One little Q about "For the Strength of Youth"

[Xenos]

So you see in the entertainment and the Media to avoid anything that is vulgar, immoral, etc.. My question is.. How far does this stretch? Is this a 100% avoidance? 'Cause if it is, I'm not sure I'd want to go and watch The Dark Knight sometime soon.

I do want to know from other youths what they think!

[Generally_Me]

I'm just over the line of "youth", but let me take a stab at this.

When you start asking "where's the line", the line will move. I think there was a John Bytheway talk about this, that if you're trying to live on the line you're going to step over it; if you are trying to stay a safe distance from the line, you'll be OK.

[dazed-and-confused]

i think that, the fact is, you will have to draw to draw your own line as to what is offensive and what isn't....and sorry to say, that comes with experience....it's also called growing up. People may want to prtect you from doing that by imposing what they find offensive in THEIR life....and much of it may be valid....but i have to say that there is no substution for personal experience......take it for what it's worth.....i dont want to impose my own stuff on you...lol

[fireshark]

i think that, the fact is, you will have to draw to draw your own line as to what is offensive and what isn't....and sorry to say, that comes with experience....it's also called growing up. People may want to prtect you from doing that by imposing what they find offensive in THEIR life....and much of it may be valid....but i have to say that there is no substution for personal experience......take it for what it's worth.....i dont want to impose my own stuff on you...lol

Well, that is kinda my opinion...If you are tempted to do something wrong, that thing is a weakness for you...so you must stay even more aware of that thing...but maybe you can perfectly do another thing that is not as tempting for you as that one...and that doesn't apply to me, who feels tempted with another thing, completely different from yours...

I don't if I made myself clear...but I always thought that self control was #1...of course we cannot rely on ourselves, but we must know our limits....but that is MY opinion:)

[Misshalfway]

Live the principle. Your line drawing will take care of itself.

[PonderingOnPedestals]

Hey Xenos, you posted this question over a month ago so I'm not sure if my answer is going to help you now but I'm going to answer it for you and anyone else who might want to know the answer.

I'm 20 years old so I like to think I still qualify in the youth section, it was only two years ago that I was in high school and even as an adult find this a challenge at times. I'm going to post some links and I'd ask that you would follow them, at least the ones with scriptures and what not.

The scripture I want you to check out is D&C 58:25-28, so go read it real quick for me.

Now that you have read it I'm going to explain the general message of this scripture: You are entitled to personal revelation for yourself and it is for this reason the prophets don't come out with a weekly list of "What You Can Watch This Week On TV."

Now that's an awesome principal isn't it? "The power is in them, wherein they are agents unto themselves..." As a member of the Church of Jesus Christ, you have the privilege of being able to have the Spirit with you at all times and as a child of God, you have been given prayer to commune with your Heavenly Father. I encourage you to use these gifts.

I bear my testimony to you that God listens to your questions and provides a way for you to obey His commandments and that includes understanding His commandments. Pray, read your scriptures, listen to and follow the promptings of the Spirit and you will not fall.

As a P.S I did see the Dark Knight and found it to be an excellent movie - sadly, at the same time, you are right I don't recall feeling the Spirit during that movie.

Edited October 5, 2009 by PonderingOnPedestals
I want to get my signature on here...

[Mormon_Moshpit]

I play it like this: if you have to ask about something then it's probably best to avoid it.

[Jbs2763]

anything called a "sitcom" is immoral, vulgar and should not be used.... however this only applies to current sitcoms, feel free to watch stuff from the 80's and earlier on TV Land

[fireshark]

Answering again, updating a bit...as a seminary teacher, with a small class (for my country is quite big...8 students is a great thing and challenging thing for me), I've encountered some different dificulties in each one of them...

One of the girls one day said to me that pornography didn't really affected her, her bro (not a member) had a lot of it in his computer and while she was using it she passed by it...it made her sick, not what she was looking, but knowing her brother was looking at stuff like that...but she just closed and continued with whatever she was doing....

this is an extreme example, ok whatever, she shouldn't see it I know, the thing is, we are affected by different things...that's for:

watching a movie that is immoral...it can be immoral in so different ways:

have dirty jokes

have nudity

have racial content

for me, it depends on each person, not "what is immoral to me?" but "what affects me?"...even moral stuff can affect us...

as I said, my opinion

[Pianoman216]

Like Generally_Me said, its ALWAYS best to stay as far away from the line as possible. How do you know when you're getting close to the line? Simply rely on the Holy Ghost to direct and guide you. I think there definitely is a specific line between right and wrong, but there is also a lot of grey in the middle.

Would it be a good thing to only watch church produced movies? Sure, but does God really care if we refuse to watch G rated movies? I really don't think so. Does he care if we watch R rated movies or not? He absolutely does as several latter day prophets have taught us.

In short we should not watch any R rated material (and worse, obviously) and should be cautious about PG-13 material. Remember that ALL things can be brought before the Lord in prayer. If you are questioning whether or not something is decent enough to expose yourself to, just ask the Lord. If you pray in faith, He WILL guide you through the power of the Holy Ghost. A good rule of thumb is to ask yourself if you would feel comfortable going into the temple after viewing or listening to the material in question.

[groovygirl92]

It's a hard question. You can look at from a million different directions. What would you be willing to give up to know God? Will watching this bring you closer to God or push you farther away? It's cheesy, but what would Jesus do? Is this going to push away the spirit?

It's like the situation John Bytheway described. This girl realized that the for strength of youth pamphlet said that skirts need to be knee length. She went to her mom and asked EXACTLY where her knee was. Make a list of negative and positive effects the movie will have on you.

[theoriginalavatar]

So you see in the entertainment and the Media to avoid anything that is vulgar, immoral, etc.. My question is.. How far does this stretch? Is this a 100% avoidance? 'Cause if it is, I'm not sure I'd want to go and watch The Dark Knight sometime soon.

I do want to know from other youths what they think!

This may sound a little elementary, but ask yourself if you would do (watch, listen to, etc.) whatever you are thinking to do if the Savior came to your house and wanted to do that something with you.

Just like the Primary song says..."If the Savior stood beside me, would I do the things I do..."