Week 36: Guarding Virtue

***It is my belief that the best place for children to learn about guarding virtue and resisting pornography is in the home with their parent's facilitating the discussion. Studies are showing that children as young as 8 are being exposed to pornography either online or through their peers at school. If these conversations are not had in the safe loving environment of our homes, they will be had elsewhere in settings where we have no control over what and how our children are taught. I would encourage each of you to spend some time prayerfully considering the appropriate way to teach this subject in your homes. Keeping the conversation age appropriate, but also understanding that "my children would never do that" is not a valid reason for not having the conversation at all.***

Song: The Lord Gave Me a Temple (CS. 153)

Thought: Virtue is a pattern of thought and behavior based on high moral standards. It includes chastity. We live in a world in which virtue is belittled and attacked. We can guard our virtue by avoiding impure thoughts, language, and actions. Pornography is especially dangerous. As we “put on the whole armour of God” (see Ephesians 6:11–17) and rely on the strength of the Lord, we can protect ourselves against the adversary’s attacks on virtue and keep our thoughts and actions pure. (How do I guard my virtue?)

Object Lesson: Ahead of time bake some chocolate cookies. In some of them add more salt (make sure to keep these ones separate!) Place the salty cookies on a plate and offer them to your family. When they eat them and discover that they are not good discuss with them how Satan will try to make bad things look appealing. Apply this concept to pornography and sexual purity. Talk with your family about how Heavenly Father views each of us and our value as sons and daughters of God. After this discussion offer your family the cookies that are sweet and talk about the difference between wholesome media and entertainment and pornographic/inappropriate forms. Even a little bit of salt can ruin a cookie, just like a "little bit" of swearing, sexual content, or other inappropriate things can ruin a movie and drive away the Spirit.

Video:
 
Show this video “To Look Upon,” and have your family tell you to pause the video each time David could have made a different choice. What happened to King David after this experience? How did it affect his family? Why is looking at pornography so dangerous? Briefly compare the results of King David’s actions and Joseph’s.

Lesson Activity: Invite your family to imagine they had the opportunity to tell a member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles about the challenges youth today face regarding pornography. What might they say to him? Give each family member a copy of the six paragraphs from Elder Quentin L. Cook’s talk “Can Ye Feel So Now?” beginning with the phrase “Sexual immorality and impure thoughts.” Ask half of them to look for and share what Elder Cook learned from a 15-year-old young man, and ask the other half to look for and share the counsel Elder Cook gives. What can each of us do to help make our homes “places of refuge” from pornography?

This Week's Challenge: As a family try to identify any weaknesses in the defense of your home and spend time this week shoring up your defenses. Don't forget to talk about things we encounter outside of home and how to resist temptation while out in the world. (Ex: computers, television, movies, music, friends, books, smart phones, tablets, ipods, etc.)