Holland - Of souls, symbols, and sacraments

This book is not a product of the Council of the FirstPresidency or Quorum of the Twelve Apostles and is not a doctrinal declarationby or for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. I alone amresponsible for the publication of this work, and I alone am accountable forany errors and limitations it may contain.

This material was originallypresented in an address at Brigham Young University, 12 January 1988.

Libraryof Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Holland, Jeffrey R., 1940 Of souls,symbols, and sacraments / Jeffrey R. Holland. p. cm. ISBN1-57345-859-7 1.SexReligious aspectsChristianity. 2. MarriageReligious aspectsChristianity. 3. FamilyReligious life. I. Title

BX8643.S49 H65 2001241'.66dc21 00-065642

Printedin the United States of America 18961-6314R. R. Donnelley and Sons, Reynosa, Mexico

10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2

Dedicatedto all who want love to last

Of Souls, Symbols, and Sacraments

The topic of human intimacy is as sacred as any I know. Indiscussing it, the subject can quickly slide from the sacred into the merelysensational. It would be better not to address the topic at all than to damageit with casualness or carelessness.

Some may feel this is a topic we hear discussed too frequently,but given the world in which we live, we may not be hearing it enough. All ofthe prophets, past and present, have spoken on it. Most in the Church are doingwonderfully well in the matter of personal purity, but some are not doing sowell, and much of the world around us is not doing well at all.

Unfortunately, the degree of unchaste behavior around us islikely to increase rather than decrease as the times become more secular, moresophisticated, and more self-indulgent. Edward Gibbon, the distinguishedBritish historian of the eighteenth century, wrote, Although the progress ofcivilisation has undoubtedly contributed to assuage the fiercer passions ofhuman nature, it seems to have been less favourable to the virtue of chastity.... The refinements of life [seem to] corrupt, [even as] theypolish, the [relationship] of the sexes.

But it is not our purpose here to document social problems orwring our hands over the dangers that such outside influences may hold for us.As serious as such contemporary realities are, I wish to discuss this topic inquite a different way, discuss it specifically for Latter-day Saints.So I conspicuously set aside statistics on such tragedies as AIDS, abortions,and illegitimate births and refer rather to a gospel-based viewof personal purity.

Indeed, I wish to do something even a bit more difficult thanlisting the dos and donts of personal purity. I wish to examine, to the bestof my ability, why we should be clean, why moral discipline is such a significant matter in Gods eyes. Iknow that may sound presumptuous, but a philosopher once said, Tell mesufficiently why a thing should be done, andI will move heaven and earth to do it. Hoping you will feel the same way ashe, and with full recognition of my limitations, I wish to try to give at leasta partial answer to Why be morally clean? I will need first to pose brieflywhat I see as the doctrinal seriousness of the matter before then offering atleast three reasons for such seriousness.

The Significance
of Sanctity

Why is the matter of sexual relationships so severe that fire is almost always the metaphor, with passionpictured vividly in flames?

May I begin with one-half of a nine-line poemby Robert Frost. (The other half is worth a sermon also, but it will have towait for another day.) Here are the first four lines of Frosts Fire and Ice:

Some say the world will end in fire, Some sayin ice. From what Ive tasted of desire I hold with those who favor fire.

A second, less poetic but more specific opinion is offered by thewriter of Proverbs: Can a man take fire in his bosom, and his clothes not beburned? Can one go upon hot coals, and his feet not be burned?...But whoso committeth adultery with a woman lacketh understanding: he that doethit destroyeth his own soul. A wound and dishonour shall he get; and hisreproach shall not be wiped away.

In getting at the doctrinal seriousness of this subject, why isthe matter of sexual relationships so severe that fire is almost always themetaphor, with passion pictured vividly in flames? What is there in thepotentially hurtful heat of this that leaves ones soulorperhaps the whole world, according to Frostdestroyed, if thatflame is left unchecked and those passions unrestrained? What is there in allof this that prompts Alma to warn his son Corianton that sexual transgressionis an abomination in the sight of the Lord; yea, most abominable above all sins save it be the shedding of innocent blood or denying theHoly Ghost?

Setting aside sins against the Holy Ghost as a special categoryunto themselves, it is LDS doctrine that sexual transgression is second only tomurder in the Lords list of lifes most serious sins. By assigning such rankto a physical appetite so conspicuously evident in all of us, what is Godtrying to tell us about its place in His plan for all men and women inmortality? I submit to you He is doing preciselythatcommenting about the very plan of life itself. ClearlyGods greatest concerns regarding mortality are how one gets into this worldand how one gets out of it. These two most important issues in our verypersonal and carefully supervised progress are the two issues that He as ourCreator, Father, and Guide wishes most to reserve to Himself. These are the twomatters that He has repeatedly told us He wants us never to take illegally,illicitly, unfaithfully, without sanction.

As for the taking of life, weare generally quite responsible. Most people, it seems to me, readily sense thesanctity of life and as a rule do not run up to friends, put a loaded revolverto their heads, and cavalierly pull the trigger. Furthermore, when there is aclick of the hammer rather than an explosion of lead, and a possible tragedyseems to have been averted, no one in such a circumstance would be so stupid asto sigh, Oh, good. I didnt go all the way.

No, all the way or not, the insanity of such action with fatalpowder and steel is obvious on the face of it. Such a person running about withan arsenal of loaded handguns or military weaponry firing at young peoplewould be apprehended, prosecuted, and institutionalized if in fact such alunatic would not himself have been killed in all the pandemonium. After such a moment of horror, we would undoubtedly sit in ourhomes or classrooms with terror on our minds for many months to come, wonderinghow such a thing could possibly happen especially to members of theChurch.

Fortunately, in the case of how life is taken, I think we seem tobe quite responsible. The seriousness of that does not often have to be spelledout, and not many sermons need to be devoted to it. But in the significance andsanctity of giving life, some of us are notso responsible, and in the larger world swirling around us we findnear-criminal irresponsibility. What would in the case of