A recent article in a national newspaper caught my eye, then turned my stomach as I opened and read a description of flagrant immorality, its promotion and growing acceptance in our society. The article was titled "Cougars prowl the seas aboard The Lust Boat." It described cruises organized to pair older women, "cougars," and younger men, "cubs," to provide an opportunity for immorality.
My dismay was renewed when a week or so later the same national newspaper carried an article on high-priced entry fees for a string of "adult" pools at hotels in Las Vegas. There is a heavy emphasis on "Sin City" in their promotional literature — on partial nudity, raucous music, drinking, the poolside populated by hired "celebrities" to entice individuals to pony up a sizeable wad of cash to participate in a wholly hedonistic experience.
The articles sicken me because rather than portray these activities for what they are — sin and evil — they are promoted as chic and hip, the latest and best activities for the more "enlightened" among us.
I have heard the timeless adage throughout my life, "A stick is a stick is a stick." You can use it as an imaginary sword, you can paint it, you can use it as a staff, you can wave it through the air and swear that it is a lightsaber. Nevertheless, it remains a stick.
You can clothe debauchery, evil and sin in all kinds of alluring garb; you can perfume it and drape it in silks and luxury; you can cloak it in glorious language and imagery on theater screens and televisions across the land. Nevertheless, it remains sin. More importantly, it is sin in the eyes of God, in the eyes of the Savior and in the eyes of his true disciples.
Sexual immorality, in all its varieties, is repugnant to God and places the sinner outside God's grace unless true repentance is made and the sin remitted, meaning forsaken and not taken up again.
What additionally has to shock the conscience is the way that immorality is constantly downplayed in many religious communities around the world. It begs logic. How can any individual who claims to be a Christian deny God's Ten Commandments, given without exception for all mankind? God commands, "Thou shalt not commit adultery, nor anything like unto it." To parse straws and suggest that fornication outside marriage does not fall within the bounds of this command is weak and, in reality, categorically untrue. Perhaps adultery has deeper consequence, yet fornication is also iniquitous in God's eyes.
It is also consistent with logic that only God can alter his Ten Commandments and the only vehicle for doing so would be by revelation through an authorized person here on Earth. This suggests someone who is recognized as having prophetic powers. Few Christian denominations today believe in prophets and modern-day revelation. As members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, we testify that we are led by a prophet and that he is God's mouthpiece on Earth. The prophet today, his counselors and apostles, who are also seers and revelators, continually reaffirm God's standard of chastity and morality.
The scriptures, God's teachings for mankind, also sustain chastity. We read in the New Testament, "For out of the heart proceed evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications. … These are the things that defile a man." The Old Testament states, "But whoso committeth adultery with a woman lacketh understanding: he that doeth it destroyeth his own soul."
There is no justification for any clergyman who rationalizes immorality. To do so is to dilute, pollute and pervert God's law. President M. Russell Ballard warned, "False prophets and false teachers are also those who attempt to change the God-given and scripturally based doctrines that protect the sanctity of marriage, the divine nature of the family, and the essential doctrine of personal morality. They advocate a redefinition of morality to justify fornication, adultery, and homosexual relationships."
President Spencer W. Kimball taught that throughout history prophets have "constantly cr(ied) out against that which is intolerable in the sight of the Lord; against pollution of mind, body … against vulgarity, … against fornication, adultery, homosexuality, and all other abuses of the sacred power to create … against all manner of desecration."
If we desire to be called disciples of Christ, we are bound by God's laws. Repentance and forgiveness are available to all but there can be no equivocating over God's standard of chastity and virtue. Regardless of the hedonistic, destructive path followed by many in today's unenlightened world, God continues to condemn immorality and individuals disregard God at their own peril.