*Just as a disclaimer, I know that this is not everyone's experience in Provo, or anywhere in particular. These are just some thoughts I've had about my personal observations.So we talk a lot in our BYU culture about the world and how they act. We talk about how they are abrasive and malicious and how they have low moral standards. I think in some ways that is not giving our society enough credit for their desires to help the world improve, but I think more importantly that as we make those judgements we are overlooking some misfortunes that are happening in our ‘non-worldy’ environments.
There’s no doubt that the way relationships are formed in society has relaxed and changed significantly and it has done damage to the traditional structure. However, I would also argue that those patterns are manifested in our LDS society in watered down ways. There are boys who mislead and take advantage of girls. There are women who flirt insincerely and can be just as much as seductive as a man can be deceptively charming. While these habits may be less severe they still cause emotional damage to our relationships and our world.
My dear cousin Jenell Biggs said it more eloquently than I could, “In the short segments of films and music videos, there is most often only time to show signs of love; hand-holding, cuddling, kissing, etc, without time being allotted to show an actual relationship being built. Generally, these things are meant to signify a deeper love. However, these signs of love as portrayed in the media, fool consumers into believing that these signs are love rather than small evidences of a much deeper, more intricate feeling. This is dangerous. We are all starting to believe that love is merely the outward, physical tokens of it. And therefore we go about relationships in a backward sense. Physicality first, feelings afterward”.
While it can be disheartening, and there are people who degrade and harm one another, whether it is emotionally, verbally, or physically, I become more and more grateful for the words in Moroni 7 about charity being the pure love of Christ.
I’ve realized that when we say Charity Never Faileth, we are really saying, Christ Never Faileth, as Charity is the Pure Love of Christ. I’ve come to love that concept more and more. I am so optimistic that even though we will all fail at one time or another to show pure love, Christ never will. Most significantly, through Him we can accumulate the ability to love more purely.
We can show a genuine and sincere love that is completely untainted by selfish desire and lust. Can you imagine what the world would be like if we all looked at each other with the eyes of God, and if every person was treated with kindness and compassion? Can you imagine if each kiss was sincere and was motivated by expressing admiration and pure love instead of greed and sensuality?
And isn’t that what we are striving for? If Zion is a place or a mentality of having one heart and one mind, centered after Christ’s love and charity, shouldn’t we be treating each other that way; not only in our peer and family relationships, but also in our romantic relationships?
I personally don’t have a lot of experience in that context, but I really don’t hope for anything less. It is because of Christ that I have hope that I can share a pure and genuine love with someone else and trust that there won’t be abuse or deception. It is because of Christ that I have a hope that our society, even here in little old Provo, can improve. There’s no doubt that the way relationships are formed in society has relaxed and changed significantly and it has done damage to the traditional structure. However, I would also argue that those patterns are manifested in our LDS society in watered down ways. There are boys who mislead and take advantage of girls. There are women who flirt insincerely and can be just as much as seductive as a man can be deceptively charming. While these habits may be less severe they still cause emotional damage to our relationships and our world.
My dear cousin Jenell Biggs said it more eloquently than I could, “In the short segments of films and music videos, there is most often only time to show signs of love; hand-holding, cuddling, kissing, etc, without time being allotted to show an actual relationship being built. Generally, these things are meant to signify a deeper love. However, these signs of love as portrayed in the media, fool consumers into believing that these signs are love rather than small evidences of a much deeper, more intricate feeling. This is dangerous. We are all starting to believe that love is merely the outward, physical tokens of it. And therefore we go about relationships in a backward sense. Physicality first, feelings afterward”.
While it can be disheartening, and there are people who degrade and harm one another, whether it is emotionally, verbally, or physically, I become more and more grateful for the words in Moroni 7 about charity being the pure love of Christ.
I’ve realized that when we say Charity Never Faileth, we are really saying, Christ Never Faileth, as Charity is the Pure Love of Christ. I’ve come to love that concept more and more. I am so optimistic that even though we will all fail at one time or another to show pure love, Christ never will. Most significantly, through Him we can accumulate the ability to love more purely.
We can show a genuine and sincere love that is completely untainted by selfish desire and lust. Can you imagine what the world would be like if we all looked at each other with the eyes of God, and if every person was treated with kindness and compassion? Can you imagine if each kiss was sincere and was motivated by expressing admiration and pure love instead of greed and sensuality?
And isn’t that what we are striving for? If Zion is a place or a mentality of having one heart and one mind, centered after Christ’s love and charity, shouldn’t we be treating each other that way; not only in our peer and family relationships, but also in our romantic relationships?
One last thought: I know that there is good here in our town and all over the world. Paraphrasing from President Monson, he said something like, "there are families that make it, marriages that last, and parents who love their children" (anyone remember which talk that was from?) and I totally agree, but I also think that it is important that as a people who seek to become like Christ that we do all that we can to act like Him and treat others as He would.
Article and Illustration by Normandie Luscher ADSENSE HERE