Flood Warning

By Don L. Searle

The author lives in Idaho, USA.

How can you help those you love to avoid the obscenity, violence, and pornography in today’s media?

A few years ago, in a little Illinois town on the bank of the Mississippi River, I photographed two signs nailed to trees at the water’s edge. One sign reads: “The river crested at this level July 1993.” The next one, higher still, reads: “The Mississippi crested at this level June ’08.” Across the road, a few meters from those signs, beautiful homes enjoy sweeping views of the river. But these homes, as beautiful as they may be, lie well within the flood zone. When I saw the two signs and then looked at the homes nearby, two thoughts filled my mind:

The time to prepare for floods is not when the water is already up to your knees.
If you knowingly build where floods come, you can’t logically complain when filthy, swirling waters spoil what you cherish.

Fight the Flood

The world we live in today is flooded regularly—a flood of obscenity, violence, and pornography disguised as entertainment. The flood is so widespread and menacing that it has filled the world with filth and degradation, making them so commonplace that to many they are no longer shocking.

How can we, as seniors, help those we love to avoid being swept away by such a flood? What can we do to help them lay the foundation of their life far from the source of potential problems?

Parents have the responsibility to teach their children. And as a grandparent, I have learned that we have to be careful not to intrude. But what if the subject does come up? I remember well a conversation I had with one of my grandsons, who is now serving a mission. He told me that youth today face choices between morality and immorality every day. Here are some of the issues we discussed together, along with suggestions for dealing with them:

Sometimes it’s necessary to make personal choices that will be unpopular or ridiculed by others. For example, how should we deal with movies or shows in which there are “just one or two bad scenes” or where the rating is “only for language and violence”?
If you’re wavering or have a question about the content of a particular show, try imagining how you would explain to your family—or perhaps to the Savior—why this show seemed valuable enough to spend your time on it.
Avoid clicking on items that undoubtedly contain content that would compromise your standards. For example, what do you really expect to find if you click on “Pictures too hot to print in the 1980s”?
People will say things like, “My parents let me watch those things.” When they do, stand firm in your personal standards rather than caving in to peer pressure.
Others will claim that “things are different today.” But in reality, there are no new sins in this generation or any other. The devil just finds new and bolder ways to present them. Consider this scripture: “I cannot tell you all the things whereby ye may commit sin. … But this much I can tell you, … watch [yourself] and your thoughts, and your words, and your deeds” (Mosiah 4:29–30).
Be fully settled in your own mind as to why you do not want some things to be seen or heard in your home. You can expect to be asked why, so have an answer already thought out in advance.

Avoid the Filth

In my discussion with my grandson, I found that he welcomed my counsel. He enjoyed talking through his concerns together. His desire to talk with me reminded me that as seniors, we can play a role in helping young people to see in themselves the son or daughter that Heavenly Father hopes they will become.

Here are some other things my grandchildren and I have discussed when they have sought counsel from me about how to stay clean in a filthy world:

The Lord warned about “evils and designs … in the hearts of conspiring men in the last days” (Doctrine and Covenants 89:4). He wasn’t talking only about people who sell substances that harm the body. There are also conspiracies targeting our minds and spirits. The author of those conspiracies is that same being who tried to draw us away from Heavenly Father before we possessed our mortal bodies.
Those who are committed to avoiding filth may also face mocking and ridicule from their peers. Sometimes this criticism will come from the very people they have admired or respected. Perhaps this is when the mocking hurts most.
Others may try to convince us there are good reasons why we are wrong in our thinking: “Mature, informed adults should be able to deal with the changing moral standards of our day. Why can’t you do that?” Questions like these, though presented as “enlightened,” ignore our God-given agency to choose our own moral standards. We cannot control the world or the agency of others. They will choose what they will choose. Our only protection is to control our own choices.

Build above the Flood

Those houses along the Mississippi River suggest that if you choose to build a home near the river, you may escape danger for a time, but sooner or later the floods will come. Elder Neal A. Maxwell (1926–2004) of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles once spoke of members who want to establish a residence in Zion while trying to maintain a summer cottage in Babylon.¹ The Lord has warned His people to flee from Babylon or risk being destroyed (see Doctrine and Covenants 64:24; 133:14). If we listen for the whisperings of the Holy Ghost, He will warn us when we are too close to Babylon.

Our only protection is to build on a firm foundation well above the floodplain.

When I took the photo of the two signs next to the Mississippi, my wife and I were serving as missionaries at the historic sites of Nauvoo. In the brickyard there, as missionaries we talked to visitors about the importance of building on strong foundations. When there were little children in a group of visitors, we would ask one of them to tell the story that Jesus told, about the wise man who built his house on the rock (see Matthew 7:24–27). Then we would talk about Helaman 5:12, where we learn that the rock we are to build upon is “our Redeemer, who is Christ.”

No matter where we build our foundation, we will face storms in this life. Helaman 5:12 teaches that we are to build on the foundation of Jesus Christ so that “when the devil shall send forth his mighty winds, … when all his hail and his mighty storm shall beat upon [us], it shall have no power over [us]” (emphasis added).

If we build our personal spiritual foundation on the Rock of our Redeemer and encourage our children and grandchildren to do the same, we will be able to withstand the floods because He will be standing with us.