> Human Sexuality Lesson #1 (ie., Re: Intimacy with your spouse)

"I've been married to my wife for 44 years, and never once have seen her body uncovered."

Question #1 Begging to be asked...

Elder Petersen: Which adoption agency did you use to create your family?

> Human Sexuality Lesson #2 (ie., Re: Masturbation)

- Pray daily, ask for the gifts of the Spirit, that which will strengthen you against temptation. Pray fervently and out lout when the temptations are the strongest.

- Follow a program of vigorous daily exercise. The exercises reduce emotional tension and depression and are absolutely basic to the solution of this problem. Double your physical activity when you feel stress increasing.

- When the temptation to masturbate is strong, yell STOP to those thoughts as loudly as you can in your mind and then recite a pre-chosen Scripture or sing an inspirational hymn. It is important to turn your thoughts away from the selfish need to indulge.

- If the temptation seems overpowering while you are in bed, get out of bed and go into the kitchen and fix yourself a snack, even if it is in the middle of the night, and even if you are not hungry, and despite your fears of gaining weight. The purpose behind this suggestion is that you get your mind on something else. You are the subject of your thoughts, so to speak.

- Set goals of abstinence, begin with a day, then a week, month, year and finally commit to never doing it again. Until you commit yourself to _never again_ you will always be open to temptation.

- Change in behavior and attitude is most easily achieved through a changed self-image. Spend time every day imagining yourself strong and in control, easily overcoming tempting situations.

- Begin to work daily on a self-improvement program. Relate this plan to improving your Church service, to improving your relationships with your family, God and others. Strive to enhance your strengths and talents.

- Be outgoing and friendly. Force yourself to be with others and learn to enjoy working and talking to them. Use principles of developing friendships found in books such as How to Win Friends and Influence People by Dale Carnegie.

- Be aware of situations that depress you or that cause you to feel lonely, bored, frustrated or discouraged. These emotional states can trigger the desire to masturbate as a way of escape. Plan in advance to counter these low periods through various activities, such as reading a book, visiting a friend, doing something athletic, etc.

- Make a pocket calendar for a month on a small card. Carry it with you, but show it to no one. If you have a lapse of self control, color the day black. Your goal will be to have no black days. The calendar becomes a strong visual reminder of self control and should be looked at when you are tempted to add another black day. Keep your calendar up until you have at least three clear months.

- A careful study will indicate you have had the problem at certain times and under certain conditions. Try and recall, in detail, what your particular times and conditions were. Now that you understand how it happens, plan to break the pattern through counter activities.

- In the field of psychotherapy there is a very effective technique called aversion therapy. When we associate or think of something very distasteful with something which has been pleasurable, but undesirable, the distasteful thought and feeling will begin to cancel out that which was pleasurable. If you associate something very distasteful with your loss of self-control it will help you to stop the act. For example, if you are tempted to masturbate, think of having to bathe in a tub of worms, and eating several of them as you do the act.

- When you bathe, do not admire yourself in a mirror. Never stay in the bath more than five or six minutes, just long enough to bathe and dry and dress and then get out of the bathroom into a room where you will have some member of your family present. During your toileting and shower activities leave the bathroom door or shower curtain partly open, to discourage being alone in total privacy. Take cool brief showers.

- Arise immediately in the mornings. Do not lie in bed awake, no matter what time of day it is. Get up and do something. Start each day with an enthusiastic activity.Keep your bladder empty. Refrain from drinking large amounts of fluids before retiring. Reduce the amount of spices and condiments in your food. Eat as lightly as possible at night. Wear pajamas that are difficult to open, yet loose and not binding. Avoid people, situations, pictures or reading materials that might create sexual excitement. It is sometimes helpful to have a physical object to use in overcoming this problem. A Book of Mormon, firmly held in hand, even in bed at night has proven helpful in extreme cases. In very severe cases it may be necessary to tie a hand to the bed frame with a tie in order that the habit of masturbating in a semi-sleep condition can be broken. This can also be accomplished by wearing several layers of clothing which would be difficult to remove while half asleep.

- Set up a reward system for your successes. It does not have to be a big reward. A quarter in a receptacle each time you overcome or reach a goal. Spend it on something which delights you and will be a continuing reminder of your progress.

- Do not let yourself return to any past habit or attitude patterns which were part of your problem. Satan never gives up. Be calmly and confidently on guard. Keep a positive mental attitude. You can win this fight! The joy and strength you will feel when you do will give your whole life a radiant and spiritual glow of satisfaction and fulfillment.

Question #2 Begging to be asked...

Elder Petersen: As a teenager, what were YOUR favorite "middle of the night snacks" and also, how did YOU hide the rope burns on your wrists when you wore short-sleeved shirts?

Enquiring minds wanna know!!!

Or so it seems to me...

I have no qualms in offering up my ludicrous opinion that Mark is telling the truth about never having seen his wife's nakedly nude body. So how did he have kids, you ask?

My guess is that he was Gay and that he kept the lights down low and without any available visual cues, was able to daydream himself into believing he was with Rock Hudson. Or some such figure he found desireable.



As for the masturbation issue, that's like telling yourself that if you never use any kind of seasoning on any of your food, you'll live a cleaner, fuller, more sanctified life.

I gave each of my sons the same middle name, Randy...

"- If the temptation seems overpowering while you are in bed, get out of bed and go into the kitchen and fix yourself a snack, even if it is in the middle of the night, and even if you are not hungry, and despite your fears of gaining weight. The purpose behind this suggestion is that you get your mind on something else. You are the subject of your thoughts, so to speak."

Now we know why Utah is bursting at the seams.

One more thing . . . This sounds like Peterson's confessional. As they say, write from experience.

He surely sounds familiar with masturbation in all its complexity.

Yes, how does he know all this works? What made him an expert? Lots of practice.

I'm a female, and, I suppose, the urges are less strong in women. I read these suggestions, thinking of how this could make me stop eating sweets. Stopping eating altogether would be more of a parallel, if sex is an inborn life force, similar to eating. These pointers are bogus. They would not work!

Yelling?

Having someone in the room with you when you get out of the bath or shower? That sounds like one of those BYU ploys, to get a girl into your bathroom.

Not look at your own body in the mirror? I suspect Petersen was turned on by himself. I wonder at his never seeing his wife naked--has he seen other women naked--was he never curious?

The bottom line is, why is this the cult's business? Also, regarding the other thread on oral--who cares? Do these kinds of habits have anything to do with what kind of parent you are, how good you are in your career, if you are a fun friend to golf with? Sex is such a small facet of all that you are--why do the Mormons make it so very important? Is this the legacy of the polygamous horndog, JS? Sex and underwear. Normal people don't dwell on these things a whole lot--and it's downright rude to think of someone else's sex habits and underwear. The worthiness interviews with kids are just sick....

"Keep your bladder empty. Refrain from drinking large amounts of fluids"

wow! this is really strict! He should have added "never ride in a car but always walk everywhere you have to go especially if you have to go to the bathroom."

Imagine what life would be like if all guys gave up cars...

But as for looking at his naked wife. I think he's onto something there. Certain body parts in both sexes are grotesque. They aren't created to be attractive. Men and women look much better in swimming suites if it's for admiring form. And a Man should never ever ever ever wear a thong in public.

> Certain body parts in
> both sexes are grotesque.
> They aren't created to be
> attractive.

So you are critiquing the work of the Great Creator?!

JFC!

Haha. Good one!

I have read this drivel from Mark E. many times over the year and always had to laugh--you can't make this stuff up . But this time with your interview questions added, the laughter is even louder--enough to stop someone from getting in the temple.

My parents named my youngest brother after Peterson, so impressed were they.