Is this what you would tell Elizabeth Smart & her parents?

[_Dwight Frye]

LDS Apostle endorses Spencer W. Kimball's The Miracle of Forgiveness in the pages of the Ensign:

If you are not familiar with the classic steps to repentance, such as confession and abandonment of sin, restitution, obedience, and seeking forgiveness, talk to a bishop or study a source such as President Spencer W. Kimball’s masterly work The Miracle of Forgiveness.

- "Peace of Conscience and Peace of Mind," November 2004

[_The Nehor]

I have no problem with those sentiments.

[_Pokatator]

This bastard knew nothing of Christ's atonement, regardless of whether the atonement is real or imagined.

I believe his parents were married, I just don't know if it was to each other.

[_Inconceivable]

This bastard knew nothing of Christ's atonement, regardless of whether the atonement is real or imagined.

I believe his parents were married, I just don't know if it was to each other.

You're correct. I mispoke.

If you don't mind, let me rephrase my rant:

He was a poser.

[_moksha]

I have no problem with those sentiments.

Why?

[_The Nehor]

I have no problem with those sentiments.

Why?

Because I believe them.

[_bcspace]

BC, would you say the Church itself has published what can be perceived as a perpetuation of the sort of attitude discussed in the OP?

Not in the way it was presented, no. Is there something wrong with the sentiment of dying rather than visit a house of prostitution?

[_harmony]

BC, would you say the Church itself has published what can be perceived as a perpetuation of the sort of attitude discussed in the OP?

Not in the way it was presented, no. Is there something wrong with the sentiment of dying rather than visit a house of prostitution?

Girls who have been raped do not visit prostitutes. What on earth are you talking about? Did you miss the title of this thread?

[_Daniel Peterson]

This dispicable teaching is one of the most cruel and disgusting of all LDS nonsense.

I strongly suspect, though it would take me some considerable effort to demonstrate it, that there is absolutely nothing uniquely LDS about the better-dead-than-unchaste notion, but that, indeed, it was quite common among people of the same age as those cited in the opening post.

The fact that it is still alive and well, believed and honored in the church (see BC's statements above) is disheartening to say the least.

I neither believe it, teach it, nor honor it.

[_Dwight Frye]

BC, would you say the Church itself has published what can be perceived as a perpetuation of the sort of attitude discussed in the OP?

Not in the way it was presented, no.

What about these?

You young people—May I directly entreat you to be chaste. Please believe me when I say that chastity is worth more than life itself. This is the doctrine my parents taught me; it is truth. Better die chaste than live unchaste.


- "First Presidency Message: We Believe in Being Chaste," September 1981

Is it too much to ask that parents deliberately and objectively teach their children the gospel truths which alone can save them from the carnage of Satan? Is it too much to ask all parents to live those truths themselves?

Is it too much to set a proper example by our own righteous living?

Is it too much to teach our children that it is better to die in defense of virtue than to lose it?

It is too much to live the Word of Wisdom ourselves and teach it to our little ones? Is it too much to teach them that violation of the Word of Wisdom can lead them into much worse sin?

Is it too much to be honest ourselves and to teach our children to be honest?


- "Where Do We Stand?" May 1980 (Emphasis added. Surrounding text provided to illustrate that question is rhetorical, i.e., it is not "too much to ask.")

We have always told our young people, "It is better to die clean than to live an unclean life." I remember one of the Presidents of the Church saying in the Salt Lake Tabernacle that he would rather see a son or daughter of his go to the grave clean than to live an unclean life.


- "The Church and America," April 1970, provided on official Church website

I remember the words of Joseph F. Smith at a campfire in California when challenged by horsemen intent on killing Mormons. I hope I can always reply in his spirit when he was asked if he were a Mormon: “Yes, siree; dyed in the wool; true blue, through and through.” Many of us might not mind dying gloriously, with much fanfare and publicity. But die for chastity when accosted on a freeway? Die for honesty in a prison camp? Die for belief in God at the hands of a mob? If our testimony means enough to us that we prepare each morning either to live for the Savior or to die for him that day, we will always be prepared.


- "Letter to Michael," September 1975 (Emphasis added.)

Again I ask, has the Church itself published what can be perceived as a perpetuation of the sort of attitude discussed in the OP?