True love (or "Me on my soap box")

In the Book of Mormon (Another Testament of Jesus Christ), there is a prophet-father who is giving his final advice and counsel to his son. Included in his words of wisdom is the key to finding and preserving true love. He declares, ". . . see that ye bridle all your passions, that ye may be filled with love". This counsel goes against everything we see coming out of Hollywood, and may seem counter-intuitive. You may ask, "But if I really love him/her, shouldn't I show that? Shouldn't I be willing to share with them the most intimate kind of love?" Of course you should, but if you want to have a real and lasting love, you must do it under the right circumstances. It must be as a married couple, legally and lawfully committed to each other for life (or eternity as the case may be). My own experience shows me that love goes stronger as a couple shows their love and respect for one another by saving the most intimate demonstration of love (the uniting of bodies and souls) until after they have made a lifetime commitment.

On the other hand, unbridled passion leads to heartbreak and broken commitments. Hollywood would have you believe that sex before marriage is acceptable, natural, and even preferable. They would have you believe that sex is nothing special or sacred and that it doesn't really matter when, where, or with whom you do it. However, the rising rate of divorce and the increasing number of broken homes and single-parent families seems to be an excellent indicator of the falseness of this assumption. Lasting relationships are not built on the immediate gratification of physical needs and a focus on the here and now; lasting relationships are built on commitment, a focus on the long run, and a willingness to give up things we want now, in exchange for more important things we want in the long run.