If I had a dollar for every time I’ve seen people declare their love for Jesus in tandem with a public declaration of living the way they want to and not following standards declared by Him through His prophets and apostles, I’d be a rich man.
Take this small example: A Church member touting their increased connection to Jesus while showing off fresh tattoos that have deep spiritual meaning for them. What have prophets said? Gordon B. Hinckley declared, “A tattoo is graffiti on the temple of the body.” This phrase can still be found on the Church’s website under the topic of tattoos. You can always watch this short video clip that still resides on the Church website.
Those who have received tattoos without a knowledge that it is not appropriate behavior is one thing. Those who ignore prophetic counsel and act like their fresh tattoo is following a higher standard of truth is an entirely different matter.
The Holy Sabbath Day
Another interesting example was an Instagram reel of someone leaving an LDS Church to run to the convenience store and buy a soda on the Sabbath, declaring something to the effect of “This is how I do the Sabbath.” In the comments, someone stated how they love that “what we choose to do on Sunday is up to us and there is no right or wrong way. “Excuse me? At best that was a half truth. Yes, we can make our own choices on Sabbath day activities. No, our choices are not always celestial ones.
Preach My Gospel states:
In addition to resting from our labors on the Sabbath, we should refrain from shopping and other activities that would make it feel like a common day. We set aside the activities of the world and focus our thoughts and actions on spiritual matters.
Living in this world of “there is no right or wrong” can be very confusing for many people. This is one of the reasons for this blog post. I want to add my voice to living prophets that what we do in this life really does matter. President Nelson declared:
I have learned that Heavenly Father’s plan for us is fabulous, that what we do in this life really matters, and that the Savior’s Atonement is what makes our Father’s plan possible.
Modesty
Other examples of this phenomenon of people declaring a higher and holier relationship with Jesus, yet choosing to not follow his law and standards include the Jesus-loving individuals who declare how much they love Him on Instagram and then post revealing pictures of themselves as well.
When instituting the higher law, Jesus taught in the New Testament and in His visit to the Americas in 3 Nephi 12:
27 Behold, it is written by them of old time, that thou shalt not commit adultery;
28 But I say unto you, that whosoever looketh on a woman, to lust after her, hath committed adultery already in his heart..
The Gospel Topics essay on modesty state: “Modesty is an attitude of decency and humility in our language, behavior, dress, and grooming. If we are modest, we don’t try to bring too much attention to ourselves. Rather, we seek to glorify God. Dressing modestly, which includes avoiding styles that emphasize or draw inappropriate attention to our physical body, can help us see ourselves as children of God and focus on things that are eternally important.”
Right is Still Right
This post is not to point fingers at people and cast stones, the point of this post is to publicly declare that there are still standards and there are different levels of behavior that would fall into the categories of good, better, and best.
Prophets and scripture have made declarations of what is right and what is wrong, and we can’t just decide that those things are no longer applicable because we have claim a higher, more sophisticated view of what a relationship with God looks like.
In 3 Nephi chapter 27 verse 13 Jesus tells us that the gospel is that He did the will of the Father. We can’t do our own will, and claim that we are living the gospel. If God says our body is a temple, and that it should not be defiled, then that’s the truth. If God said that we should not look at a woman to lust after her, then we shouldn’t do that, and in conjunction, we shouldn’t be drawing inappropriate attention to our bodies.
One question I would leave with you to ponder is this. Are we really building a stronger relationship with Jesus Christ if we choose not to follow the laws and standards that He has revealed? Jesus said in John 14:15, If ye love me, keep my commandments. I, for one, think He meant it.