would
BYU not ask you to look at pornography. You can trust BYU, and know that the Board of Trustees, which includes apostles, verifies and approves all course material. The author of the text book for our class was my mentor and one of the finest men of God I have ever met. He is a true disciple of Christ. I think the thing to keep in mind is the artist's intent. These works are not meant to sexually arouse, but to celebrate the beauty of the human body, God's greatest creation. The human body is the most complicated and beautiful system ever created. Artists recognize this, wonder at the magnificence of the body, and do their best to even partially recreate its beauty. It's is one of the aspects of art that marks a great master -- can you even come close to recreating the beauty of the human figure (much more difficult than a landscape). In the case of Michelangelo, he is showing the connection between the human body and Heavenly Father--how much we are like him (or in His image, we say in our church). Therefore, the "privates" on Adam are DE-emphasized. Because they are not the focus, and yet Adam was naked in the Garden, of course. And you notice that this wasn't an issue, until the Adversary tried to create an issue out of it. The body is a magnificent temple, with the tools of procreation the (clearly most divine thing we can ever do on earth). There is no shame in this, but only magnificence. As you can imagine, the Adversary always tried to take truths and what is magnificent about the body (which he can't have) and despoil it. Therefore, we have pornography to taint and mar the truth of the beauty of the human body and the sacredness of procreation. If nudity itself were wrong, babies might be born with little shorts on. We wouldn't come into the world sinning (that wouldn't make sense at all). Nudity becomes "nakedness" when its purpose is to create feelings of lust and carnality, which the Adversary hopes will happen. The Spirit cannot reside in inappropriate places, and I have felt the Spirit so strongly testifying of the truths that this art teaches. I am a person who loves the Lord and knows that this is the restored gospel of Jesus Christ. I would never, never talk about or show things that I believe would not be in accordance with His will and approval. I pray each night that His spirit will be with us in class. I feel that it is. I hope you do too. I hope you will also pray for a confirmation of this. I love talking about the arts because I believe that they are a gift from a loving Father in Heaven who wants us to love beauty, His creations, and this life.