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Chastity

“Chastity,” Topics and Questions (2023)

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Gospel Study Guide

Chastity

God’s law of sexual purity

Chastity is God’s law to keep sexual intimacy sacred. Striving to be chaste in our thoughts, words, and actions brings many blessings—spiritual, emotional, and physical. Our efforts to remain sexually pure, and to repent and seek the Lord’s forgiveness if we have been unchaste, will bring us peace and joy in this life and prepare us to live with God again after we die.

In many parts of the world, chastity is undervalued and choosing to have sexual relations before or outside of marriage is common. But God gave us the law of chastity for the same reason that He has given us all the commandments: He loves us, and He knows that living the commandments helps keep us safe and leads to true and lasting happiness.

What Is Chastity?

Chastity is being sexually pure in our thoughts, words, and deeds. Chastity includes not having any sexual relations before marriage. It also means being completely faithful to husband or wife during marriage—both physically and emotionally. Being chaste includes avoiding pornography or other content that is intended to arouse sexual feelings. Chastity is a commandment from God, and obedience to that law is important to help us prepare to enter the house of the Lord. In the temple, we are invited to more fully commit by covenant to live the law of chastity.

Topic overview: Chastity

Related gospel study guides: Agency, Mortality, Repentance

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Section 1

Chastity Is a Vital Part of God’s Plan

The law of chastity is a crucial part of God’s plan for our salvation and exaltation. Through sexual intimacy we can become co-creators with God and bring His children into the world. Being chaste shows respect for God’s power of creation, which He allows us to exercise. It also shows gratitude for the bodies God has given us.

The family relationships formed when a man and woman marry and when their children are born are eternally important to our Heavenly Father. This is one reason He has commanded that sexual relations exist only between a man and a woman who are married. In addition, the partnership between a husband and wife can help promote a wholesome environment for children to be raised in and can create a strong foundation for an eternal family.

Things to think about

  • Think about why chastity is an important part of God’s plan of salvation. President Dallin H. Oaks has taught, “The power to create mortal life is the most exalted power God has given his children.” Then think about how keeping your thoughts sexually pure in various situations can help you control this power and stay spiritually strong. How would striving to be chaste influence your thoughts about other people? How would it influence the entertainment and media you choose to consume? How might it affect your family relationships? You might choose a favorite hymn or Church song or scripture you can sing or repeat in your mind when you are tempted by unwholesome sexual thoughts or feelings. You could make a goal to memorize that song or passage and to review it often.

  • Consider why the law of chastity is important to you or why it could be. Write the sentence “I choose to obey the law of chastity because …” Then look for ways you might answer this sentence by reading the section “Your Body Is Sacred” in For the Strength of Youth: A Guide for Making Choices. You could then think about how you would respond to someone who asked you why chastity is important to you.

  • Chastity is sometimes referred to in the scriptures as “virtue.” The Lord has said that virtue should “garnish [our] thoughts unceasingly,” and then our “confidence [can] wax strong” and “the doctrine of the priesthood shall distil upon [our souls and] the Holy Ghost shall be [our] constant companion” (Doctrine and Covenants 121:45–46). What does the word garnish mean here? How have you seen chastity and virtue give people confidence and strength in their lives? How has living the law of chastity increased your testimony of the gospel?

Activities for learning with others

  • Review the thirteenth article of faith together. This verse says that we believe in being chaste, and it invites us to seek after things that are virtuous and lovely. How can we determine if something is virtuous and lovely? After sharing ideas, you might talk about things in your life that fit that description and how they help you be chaste. Then you could make a goal together that will help you participate only in conversations, situations, and media and entertainment that are virtuous and lovely. Talk about how you could help each other follow through on your goal. Afterward, you might discuss what you learned from the experience.

  • For the Strength of Youth: A Guide for Making Choices teaches: “Because sexual feelings are so sacred and so powerful, God has given you His law of chastity to prepare you to use these feelings as He intends. … Many in the world ignore or even mock God’s law, but the Lord invites us to be His disciples and live a standard higher than the world’s.” What are the messages the Lord gives us about sex and chastity? (You could search “Chastity” in Guide to the Scriptures or the “Chastity” overview in Topics and Questions for ideas.) What messages does the world often give us on these topics? Discuss what you could do when you encounter false messages about chastity or temptations to be unchaste.

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Section 2

Striving to Be Chaste Can Bring Incredible Blessings

We are blessed in many ways as we strive to live the law of chastity, including avoiding pornography. When we keep God’s commandment to be chaste, we invite the companionship of the Holy Ghost and bring increased spiritual power and strength into our lives. Being chaste helps us become holy and spiritually strong, like Jesus Christ. This spiritual preparation allows us to become more like our Heavenly Father and progress on the path back to Him. Living a chaste life also allows us to be examples to others and to stand worthily before the Lord.

Elder David A. Bednar taught, “Chastity and virtue are now, always have been, and always will be ‘most dear and precious above all things’ (Moroni 9:9).” Part of what makes chastity so precious is the peace and joy it can bring to us as individuals and in our family relationships. Living this law can help us have greater love, trust, and unity in our marriage. We can also avoid much of the heartache in the world by being chaste before marriage and completely faithful to our spouse during marriage. And we can avoid the many other potential spiritual, emotional, and physical consequences of breaking the law of chastity as we obey this commandment throughout our lives.

Sexual sin brings a heavy burden, but forgiveness from the Lord is available to all who will sincerely repent.

Things to think about

  • Read the account of Joseph and Potiphar’s wife in Genesis 39:7–23. What do you learn about Joseph from this account? What do you learn from his example of being spiritually prepared so he could remain chaste even when faced with temptation? How was he ultimately blessed because of his decision to obey the law of chastity? (See, for example, Genesis 41:37–45; 45:1–28.) Consider how his example can help you have the courage to stay strong when you are tempted to do something that is unchaste.

  • You could read the account of the young man in President Jeffrey R. Holland’s message “Let Virtue Garnish Thy Thoughts Unceasingly.” What did the young man learn from his experience? How did it change his life? Think about what you can do to have the courage to remain worthy when you are tempted to do something impure or unholy. How might you be blessed as you remain worthy? Write down the impressions you receive.

  • Satan wants us to believe that when we have broken the law of chastity by committing a sexual sin or viewing pornography, we are no longer worthy of God’s love. But that is simply not true. Read Luke 15:11–32, or watch the Bible video “The Prodigal Son” (5:36). How does this account illustrate the love God has for us, even when we commit serious sins? Then read Isaiah 43:25, and think about the hope this verse gives. If you have a moral sin you need to repent of, make an appointment to talk to your bishop or branch president and begin the repentance process, or pray for the desire to do so. Repenting and relying on the Savior and His atoning power will bring healing and hope and will help you draw closer to Him.

Activities for learning with others

  • President Russell M. Nelson reminded Church members that great blessings come when we choose to “think celestial,” including when it comes to staying chaste. He said: “Thinking celestial will … help you obey the law of chastity. Few things will complicate your life more quickly than violating this divine law. For those who have made covenants with God, immorality is one of the quickest ways to lose your testimony. … The Lord has declared that no unchaste person will attain the celestial kingdom. So when you make decisions regarding morality, please think celestial.” You could talk about how thinking celestial can help you remain morally clean and the ways you can be blessed for doing so.

  • Watch the video “I Choose to Be Pure” (4:19), and talk about why the different youth in the video have chosen to remain sexually pure and the blessings that they feel will come as a result. You could share with each other what you do to remember to make choices that help you keep the law of chastity. Or you could each write down your own resolve to remain sexually pure throughout your life and put the paper where you will see it frequently.

  • In his talk “Be Valiant in Courage, Strength, and Activity,” Elder Gary E. Stevenson taught: “‘What you choose to think and do when you are alone and you believe no one is watching is a strong measure of your virtue’ [Preach My Gospel: A Guide to Missionary Service (2004), 118]. Be courageous! Be strong! ‘Stand ye in holy places, and be not moved’ [Doctrine and Covenants 87:8].” Talk about why it is important to be chaste when you are by yourself. You might then share ideas of “holy places” you can be in and holy things you can do that will help you remain chaste, especially when you are alone. What are some blessings you can receive as you seek out those holy places and choose to be chaste?

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Other Resources about the Chastity