True Beauty (A Paper)

Beauty

Noun

1. a combination of qualities, such as shape, color, or form, that pleases the aesthetic senses, especially the sight.

"I was struck by her beauty"

    2. a combination of qualities that pleases the intellect or moral sense.

          

Beautiful

Adjective

beautiful (comparative more beautiful, superlative most beautiful)

1. Attractive and possessing charm.  [quotations ▼]
2. Anyone who has ever met her thought she was absolutely beautiful.
3. There's a beautiful lake by the town.
4. (of the weather) Pleasant; clear.
5. It's beautiful outside, let's go for a walk.
6. Well executed.
7. The skater performed a beautiful axel.

I agree the fullest to the definition of beauty mixed with beautiful. A combination of qualities that pleases the senses that is attractive and pleasant.

The word beauty or beautiful was originally used in Middle English in the 1400s. There are earlier time it was used in the scriptures, Bible and Book of Mormon alike, each of which denotes the definition of lovely to see and having a purpose behind it.

“How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of him that bringeth good tidings, that publisheth peace; that bringeth good tidings of good, that publisheth salvation; that saith unto Zion, Thy God reigneth!” Isaiah 52:7

Beauty from preaching the gospel.

“30 And now it came to pass that all this was done in Mormon, yea, by the waters of Mormon, in the forest that was near the waters of Mormon; yea, the place of Mormon, the waters of Mormon, the forest of Mormon, how beautiful are they to the eyes of them who there came to the knowledge of their Redeemer; yea, and how blessed are they, for they shall sing to his praise forever.”  Mosiah 18:30

The beautiful scenery and the place where the baptism of thousands occurred.

“VIRTUE is like a rich stone, best plain set; and surely virtue is best, in a body that is comely, though not of delicate features; and that hath rather dignity of presence, than beauty of aspect.”(The Essays, By: Sir Francis Bacon)

Beauty today and over the last hundred years has become twisted, mutilated from the original meaning. Today people equate beauty with sexy. Being beautiful means to be “sexy.” These two things have very very small similarities but they are NOT at all the same.

Sexy

Adjective

1905, from sex (n.) + -y (2). Originally "engrossed in sex;" sense of "sexually attractive" is 1923, first in reference to Valentino. An earlier word in this sense was sexful(1898). Related: Sexier; sexiest.

adjective, sexier, sexiest.

1. concerned predominantly or excessively with sex; risqué:

a sexy novel.

2. sexually interesting or exciting; radiating sexuality:

One of Satan’s nicknames in the scriptures is the father of all lies. He will have men “call evil good, and good evil, that put darkness for light, and light for darkness, that put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter!” If we mix up the truth or make it seem like truth, then men and women will believe it. Especially if it feels good, even if it’s momentarily.  So if we begin to believe sexy and beautiful are close to the same thing, then we lose sight of what is actually good.

There is a long running issue with women in this generation regarding how they want to be perceived. You want to be cared for. You want to be respected. You want attention. You want to be thought “sexy.” You want to be called “beautiful.” You want to be loved. In reality you’ve been trained to misunderstand all of that. You’ve been watching T.V. for years, magazines before that, movies, music, music videos, and swear it doesn’t affect you. But then when you’re a little girl and you have a nice dress on what do we say? “Awww, you look so pretty!” As a teen “Awww, you look so beautiful!” As a young adult “Awww, you look so sexy!” Perhaps you’ve been compared to a celebrity. The idea of outward appearance is the inner sense of beauty and sexy. What you look like is more important than what you are, WHO you are. You have seen people called sexy, maybe even your man has come in contact or been into porn. That idea is sexy. No we believe sexy is important. Sexy gives “value.” Sexy makes us feel right because we have been told.

Pornorgraphy is a multi billion dollar industry. Yes, billion! Now, this might be personal opinion, but I think the devil’s whole goal for the world, as far as porn is concerned, is not for everyone to become addicts. His main goal is to desensitize. Desensitize the good. When a God fearing man is strong, faithful, and true to what he believes in there is not much that will shake him. This man has a testimony of the gospel of Jesus Christ. This man loves his family and his wife more than anything in the world. A family member passes away and he knows that family member has “returned back to that Father who gave him life.” Their house burns down and he says “Lord, thy will be done,” and buys a new condo where his family begins their new life in a new place. These big trials are not that big to him because he has peace in the Lord and know they are just that, trials. Now imagine this same man is at home in his office on the computer and there is a little pop up add about the newest Jennifer Lopez song. He always liked J Lo so he types it in on Google and the video pops up on Vevo. The song is all about her butt, literally called Booty, and it shows her singing, dancing suggestively, and not wearing much. He feels like this could be wrong to watch because it’s not his wife, but hey it’s “just” a video right? Wrong. It is a small step. One little slip. Not huge but he has a little seed planted that accepts music videos. He begins to watch more of JLo, then he thinks of another pop star he always thought looked good. Then another. Then his curiosity peaks and he wonders if he can see more of them, meaning more of their bodies. They show that much in a music video maybe they show even more on other sites? Now the little slip is turning into a habit. He likes the feelings and begins pleasing himself. Now the pictures and music videos aren’t enough, he seeks out the real thing. 3 hours later he is still in his office, feeling ashamed of himself. He doesn’t tell his wife, he wants to talk to her but he can’t, so he continues to indulge to numb his sadness, his self isolation. He has a choice, but slowly and surely he is giving away that choice because this is becoming an addiction. A way to numb the pain. But it never satisfies. This is a scary but real example of something that happens daily in our world. This could be a husband, more than likely it could be a young man no more than 10 years old. It’s scary to think but it all started with those little thoughts. That ONE song. That ONE video. That ONE rated R movie. It could only take one to become desensitized and numb.

The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing.

He who passively accepts evil is as much involved in it as he who helps to perpetrate it. He who accepts evil without protesting against it is really cooperating with it.

History will have to record that the greatest tragedy of this period of social transition was not the strident clamor of the bad people, but the appalling silence of the good people.

Every man must decide whether he will walk in the light of creative altruism or in the darkness of destructive selfishness.

~ Martin Luther King Jr.

Porn would have men do nothing. And doing nothing allows evil to win. It’s much more simple than making men do bad. It’s having them think they are doing good while they are in fact doing bad. Having a warped perception you drag others down with you. This idea of perception regarding women was discussed earlier but will continue further. The devil has many goals for women but a major one would be to insure that they have a misplaced identity. Or to have them lack identity. Many parents (maybe mostly Christian while some with moral values otherwise might also) would say before a teenager left the house “Remember who you are son/daughter.” This is one of the key elements of perception and self appraisal, knowing who you are. What helps us know who we are? Some of them may depend on what follows:

• Parents: How many? Ethnicity? Style? Discipline? Work?
• Culture: Home life? Ethnic beliefs? Communication skills? Atittude?
• Belief: Religion? Strengths? Activity?
• Success/Failure: How it is handled? Compassion? Anger? Teachings?
• Happiness: How is it determined?

I have never been a woman nor ever will be but I have had plenty of interview time one-on-one with them and these factors always affect the future feelings in relationships and especially their perspective. You only know what you know, right? If a girl only knows from her relationships with guys in the past who love them because they have an amazing body, then they feel great knowing guys “love” their body. The idea of beautiful begins to merge with sexy. She then learns that the man she was with indulges in pornography often. She equates the look to feel that love. But now she is constantly comparing herself. Comparison is good when you are looking at camping gear or buying a car, but it is deadly when you begin comparing people.

Porn is disgusting, it is filth. It’s purpose is to destroy the family, the most important building block on this earth. Guys watch it, some women too. Women want to be like it because they believe it gives them value, and some men are looking for what they think is the “perfect” sexy. They believe it will help their man “love” them more. This couldn’t be further than the truth.

In the beginning God created everything, and then stated “and it was good.” I believe this is the original statement of beauty. I’m sure it looked good from the cosmos, gorgeous from what He created, everything in it’s rightful place, but He said good. It looked fantastic and was good for it’s purpose, it had purpose to house the human family and let us have life, grow, progress, become like the creator who is good.

“there is none good but one, that is, God.”

Good is having purpose

I believe the best version of beauty can be used when describing one of the most well known women in the world. And it’s not Beyonce.

“ 13 And it came to pass that I looked and beheld the great city of Jerusalem, and also other cities. And I beheld the city of Nazareth; and in the city of Nazareth I beheld a virgin, and she was exceedingly fair and white.

14 And it came to pass that I saw the heavens open; and an angel came down and stood before me; and he said unto me: Nephi, what beholdest thou?

15 And I said unto him: A virgin, most beautiful and fair above all other virgins.”  1 Nephi 11:15

The virgin Mary was considered most beautiful and fair. In that language fair meant pleasing to the eye, so why would they say beautiful as well? Perhaps because it means the same as we have been discussing. This woman was a chosen vessel because of her unwavering faith and virtue. She was prepared and willing to do what the Lord asked of her. May we all have the faith and willingness to obey what they Lord requires of us as Mary did. May we be beautiful in the eyes of the Lord. May we know that love for Heavenly Father and His love for us.

Love is what we all seek, we desire it more than anything, try to find it in anyway possible. They say the necessities of life are food, shelter, water, and air. The necessities for good life are those and added the original and most important: Love. When all you know is that fleeting feeling of sexual desire, the adrenaline of that drug taken, the fun one might think they have with their friends, the kings, world leaders, CEOs, any search for power or connection is based on the original need. Love.

“7Beloved, let us love one another: for love is of God; and every one that loveth is born of God, and knoweth God. 8He that loveth not knoweth not God; for God is love. 9In this was manifested the love of God toward us, because that God sent his only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through him. 10Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us, and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins.11Beloved, if God so loved us, we ought also to love one another. 12No man hath seen God at any time. If we love one another, God dwelleth in us, and his love is perfected in us. 13Hereby know we that we dwell in him, and he in us, because he hath given us of his Spirit. 14And we have seen and do testify that the Father sent the Son to be the Saviour of the world.” 1 John 4:7-14

God is love. Love is from where we came and we seek it more than anything. Searching for it from earthly sources only brings momentary pleasure, then it usually ends in sorrow. The love of our Heavenly Father is beautiful. It gives us purpose. It gives us the strength to move forward. It makes us feel worthwhile. It reminds us of who we are. He will hold us when no one else will. He will show us how beautiful we are because we are His children.

I know that God is our Heavenly Father. I know His love because I have been comforted by it. I know that living by His word will bring us the happiness we seek . I know that He has created us all beautifully and that we have a mission to fulfill on His behalf, because He always keeps His promises. I know He loves us and knows us each, personally.

“Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you:”

In the name of Jesus Christ, amen.