Spiritual Knowledge From the Greats

Agency

Desires dictate our priorities, priorities shape our choices, and choices determine our actions. The desires we act on determine our changing, our achieving, and our becoming.

-Dallin H Oaks April 2011

Were you to receive inspired guidance just for the asking, you would become weak and ever more dependent on them. They know that essential personal growth will come as you struggle to learn how to be led by the Spirit.

-Richard G Scott October 2009, To Acquire Spiritual Guidance

 You must exercise your agency to authorize the Spirit to teach you. As you make this a practice in your life, you will be more perceptive to the feelings that come with spiritual guidance.

-Richard G Scott October 2009, To Acquire Spiritual Guidance

"In time one who makes decisions based upon circumstance is virtually assured to commit serious transgressions. There is no iron rod of truth to keep that person in the right way. He or she will continually be faced with many subtle temptations to make deviations from the commandments. "

-Richard G. Scott "The Transforming Power of Faith and Character" Oct. 2010

He cannot alter character that has been woven from righteous decisions. He has no power to destroy the eternal bonds forged in a holy temple between a husband, wife, and children. He cannot quench true faith. He cannot take away your testimony. Yes, these things can be lost by succumbing to his temptations. But he has no power in and of himself to destroy them.

-Richard G. Scott "The Transforming Power of Faith and Character" Oct. 2010

The voice of the Lord is clear and unmistakable. He knows you. He loves you. He wants you to be eternally happy. But according to your God-given agency, the choice is yours. Each one of you has to decide for yourself if you are going to ignore the past and suffer the painful mistakes and tragic pitfalls that have befallen previous generations, experiencing for yourself the devastating consequences of bad choices.

- M Russell Ballard

Now is the time to become a disciple of Jesus Christ, which means accepting His invitation to “come, follow me.” ² This is the decision we made in our premortal lives. Now we must make it again here in mortality, every day, in every situation by taking the Savior’s name upon us, remembering His atoning sacrifice, and keeping His commandments.

- Robert D Hales " To the Aaronic Priesthood: preparing for the decade of decision" April 2007 

Many of these influences, at least initially, may not technically be evil, but they can blunt our judgment, dull our spirituality, and lead to something that could be evil. An old proverb says that a journey of a thousand miles begins with one step, ⁵ so watch your step.

-Jeffrey R Holland April 2010 "Place no more for the Enemy of my Soul"

If we want it dearly and deeply enough, that enemy can and will be rebuked by the redeeming power of the Lord Jesus Christ.

-Jeffrey R Holland April 2010 "Place no more for the Enemy of my Soul"

Faith is not only a feeling; it is a decision. He would need to choose faith.

-Neil L Andersen October 2008, You Know Enough

You are constantly bombarded by sound, video, and networking. Be selective and don’t allow this surge of information to distract you or slow your progress…You determine your goals. You decide what enters your mind and heart.

-Mary N Cook (First counselor in the Young Women General Presidency), Seek Learning: You Have a Work to Do

Agency is a great gift from God, and we can use it to come closer or distance yourself from God. Faith is a choice, obedience is a choice, it is not bondage, God prizes our agency far too much to ever take that away from us. We chose to be obedient, and are blessed from it. Choice is power.

Pornography

Denying ourselves of ungodly behavior is the beginning of repentance, which brings a mighty change of heart until “we have no more disposition to do evil.”

- Robert D Hales October 2012 "Being a More Christian Christian"

True love we are absolutely giddy about—as I am about Sister Holland; we shout it from the housetops. But lust is characterized by shame and stealth and is almost pathologically clandestine—the later and darker the hour the better, with a double-bolted door just in case. Love makes us instinctively reach out to God and other people. Lust, on the other hand, is anything but godly and celebrates self-indulgence. Love comes with open hands and open heart; lust comes with only an open appetite.

-Jeffrey R Holland April 2010 Place no more for the Enemy of my Soul

It destroys that which is second only to our faith in God—namely, faith in those we love. It shakes the pillars of trust upon which present—or future—love is built, and it takes a long time to rebuild that trust when it is lost.

-Jeffrey R Holland April 2010 Place no more for the Enemy of my Soul

While anything that lessens commitment is of consequence, two relevant challenges are both prevalent and significant. The first is unkindness, violence, and domestic abuse. The second is sexual immorality and impure thoughts. These often precede and are at the root of the choice to be less committed.

-Quentin L Cook, October 2012, Can Ye Feel So Now?

Pornography, the carrier, is big business. It is Mafia-spawned. It is contagious. It is addicting. In a study last year, the FBI estimated that Americans spent 2.4 billion dollars on hard-core pornography. Other estimates reach as high as 4 billion—a fortune siphoned away from noble use and diverted to a devilish purpose!

-Thomas S Monson October 1979, Pornography-the Deadly Carrier

Sexual immorality and impure thoughts violate the standard established by the Savior. We were warned at the beginning of this dispensation that sexual immorality would be perhaps the greatest challenge. Such conduct will, without repentance, cause a spiritual drought and loss of commitment. Movies, TV, and the Internet often convey degrading messages and images.

-Quentin L Cook, October, 2012 Can Ye Feel So Now?

The immediate spiritual consequences of such hypocrisy are devastating. Those who seek out and use pornography forfeit the power of their priesthood. 

-Dallin H Oaks April 2005, Pornography

Then suddenly, there appears before us in this generation a sinister and diabolical enemy—pornography. Like the bark beetle it too is the carrier of a deadly disease. I shall name it “pernicious permissiveness.”
-Thomas S Monson October 1979, Pornography-the Deadly Carrier

Pornographic or erotic stories and pictures are worse than filthy or polluted food. The body has defenses to rid itself of unwholesome food. With a few fatal exceptions, bad food will only make you sick but do no permanent harm. In contrast, a person who feasts upon filthy stories or pornographic or erotic pictures and literature records them in this marvelous retrieval system we call a brain. The brain won’t vomit back filth. Once recorded, it will always remain subject to recall, flashing its perverted images across your mind and drawing you away from the wholesome things in life.

-Dallin H Oaks April 2005, Pornography

The young man I mentioned earnestly asked if the Apostles knew how early in life teaching and protecting against pornography and impure thoughts should start. With emphasis, he stated that in some areas even before youth graduate from Primary is not too early.

-Quentin L Cook October 2012, Can Ye Feel So Now?

Even though in society, pornography is not considered an issue, because of the teachings of prophets, I realize that it, in fact, is a devastating issue that causes damage to the spirit, relationships and families.