Chastity
By Alan on May 08 in Blog tagged a man and a woman, abortion, abstinence, avoid pornography, baptism, between husband and wife, blessings, chastity, commandment, complete fidelity, create life, disease, divorce, faithful, Family, feel peace, for His children, God's direction, God's plan, gospel of jesus Christ, heartache, high moral standards, how you dress, in his heart, intimacy, jokes, law, looketh on a woman, marriage, obscene, overcome, Physical intimacy, repentance, resist temptation, sacred, sacred power, Satan, self-control, self-respect, sexual relations, shalt not commit adultery, sin, undesirable thoughts, virtuous and chaste, wholesome recreaction activities, words, you can be forgiven | Comments Off
Chastity
Your Heavenly Father loves you and wants you to be happy today and forever. He has given counsel and commandments through His prophets to help you. One commandment that is vital to your peace and happiness is His commandment regarding sexual purity, known as the law of chastity. The Lord instituted this law from the beginning, and He emphasized its importance to the gospel of Jesus Christ. Obedience to this commandment is a requirement for baptism in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
What Is the Law of Chastity?
Physical intimacy between husband and wife is a beautiful and sacred part of God’s plan for His children. It is an expression of love within marriage and allows husband and wife to participate in the creation of life. God has commanded that this sacred power be expressed only between a man and a woman who are legally married. The law of chastity applies to both men and women. It includes strict abstinence from sexual relations before marriage and complete fidelity and loyalty to one’s spouse after marriage.
In addition to reserving sexual intimacy for marriage, we obey the law of chastity by controlling our thoughts, words, and actions. Jesus Christ taught, “Ye have heard that it was said by them of old time, Thou shalt not commit adultery: but I say unto you, That whosoever looketh on a woman to lust after her hath committed adultery with her already in his heart” (Matt. 5: 27-28).
The law of chastity requires that sexual relations be reserved for marriage between a man and a woman.
Why Should I Keep the Law of Chastity?
Your Heavenly Father has given the law of chastity to
protect and bless you. Like all sacred things, physical intimacy must be expressed according to God’s direction. As you keep the law of chastity, you will enjoy happiness, peace, and self-respect. You will enjoy trust and confidence in your family relation- ships, and you will be blessed with self-control. You will enjoy the blessings of the gospel of Jesus Christ through the influence of the Holy Ghost.
Satan leads people to believe that sexual intimacy outside of marriage is acceptable and even desirable. But it is a serious sin; God has always taught His chil- dren to be virtuous and chaste (see Ex. 20: 14 and Alma 39: 3-5). This principle is eternal.
Violating the law of chastity is an abuse of the power God has given to create life; it shows a disregard for Him and for His children. It dulls spirituality and often leads to bitterness, heartache, divorce, disease, and abortion. Those who violate this law are exposed to greater influence from Satan. This sin also seriously affects family members and others.
How Do I Keep the Law of Chastity?
God requires a high moral standard of His children. To keep the law of chastity, you must replace undesirable thoughts, words, and actions with wholesome ones.
The following principles will help:
Thoughts. Positive and constructive thoughts will push negative or immoral ones from your life. As you fill your life with whole- some thoughts and activities, you will grow in your ability to replace and overcome negative thoughts. Reading the scriptures, serving your family, working diligently, and engaging in wholesome recreational activities will help you control your thoughts.
Avoid pornography in all forms. It is addictive and destructive. It will rob you of your self-respect and of an appreciation for the beauties of life. Do not allow your mind to dwell on obscene or immoral thoughts or images. Do not view, read, or listen to anything that depicts or describes the human body or sexual conduct in a disrespectful way. Avoid looking with lustful thoughts at others, and avoid suggestive or explicit movies, television shows, Internet sites, music, books, magazines, and activities.
Words. Let your words build up others and strengthen them. Eliminate degrading, vulgar, and sexually explicit words, jokes, and themes from your conversations.
Actions. Always treat others with respect. Be modest in how you dress. If you remember that each person is a child of God, and if you do all you can to help others follow His plan, then you will be strengthened in your desire to keep the law of chastity.
Determine now that you will not do anything outside of marriage to arouse the powerful emotions that must be expressed only in marriage. Do not arouse those emotions in another person or in yourself. Do not participate in homosexual or lesbian acts or other immoral activities. Replace activities where you may be tempted to violate the law of chastity with constructive activities and hobbies. In marriage, remain absolutely faithful to your spouse in thought and action.
Because living the law of chastity will bring you closer to God, Satan will entice you to break this commandment. He knows when you are lonely, confused, or depressed, and he will tempt you when you are weak. Pray to your Heavenly Father for help, and He will give you strength to resist temptation (see 1 Cor. 10: 13). As you rely on Him and follow these principles, you will be able to overcome temptation.
Blessings of Living the Law of Chastity
As you live the law of chastity, you will be more open to the influence of the Holy Ghost. With the guidance of the Holy Ghost, you will develop greater wisdom, face trials with greater courage, feel God’s support and direction in your life, and be an example to your family and others. The love you have for your spouse and loved ones will be deeper, richer, and more meaningful. You will experience greater peace of mind.
In the scriptures we learn that true happiness comes from obeying the commandments of God (see Mosiah 2: 41) and that “wickedness never was happi- ness” (Alma 41: 10).
If you have broken the law of chastity, God has made it possible for you to repent and become clean again. Repent now of any past transgressions, and commit to live this sacred law. Through the Atonement of Jesus Christ and true repentance, you can be forgiven and feel peace.
For The Family
Donny Osmond – Family Survival In The Entertainment Business
By Alan on Dec 26 in Blog tagged alone, Approved, blessed, broke, dedication, Donny Osmond, Excitement, faithful, Family, happy, Loneliness, loving, Marie, married, Mormon, One Take, Popular, religious, rich, Show Business, successful, survival in the entertainment business, tested, thankful, The Family, The Osmond Family, The Osmonds, together, work | 9 Comments
Family, Work, Dedication, Loneliness, Excitement, One Take, Loving, Popular, Rich, Broke, Tested, Religious, Approved, Married, Faithful, Mormon, Thankful, Successful, Alone, Together, Blessed, Happy . . .
Donny Osmond of The Osmond Family.
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This is a glorious time in which to live here upon the earth.
As we travel through life, there come times when we must stand up and be counted. These are times of testing. Are we on the Lord’s side, keeping his commandments? Do we sustain our leaders and uphold them? Do we stand steadfast and unwavering? Do we compromise those things we know are true?
It is a temptation to become so involved in the things of the world that we lose sight of more important values, the things of the spirit and family. We tried to do this with our music.
All the effort and struggle and sorrow will be well worth it, for we will have earned the greatest of all gifts, the gift of eternal life. May this be our happy lot, I humbly pray.
“I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith.” 2 Tim. 4: 7
Families are Forever
For The Family
Alan Osmond’s Response after viewing this:
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Submitted on 2011/12/27 at 1:39 am
This is Alan. I need to comment! I was somewhat taken back by this video with this open hearted discussions by Donny and my brothers whom I love. It was hard to hear them say those things that we have kept to ourselves for so many years when we were called goody goody, too clean cut, too Mormon, and that we would never make it in show business because of our righteous, moral and Christian, principle driven family image that we had and yet we had the greatest friends and relationships with the biggest and best names in the business and leaders of the world. I saw and heard what Donny and my brothers said and sometimes it was really hard times but, can I tell you how much fun we all had together! As the oldest of the brothers, we were treated and loved so well by our fans and friends that even Walt Disney, Elvis Presley, Paul McCartney, Led Zepplin, The Queen of England, Ronald Reagan and others commented how much they liked our family. We had nothing to hide or to prove except to be who we were and to be the best entertainers we could become. We worked hard at it and loved it. (Most of it.) Yes, we would come off stage just sweaty and tired but were well fulfilled by working hard and in receiving the audiences applause and standing ovations. We had to lease Led Zepplin’s sound system because it was the loudest and our audiences all screamed and couldn’t hear us without it! We were told that we were the loudest group on tour in the 70′s because of all the screaming girls! We were also each others best friends! We sang together, worked together, laughed together, cried together, we prayed together, and gave up much of our childhood and our lives to our careers for each other because we found ourselves within a family of love and togetherness that was unlike any that we had ever seen. Yes, we are normal and have our moments but the strong will of a firm yet loving father and the love and support of a saintly mother, we kept balance in our home and lives. I was ready to leave the group and go serve a mission for our church for two years but was told by the Holy spirit after prayer not to; that I was to stay with my brothers and as a family and continue to spread good will and open doors for the missionaries by setting an example as a family to the world. We believe that God’s Plan of life is the family and we were going to never change the way we lived our lives. We sacrificed for one another and dedicated our lives to the Lord that we might bring joy and happiness to someone in the audience with every show that we did. We prayed before every show that we might touch someones life for the better and show by example the love that we had among us and for them so that maybe someone would want to know the reason for the happiness, joy, peace and love that they saw and felt among us on stage. We had an act but our family of brotherhood and love for one another was no act! It was real and still is very, very strong and true today. It was hard being the eldest of the group and the so called, “boss”/”leader” with the responsibility of always trying to make sure we were well rehearsed and ready, and that we came up with an idea of something to do each week on the Andy Williams Shows because we were NOT on the show the next week if we didn’t! That alone made us work together and develop individual talents reaching inside to write songs, learn many different musical instruments, dance, develop our personalities and comedy wit with showmanship that others would want to see. We were not all Donny Osmond’s and never wanted to be but, we were pleased to be his brother as well as Marie’s and we were supportive and had a slogan that we were, “All for one and one for all”, even if we gave up our personal rock and roll careers. We didn’t care who was out front as long as it was an Osmond! I wasn’t even married 24 hours when Father insisted that I leave my wife Suzanne on my honeymoon and fly to Los Angeles with my youngest brother Jimmy to make sure he was well produced on a TV show that he was doing. Yes, we sacrificed for each other all right but so did our Lord Jesus Christ for all of us. He is our example and mentor. He is the way and the reason for all of the long hard working years we gave and why we lived righteously and never succumbed to the temptations of the flesh. Yes, there were opportunities to slip from our moral commitments but we stood against them together and individually with integrity and we tried to always live His ways and honestly worked hard to live it. No, we aren’t perfect but that’s why we came to earth; to learn. I wouldn’t trade a day of my life with my best friends, my brothers and Marie. And, let’s not forget our two older brothers who had to watch us from the wings because they were deaf. They were just as important as any one of us and they were our heros! And they knew it! After I posted this video, I went to bed but woke up knowing that I had to come down and share my heart and let everyone know that we honestly have NO REGRETS for the MOST wonderful years we could have ever lived together in the entertainment, recording, and television business world. We were rich, we were poor, we could live happily with very little and still can give and share what we have been blessed with to each other and know that, “where much is given, much is expected”. I feel our parents are watching us from up above more than entertainers and musicians but, as successful fathers and a Mother Marie, husbands, wife, with our children who are sealed to us and us to them for time and for all eternity. We plan on being together forever! What is that worth? As Mother would say, “More than tongue can tell.” We spent our lives in Show Business but it was NOT our Life! We don’t take any gold records or STUFF with us after we leave this world but, we DO take wonderful memories with broken hearts and contrite spirits and the oh, so many blessings and friends that we made and love. What we do take with us are our solid marriages, our individual families and the greatest memories and experiences that anyone could ever have had in this life with each other standing side by side, just as we sang with our first theme song. We may have been a little bit country, and a little bit Rock and Roll, but we are all a whole lot better people for having had the tests and trials that we had as well as the success and recognition that was profound. We could NOT have done it as individuals as well as we did do it as a family; an Eternal and a Forever Family! Alan Osmond |
Have you had a “mighty change of heart”?
By Alan on Oct 08 in Blog tagged change, faithful, God, heart, humble, saved, trust | Comments Off
“And behold, he preached the word unto your fathers, an a mighty change was also wrought in their hearts, and they humbled themselves and put their trust in the true and living God. And behold, they were faithful until the end; therefore they were saved.” Alma 3:13
