Transcript

Many years ago, on an assignment to the beautiful islands of Tonga, I was privileged to visit our Church school, the Liahona High School, where our youth are taught by teachers with a common bond of faith-- providing training for the mind and preparation for life. On that occasion, entering one classroom, I noticed the rapt attention the children gave their native instructor. His textbook and theirs lay closed upon the desks. In his hand he held a strange-appearing fishing lure fashioned from a round stone and large seashells. This I learned, was a maka-feke, an octopus trap. In Tonga, octopus meat is a delicacy. The teacher explained that Tonga fisherman glide over a reef paddling around their outriggor canoes with one hand and dangling the maka-feke over the side with the other. An octopus dashes from its rocky layer and seizes the lure, mistaking it for a much-desired meal. So tenacious is the grasp of the octopus and so firm is its instinct not to relinquish the precious prize that fisherman can flip it right into the canoe. It was an easy transition for the teacher to point out to the eager and wide-eyed youth that the evil one, even Satan, has fashioned so-called maka-fekes with which to ensnare unsuspecting persons and take possession all their destininies. Today we are surrounded by the maka-fekes which the evil one dangles before us and with which he attempts to entice us and then to ensnare us. Once grasped, such maka-fekes are ever so difficult-- and sometimes nearly impossible-- to relinquish. To be safe, we must recognize them for what they are and then be unwavering in our determination to avoid them. Constantly before us is the make-feke of immorality. Almost everywhere we turn, there are those who would have us believe that what was once considered immoral is now acceptable. Next, the evil one also dangles before us the maka-feke of pornography. He would have us believe that the viewing of pornography really hurts no one. Avoid any semblance of pornography. It will desensitize the Spirit and erode the conscience. We are told in the Doctrine and Covenants, ''That which doth not edify is not of God, and is darkness." Such is pornography. I mention next the meke-feke of drugs, including alcohol. One grasped, this maka-feke it's particularly difficult to abandon. Drugs and alcohol cloud thinking, remove innovations, fracture families, shattered dreams, and shortened life. They are everywhere to be found at our placed purposely in the pathway of vulnerable youth. Each one of us has a body that has been entrusted to us by a loving Heavenly Father. We've been commanded to care for it. Can we deliberately abuse or injure our bodies without being held accountable? We cannot. The apostle Paul declared, "Know ye not that ye are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you?'' "The temple of God is holy, which temple ye are." May we keep our bodies, are temples, fit and clean, and free from harmful substances which destroyed our physical, mental, and spiritual well being.

Bodies Are Temples

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(1 Corinthians 3:16-17) President Thomas S. Monson talks about how our bodies are temples of God.
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