Lesson 11 - How Can I Do This Great Wickedness?

March 21, 2010 Sherwood Hills Ward

Introduction: Sexually Indulgent Now, Marriage Ruined Later

Reading One: AUSTIN, Texas -- Oftentimes those who preach sexual abstinence have been told to stop trying to impose their beliefs on others. But what if science could prove sexual permissiveness does great damage to future sexual happiness?
That's what Dr. Joe McIlhaney of the Medical Institute for Sexual Health in Austin says. New research shows that sleeping around now could ruin your chances of having a happy, fulfilling marriage later.
"Neuroscientists have produced a lot of information in just the last few years. This is new," he told CBN News.
The sex reseacher recently co-authored the book Hooked: New Science on How Casual Sex is Affecting Our Children with Dr. Freda McKissic Bush. McIlhaney said the book contains, "The most modern neuro-science available to man today."

Chemicals Create a Powerful Bond
Research using brain scans now shows powerful chemicals are released during sex that should create a powerful, everlasting bond.

Across much of the American culture, this big scientific news isn't known and certainly isn't much communicated to youth, who these days live in a sexual Wild West.
Teen evangelist Jeffrey Dean administers Web sites viewed by more than 350,000 young people every year. Thousands of them tell him they're pressured to be sexual and are often wounded by it.
"Anything goes is the new rule, and in the process, kids are experimenting," Dean told CBN News. "But they're finding out there is great hurt and baggage along with that."

Question: What doctrine if understood would help us be more committed to living a more virtuous life?

Question: What is the definition of virtue?

Reading Number Two: Webster Dictionary

1 a : conformity to a standard of right : morality b : a particular moral excellence
2 an order of angels — see celestial hierarchy
3 : a beneficial quality or power of a thing
4 : manly strength or courage : valor
5 : a commendable quality or trait : merit
6 : a capacity to act : potency
7 : chastity especially in a woman

Young Women Pamphlet sums it up like this: Virtue is a pattern of thought and behavior based on high moral standards. It includes chastity and purity.

Question: Name some of the movies, tv shows, books and magazines that are most popular today?

Question: What standards of sexual morality are presented by the popular media items of today? How do these standards differ from the Lord’s standard as taught in the scriptures and by Church leaders?

1. Joseph is sold into slavery by his brothers.

Think about the concept of what makes a man standout at a natural leader from the start.

See Genesis 39: 3 “and his master saw that the Lord was with him, and that the Lord mad all that he did to prosper in his hand.”

Story of Ammon. Story of Moroni. Story of Joseph Smith

2. Joseph refuses to “sin against God.”

Read: Genesis 39:6-13
6 And he left all that he had in Joseph’s hand; and he knew not ought he had, save the bread which he did eat. And Joseph was a goodly person, and well favoured.
7 ¶ And it came to pass after these things, that his master’s wife cast her eyes upon Joseph; and she said, Lie with me.
8 But he refused, and said unto his master’s wife, Behold, my master wotteth not what is with me in the house, and he hath committed all that he hath to my hand;
9 There is none greater in this house than I; neither hath he kept back any thing from me but thee, because thou art his wife: how then can I do this great wickedness, and sin against God?
10 And it came to pass, as she spake to Joseph day by day, that he hearkened not unto her, to lie by her, or to be with her.
11 And it came to pass about this time, that Joseph went into the house to do his business; and there was none of the men of the house there within.
12 And she caught him by his garment, saying, Lie with me: and he left his garment in her hand, and fled, and got him out.

Question: The scriptures emphasize that while Joseph was in prison, the Lord was with him. What does this reveal about Joseph?

Question: What can we learn from Joseph about turning bad experiences and circumstances into good ones?

Reading Number Three: “The ability to turn everything into something good appears to be a godly characteristic Our Heavenly Father always seems able to do this. Everything, no matter how dire, becomes a victory to the Lord. Joseph, although a slave and wholly undeserving of this fate, nevertheless remained faithful to the Lord and continued to live the commandments and made something very good of his degrading circumstances. People like this cannot be defeated.” (Hartman Rector Jr, Conf. Report October 1972)

Genesis 39:13-20
13 And it came to pass, when she saw that he had left his garment in her hand, and was fled forth,
14 That she called unto the men of her house, and spake unto them, saying, See, he hath brought in an Hebrew unto us to mock us; he came in unto me to lie with me, and I cried with a loud voice:
15 And it came to pass, when he heard that I lifted up my voice and cried, that he left his garment with me, and fled, and got him out.
16 And she laid up his garment by her, until his lord came home.
17 And she spake unto him according to these words, saying, The Hebrew servant, which thou hast brought unto us, came in unto me to mock me:
18 And it came to pass, as I lifted up my voice and cried, that he left his garment with me, and fled out.
19 And it came to pass, when his master heard the words of his wife, which she spake unto him, saying, After this manner did thy servant to prison, a place where the king’s prisoners were bound: and he was there in the prison.

Question: How was Joseph punished for being virtuous when Potiphar’s wife approached him?

3. Shechem, Reuben, and Judah commit serious moral sins
Notice that the language in Genesis 34:3 that describes Shechems’s feelings for Dinah “And his soul clave unto Dinah…and he loved the damsel.”
Question: Why is this description inconsistent with Shechem’s actions?

When Jacob blessed each of his sons at the each of his life. Read Genesis 49:3-4

3 Reuben, thou art my firstborn, my might, and the beginning of my strength, the excellency of dignity, and the excellency of power:
4 Unstable as water, thou shalt not excel; because thou wentest up to thy father’s abed; then defiledst thou it: he went up to my couch.

Note how he referred to Reuben’s moral transgression and described Reuben as “unstable as water.” In the mission field we had one or two elders who would be disobedient merely because they could not stand up to their companion and refuse to be disobedient. I referred to these as “feather” missionaries.

Question: How can we raise our children and grandchildren to not be like “feathers?”

Question: What are the spiritual and temporal consequences of sexual sin today?
Why does the Lord place such importance on being morally clean?
Church leaders have consistently taught that obedience to God’s commandments is true freedom.
Question: How do we see this in the life of Joseph? How did disobedience result in less freedom for Shechem, Reuben, and Judah? How can choosing to keep the commandments make us more free than choosing to break them.

4. Bethel –the House of the Lord

While Jacob was traveling to Canaan to the land of his kindred, he stopped to rest for the night and had a remarkable dream of a ladder that reached up into heaven. Jacob named this place Bethel, which means “house of the Lord.” What place has the same name today?

Elder Marion G. Romney said “Temples are to us all what Bethel was to Jacob.”

Genesis 35:1-15 – Jacob took his family back to this sacred place.

Read verse 2: Then Jacob said unto his household, and to all that were with him, Put away the strange gods that are among you, and be clean, and change your garments:
Question: How do these things compare to the preparations we make to go to the House of the Lord? What strange Gods may be among us?

Reading Four:
President Kimball: “The Lord has blessed us a people with a prosperity unequaled in times past. The resources that have been placed in our power are good, and necessary to our work here on the earth. But I am afraid that many of us have been surfeited with flocks and herds and acres and barns and wealth and have begun to worship them as false gods, and they have power over us. Do we have more of these good things than our faith can stand?

In spite of our delight in defining ourselves as modern, and our tendency to think we possess a sophistication that no people in the past ever had—in spite of these things, we are, on the who, an idolatrous people—a condition that most repugnant to the Lord. (Ensign, June 1976, 4-6)

Question: How can we put away our strange gods…and be clean and worthy to attend the temple?

Conclusion: With the Lord’s help, all of our experiences and circumstances can work together for our good. I testify of the value of remaining morally clean in thought and action. Let’s evaluate the movies, magazines, and other media that surrounds us and our children and use only those that reflect the Lord’s standard of sexual morality. May we be as committed as Joseph was to obey the law of chastity.