Intravenous immorality

I’ve previewed a few popular television shows over the last handful of months and I’ve noticed something troublesome: they’re not as clean as they used to be. It’s not just that, though; the culture of what’s accepted in society and on TV (and what’s not) has radically altered over the past couple of decades.

Take sex, for example. It’s on TV to a degree and certainly in movies far more than that. Now, actual depiction of sex is overt and obviously dangerous; the less visible and more insidious danger is the Babylon worldview that latches on and burrows its way into our souls, into our spiritual bloodstreams. It’s okay to have sex with whoever you want, says that philosophy. Everyone’s doing it. Now, I don’t think this means that when we watch movies with this kind of perspective, we’ll go out and start mating willy-nilly. Luckily most of us have more inhibitions than that. But I’ll be darned if we don’t end up feeling like there’s nothing really wrong with extramarital sex, like it’s just something people do. It loses its sin value and becomes as commonplace as breathing or eating.

As followers of Jesus Christ, however, we don’t have the “luxury” of thinking that way. We’re not carnal animals. We can be, if we forget who we are, but we’ve got a greater destiny than that. We worship God — not Aphrodite. And God has commanded us to be chaste, to save sex for marriage and marriage alone — marriage between a man and a woman. Pretty much the complete opposite of what the world thinks.

It’s not just sex, of course, though that’s perhaps the most obviously anti-gospel philosophy. Take action-adventure movies as well. Lots of people die, and most of those deaths are casual; nobody cares unless it’s one of the main characters. I’ve found that when I come out from watching an action-adventure movie, deaths roll off me like water off a duck’s back. And that bothers me. Death should mean something to me. Sure, we believe in a life after death, but the casual-death philosophy of these movies has nothing to do with a post-mortal belief but rather has everything to do with a cheapening of the value of a life. The message I get from these movies is that a life is only worth something if it belongs to somebody important. That’s messed up.

Does this mean that we have to rear back and abstain 100% from anything with a worldly perspective? I don’t know the answer to that. Ideally, yes, complete avoidance would be best. In reality, though, I don’t think you really can avoid it completely, since it’s everywhere. Utterly pervasive. Which is why we have to constantly inject ourselves with the antidote: the gospel. We have to remind ourselves of the standards and bounds the Lord has set so that we don’t get brainwashed into joining the Parade of the Natural Man. It’s easy to let go and get sucked into the march along the broad and wide path that leads to spiritual death. It’s not so easy to hold tight to the iron rod. But we can’t let go.

I think this is why we read our scriptures every day. This is why we go to church every week. This is why we pray daily. This is why we go to the temple regularly. I mean, we do those things for other reasons, too, but we do them on a regular basis because we keep forgetting.

It’s like there are shadows everywhere, climbing the walls around us, seeping in through the floorboards, wafting in with the breeze. They’re relentless, always trying to get close, and they’ll never give up — not in this life, at least. We have to keep bathing ourselves in light to keep the darkness at bay. A one-time fire isn’t going to cut it, because tomorrow they’ll be back, in greater numbers. We keep the fire lit day-in and day-out because that’s the only way to stay safe.

Luckily, it’s easier to read our scriptures than it would be to keep a literal fire going every day of our lives. Or is it?

One last thought. The world doesn’t take kindly to people who disagree with it. You don’t like what the world has to offer? Sorry, that’s not PC — you need to be a little more tolerant. Open your mind and stop living a sheltered life.

Blech. At the cost of what? Our souls? We can’t judge other people — that’s not our prerogative — but we can judge ourselves. We know when we’re toeing the line. It’s way too risky to flirt with Babylon. If we really believe in Christ and his gospel, we have to stand up for what we believe in. We can still be kind and allow other people to believe what they want to believe, but we can’t sway with every worldly wind that comes around. We have to stand strong.

Yeah I hate excessive sex and violence too but I sure get a kick out of the well-placed cuss word. :) One thing about the “world” not liking this kinda stuff. . . well your average good citizen doesn’t exactly love to hear that others think their choices are like evil wicked satan bad, but the only time you’ll run into any REAL trouble is when you try to alter some touchy writer or director’s creation. Well, on the other hand, you probably wouldn’t like it if somebody added or took away elements in your plays without your permission and produced them under your name. But then again, I don’t think I was in the target demographic for this post (at least I hope not) so I’ll shut up now. ;)

Maybe I’m reading a bit too much between the lines, but I think I can empathize with this post. Here’s my allegorical way of rendering it:

I tend to go through periods where I experiment looking for new sources of media and ideas, in a Thirteenth-Article-of-Faith kind of endeavor to seek after that which is worthwhile, of good report, and praiseworthy. I start looking in bushes, climbing trees, and turning over rocks, eager to see what’s out there, finding new perspectives and interesting items. This goes on for a while until eventually I look up and realize that not only is it dusk, but my eagerness has led me into a forest that I hadn’t ever intended to enter. At that point, I gather myself and my new discoveries together and walk back home. At home, I first clean the dirt off of my hands and knees and then dump all my new treasures onto my bed where I sort through them, tossing out what isn’t good or useful and keeping what is. Then I sit on my bed and turn these new items over in my hands and think about these new ideas and perspectives. After this time of rest and contemplation, I eventually reach a point where I’m ready to venture out again.

While the venturing is exciting and important, I’ve realized that I can’t stay out there forever or I really will get thoroughly lost. The walk home and the the moments of quiet contemplation in my room are just at important as the hunt for new treasures.

For me, of course, that allegorical “home” is exactly what you’ve mentioned: scriptures, the Sabbath, family, etc. These are the places where I gather myself together and rest my soul. They also give me a space and a framework to process what I’ve found in my venturing.

Anyway, Ben, in this post it sounds to me like you’re in a gathering phase after a venturing phase. :-)

Ben, I’ve been thinking about this very subject for the past few weeks. In fact, we were discussing certain aspects of it at work the other day. I agree that it is not for us to judge the media that other people take in. Sometimes, and most ridiculously so, I catch myself feeling like I am the outsider sometimes because violence, death, and gore in movies has such a profoundly dark effect on me. Sometimes I feel a bit silly and naieve because those types of movies affect me the way they do, even when they are blatantly unrealistic. I’ve come to conclude, however, that even though my imagination has the gusto to run right out of my grasp and on down the street before my logic can catch up with it, I’d rather be too sensitive than be desensitized to all of it, overexaggerated or not. While I wish I wasn’t so easily sucked into movies, I’ve come to the conclusion that it is better for me to stay away from things that will disturb me, rather than force myself to become used to them.

Thanks very much for your post, it was great!

It is one of Satan’s biggest lies, pretty much accepted by the world today, that the “natural” impulses of our bodies are right and healthy. We see it not only in moral behavior, but in the rising obesity epidemic in the United States and in other sneaky problems. More than that, Satan has led people to believe that because their body says one thing, that they have no choice other than to heed that urge. And THAT is the worst falsehood we can fall into believing. We DO have a choice. Heavenly Father gave us agency, and we should use it.

It’s almost as if I wrote this. I know exactly how you feel. Good stuff. Oh, and I’ll be in the top of the mountains in a month. Maybe I’ll see you around…not that I’d recognize you ;)

Hi… I just found your blog and am enjoying it immensely. I’m pretty sure the Buddhist parts of my brain have you pegged as the current incarnation of C.S. Lewis.

But this point specifically hit home, because I’ve been thinking of how insidious it all is. Do you remember that talk by Elder Stone a few years back (April 2006) called Zion in the Midst of Babylon? I liked it mostly because it surprised me to hear the word Zeitgeist in General Conference. :) No, but it brought to my attention the fact that we move around in self-satisfied cocoons of our own culture. We tend not to detect these shifts in tolerance unless we’re looking from an outside perspective.

And I think that’s what the Gospel (if you’re following it correctly) offers: an outside perspective. That’s why things aren’t nearly as enticing when you’ve just come home from a full-time mission or just spent a day in the temple. It gets you to look away long enough to be able to pull yourself out of the cocoon.

Ah, but how quickly they wrap themselves back around you!

Hi, Annie linked to your blog so I thought I’d check it out. To throw a light on the solution rather than the problem for a moment, I found a card in a frame I’d made probably 8 years ago while I was going through my stuff. It was a quote from early Eyring, when he was the most junior apostle, I believe. It said something about how if we do those thing we have covenanted with God to do, our confidence in and dependence on him will grow and we will not need to fear forgetting him. That is, in the end, the risk Babylon holds for us.

But the idea of increasing our dependence on God is truly brilliant. I think many of us, me till I was 35 anyway, dwell in a spiritual adolescence where we strive to become more and more independent. But the true adult does not rebel against their seniors, but looks to them, as Moses would have the children of Israel look to the brazen serpent.

Ali: You weren’t the target demographic, no. :) And I’m not saying we should alter others’ creations — just that if they don’t fit in with our standards, we should avoid them entirely. I’ve never cared to watch edited movies.

Katherine: That’s an awesome allegory — I like it a lot. :) (And think it’s accurate.)

Alli: Exactly, you have to do what’s right for you, even if it means being more sensitive than most people. That’s totally okay.

Haley: Yup. I always feel great when my spirit overcomes my body (like with fasting :)).

Nylan: Glad you liked it. And welcome to Zion! ;) No, really, I look somewhat similar to my picture on here. At least I think I do.

Anneke: Welcome. :) I don’t know that I’m worthy of the C.S. Lewis honor (though I do have to say I’m very flattered), but you’re exactly right on the cocoon. (And that was a very good talk, and yes, I noticed Zeitgeist as well. :))

Tricia: Welcome as well. :) Thanks for your comments — and especially thanks for sharing that quote from Elder Eyring.