I have been watching "The Wonder Years" on Netflix. Good old childhood memories... (And the soundtrack for the show? Awesome!) But tonight's episode sparked some thoughts.
I just watched the episode where, after a year away at college, Karen Arnold announces that she wants to move into a house with a roommate instead of living in the dorms. She admits the house needs work, so Jack (the father), Norma (the mother), and Kevin (the main character and youngest brother, who tells all of the stories from his point of view) drive out to help with the house. They discover that her roommate is a young man. Kevin is surprised when his father doesn't immediately explode in anger, but rather announces that he is going to take a walk. When he finally returns from his walk, he explains that he wondered the whole time if maybe he was wrong. But no matter how long and hard he tried, he could not talk himself out of his values and his standards and expectations for his daughter. Her argument, of course, uses Bob Dylan's words: "The times, they are a changin'." (My link is to Peter, Paul, and Mary, which is also what is played on the show.)
In relation to a quote I took yesterday from a friend's profile, I could not help thinking that this is not by any means a new argument. As Marion G. Romney said (in Look to God and Live, 8), "You see, we are not very modern today when we deny God. Adam's first children did that." The same applies to morality. I suspect that young people have been arguing for centuries, even millennia, that times were changing and standards of morality should also change. In all likelihood, even this dates back to Adam's children. It's not so original, is it?
But what has stood the test of time again and again? Judeo-Christian values. "Therefore shall a man leave his father and his mother, and shall cleave unto his wife: and they shall be one flesh" (Old Testament, Genesis 2:24). "Thou shalt not commit adultery" (Old Testament, Exodus 20:14). Leviticus outlines in great detail what is considered sin and the Old Testament punishments associated with sexual sins.
Somehow, the standards, the values, have remained constant. Every generation tries again to argue that their way is new and better. It is neither new nor better. The standards of morality are constant, they are still standards, because they are the Lord's standards. If God is unchanging, His laws are also unchanging. The punishments are also unchanging. It is true that most cultures no longer require the life of someone who has been involved in an extramarital relationship. But is the idea gone? Hardly. I'm sure most people still understand the term "shotgun wedding."
I know this can be a touchy subject, and I am not in a position of authority. A couple of things just hit home in watching this episode: first, every generation has tried this same argument, and second, the Lord's laws and commandments have not and will not change.
That said, I love the words of one in authority, Elder David A. Bednar, who gave a beautiful talk in April General Conference: We Believe in Being Chaste. He says it much better than I can, concluding with the following words: "The doctrine I have described will seem to be archaic and outdated to many people in a world that increasingly mocks the sanctity of procreation and minimizes the worth of human life. But the Lord’s truth is not altered by fads, popularity, or public opinion polls. I promise that obedience to the law of chastity will increase our happiness in mortality and make possible our progress in eternity. Chastity and virtue are now, always have been, and always will be 'most dear and precious above all things' (Moroni 9:9). I so testify in the sacred name of the Lord Jesus Christ, amen."
Jack Arnold (back to "Wonder Years") could not turn from what he knew was right. He did not disagree with his daughter out of anger or frustration, but because he loved her and wanted the best for her. Isn't that what every good parent wants? Some things don't change and never will. For this I am grateful. There is peace in knowing that no matter what the world does, the Lord's truth does not change.
