Lust

[Indy Coug]

Was that really SWK's last quote? What a way to go out.

Can someone please fill in the ellipsis part of SWK's quote?

[smokymountainrain]

Was that really SWK's last quote? What a way to go out.

<flips DH the bird>

For some reason I was thinking they were all SWK quotes. That said, for all I know that really was his last quote.

[Northwestcoug]

I should have been more clear. SWK's last quote.

Sorry. My apologies. Now I've gone and admitted to much

[Pheidippides]

There's far more sexual dysfunction in the church due to the pervasive influences of pornography and uber-permissive cultural influences than there is due to a handful of hyperbolic teachings about the importance of being chaste before marriage.

I couldn't disagree with you in this more strongly if I tried.

[UtahDan]

Rambam on his favorite strategy: take something common to a wider audience (in this case, Christendom), narrowly redefine it as a mormon phenomenon, and then bewail the fact that we are so odd, so different than others, such misfits.

3 Nephi 12:28 is word-for-word in the New Testament, in the Sermon on the Mount.

Born Again Jimmy Carter referred to this very scripture when he made his infamous confession in Playboy Magazine that he had lusted after many women in his heart. So your correlation between young LDS boys can be broadened to any young christian boy, including catholics about which this issue is widely written.

If you want to talk about sexual dysfunction, you don't have to do it in the context of mormonism in order to discuss it on CUF.

You know that every time a Mormon argues that her church is just like every other Christian church that one of Satan's angels gets its wings, or a kitten dies, or something, right?

[UtahDan]

Honestly I don't think men have a problem with this. I would say what you are talking about is more of a problem with women. the old "good girl" situation.

This is exactly my sense. Certainly there are some men who are afflicted by scrupulousity because of inability to control sexual or carnal thoughts. But there is a least a great deal more talk about female sexual dysfunction.

I think we have had this conversation (not you and me MRD, all of us) in lots of other threads. I think it boils down to this: putting a high premium on chastity (sin next to murder) is going to create some unintended consequences re: sexual health and attitudes for some indeterminate slice of the population and will push people to be married young which has its own challenges. HOWEVER, many think that these consequences (which admittedly are not easily quantified) are either not significant or, even if they are significant, are worth paying because one believes that sexual sin causes severe spiritual, emotion, etc., harm.

What that cost benefit analysis computes for any individual will be almost completely a function of whether they think the church is right about how serious and damaging the sin is. We can argue some of the evidence that surrounds this, but at the end of the day I think it winds up being a matter of personal belief and faith.

[Scorcho]

I do believe the LDS Church is a little more open about sexual intimacy than it used to be. There has always been too much emphasis on the evils of pre-marital sex, adultery and self pleasure and virtually nothing about the positives of sexual activity. I think the outcome of that has been that there are still too many couples marrying simply to satisfy their sexual desires and then 2-3 years into the marriage divorcing because they really don’t have much other compatibility. That is tragic, and in my opinion it would have been better if they had just had a sexual relationship before marriage and been spared the heartache of dealing with divorce, children, etc.

It’s also my understanding that the church has been much more lenient in regards to couples that are dating preparing for marriage and then slip. I think that’s a positive. I think LDS Leaders have learned that too severe a punishment on a couple for pre-marital sexual transgressions results in forcing them away from the gospel, rather than drawing them closer.

Lust is certainly a paradox for all LDS Members.

[Jeff Lebowski]

I remember many years ago not long after we were married I was sitting in an EQ meeting and the instructor went on and on about how lust is evil and that we should not even lust after our own wives. Remarkably, nobody challenged him on it (to my regret). I thought it was the dumbest thing I had ever heard.

[Indy Coug]

I remember many years ago not long after we were married I was sitting in an EQ meeting and the instructor went on and on about how lust is evil and that we should not even lust after our own wives. Remarkably, nobody challenged him on it (to my regret). I thought it was the dumbest thing I had ever heard.

Probably because people typically don't like to bear their testimony about how much they lust after their wives. A silent majority of eyerolls are assumed to prevail and TMI is avoided.

[Jeff Lebowski]

Probably because people typically don't like to bear their testimony about how much they lust after their wives. A silent majority of eyerolls are assumed to prevail and TMI is avoided.

I really have no problem admitting that I am sexually attracted to my wife. I hope that doesn't embarrass you.

[Omaha 680]

I just don't relate to a lot of this thread, although I see how these problems could arise. I was blesses with a father (who also was my bishop for a stretch) who stressed that while sexual sin was serious, sexual intimacy was something wonderful to look forward to experiencing at the proper time. I never was taught that impulses were bad, only that they should be bridled appropriately.

[Indy Coug]

I really have no problem admitting that I am sexually attracted to my wife. I hope that doesn't embarrass you.

I figured it was either that or the cooking.

[Scorcho]

I remember many years ago not long after we were married I was sitting in an EQ meeting and the instructor went on and on about how lust is evil and that we should not even lust after our own wives. Remarkably, nobody challenged him on it (to my regret). I thought it was the dumbest thing I had ever heard.

And then there is the other end of the spectrum, where someone testifies and publically reveals in church some of the details of their colorful sexual past. I don’t know which is more uncomfortable. “The holier than thou instruction” or the “wow, I didn’t need to ever know that about you approach.”

Either way, teaching moment fail.

[The Rambam]

Rambam on his favorite strategy: take something common to a wider audience (in this case, Christendom), narrowly redefine it as a mormon phenomenon, and then bewail the fact that we are so odd, so different than others, such misfits.

3 Nephi 12:28 is word-for-word in the New Testament, in the Sermon on the Mount.

Born Again Jimmy Carter referred to this very scripture when he made his infamous confession in Playboy Magazine that he had lusted after many women in his heart. So your correlation between young LDS boys can be broadened to any young christian boy, including catholics about which this issue is widely written.

If you want to talk about sexual dysfunction, you don't have to do it in the context of mormonism in order to discuss it on CUF.

This just seems like an odd response to me. I include three cites, all to LDS sources (one of them also in the NT), on a BYU related discussion board, and you jump down my throat for not including context outside the Mormon tradition in the broader Christian world?

And I do think that we are very odd sexually. We actually take the law of chastity very seriously, more seriously than most other faiths I think.

But it just seems crazy to have to defend talking about an issue in a Mormon context on a Mormon board.

[The Rambam]

I remember many years ago not long after we were married I was sitting in an EQ meeting and the instructor went on and on about how lust is evil and that we should not even lust after our own wives. Remarkably, nobody challenged him on it (to my regret). I thought it was the dumbest thing I had ever heard.

This mentality is not that uncommon in the Church.