I read an interesting thread recently that posed a single question. The original poster wanted serious answers. The question posed was:

If you were granted ONE day that The Lord would "look the other way" and you would not be judged for your actions, what would you do?

What an interesting question posed. And some of the answers given were just as surprising to me:
  • Rape
  • Rob a bank
  • Do illicit drugs
  • Cheat on your spouse
  • Go to a bar
  • Murder someone
I would have a very hard time doing any of those things on the list. They are not (to me) natural things that I could ever see myself doing. But the real fact is that this could NEVER happen. Why? Because of the laws of God.

Our Heavenly Father is God because His laws are unchanging. The Ten Commandments given to Moses for the children of Israel are just as relevant to us today as they were back then. Murder is still murder, bearing false witness is still lying, adultery is still adultery. His commandments are unchanging.

What is interesting to me on the list are things that are prevalent in today's society. Rapes, murders, drugs, adultery are pretty commonplace.  And the notion of "one day" troubles me personally. Yes, I might have that "free day", but when tomorrow comes, I will still feel the guilt and/or remorse for doing something like that. Like I said, for me, it is against my natural tendencies to even consider that. We are always free to choose  to make decisions, but we are not always free to choose the consequences of those actions. 

I think that guilt and remorse are the not-so gentle promptings the Holy Spirit gives us before departing. We can make many decisions that may seem to be rash and quick, without thinking the entire process over. And in order to do something heinous as those listed above, it typically is not a quick decision. Somewhere a seed has been planted within our minds that would lead us to those kinds of decisions.

Pornography is a huge seed that can lead to a multitude of sins. Is it any wonder our prophets and apostles warn us so much about this subject? One picture can lead down a spiraling path of self-destruction. I would submit that no one wakes up one morning from sleep to remark:

I think I'll [rape, murder, cheat on my wife, rob a bank] today.

The seed of thought has to be planted within a person to surpass all the spiritual safety devices we have been given. The devices of guilt, remorse, thinking about the long-term effects of our actions. No, that seed has to be placed. And 100% of the time it is us who have planted that seed via our actions and thoughts.

The seed of being a party to a joke or suggestive talks that is off-color, or contrary to our general nature can also be as destructive as us doing them. Thought typically precedes action.

We must master our human bodies if we want to live with our Heavenly Father. Self-Mastery is something we all need to be consistently working on. Through the repentance process, we can discover these bad seeds and see them for what they really are. And with the Lord's help (and the Bishop), these seeds can be extracted and be replaced with good seeds; of love for our Father in Heaven and His Son (and our advocate with the Father), Jesus Christ. Flee away from the bad seeds, cling to the good seeds.

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