Like i’ve said before, there are plenty of people who read this blog who aren’t members of my faith so usually on Sundays I like to share a little piece of that part of me. This series, “What it means to be Mormon,” is gonna be ongoing as I think of good examples for each point. So here’s a start.
The situation
While in college out east, I took a digital photography class. It was a small class (maybe 8 people in it). It was one of my favorite classes i’ve ever taken and one of the few classes I actually got an “A” in while at Princeton. We had engaging projects, visited amazing galleries in NYC, and always had great visual presentations from the professor highlighting specific artists. I loved the class. Well, one day the professor told us that the following week he’d be showing us a presentation that contained sensual, provocative nude images.
What it mean to be Mormon?
In this case, it meant me telling the professor that I would not be there that day to take part in that discussion. I didn’t want him to change his schedule around my personal beliefs so I simply shared some of my reasons/beliefs (without imposing) and let him know I wouldn’t be attending. I certainly didn’t want him to change everything around just for me. Bottom line, he respected my decision and we both moved on. Later that week he called me and said that he wanted to change his presentation anyway and that there would be no nude images. I went and everything was fine.
The doctrine
Though the human body is “beautiful” and can definitely be considered a form of “art,” the human body is sacred. We should never defile it. We should always respect it. Here’s the official teachings from the church on this matter:
Chastity requires faithfulness in thought and action. You are to keep your thoughts clean and be modest in your dress, speech, and actions ( Matthew 5:27–28) . You must avoid pornography in any form and treat the God-given procreative power and your body as sacred gifts.
President HInckley, a modern day prophet, said the following regarding pornography:
“Stay away from it! Avoid it like the plague because it is just as deadly, if not more so. The plague will destroy the body. Pornography will destroy the body and the soul. Stay away from it! It is as a great disease that is sweeping over the country and over the entire world. Avoid it! I repeat, avoid it!”
An obedient and faithful Mormon will avoid this type of thing at all cost. And that’s exactly why I refused to look at those inappropriate images in my photography class back at school. This is one example of what it means to be a Mormon.
