Lelanophilus

We went over Elder Packer’s conference talk, Cleansing the Inner Vessel, today in my teachings of the living prophets class.  I really love that class and I really love this talk.

I guess there was some anger about the talk because one comment he makes implies that homosexuality is a temptation that can be dealt with and overcome.  Okay, I guess people can get angry about that, but whatever.  When I first heard of the uproar I reread his talk and thought it ridiculous to be up in arms about it since the talk is mostly about pornography and how it can destroy families and how the priesthood gives us the power to overcome it.  The atonement can cleanse us and make us more like the Savior.

My Institute teacher, noted the same thing, except he concluded that the underlying message of the talk was a little bit different from what I came up with.  He said that the talk was about priesthood power and authority and how Satan attempts to remove that power from our homes and from our lives.  Pornography is just one of the many ways that Satan undermines love and marriage.  It is so awful because it stifles priesthood power and with that power a primary means of escape.

Pretty insidious to pretend that the talk is about something else and have it be derided, defended or dismissed based on that when the true message is so vitally important.

The salient points, I think, are the following (some of the phrasing is directly from Elder Packer’s talk and probably ought to be in quotes):

1. The priesthood holds consummate power and has been restored so that priesthood authority could be present in every home in the latter days.
2. The power to create life is key to the plan of happiness and Satan attempts to degrade the moral use of this God given power.
3. Pornography is just one of Satan’s many means of counterfeiting and undermining marriage with the intent ofremoving priesthood power from the home.
4. The priesthood holds the power to break a habit and erase an addiction (this made me think of Isaiah 1:18) and sin, guilt and perversion can be removed completely by repentance.
5. God’s laws are eternal.  You can vote to make something that is immoral legal but you cannot legislate the consequences of immoral behavior.  Pain and penalties surely follow sin.
6. The ultimate end of church activity is happiness in the home.

I love point six in particular.  It sort of explains why having the priesthood in the home is so important and why the devil works so hard to destroy marriages and families.