K. Packer, "Cleansing
the Inner Vessel" General
Conference 10/2010
"Why is lust such a deadly sin?
Well, in addition to the completely Spirit-destroying impact it has upon our
souls, I think it is a sin because it defiles the highest and holiest
relationship God gives us in mortality—the love that a man and a woman have for
each other and the desire that couple has to bring children into a family
intended to be forever. Someone said once that true love must include the idea
of permanence. True love endures. But lust changes as quickly as it can turn a
pornographic page or glance at yet another potential object for gratification
walking by, male or female. True love we are absolutely giddy about—as I am
about Sister Holland; we shout it from the housetops. But lust is characterized
by shame and stealth and is almost pathologically clandestine—the later and
darker the hour the better, with a double-bolted door just in case. Love makes
us instinctively reach out to God and other people. Lust, on the other hand, is
anything but godly and celebrates self-indulgence. Love comes with open hands
and open heart; lust comes with only an open appetite."
~Elder
Jeffery R. Holland, "Place
No More for the Enemy of My Soul" General Conference 4/2010
“In our day the dreadful influence
of pornography is like unto a plague sweeping across the world, infecting one
here and one there, relentlessly trying to invade every home, most frequently
through the husband and father. The effect of this plague can be, unfortunately
often is, spiritually fatal. Lucifer seeks to disrupt ‘the great plan of
redemption,’ ‘the great plan of happiness.’”
~President
Boyd K. Packer, "Cleansing
the Inner Vessel" General Conference 10/2010
“The power
of procreation is spiritually significant. Misuse of this power subverts the
purposes of the Father’s plan and of our mortal existence. Our Heavenly Father
and His Beloved Son are creators and have entrusted each of us with a portion
of Their creative power. Specific guidelines for the proper use of the ability
to create life are vital elements in the Father’s plan. How we feel about and
use that supernal power will determine in large measure our happiness in
mortality and our destiny in eternity.”
~Elder David A. Bednar, "We
Believe in Being Chaste" General Conference 4/2013
“Pornography impairs one’s ability
to enjoy a normal emotional, romantic, and spiritual relationship with a person
of the opposite sex. It erodes the moral barriers that stand against
inappropriate, abnormal, or illegal behavior. As conscience is desensitized,
patrons of pornography are led to act out what they have witnessed, regardless
of its effects on their life and the lives of others.
“Pornography is also addictive. It
impairs decision-making capacities and it ‘hooks’ its users, drawing them back
obsessively for more and more. A man who had been addicted to pornography and
to hard drugs wrote me this comparison: ‘In my eyes cocaine doesn’t hold a
candle to this. I have done both. … Quitting even the hardest drugs was nothing
compared to [trying to quit pornography]’ (letter of Mar. 20, 2005)."
~Elder Dallin H. Oaks, "Pornography"
General Conference, 4/2005
