The standards that are given to us by our church authorities are for our protection. Some don’t realize this and reject them. Instead of becoming more free they wind up getting caught in their tangled web they set up for themselves.

On my last blog I mentioned my friend at Summit, the one who was offered a hundred dollars in cold hard cash if she would only say a cuss word. Mormons consider every action to be observed by God, including how we speak. In order for our thoughts to be clean, so do our words and actions. We are generally respected because our language is always clean wherever we are. Many adults have praised my Mormon friends or me because our language is never dirty or degrading.

We are very adamant about no sex or anything close to sex before marriage. Period. Sex is a gift from God and should be reserved for marriage, but people abuse it more and more every day.

My freshman year at Legacy I got asked out several times, each time saying no because I couldn’t date until I was 16. No, not by my parents rules, by mine. Even when we do turn 16 we normally date in groups, trying not to get too intimate with another person until college when we are being prepared for marriage.

Mormons are strange people. We find that the more we cover up, the more appealing we are to the opposite gender. We believe our bodies are another precious gift from God, and we need to keep it to ourselves before marriage. Cleavage, strapless/spaghetti strap clothes, short skirts, shorts, shirts, as well as tight clothing are not viewed as “better looking” for us. I can add a tank top to almost any outfit and make it modest. And as we say, “Modest are the Hottest!”

Modern day “entertainment” is limited. No rated R movies. Doesn’t matter if there’s just “one scene” in it, which includes sex scenes, gore, or inappropriate language or behavior. Even most PG-13 movies I don’t watch because ten years ago they would have been rated R, because the scenes or language. Music needs to be as clean as possible, even if it does have a good beat to hide the nastily provocative message the artist is saying. Dancing should be like our language, clean and nothing to be ashamed of. Our church dances have many chaperones that don’t do anything because all of us know what appropriate behavior is on and off the dance floor.

Find good friends that will lift you up instead of pull you down, we all say. Don’t compromise your standards to try and fit in. Family is the most important, because a good family connection, or a bad one, can last all eternity. I’d rather have a good one if you ask me.

Mormon’s have something called the Word of Wisdom, which is further than staying “drug free.” We try not to take any substance into our bodies that could be addictive and could eventually do us harm, including coffee and tea. I don’t even drink sodas because of the caffeine. In fact, I’ve stopped drinking sodas all together because of how much they are ruining my body. We also factor in general health, sleeping as much as we need to but not more, eating healthy and taking care of our body as a whole.

Keep in mind that these are the general standards for the youth in the Latter-Day Saint (Mormon) World. Just because I try my best to live true to these doesn’t mean everyone does. Don’t judge the Mormon community and standards as a whole based on one person’s actions.