You may or may not have seen the recent CES Fireside given by Elder Bednar, but the church has made a concerted point of bringing it to our attention.
The General Relief Society Presidency has asked R.S. Presidencies to teach this address in their meetings, and I’ve seen other press rambling around about it’s message.
I read this address before I watched video stream of it. It’s words have haunted me. Elder Bednar addresses what I consider to be a looming dark cloud for our children. The beauty of Elder Bednar’s address, however, wasn’t just his apostolic warning of getting addicted to video games, it was his eloquent and well researched position that we are too often minimizing the importance of our bodies by using them in such mindless and useless ways.
He states:
Our physical bodies make possible a breadth, a depth, and an intensity of experience that simply could not be obtained in our premortal estate. President Boyd K. Packer has taught, “Our spirit and our body are combined in such a way that our body becomes an instrument of our mind and the foundation of our character.”2 Thus, our relationships with other people, our capacity to recognize and act in accordance with truth, and our ability to obey the principles and ordinances of the gospel of Jesus Christ are amplified through our physical bodies. In the classroom of mortality, we experience tenderness, love, kindness, happiness, sorrow, disappointment, pain, and even the challenges of physical limitations in ways that prepare us for eternity. Simply stated, there are lessons we must learn and experiences we must have, as the scriptures describe, “according to the flesh” (see 1 Nephi 19:6; Alma 7:12–13).
Our bodies are so important in the plan and the process we are going through that seeking to escape our reality by video gaming, alternate realities (Second Life, for example), and excessive internet social networking are essentially throwing away the gift that we fought so hard to achieve.
Elder Bednar shares several examples of families torn apart by these advancing technologies - a man that destroyed his real marriage in favor of one in an alternate online reality, another couple torn apart by video gaming - and his message was clear: Live in reality.
See the world as it really is. Remember we have made covenants. The anonymity of online life can shroud our sense of duty and responsibility and cloud our vision of the world as it really is.
Here are his two questions, to pose to ourselves as we interact in the digital world:
1. Does the use of various technologies and media invite or impede the constant companionship of the Holy Ghost in your life?
2. Does the time you spend using various technologies and media enlarge or restrict your capacity to live, to love, and to serve in meaningful ways?
I’m asking myself those questions. Am I living in the world? Or am I trying to escape it?
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