This is in response to Gordon Monson’s article from December 20, “When the LDS Church alters classic art in the name of modesty, it does more harm than good.”
When was the last time you looked directly into the glory of the sun for a full minute without any eye protection? For two minutes? Ten?
Most of us know better than to do such a thing. The sun is wonderful. It gives us light and warmth. It provides energy to plants so they can grow. Our bodies use its light to produce Vitamin D. It gives us beautiful sunrises and sunsets. It affects our mood and our sleep. In spite of — or, perhaps, because of — its greatness, if we were to look at the sun more than briefly without protection, our eyes could be permanently damaged. So most of us don’t do it (for very long). In fact, we use sunglasses, umbrellas, hands and hats to protect our eyes.
This serves as a good analogy for the way we should treat sacred things. For example, God has commanded that we do not use his name in vain. We are to keep spiritual experiences in our heart or our journals, sharing them when directed by the Holy Spirit to select audiences.
God ordained physical intimacy to be only between a man and a woman legally and lawfully married. In all these cases, something wonderful and sacred is honored and kept sacred by figuratively clothing it and limiting access to it.
On the other hand, when we lose our awe about something, when we treat it lightly, when we openly share it with the public, throwing pearls before swine, or at least before the masses, we put ourselves in moral danger and risk losing the beauty and blessings that come from association with the sacred.
The same is true with our bodies. The body is beautiful and sacred. We honor and keep our bodies sacred, in part, by properly clothing them. God set this standard on earth thousands of years ago when He had Adam and Eve wear coats of skins. He did this even though they were married and even though, at least for a while, they were the only people on earth.
We thus obey God and show respect for His gift of our bodies by clothing ourselves, and our artwork, as He has commanded. When we dress modestly and when we share what is modest, we are also respecting our brothers and sisters here on earth. Modesty, instead of sexualizing the body or making people seem like objects or possessions, helps keep the focus on our true worth and identity as sons and daughters of God. Likewise, the modification of religious art to protect the sacred allows our attention to more easily rest on the divine rather than the carnal.
So let us be grateful when someone veils the glory of the human body, not because the body is shameful, but because it is majestic and godly. Such divine action could save us from lasting blindness.
Brandan Hadlock
Brandan Hadlock, Hillsdale, Michigan, is a father of six, husband of one and a lover of freedom and truth.