CHASTITY

CHASTITY
Know Your Values. Chastity is a virtue and choice. We can’t just awkwardly shrug our
shoulders when someone asks why we are choosing to stay chaste. Know why it’s
important to wait.

Some of these values (goods) of which a person can remind himself so as
to alleviate any interior resentment and find peace in the chaste decision:

a. Sex is holy, not a plaything. It should never be trivialized.
b. Created in the image of God, I can live by reason, not just by urges (as the
animals do).
c. Persons are to be loved, not merely used as objects of enjoyment.
d. I must not treat persons as objects, even in the mind, lest I become a user of
persons in practice.
e. Unchaste activity destroys my most precious friendship, that with God, the
source of all happiness.
f. Unchaste activity brings pleasure but not happiness.
What are the reasons to be morally clean?1

1. Living the virtue of chastity brings happiness.
The law of Chastity, given to us by God, can help us stay healthy!
 Avoid pregnancy outside of marriage. Not only can pregnancy before marriage
ruin your own life, but it can ruin the life of your unborn child, a person who you
will love more than life itself.
 Keep your link to the Spirit strong. Do not serve your connection with the Spirit
by committing such serious sin. You need the guidance of the Spirit to make the
right choices in life, to keep you safe, and to make you happy.
 Feelings of self-worth are gained by being the master of your body, rather than
letting your body be the master of you. It feels good to know that you are the
one in control and are not a slave to your passions.
 Whenever we follow God’s commandments, He blesses us with a feeling of
happiness, apart from the actual positive consequences provided by following the
law.
2. Breaking the Law of Chastity is Not an Expression of Love. If you are dating
someone, and you care for that person, wouldn’t you want to do everything you can
to make that person happy? In fact, the very definition of love is that if you love
someone, all of your words and actions towards that person will be for the purpose
of helping that person grow, become a better person, and achieve happiness. So, if
you break the law of chastity with someone you care for, you are limiting his or her
happiness in the same way you are limiting your own, as discussed above. Certainly
you would not want to expose the one you love to danger or to limit his or her
spirituality. You would not want the one you love to have to suffer from guilt or
shame. You would never hurt him or her merely for your own (or even for his or
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her) physical pleasure. You would want him or her to be able to be happy and feel
good about himself or herself, right? If you live the law of Chastity, you show your
significant other love.
3. Keeping the Law of Chastity Builds Stronger Relationships. In addition to
keeping your judgment clear, a relationship in which you both live the law of
chastity will allow you to trust each other and feel secure in the knowledge that you
are both committed to the happiness and purity of the other. Greater trust will give
you a stronger relationship now and will also give you a better sexual relationship
after marriage. You can trust that since your partner is committed to living the law
of chastity, you don’t need to worry about him or her betraying you with someone
else. Without trust, it is impossible to have a secure relationship. With it, your
relationship will be strong and more fulfilling.
4. Our Body is a Precious Gift. We have something that Satan does not – a body –
and he is so jealous of our bodies that he wants us to misuse ours, so that we can
be as miserable as he is. The spirits that follow Satan covet our bodies so much
that they would rather possess the body of a swine that have no body at all (see
Mark 5:1-13). To have a body is a sign of our royal birthright. It is a blessing that
shows that we kept our first estate. Our bodies have been referred to as temples
because they allow the Spirit to dwell within our souls. As with any gift that we have
been given, as with anything that is not ours, that is on loan to us from someone
else, we want to take good care of that gift. We show we value the gift by honoring
it, cherishing it, keeping it in mint condition. When we break the law of Chastity, we
trivialize the gift of our bodies. If we value our body, we will keep it pure and clean
and holy. By honoring our own body in this way, we show our gratitude to God for
His gift to us.
5. We Are Not Our Own. Christ Has Paid for Our Souls. Jesus Christ paid that
price when he suffered to atone for our sins and died for us on the cross. We are
not our own. Elder Holland says, “The purchase price for our fullness of joy–body
and spirit eternally united–is the pure and innocent blood of the Savior of this world.
We cannot then say in ignorance or defiance, ‘Well, it’s my life,’ or worse yet, ‘It’s
my body.’ It is not. ‘Ye are not your own,’ Paul said. ‘Ye are bought with a price.’
“When we trivialize the law of Chastity and trivialize the sacredness of our bodies,
we also trivialize the Atonement. We “crucify Christ afresh”. If we respect and
honor our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, we will respect and honor his gift to us –
our souls, which are our bodies and spirits united. Today we have talked about
some ways that breaking the law of Chastity harms both our bodies and our spirits,
thus harming our souls. Those souls do not belong to us, but to Christ, who bought
them with the price of his pain and suffering.
If we have, in the past, broken this sacred law of Chastity, there is a way back.
Christ has offered to cleanse us with His blood, if we offer Him a broken heart and
contrite spirit. He can make whole what once was broken. He can make pure what
once was soiled. Though our sins be as scarlet, they can be white as snow if we
repent and accept the gift of Christ’s Atonement.

CHASTITY

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What are the reasons to be morally clean?1

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