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Dr. Lane Fischer The following is a transcript of a live presentation given at the Cyber Secrets Conference on Pornography at Brigham Young University on February 18, 2003. My wife and I, a couple weeks ago, were considering some major changes in our life, and a lot of things seemed to be pointing toward this change, so we take our little traditional walk and we’re talking it over, and she says, “Maybe the Lord knows something we don’t.” And we both had to kind of freeze and say, “You think? I don’t know – you think maybe the Lord knows something we don’t know? Perhaps.” What I want to share with you today is that the Lord knows something about this, and he has tried to share with us what brings greatest joy. And I’m going to give you a couple of examples, but first I’m going to demonstrate a miracle. I know we don’t usually do this on camera, but I’m going to demonstrate a miracle, and what I’ve learned is that miracles are all around us and we tend to take them for granted, but if you play them in slow motion, you get to see them. Just like when you’re watching some sports event, and you watch it happen in regular speed and then they slow it up and you just see the grace and the precision of the athlete, and you can actually see the miracle in slow motion better than you can in real speed, so I’m going to demonstrate a miracle, and then we’ll play it back a little bit in slow motion. That’s if I can get my whistle wetted here. Okay, ready, here’s the miracle. [Whistling the theme song for “The Andy Griffith Show”] Is that familiar to you? Bring back some nice images of Andy and Opie walking to the fishing hole? Doesn’t seem like much of a miracle to you. I mean, how many times have you heard that or seen it? Maybe you haven’t seen Andy and Opie for twenty years, but it brings back that image. And you could probably finish the tune; you could probably go, right? You could probably finish that up, correct? Let me demonstrate more of a miracle. I can do it in a nostalgic way. [Whistling the theme song for “The Andy Griffith Show”] Can you hear it? It makes it a little more nostalgic. Or I can do it kind of in a more animated way, kind of like I’m still a kid. [Whistling the theme song for “The Andy Griffith Show”] It’s a miracle. Now let’s play it in slow motion and see the miracle, okay? I ask you, what is it inside me or inside you that can store that little series of notes? Where does it reside in me? How does it happen that I can not see Andy and Opie for twenty years and yet I can pull up somehow some sequence of notes, and then I can send some kind of electrochemical signal to my body in a very complex way – to my lungs and to my diaphragm to force out just the right amount of air and to hold my mouth in exactly the right way and get my tongue exactly the right position behind my teeth, and to shape my lips in just the right way and my cheeks? Once you start looking at the exact things that have to happen for somebody to whistle, it is an absolute miracle. How does it happen? And it happens in five seconds. It happens all around us every single day. Our bodies are absolute miracles that we take for granted. Does God know how these bodies operate best? You think? Maybe he knows something we don’t know. You think? Absolute miracles we have to pay attention to. God does know how our bodies best operate, and he knows what brings greatest joy. He also knows the things that are designed to damage and destroy our bodies and all our relationships around us. And I’m going to give you two examples. First example is of a time that God absolutely knew and told and foresaw the day when there would be people conspiring to damage us. You’re all familiar with D&C 89. Let me read just for you verse 4: “Behold, verily thus saith the Lord unto you, in consequence of evils and designs which do and will exist in the hearts of conspiring men in the last days, I have warned you and forewarned you by giving unto you this word of wisdom by revelation.” The rest of the revelation talks about the kinds of foods and substances that we should use and avoid. He specifically mentions tobacco, alcohol, as things which will damage us, and he specifically prefaces it with saying, “These will be presented to you in a conspiracy, a conspiracy to deprive you of your money and your health and your well being by evil men.” Does God know something we don’t know? You think? He does, and he warned us about it. Now let me give you another example. Doctrine and Covenants 59, a fascinating section. I’m going to read kind of a longer passage, several verses, and then we’ll go back and analyze it quickly. I’m going to start in verse 9 and go all the way to verse 20 to illustrate a principle that God gives us that is designed to bring us joy: “And that thou mayest more fully keep thyself unspotted from the world, thou shalt go to the house of prayer and offer up thy sacraments upon my holy day, for verily this is the day appointed unto you to rest from your labors and to pay thy devotions unto the most high. Nevertheless, thy vows shall be offered in righteousness on all days and at all times. But remember that on this, the Lord’s day, thou shalt offer thine oblations and thy sacraments unto the most high, confessing thy sins unto thy brethren and before the Lord. And on this day thou shalt do none other thing, only let thy food be prepared with singleness of heart, that thy fasting may be perfect, or in other words, that thy joy may be full. Verily, this is fasting and prayer, or in other words, rejoicing and prayer, and inasmuch as ye do these things with thanksgiving, with cheerful hearts and countenances, not with much laughter, for this is sin, but with a glad heart and a cheerful countenance, verily I say that inasmuch as ye do this, the fullness of the earth is yours, the beasts of the field and the fouls of the air and that which climbeth upon the trees and walketh upon the earth, yea, and the herb and the good things which come of the earth, whether for food or for raiment, for houses or for barns or for orchards or for gardens or for vineyards. Yea, all things which come of the earth in the season thereof are made for the benefit and the use of man, both to please the eye and to gladden the heart, yea, for food and for raiment, for taste and for smell, to strengthen the body and to enliven the soul, and it pleaseth God that he hath given all these things unto man, for unto this end were they made, to be used with judgment, not to excess, neither by extortion.” Now it might sound strange to you that in the middle of a pornography conference I’m talking about keeping the Sabbath day holy and fasting, but the principle that the Lord presents in those two directives is immediately tied to his desire to give us all good things, to gladden the heart, to please us, that we might have joy. What is the principle that he’s sharing with us there? I’m going to tell you that he knows how our bodies and minds work. He knows that, for example, laboring in whatever field that may be, seven days, seven days, seven days, without ever stepping away for a moment to refresh, to take a moment away, actually ends up deadening us. You hear about people who are workaholics, who are addicted to their work, who never take a moment to officially step aside, focus on their spirituality and their families. He knows that if we do this, if we keep this boundary to work only six days and take a day away, that our work actually becomes more joyful, that the things that we do with our families become more joyful. He’s established a rhythm to life, and it’s a boundary that he gives us which is designed to create joy. He also mentions fasting and talks about food and how we prepare our food. He is aware that as we consume food day after day, meal after meal, how many times do we have to do this food thing over and over, that we actually become somewhat desensitized to it, and you find that meals become more and more extravagant to awaken our taste buds, but he has given us a boundary that says if you’ll do this very simply and you’ll spend some time fasting, you will find that your sense of taste, your appreciation of these gifts, will be enhanced and you will have greater joy. I want you to have joy in all these things. Now here’s the paradox around all these appetites, is that as we place boundaries upon them, they become more joyful to us. Failure to place boundaries on them make us desensitized, and so we will see and you will hear people in this conference today talk about the very common desensitization and escalation process that occurs as people consume pornography. As they do not place boundaries on their sexuality, they actually become desensitized to it. As they consume pornography, they need more in number and increasingly bizarre images to reach the same states of arousal that they had when the initiated contact at first with pornography. What a bizarre paradox. For those who would say, “Pornography is just an expression of my sexuality,” well, the research is pretty clear that that particular expression of our sexuality damages, destroys, desensitizes us to our sexuality. And so the Lord, in the same way that he gave us boundaries around work and the same way he gives us boundaries around consumption of food, he gave us boundaries around our sexuality. He’s very clear that our sexuality should be consistent with modesty as we clothe our bodies and protect ourselves and maintain our bodies as sacred, so precious that we will clothe them and keep them protected from view because they’re sacred, and that our sexuality is to be expressed within the bounds of marriage between a husband and a wife. He knows that maintaining these boundaries leads to the greatest joy around our sexuality. What a paradox, that placing boundaries around these things actually enhances its joy and its power. What a paradox, that violating those desensitizes us to it. The Lord is very clear; he wants us to have joy. I’ll read it again: “And it pleaseth God that he hath given all these things unto man, for unto this end were they made to be used, with judgment, not to excess, neither by extortion.” It pleases him. Our bodies are miracles. So subtle, intricate miracles to be protected, to be nourished, to be used according to the boundaries the Lord has given us. I promise you that as you do so, you will experience greater and greater levels of joy. And I can also predict that every time you violate those boundaries, you will steadily become desensitized. The Lord doesn’t want that to happen. Please keep these boundaries in the name of Jesus Christ, amen. |