I taught in church today

[Katy Lied]

Anyway, the roommate gets back from her confession with the bishop. (I heard this from my friend, not the porn consuming roommate, so I don't know what her state of mind was.) She got no discipline. Nothing. Not even a suggestion to stop taking the sacrament.

When she confessed, she broke down and cried and said that because she was so unattractive, she had no hopes of getting married, so she would never know what a physical relationship between a man and a woman would be like, and porn movies were the only way she could satisfy her curiosity. It was the closest she would ever get to having sex with a real husband. And why couldn't she have a husband? It was promised in her patriarchal blessing that she would be married with many, many children, but no priesthood holder wanted to date her. She was a worthy temple rec holder, why can't she get eternal temple blessings from marriage?

That was it. Nothing was said about how she probably wasn't a recommend holder at that moment. Nothing about how if she were curious, why didn't she just watch one movie? Why 3 movies a night for 3 months? No counseling about how porn does not depict a loving relationship between two worthy people striving for exaltation. No details demanded of her about exactly what type of porn she was watching. Just "Dont do it again."

Would an RM man in his middle 20s get the same treatment?

[byu71]

Would an RM man in his middle 20s get the same treatment?

No, but I think a man in his 60's would.

[Pelado]

Anyway, the roommate gets back from her confession with the bishop. (I heard this from my friend, not the porn consuming roommate, so I don't know what her state of mind was.) She got no discipline. Nothing. Not even a suggestion to stop taking the sacrament.

When she confessed, she broke down and cried and said that because she was so unattractive, she had no hopes of getting married, so she would never know what a physical relationship between a man and a woman would be like, and porn movies were the only way she could satisfy her curiosity. It was the closest she would ever get to having sex with a real husband. And why couldn't she have a husband? It was promised in her patriarchal blessing that she would be married with many, many children, but no priesthood holder wanted to date her. She was a worthy temple rec holder, why can't she get eternal temple blessings from marriage?

That was it. Nothing was said about how she probably wasn't a recommend holder at that moment. Nothing about how if she were curious, why didn't she just watch one movie? Why 3 movies a night for 3 months? No counseling about how porn does not depict a loving relationship between two worthy people striving for exaltation. No details demanded of her about exactly what type of porn she was watching. Just "Dont do it again."

Would an RM man in his middle 20s get the same treatment?

Only if he was as unattractive as the good sister you've described.

[BigPiney]

Anyway, the roommate gets back from her confession with the bishop. (I heard this from my friend, not the porn consuming roommate, so I don't know what her state of mind was.) She got no discipline. Nothing. Not even a suggestion to stop taking the sacrament.

When she confessed, she broke down and cried and said that because she was so unattractive, she had no hopes of getting married, so she would never know what a physical relationship between a man and a woman would be like, and porn movies were the only way she could satisfy her curiosity. It was the closest she would ever get to having sex with a real husband. And why couldn't she have a husband? It was promised in her patriarchal blessing that she would be married with many, many children, but no priesthood holder wanted to date her. She was a worthy temple rec holder, why can't she get eternal temple blessings from marriage?

That was it. Nothing was said about how she probably wasn't a recommend holder at that moment. Nothing about how if she were curious, why didn't she just watch one movie? Why 3 movies a night for 3 months? No counseling about how porn does not depict a loving relationship between two worthy people striving for exaltation. No details demanded of her about exactly what type of porn she was watching. Just "Dont do it again."

Would an RM man in his middle 20s get the same treatment?

yes

[Pheidippides]

yes

Humblebrag.

[Uncle Ted]

There is definitely a double standard. I should put this in the punography thread, but this is my last post on this.

I had a friend who rented a house and had roommates, but all the bills were in her name. She came to me for help deciphering her cable bill, because in the past 3 months it had blown up to hundreds of dollars a month. I called the cable company and they told me someone in the house was renting pay per view porn movies at night, and the activity log showed that some nights 2-3 movies were watched, for hours at a time. My friend determined that one of her roommates, a stand up returned missionary, was watching porn late at night with the volume turned way down. This had been happening for 3 months, and the roommate was hiding the cable bill when it arrived. (My friend was not the most prompt utility payer.)

So about 90 days, 3-5 nights per week, sometimes 2-3 movies a night. That sounds like an addiction to me. My friend confronted her roommate, and her roommate confessed, and set up a repayment plan to pay for the porn. My friend also demanded that her roommate go talk to the bishop as well. This seems a little strong, but you know how women are.

Also, you should know that this returned missionary roommate was a sweet spirit. She was very homely looking and quite overweight. (Although she had a really sparkling personality and was a ton of fun.) This will figure into the end of this story.

gotta go for a bit. be back.

Along this same lines it may be good to mention the growing popularity of 'mommy porn' so the priesthood knows how to deal with that problem as well. Like knowing which hardware stores carry cotton rope, for example.

[Dwight Schr-ute]

I taught in church today

Here are some comments I had in the "Learned at Church" thread awhile back: Speaking of lessons on pornography, it only took 10 minutes or so before someone reference "porn addiction is one of the biggest challenges in the Church today." Against my better judgement, I raised my hand and challenged the idea. "Is porn addiction the church's biggest challenge or is the church addicted to porn addiction?" I argued that we throw the term "addiction" around irresponsibly. Someone who sneaks a little porn in a couple times a month is no more a porn addict than someone who drinks a few beers a couple times a month is an alcoholic. All the branding does is motivate people to drive the behavior underground. Treating it like a disease causes wives to be unforgiving, insecure and in many occasions, provides them the justification to leave otherwise, perfectly loving and able husbands. We've become Don Quiote's chasing giants that are nothing more than windmills. Pornography outside the church doesn't seem to be nearly as destructive to families as it is inside the church. Pornography in the church probably isn't as big of a problem as the way we talk about pornography in the church is.

That was the end of my comments then, but I'm going to ramble on for a bit.
As a biologist, I think we do a disservice when we focus so much on pornography and completely ignore sexuality. Reproduction is one of the biggest drives/impulses in most living things. The more the church focuses on modesty and snuffing out porn, the weirder the sexual outlets become: i.e. see the wife blog who's husband gets his fix off Google maps, iTunes etc. I'd be curious to see what the rate of "porn addiction" is within the church vs. outside the church vs. Europe where sexuality seems to be much less obsessed about.

Women seem to enjoy focusing on porn because it alleviates them of any responsibility. How different would the conversation be if the focus was on healthy sexual relationships? This is especially important as parents and how we talk to our children about their developing bodies. We can't effectively just tell a 14 boy to don't look at porn, don't play with your penis without trying to help them understand why they're probably constantly thinking about it.

I've taught this lesson a bunch of times. When I do, I like to start with the story of King David from 2 Samuel 11. But instead of putting the focus on Bath-sheba, and the pregnancy and the killing of Uriah, I like to put the focus on a line from the first verse: "But David tarried still in Jerusalem." David wasn't where he should have been.

[Jeff Lebowski]

Here are some comments I had in the "Learned at Church" thread awhile back: Speaking of lessons on pornography, it only took 10 minutes or so before someone reference "porn addiction is one of the biggest challenges in the Church today." Against my better judgement, I raised my hand and challenged the idea. "Is porn addiction the church's biggest challenge or is the church addicted to porn addiction?" I argued that we throw the term "addiction" around irresponsibly. Someone who sneaks a little porn in a couple times a month is no more a porn addict than someone who drinks a few beers a couple times a month is an alcoholic. All the branding does is motivate people to drive the behavior underground. Treating it like a disease causes wives to be unforgiving, insecure and in many occasions, provides them the justification to leave otherwise, perfectly loving and able husbands. We've become Don Quiote's chasing giants that are nothing more than windmills. Pornography outside the church doesn't seem to be nearly as destructive to families as it is inside the church. Pornography in the church probably isn't as big of a problem as the way we talk about pornography in the church is.

That was the end of my comments then, but I'm going to ramble on for a bit.
As a biologist, I think we do a disservice when we focus so much on pornography and completely ignore sexuality. Reproduction is one of the biggest drives/impulses in most living things. The more the church focuses on modesty and snuffing out porn, the weirder the sexual outlets become: i.e. see the wife blog who's husband gets his fix off Google maps, iTunes etc. I'd be curious to see what the rate of "porn addiction" is within the church vs. outside the church vs. Europe where sexuality seems to be much less obsessed about.

Women seem to enjoy focusing on porn because it alleviates them of any responsibility. How different would the conversation be if the focus was on healthy sexual relationships? This is especially important as parents and how we talk to our children about their developing bodies. We can't effectively just tell a 14 boy to don't look at porn, don't play with your penis without trying to help them understand why they're probably constantly thinking about it.

I've taught this lesson a bunch of times. When I do, I like to start with the story of King David from 2 Samuel 11. But instead of putting the focus on Bath-sheba, and the pregnancy and the killing of Uriah, I like to put the focus on a line from the first verse: "But David tarried still in Jerusalem." David wasn't where he should have been.

[smokymountainrain]

Here are some comments I had in the "Learned at Church" thread awhile back: Speaking of lessons on pornography, it only took 10 minutes or so before someone reference "porn addiction is one of the biggest challenges in the Church today." Against my better judgement, I raised my hand and challenged the idea. "Is porn addiction the church's biggest challenge or is the church addicted to porn addiction?" I argued that we throw the term "addiction" around irresponsibly. Someone who sneaks a little porn in a couple times a month is no more a porn addict than someone who drinks a few beers a couple times a month is an alcoholic. All the branding does is motivate people to drive the behavior underground. Treating it like a disease causes wives to be unforgiving, insecure and in many occasions, provides them the justification to leave otherwise, perfectly loving and able husbands. We've become Don Quiote's chasing giants that are nothing more than windmills. Pornography outside the church doesn't seem to be nearly as destructive to families as it is inside the church. Pornography in the church probably isn't as big of a problem as the way we talk about pornography in the church is.

That was the end of my comments then, but I'm going to ramble on for a bit.
As a biologist, I think we do a disservice when we focus so much on pornography and completely ignore sexuality. Reproduction is one of the biggest drives/impulses in most living things. The more the church focuses on modesty and snuffing out porn, the weirder the sexual outlets become: i.e. see the wife blog who's husband gets his fix off Google maps, iTunes etc. I'd be curious to see what the rate of "porn addiction" is within the church vs. outside the church vs. Europe where sexuality seems to be much less obsessed about.

Women seem to enjoy focusing on porn because it alleviates them of any responsibility. How different would the conversation be if the focus was on healthy sexual relationships? This is especially important as parents and how we talk to our children about their developing bodies. We can't effectively just tell a 14 boy to don't look at porn, don't play with your penis without trying to help them understand why they're probably constantly thinking about it.

I've taught this lesson a bunch of times. When I do, I like to start with the story of King David from 2 Samuel 11. But instead of putting the focus on Bath-sheba, and the pregnancy and the killing of Uriah, I like to put the focus on a line from the first verse: "But David tarried still in Jerusalem." David wasn't where he should have been.

Good stuff, DS.

[wuapinmon]

No, but I think a man in his 60's would.

You can always find a way to make me laugh.

[Uncle Ted]

Here are some comments I had in the "Learned at Church" thread awhile back: Speaking of lessons on pornography, it only took 10 minutes or so before someone reference "porn addiction is one of the biggest challenges in the Church today." Against my better judgement, I raised my hand and challenged the idea. "Is porn addiction the church's biggest challenge or is the church addicted to porn addiction?" I argued that we throw the term "addiction" around irresponsibly. Someone who sneaks a little porn in a couple times a month is no more a porn addict than someone who drinks a few beers a couple times a month is an alcoholic. All the branding does is motivate people to drive the behavior underground. Treating it like a disease causes wives to be unforgiving, insecure and in many occasions, provides them the justification to leave otherwise, perfectly loving and able husbands. We've become Don Quiote's chasing giants that are nothing more than windmills. Pornography outside the church doesn't seem to be nearly as destructive to families as it is inside the church. Pornography in the church probably isn't as big of a problem as the way we talk about pornography in the church is.

That was the end of my comments then, but I'm going to ramble on for a bit.
As a biologist, I think we do a disservice when we focus so much on pornography and completely ignore sexuality. Reproduction is one of the biggest drives/impulses in most living things. The more the church focuses on modesty and snuffing out porn, the weirder the sexual outlets become: i.e. see the wife blog who's husband gets his fix off Google maps, iTunes etc. I'd be curious to see what the rate of "porn addiction" is within the church vs. outside the church vs. Europe where sexuality seems to be much less obsessed about.

Women seem to enjoy focusing on porn because it alleviates them of any responsibility. How different would the conversation be if the focus was on healthy sexual relationships? This is especially important as parents and how we talk to our children about their developing bodies. We can't effectively just tell a 14 boy to don't look at porn, don't play with your penis without trying to help them understand why they're probably constantly thinking about it.

I've taught this lesson a bunch of times. When I do, I like to start with the story of King David from 2 Samuel 11. But instead of putting the focus on Bath-sheba, and the pregnancy and the killing of Uriah, I like to put the focus on a line from the first verse: "But David tarried still in Jerusalem." David wasn't where he should have been.

Good stuff.

This video might be useful for parents talking to children about their developing bodies, BTW:

[Northwestcoug]

Anyway, the roommate gets back from her confession with the bishop. (I heard this from my friend, not the porn consuming roommate, so I don't know what her state of mind was.) She got no discipline. Nothing. Not even a suggestion to stop taking the sacrament.

When she confessed, she broke down and cried and said that because she was so unattractive, she had no hopes of getting married, so she would never know what a physical relationship between a man and a woman would be like, and porn movies were the only way she could satisfy her curiosity. It was the closest she would ever get to having sex with a real husband. And why couldn't she have a husband? It was promised in her patriarchal blessing that she would be married with many, many children, but no priesthood holder wanted to date her. She was a worthy temple rec holder, why can't she get eternal temple blessings from marriage?

That was it. Nothing was said about how she probably wasn't a recommend holder at that moment. Nothing about how if she were curious, why didn't she just watch one movie? Why 3 movies a night for 3 months? No counseling about how porn does not depict a loving relationship between two worthy people striving for exaltation. No details demanded of her about exactly what type of porn she was watching. Just "Dont do it again."

Would an RM man in his middle 20s get the same treatment?

Maybe the RM's need to try that tack. Body image issues, no hope to get married, etc. Then perhaps they'll get the same slap on the wrist.

[Pelado]

Good stuff.

This video might be useful for parents talking to children about their developing bodies, BTW:

That's awesome. Damn nocturnal emissions.

[Katy Lied]

Tomorrow in GD 39 we get to discuss Pheidippides at length. Along with a discussion on feet. As in "do you think your feet are beautiful? What would make Isaiah say you have beautiful feet?" It shall be fun.

This is one of the most beautiful lessons to teach--of all 4 years. The Isaiah account of the Atonement and Redemption is absolutely precious. Even those who see the Bible as just allegory must see this as a gorgeous doctrine of belief. For those with faith, it is unimaginably moving.

[SCcoug]

Tomorrow in GD we get to discuss Pheidippides at length. Along with a discussion on feet. As in "do you think your feet are beautiful? What would make Isaiah say you have beautiful feet?" It shall be fun.

I hope you aren't using a shirtless pic to introduce him.