know how ...
WE'VE got to know how our senses create morality or immorality
We interact with others and our environment through our senses
Every action we make goes through our senses
To be ethical and virtuous
- in a culture that's not -
will always be a challenge
So, remember to check your senses:
Don't look, don't touch, and don't eat
(that is, don't take part in immoral sex)
Don't listen and don't even smell
(that is, don't 'check out' immoral sex)
Do we have 5 senses or 6?
Humans have 10 senses, or 5 that have 2 dimensions:
physical and spiritual
Sexual urges that are the most difficult to control
usually come through the spiritual senses
There are a lot of people in the afterlife
who are still trying to act out their desires
Some people can't explain why
their own sexual behavior is against their own ethics
Those who commit sexual crimes often cannot control their own actions
Our senses are the door openers
After the idea, image, or sensation gets inside,
the imagination lights up
WE'VE got to learn how to control the doors of the senses
- to shut out sexual immorality
Think about it:
If you like fish and you smell fish cooking,
you say,
"That smells good! I want some!"
If you don't like fish, you say,
"That smells bad! I don't want any!"
What's the point about the smelly fish?
All kinds of things come through our senses
What matters is how we think about it
WE'VE got to stop thinking that immoral sex is exciting
WE'VE got to stop accepting it as 'manly' or 'womanly'
Things take the same route
when they come through our spiritual senses
What matters is whether we continue thinking about it
WE'VE got to stop desire before it creates lust
WE'VE got to stop the mental images of it
Creating a culture of sexual ethics and virtues
starts with each individual
Every person has their own challenges to face
Even moral people get caught in the 'thinking trap'
Anger or anxiety about sexually immoral behavior
makes mental images
Keeping immoral pictures in our minds
is the same as looking at pornography
Eventually that will influence our actions
WE'VE got to stop our own bad habits first
Then, WE'VE got to teach others how to overcome theirs
If you give a child a candy, then take it away, the child cries
But, if give a child a candy, then exchange it for a better one, the child doesn't cry
To simply stop sexually immoral thinking and habits is good, but difficult, to do
To replace the old thinking and habits with new thoughts and actions is better,
and easier, to do
WE'VE got to think in ethical and virtuous ways
Then, WE'VE got to practice ethics and virtues in every way that affects our sexuality
WE'VE got to got to think,
"Sexual altruism is wonderful - we want to have such beautiful hearts!"
WE'VE got to practice controlling the doors of the senses
- to open ourselves to the ideals of our Creator
Jesus said it like this:
"You have heard that it was said, 'Do not commit adultery.'
But I tell you that anyone who looks at a woman lustfully has already committed adultery with her in his heart."
(Matthew 5:27-28)