Question
Dear Gramps,
I was wondering that if you’re overtaken by a bad thought or impure thoughts and totally give into them, and you keep repenting of it, how can you totally overcome it from happening again, especially if you’ve prayed and repented so many times before and somehow Satan sets you up to give in to the flesh by turning on a station that is showing filth, which causes you to sin and also a lot is out of curiosity and wondering what is going on in the other world, and you know full well it is forbidden by God’s word, but somehow you just push it aside for a short time and then after you feel really bad about it. It’s like you don’t have to leave your house or be with another person to sin, it can all happen in thoughts or by watching a station that totally promotes that impure lifestyle with perverted movies. How can this sin be once and for all overcome? I feel really bad every time I fall into it, and what bothers me the most is I just gave right into it rather then trying to fight it.
Teresa
Answer
Dear Teresa,
Life is like a football game. Think of that great running back that the coach was grooming to be a professional. He was good, and he ran most of the plays. The opposing team, however, fully aware of his abilities, planned their strategy to bring him down. Three or four players were always put on him. But he played as best he could. Every now and then he’d be thrown for a loss; at other times he’d make significant yardage. As the game wore on, he said to himself, “I’m getting nowhere! Every time I try to make some yardage, the whole team gangs up on me. I quit!” and walked off the field.
You are that great football player. Your coach, the Lord, loves you very much. You have much potential. He has great plans for you. In order to develop your skills and potential He has put you up against the best that the enemy has. Don’t walk off the field before the game is over!
Now let me give you some specific suggestions. I want you to examine your TV carefully. Somewhere on the front panel, and also on the remote, is a little button that says, “ON-OFF.” Push that OFF button and get your face out of that screen!! Get a life!!! Here’s the life-
Suggestions 1) Every time you’re tempted to fool with that “ON” button, pick up a book. Here are the books. One you probably already have, the other three you have probably never heard of.
BOOK OF MORMON- First thing every morning (get up half an hour early, if necessary) read a chapter or at least a page from the Book of Mormon. If you read just a page a day, that will give you one of the most powerful, wholesome influences you could have in your life for almost two years.
THE ADVENTURES OF TOM SAWYER, by Mark Twain- This book was written in 1875. It’s a great adventure story about an orphan boy who lived on the Mississippi River that takes for granted some of the values that seem to have mostly been forgotten by today’s generation.
LITTLE WOMEN, by Louisa May Alcott- This book depicts the family life of four little New England girls growing up in the Civil War era. If you carefully read it, you will never forget it.
ODYSSEY, by Homer- Nobody knows when the Odyssey was written. It was probably one to two hundred years before 400 B.C. Nobody knows when Homer lived, either. This book-length epic poem was undoubtedly memorized and recited by the Greeks for many years before it was finally written down. This book, along with the Iliad, defined epic poetry, and has remained among the world’s greatest literature for over 2000 years! It’s also a book of high adventure and noble deeds.
Suggestion 2) Get a friend. When you go to church, pick out the nicest, most straight-laced, upright girl you can find, and make her your friend. How would you do that? You could say to her something like, “You know, I’ve been watching you for some time, and I really admire you. I sure wish I had the values that you seem to have. How about let’s doing something together sometime?” I can’t over stress the importance of associating with people who will help you do the will of the Lord and shun like the plague those supposed friends who are steeped in the kind of activities that you are trying to overcome.
Suggestion 3) Get a life. One of the noblest, and most rewarding, things that we can do is to forget ourselves in the service of others. There are people who are alone and extremely lonely. You will find them as shut-ins in Old Folks Homes, Assisted Living Centers, Extended Care Centers, and the like. Go there, talk to someone in charge, and offer to read to them. Find out what they would like to hear, and spend an hour a day doing something worth while. (Remember, you have all sorts of time on your hands now that you have found and learned how to use that OFF button).
Suggestion 4) Now, this may be a toughie, but is also extremely important. Read the talk given by President Gordon B. Hinckley, entitled “A Prophet’s Counsel and Prayer for Youth.” The specifics of suggestion 4 are this. Read that article every day for a month-EVERY DAY FOR A MONTH! So it will take a little time. So you’ve got to do something with your time now that you’ve found that OFF button.
Gramps
