LDS Prophets, Apostles and Leaders said what?

To Young Men Only
by
Boyd K. Packer
General Conference Priesthood Session, October 2, 1976

“I wish to explain something that will help you understand your young manhood and help you develop self-control. When this power begins to form, it might be likened to having a little factory in your body, one designed to produce the product that can generate life.

This little factory moves quietly into operation as a normal and expected pattern of growth and begins to produce the lifegiving substance. It will do so perhaps as long as you live. It works very slowly. That is the way it should be. For the most part, unless you tamper with it, you will hardly be aware that it is working at all.

As you move closer to manhood, this little factory will sometimes produce an oversupply of this substance. The Lord has provided a way for that to be released. It will happen without any help or without any resistance from you. Perhaps, one night you will have a dream. In the course of it the release valve that controls the factory will open and release all that is excess.

The factory and automatic release work on their own schedule. The Lord intended it to be that way. It is to regulate itself. This will not happen very often. You may go a longer period of time, and there will be no need for this to occur. When it does, you should not feel guilty. It is the nature of young manhood and is part of becoming a man.

There is; however, something you should not do. Sometimes a young man does not understand. Perhaps he is encouraged by unwise or unworthy companions to tamper with that factory. He might fondle himself and open that release valve. This you shouldn’t do, for if you do that, the little factory will speed up. You will then be tempted again and again to release it. You can quickly be subjected to a habit, one that is not worthy, one that will leave you feeling depressed and feeling guilty. Resist that temptation. Do not be guilty of tampering or playing with this sacred power of creation. Keep it in reserve for the time when it can be righteously employed. ”

Study: Masturbation May Prevent Prostate Cancer

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,352278,00.html

Bishop Vaughn J. Featherstone

Second Counselor in the Presiding Bishopric

May Ensign 1975 page 66 (Conference report)

“Another problem: an overweight girl from Ogden went to see her bishop. In the purity and goodness of charity, trying to help the girl, he counseled her that it might be a good idea to lose a few pounds. Pitifully heartbroken, she went home and told her father. It had cankered her soul. The father, of course, negative toward the Church all of his life, waiting for something like this, sprung like a cat on the bishop’s back, and they came down to see me and wanted their memberships transferred out of the bishop’s ward. I asked them why, because I didn’t know all this background, and they said, “Well, our bishop suggested to our daughter that she might lose a few pounds and make herself a little more attractive.” Now I want you to know that I defended that great bishop. I said to this family, “You are wrong. That sweet bishop, out of purity and love for your daughter, felt and did that which he was impressed to do. I am sure it was a message from God to your daughter, and she let it canker her soul. The strange thing is that she was probably up in her bedroom the night before praying, ‘Heavenly Father, I am lonely. I need someone. Please help me. Help me to find someone so I won’t be so lonely.’ ” And yet oftentimes we are offended because a sweet bishop gives us some instruction which is hard for us to live.”

Spencer W. Kimball, The Teachings of Spencer W. Kimball, edited by Edward L. Kimball, p.282

“What is more, it too often leads to grievous sin, even to that sin against nature, homosexuality. For, done in private, it evolves often into mutual masturbation-practiced with another person of the same sex-and thence into total homosexuality.”

(Is this statement supported by any data whatsoever? )

Discourse By President Brigham Young

Journal of Discourses, 26 vols., 10:, p.250

“What is the cause of all this waste of life and treasure? To tell it in a plain, truthful way, one portion of the country wish to raise their negroes or black slaves, and the other portion wish to free them, and, apparently, to almost worship them. Well, raise and worship them, who cares? I should never fight one moment about it, for the cause of human improvement is not in the least advanced by the dreadful war which now convulses our unhappy country.    

Ham will continue to be the servant of servants, as the Lord has decreed, until the curse is removed. Will the present struggle free the slave? No; but they are now wasting away the black race by thousands. Many of the blacks are treated worse than we treat our dumb brutes; and men will be called to judgment for the way they have treated the negro, and they will receive the condemnation of a guilty conscience, by the just Judge whose attributes are justice and truth.    

Treat the slaves kindly and let them live, for Ham must be the servant of servants until the curse is removed. Can you destroy the decrees of the Almighty? You cannot. Yet our Christian brethren think that they are going to overthrow the sentence of the Almighty upon the seed of Ham. They cannot do that, though they may kill them by thousands and tens of thousands. ”   

Quote of the week March 15, 2008

By Brigham Young

Journal of Discourses, 26 vols., 10:, p.303 – 304

The Puritans supposed they were sent of God, and hated the Quakers and persecuted them even unto death. Did the Lord notice that conduct in any signal manner? No. But suppose the Quakers had been the Saints of the Lord, and that He had said to William Penn and others, “You are my authorized agents to build up my kingdom on the earth,” would the Lord have held the Puritans guiltless for the persecution of his chosen people? He would not, but would in a signal manner have called their persecutors to an account. But the Puritans were not sent of the Lord, neither were the Quakers.    

Quote of the week March 8, 2008

By Elder Marion G. Romney

Conference Report, April 1953, Afternoon Meeting, p.124

“Adam was the son of God. He was our elder brother, not older than Jesus but he was our brother in the same sense that Jesus was our brother, and he “fell” to earth life. He did not come up through an unbroken line of organic evolution. There had to be a fall. “Adam fell that men might be.”

Quote of the Week March 2^nd 2008

BY: Elder Delbert L. Stapley,

What Constitutes the True Church, Ensign (CR), May 1977, p.21

“We know that all truth does emanate from God and is therefore unchangeable, consistent, and unified. Consequently, not all Christian churches with their dissimilar teachings can provide a fulness of truth. My intent is to assert with testimony and persuasion of scripture the reasons there can be only one Lord, one acceptable faith, one baptism, and one true church. Then if any of you are convinced you are mistaken in your present beliefs, you should have the courage to investigate and the faith to change and follow the true path Christ has outlined that assures one’s eternal happiness.”

Quote of the week Feb 22, 2008

By President Heber C. Kimball, made at the Bowery, Great Salt Lake City, July 12, 1857.    

Journal of Discourses, vol. 5: p.27 – 28

Here in Great Salt Lake City is the seat of government for the Church and Kingdom of God, pertaining to every person that has ever come into a probation on this earth, whether they are now in tabernacles upon this earth, or whether they are in the spirit world, or in hell. This is the place of deposit of all those keys pertaining to the salvation of the human family; and there never will one soul of those spirits now in prison come out of that place, except the keys of the kingdom of God that are now held in Great Salt Lake City open the door and let them out. They may peep and mutter, and may have revelations until doomsday, and may declare to all eternity that Joseph Smith is a false prophet, and that brother Brigham is a false prophet, and that this Church is false, and they will still remain in hell until we let them out.  Brother Brigham Young holds those keys; and brother Heber C. Kimball, and Daniel H. Wells, and others, hold those keys in connection with brother Brigham; and not one soul of you has any keys or power of salvation only what is in us; and that is one thing for you to learn. Those keys and powers were on Joseph Smith when he was in the flesh; and before he departed, he laid his hands on brother Brigham, and brother Heber, and others, and conferred the keys of salvation upon them; and we are here, in the last dispensation of the kingdom of God that pertains to every man and woman on earth, in hell, and in the spirit world; and the redemption of not one individual soul will be obtained upon any other principle.

Quote of the Week February 10, 2008

By Brigham Young

Journal of Discourses, vol, 4:, p.220

“I have known a great many men who have left this Church for whom there is no chance whatever for exaltation, but if their blood had been spilled, it would have been better for them. The wickedness and ignorance of the nations forbid this principle’s being in full force, but the time will come when the law of God will be in full force. This is loving our neighbour as ourselves; if he needs help, help him; and if he wants salvation and it is necessary to spill his blood on the earth in order that he may be saved, spill it.”

Quote of the Week February 1, 2008

By Elder C. W. Stayner

Delivered in the Tabernacle, Salt Lake City, Sunday Afternoon May 25th, 1879. Journal of Discourses Volume 20:, p.211

“God revealed to him (Joseph Smith) not only the fact of Divine existence, but even how he became God; that it was through living up to correct principles, and by developing within himself every sublime sentiment that had its origin in truth. He taught him how the people “who dwelt on the earth” might also be thus exalted to be angels of God, and finally Gods themselves”

Quote of the Week January 20, 2008

By: The Prophet Joseph Smith  (Teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith, pp. 345-46.)”

“It is the first principle of the Gospel to know for a certainty the character of God, and to know that we may converse with Him as one man converses with another. . . . You have got to learn how to be Gods yourselves, and to be  kings  and priests to God, the same as all Gods have done before you, namely, by going from one small degree to another. . . .”

Quote of the week January 13, 2008

By:  Hyrum L. Andrus, Doctrinal Commentary on the Pearl of Great Price, p.406 – 407  (1998)

“The position of the Church regarding the Negro may be understood when another doctrine of the Church is kept in mind; namely, that the conduct of spirits in the pre-mortal existence has some determining effect upon the conditions and circumstances under which these spirits take on mortality, and that while the details of the principle have not been made known, the principle itself indicates that the coming to this earth and taking on mortality is a privilege that is given to those who maintain their first estate; and that the worth of the principle is so great that spirits are willing to come to earth and take on bodies no matter what the handicap may be as to the kind of bodies they are to secure; and that among the handicaps, failure of the right to enjoy in mortality the blessings of the priesthood, is a handicap which spirits are willing to assume in order that they might come to earth. Under this principle there is no injustice whatsoever involved in this deprivation as to the holding of the Priesthood by Negroes.”

My inspiration to post this quote came from the comments made by Pamela on my England Coventry Mission page – “we certainly do not feel she has a less valiant spirit just because of her skin colour!”

 Quote of the Week Jan 7^th 2008

Brought to you by: Elder Ezra Taft Benson, Conference Report, April 1969, First Day-Morning Meeting, p.11

“Not only are there apostates within our midst, but there are also apostate doctrines that are sometimes taught in our classes and from our pulpits and that appear in our publications. And these apostate precepts of men cause our people to stumble.”

“The world teaches birth control. Tragically, many of our sisters subscribe to its pills and practices when they could easily provide earthly tabernacles for more of our Father’s children. We know that every spirit assigned to this earth will come, whether through us or someone else There are couples in the Church who think they are getting along just fine with their limited families but who will someday suffer the pains of remorse when they meet the spirits that might have been part of their posterity. The first commandment given to man was to multiply and replenish the earth with children. That commandment has never been altered, modified, or canceled. The Lord did not say to multiply and replenish the earth if it is convenient, or if you are wealthy, or after you have gotten your schooling, or when there is peace on earth, or until you have four children.”

Jan Week 1

Rodney Turner, Woman and the Priesthood, p.261

Love has its own instinct. Not even a puppy has to be taught how to express it. Wives who feel that they must learn certain “techniques” before they can effectively relate to their husbands apparently do not realize how close to the spirit of harlotry they have moved. Famous courtesans were skilled in the nuances of sexual love, yet they knew little or nothing of love itself. A wife who must be instructed in the “proper technique” for speaking, responding, reacting and otherwise relating to her husband is a pathetic caricature of a woman in love. If her husband is beguiled by such behavior, he is either very naive, very self-centered or very stupid . . . probably all three.

HAPPY NEW YEAR! 

I have been busy skiing, sorry for not having a new quote.  I am thinking that in 2008 I will change this to LDS quote of the week. 

Friday December 28, 2007

Today’s quote by: Elder Dallin H. Oaks, Pornography, Ensign (CR), April 2005

And young women, please understand that if you dress immodestly, you are magnifying this problem by becoming pornography to some of the men who see you.

Thursday December 27, 2007

Today’s quote is by: Elder Spencer W. Kimball, Conference Report, April 1965, Afternoon Meeting, p.63

A woman would have no fears of being imposed upon nor of any dictatorial measures nor of any improper demands if the husband is self-sacrificing and worthy. Certainly no sane woman would hesitate to give submission to her own really righteous husband in everything. We are sometimes shocked to see the wife take over the leadership, naming the one to pray, the place to be, the things to do.