We need to be grateful for commandments.  Commandments are put into place to protect us.  A person without commandments is a person without boundaries.  We need boundaries to keep us from going into dangerous places from whence there is no return.

Each person is unique.  Each has his own customized package of troubles, talents, trials, and temptations.  You know what your weaknesses are.  So does the adversary.  He is a great tactician.  He knows that if he can keep you close to the line in the area where you’re the weakest, he can eventually get you to cross it.

You may have to erect some additional barriers to keep you from getting too close to the boundaries set up by the Lord’s commandments.  You may have to give yourself a commandment that is even more strict than the one the Lord gave in order to keep yourself well away from the temptation to cross the Lord’s boundary.

For example:  I have seen many people ensnared by alcohol who have lost everything—their homes, their happiness, and all hope.  I observed this as a very small boy.  I promised myself at the age of six or seven that I would never let a drop of alcohol pass my lips.  I do not go where alcohol is served, and I excuse myself from gatherings where it appears.  I have always made it a point to never drink the punch that is served at Gentile weddings where the drink might have been knowingly or unknowingly spiked.

I have relatives who are alcoholics, and others who have died from the effects of
alcoholism.  From that fact I can assume that I could possibly carry a genetic predisposition to alcoholism.  I understand that some people with genetic predispositions to alcoholism can become alcoholics from their first drink.  The possibility exists that I could be one of them.  However, because I have put extra boundaries in place, there is very little possibility that I could ever cross the line and violate the commandment that says, “Thou shalt not drink alcohol.”

I explained the principle of giving yourself extra boundaries to my institute students here in Vanuatu.  I used kava as my example.  Kava is the big problem in Vanuatu where violating the Word of Wisdom is concerned.

Suppose I am a new convert to the Church in Vanuatu.  I really, really want to keep all of the Lord’s commandments, and I have pledged to do so.  However, before I joined the Church I really enjoyed my kava.  Every evening I went to the Ocean View Kava Bar and drank kava with my friends.  I have promised myself that I will never again drink kava.  But just this one time, I’m going to go to the Ocean View Kava Bar and see my old friends again.  It will be OK because I have made a covenant to never again drink kava.

What is going to happen when I go to the Ocean View Kava Bar to see my old friends?  You and I both know that I will end up drinking kava in spite of my resolve not to do so.  Because of the weakness that I have in this area, I need to erect some extra boundaries to keep me from getting anywhere near the one that says, “Thou shalt not drink kava.”  I have a weakness in this area.  If I try to see how close to the line I can get without crossing it—if I’m standing there with my toes right up against the line—Satan is going to come along and shove me over.

I need to erect some other boundaries to keep me well back from the line.  I need to give myself some extra commandments that are more strict.  Some good ones in this case would be, “Thou shalt not go near any kava bar,” and “Thou shalt not have anything to do with your old kava friends.”

Pornography is an area where we all need to erect some extra boundaries.  Pornography has me really scared.  The September 2014 issue of The Ensign magazine states that, “As of 2008, an estimated 9 out of 10 young men and nearly one-third of young women reported using pornography.  The average age of exposure and addiction are the same:  11 years old…Unfortunately, the question seems to be no longer if our children will be exposed to pornography but when—and how they will cope.”  (Jennifer Grace Fallon, “Healing Hidden Wounds).

That means that my sons and grandsons are acquainted with pornography.  I know that it’s so because I’m acquainted with it, too.  Thanks to the Internet, it’s easy to find.  My most frequent prayer is that 100% of my children and grandchildren will remain faithful, and be with me in the next life.  I am convinced that if there are any casualties along the way, it will be because of pornography.

My children and grandchildren are made of better stuff than I am.  I know that’s so because they were reserved to come to earth when the temptations are greater than they’ve ever been in the history of the world. The Lord knows that my children and grandchildren have the inner strength to resist the temptations the world is throwing at them.  Thankfully it was my lot to come to earth in the generation prior to theirs.  If pornography and the Internet had been available when I was a youth, I could have possibly been a casualty.  An 11-year-old does not have the background and strength to shrug these things off.

I can’t live without my computer and the Internet now.  I do all of my writing on the computer, and emails with the family are my lifeline.  But I see the adversary’s subtle influences everywhere online.  If I open up the online news, I see all sorts of suggestions that are put there to get susceptible minds working in directions that they shouldn’t.  When our minds go those places, pornography is just an easy click away.

I have had to erect additional boundaries and to give myself some extra commandments to keep me away from the “Thou shalt not look at pornography” line.  The commandment that I’ve given myself is “Thou shalt not open the Internet unless your wife is sitting beside you.”  I’ve told her about my commandment, and it works.  That commandment won’t fit everyone, but for me, this one works.

What is pornography? Pornography to me is a nude or almost nude body.  It is anything that can get my mind going in directions it should not go.

The principle that I want to teach is one that Jesus inaugurated in His Sermon on the Mount.  The Sermon on the Mount erected additional barricades to keep us well away from breaking the original 10 commandments.  Jesus said:

Behold, it is written by them of old time, that thou shalt not commit adultery;

But I say unto you, that whosoever looketh on a woman, to lust after her, hath committed adultery already in his heart.

Behold, I give unto you a commandment, that ye suffer none of these things to enter into your heart.  (3 Nephi 12:27-29)

Where pornography is concerned I’d like to ask each of my children and grandchildren to analyze your vulnerability and your family’s vulnerability to this insidious threat.  There’s a snake loose in the house, and its bite will kill.  Are there some barricades you can erect to keep it out?