How does going “no more after the lusts of your eyes” apply to us? In today’s world with advanced technology, there are many ways Satan offers such temptations. Many prophets in recent years have warned us about the dangers of pornography in its many forms.
Elder Dallin H. Oaks of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles explained the dangers of allowing evil into our minds: “Our Savior emphasized the importance of sexual purity when he taught that it was sinful for a man to even look upon a woman to lust after her [see Matthew 5:28]. … We are surrounded by the promotional literature of illicit sexual relations, on the printed page and on the screen. For your own good, avoid it. Pornographic or erotic stories and pictures are worse than filthy or polluted food. The body has defenses to rid itself of unwholesome food. With a few fatal exceptions bad food will only make you sick but do no permanent harm. In contrast, a person who feasts upon filthy stories or pornographic or erotic pictures and literature records them in this marvelous retrieval system we call a brain. The brain won’t vomit back filth. Once recorded, it will always remain subject to recall, flashing its perverted images across your mind and drawing you away from the wholesome things in life” (“Things They’re Saying,” New Era, Feb. 1974, 18).
President Ezra Taft Benson described several ways Satan tries to get pornography into our minds:
“Consider carefully the words of the prophet Alma to his errant son, Corianton, ‘Forsake your sins, and go no more after the lusts of your eyes’ (Alma 39:9).
“‘The lusts of your eyes.’ In our day, what does that expression mean?
“Movies, television programs, and video recordings that are both suggestive and lewd.
“Magazines and books that are obscene and pornographic.
“We counsel you, young men, not to pollute your minds with such degrading matter, for the mind through which this filth passes is never the same afterwards. Don’t see R-rated movies or vulgar videos or participate in any entertainment that is immoral, suggestive, or pornographic. Don’t listen to music that is degrading” (in Conference Report, Apr. 1986, 58; or Ensign, May 1986, 45).
President Gordon B. Hinckley (1910–2008) added his testimony to the evils of pornography:
“Pornography is printed and pictorial material designed to excite us and attract us into areas that will only bring regret. It is enticing in its appeal. It plays on the instincts that lie within all of us, God-given instincts placed within us for his great purposes. Pornography is a tool of the devil to twist those instincts to forbidden ends. It most often involves beautiful young women and handsome young men. The purpose of its creation is to put dollars in the pockets of its creators. The result of its use is to warp the minds and excite the passions of those who fall into its trap. It brings billions to its creators. It leads to heartache and pain and regret for those who indulge in it.
“It is found in magazines that can be bought at most newsstands, in theaters showing R- and X-rated movies, and on our television screens in our homes” (Teachings of Gordon B. Hinckley [1997], 460).
The phrase “cross yourself,” as used in Alma 39:9, is not familiar to us today. However, in Webster’s 1828 dictionary, we find the following helpful definitions that relate to Alma’s counsel to his son: “To erase, to cancel, to counteract, to stop, to preclude” (Noah Webster’s First Edition of an American Dictionary of the English Language, 1828 [1967]). All of these actions apply well to what one must do to avoid moral transgression, the topic Alma was teaching his son Corianton. Refer also to the footnote for Alma 39:9b, which refers to self-mastery in the Topical Guide (page 461)).