top of page

Intimacy

Possibly the clearest and most straightforward  LDS talk on Intimacy is Elder Holland's talk entitled Souls Symbols Sacraments.

Include below are some excerpts from each of his 3 main sections: Soul, Symbols and Sacraments.

The Doctrine of The Soul

So partly in answer to why such seriousness, we answer that one toying with the God-given—and satanically coveted—body of another, toys with the very soul of that individual, toys with the central purpose and product of life, “the very key” to life, as Elder Boyd K. Packer once called it. In trivializing the soul of another (please include the word body there), we trivialize the Atonement that saved that soul and guaranteed its continued existence. And when one toys with the Son of Righteousness, the Day Star himself, one toys with white heat and a flame hotter and holier than the noonday sun. You cannot do so and not be burned. You cannot with impunity ­“crucify Christ afresh” (see Hebrews 6:6). Exploitation of the body (please include the word soul there) is, in the last analysis, an exploitation of him who is the Light and the Life of the world.

Study Questions:

  1. To toy with something means to act or deal with something lightly or without vigor or purpose. Does posthectomy (modern circumcision) have enough seriousness, vigor or purpose to not be considered toying?

  2. We might clean an infant's genitals when changing his diaper. We wouldn't consider that toying because it has clear straightforward purpose. Does circumcision have a similar clear and straightforward purpose?

  3. Foreskins are often sold and used in high end cosmetics or for burn victims. Should we ban the sale of infant body parts? When is it justifiable or reasonable to sell bodies or body parts?

 
A Symbol of Total Union

As delicate as it is to mention in such a ­setting, I nevertheless trust your maturity to understand that physiologically we are created as men and women to fit together in such a union. In this ultimate physical expression of one man and one woman they are as nearly and as literally “one” as two separate physical bodies can ever be. It is in that act of ultimate physical intimacy we most nearly fulfill the commandment of the Lord given to Adam and Eve, living symbols for all married couples, when he invited them to cleave unto one another only, and thus become “one flesh” (Genesis 2:24).

Posthectomised men (circumcised men) often thrust more during sexual union to get adequate stimulation. Intact men make shallower gliding strokes where they can embrace their wives better. Posthectomy (circumcision) effects the mechanics of intimacy. Bluntly, without the foreskin functioning as natural lubrication, sex is rougher, and spouses are physically distanced more. Might God have intended the sexual union to have had this gentler symbolic significance? Can we adequately fulfill the command to cleave to our spouses if cleaving is harder with circumcision?

 

To learn more about this read about the lost functions of the foreskin (external link with explicit line drawings).

A Holy Sacrament

In this ... sense, human intimacy is a sacrament, a very special kind of symbol. For our purpose here today, a sacrament could be any one of a number of gestures or acts or ordinances that unite us with God and his limitless powers. We are imperfect and mortal; he is ­perfect and immortal. But from time to time—indeed, as often as is possible and ­appropriate—we find ways and go to places and create circumstances where we can unite symbolically with him, and in so doing gain access to his power. Those special moments of union with God are sacramental moments—such as kneeling at a marriage altar, or blessing a newborn baby, or partaking of the emblems of the Lord’s supper. This latter ordinance is the one we in the Church have come to associate most traditionally with the word sacrament, though it is technically only one of many such moments when we formally take the hand of God and feel his divine power.

...

Now, once again, I know of no one who would, for example, rush into the middle of a sacramental service, grab the linen from the tables, throw the bread the full length of the room, tip the water trays onto the floor, and laughingly retreat from the building to await an opportunity to do the same thing at another worship service the next Sunday. No one within the sound of my voice would do that during one of the truly sacred moments of our religious worship. Nor would anyone here ­violate any of the other sacramental moments in our lives, those times when we consciously claim God’s power and by invitation stand with him in privilege and principality.

Study Questions​

  1. Imagine deciding to recite a Jewish Kaddish every time before blessing and partaking of the sacrament. Would such a recitation affect the sanctity of the sacrament?

  2. Biblical circumcision was instituted by God. Posthectomy or modern circumcision is instituted and continued by doctors. Does posthectomy (modern circumcision) help "create circumstances where we can [better] unite symbolically" with God?

  3. Does posthectomy (modern circumcision) add or detract from the sacred sacrament of marital intimacy?

  4. Might Satan be using posthectomy (modern circumcision) as a three pronged attack to damage the soul, symbol, and sacrament of marriages and intimacy?

Latter-day Saints and Circumcision

bottom of page