As a Man Thinketh
>> Sunday, October 17, 2010
I wrote this as a comment to a post about the book The Hunger Games by the Misfitcygnet. I love reading her blog. She has given me a lot to think about, and to correct in my life.
As I have studied and read more over the last couple of years, I have been surprised to see how what I have read has become a part of me, ingrained in my soul, if you will.
The scriptures teach us that “as a man thinketh in his heart, so is he.” President Kimball in his book The Miracle of Forgiveness says that, “A man is literally what he thinks, his character being the complete sum of all his thoughts.”
It would therefore seem that we should be very careful about the thoughts we put into our mind. We will never do an action that we first did not think about, and no one can possibly become something they are not thinking.
I read an article yesterday of an Ohio teen how strangled his 10 year old brother after reading books about serial killers and watching the tv show Dexter, in which a serial killer is the hero of the show.
Now, I not saying that everyone is going to be a serial killer or commit horrific acts of violence, but the pamphlet For the Strength of Youth contains a statement on media violence that says that depictions of violence offends the Spirit and “makes you less able to respond to others in a sensitive, caring way.”
I know I need all of the help I can get in being a loving and caring wife and mother, as well as sister and friend, and if reading and seeing violence is going to make me less caring, I need to avoid it.
The Doctrine and Covenants says, “Let virtue garnish thy thoughts unceasingly.” I think this applies to all we read and watch.
As I have studied and read more over the last couple of years, I have been surprised to see how what I have read has become a part of me, ingrained in my soul, if you will.
The scriptures teach us that “as a man thinketh in his heart, so is he.” President Kimball in his book The Miracle of Forgiveness says that, “A man is literally what he thinks, his character being the complete sum of all his thoughts.”
It would therefore seem that we should be very careful about the thoughts we put into our mind. We will never do an action that we first did not think about, and no one can possibly become something they are not thinking.
I read an article yesterday of an Ohio teen how strangled his 10 year old brother after reading books about serial killers and watching the tv show Dexter, in which a serial killer is the hero of the show.
Now, I not saying that everyone is going to be a serial killer or commit horrific acts of violence, but the pamphlet For the Strength of Youth contains a statement on media violence that says that depictions of violence offends the Spirit and “makes you less able to respond to others in a sensitive, caring way.”
I know I need all of the help I can get in being a loving and caring wife and mother, as well as sister and friend, and if reading and seeing violence is going to make me less caring, I need to avoid it.
The Doctrine and Covenants says, “Let virtue garnish thy thoughts unceasingly.” I think this applies to all we read and watch.
1 comments:
I remeber reading this comment and thinking it was very well put in a loving manner that was not offensive. I didn't realize it was you! :) I tend to be more abrasive.
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