The Raccoon Stamp

Did you ever have an experience with a child at school (or sibling) who was jealous of a toy you had, and he/she did everything possible to destroy that toy or get it taken away from you? He/she may have even been clever enough to talk you out of what you wanted, making your prize look worthless so you would give it up, and the child would then triumphantly claim it for himself/herself. I remember a time at a birthday party when we got to choose an ink stamp to take home. I really wanted the stamp with the princess on it because she was my favorite, but the other kid wanted his "girlfriend" to have it (we were like, five) and told me the princess was dumb; the raccoon stamp would be cooler. So I chose the raccoon stamp instead, and the other girl took the princess stamp. It wasn’t until later that I realized his trick. Every time I saw that raccoon stamp, I regretted my mistake. 

Why do Latter-day Saints take such care to follow specific rules about our bodies, such as modesty, the Word of Wisdom (no drugs, alcohol, etc), guidelines for tattoos and piercings, and chastity before marriage? We believe our body is a temple that houses our sacred, royal spirits inside, and to profane the temple is disrespectful. But I think of the principle behind the practice at its deeper meaning: These bodies aren’t ours. Heavenly Father gave us our physical bodies as a gift so we could experience mortality and learn to be like Him, and Christ suffered so we can all be resurrected someday. Our bodies are rentals, and we prove our worthiness to keep them for eternity by being obedient to God’s commandments.

We can use that same principle to argue pornography. I have a strong opinion about objectifying women (read my friend Jenna’s recent blog post about it). Using the principle that these bodies are not our personal belongings to do whatever with them that we want, then women do not belong to men to do whatever they want with them, and vice versa. We are not men’s property to be objectified, degraded, and violated. Likewise, men are not pieces of meat to be worshipped or criticized without regard to the person underneath. I am so tired of how mainstream sex has become and how "normal" it is to make jokes about bodies and their sexual purposes, especially outside of marriage. 

Like the boy with the stamp, Satan, known as the Devil, does not have a body like all of us on Earth. Thus, he will do anything to get us to ruin our body: degrade it, trash it, objectify it, criticize it, and ultimately lose the ability to keep it. My professor said to us this week, “Sometimes I look in the mirror and hear the Adversary whisper in my hear, ‘My, Mary, you sure have a chubby body.’ I respond, ‘Well at least I’ve got one!’”

Tonight I was listening to Elaine Dalton’s talk “Guardians of Virtue” from LDS General Conference last weekend, and I am hurt that some of my friends, particularly men, who likely heard the talk have already reverted back to the world’s ways of degrading women to the status of a mere object.  “A Priesthood holder is virtuous. Virtuous behavior implies that you have pure thoughts and clean actions. Virtue is a principle of godliness. It is akin to holiness.”  

Is it really so bad to talk about these kinds of things on a blog? Sure, they may sound preachy and serious, but this is a real world situation, and the Devil would want us to trivialize these matters. Respect the body you have been given, and respect the men and women around you.

Feel free to share the link if you agree.