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Of Souls, Symbols, and Sacraments
In this important talk, originally given while he was president of BYU, Elder Jeffrey R. Holland turns his remarkable spiritual and literary talents to the subject of human intimacy. Rather than simply listing the dos and don'ts of personal purity, Elder Holland reviews the doctrinal seriousness of this topic and examines “why we should be clean, and why moral discipline is such a significant matter in God's eyes.” Relying on scripture and statements from the prophets and using thought-provoking insights from poets and philosophers, he explains clearly, and without reserve, why Latter-day Saints cannot adopt the world's views about intimacy.
37 pages, Kindle Edition
First published January 1, 1998
10 people are currently reading
2042 people want to read
About the author
Jeffrey R. Holland
44 books336 followersElder Jeffrey R. Holland was ordained a member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints on 23 June 1994. At the time of this call, Elder Holland was serving as a member of the First Quorum of the Seventy, to which he had been called on 1 April 1989. A native of St. George, Utah, he has spent most of his professional life in Church education. He received his bachelor and master degrees from Brigham Young University and a master degree and Ph.D. from Yale University.
From 1980 until his call as a General Authority in 1989, Elder Holland served as president of Brigham Young University. He is a former Church commissioner of education and dean of the College of Religious Education at BYU.
Elder Holland is the author of several books, one of which he co-authored with his wife, Patricia. They were married in 1963 and are the parents of three children and the grandparents of 12 grandchildren.
From 1980 until his call as a General Authority in 1989, Elder Holland served as president of Brigham Young University. He is a former Church commissioner of education and dean of the College of Religious Education at BYU.
Elder Holland is the author of several books, one of which he co-authored with his wife, Patricia. They were married in 1963 and are the parents of three children and the grandparents of 12 grandchildren.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 102 reviews
August 17, 2017
Just read this in preparation for a YW lesson on chastity. His explanation of "why" is better than any I've ever heard. It's a quick read - only about 40 pages. It's a must read for all.
January 25, 2013
I was motivated to find and re-read this BYU devotional address because of the principles drawn from it by Amy Petersen Jensen and presented in her BYU devotional address on March 20, 2012, which was published in BYU Magazine, Fall, 2012. Jensen stated that "mass communication technologies impact your body -- and therefore your soul" and that "receiving a message through the Spirit is dependent upon my willingness to listen to that message with my whole soul. ... The language of the Spirit is ... a true and native language of the soul. The soul's ability to communicate by that language is not necessaarily hindered by our use of technology. ... Technology enhances our agency." She quotes Elder Holland's advice to "find ways and go to places and create circumstances where we can unite symbolically with [our Heavenly Father] and, in so doing, gain access to His power. Those special moments of union with God are sacramental moments, ... moments when we formally take the hand of God and feel His divine power." Jensen invites us to use media to act on Elder Holland's advice and testifies, "Our texts [texting with her husband] are sacramental to me because they are evidence of a partnership between imperfect people and a perfect Deity who is active in our efforts to improve the daily condition of our souls." Jensen related souls and sacraments further to constructive use of media with examples, questions, encouragement, and suggestions for everyday practice.
Elder Holland's BYU devotional address on January 12, 1988, teaches profoundly of the eternal significance of the whole soul, the essential symbolism of total unity in marriage, and the broad and powerful meaning of sacramental moments -- all as reasons for being morally clean. Both addresses are a loving invitation to choose to practice in our everyday life, even when we use modern media, sacramental moments -- sharing Heavenly Father's work and glory as we progress toward eternal life.
Elder Holland's BYU devotional address on January 12, 1988, teaches profoundly of the eternal significance of the whole soul, the essential symbolism of total unity in marriage, and the broad and powerful meaning of sacramental moments -- all as reasons for being morally clean. Both addresses are a loving invitation to choose to practice in our everyday life, even when we use modern media, sacramental moments -- sharing Heavenly Father's work and glory as we progress toward eternal life.
August 12, 2011
This talk is an excellent one to understand the spiritual purpose of the sacred sexual relationship between a husband and a wife. It's perfect to teach youth about physical intimacy and all other forms of intimacy. I think it's difficult to strike the perfect balance so as to create the appropriate respect for what is healthy and essential in marriage but can be damaging and destructive outside the bonds of marriage. Elder Holland does an excellent job.
July 24, 2016
You don't get much better than this on the sacred act of procreation. Elder Holland does an amazing job of teaching and explaining procreation better than anyone I have read or heard. Everybody should listen or read this talk.
August 23, 2012
First watched this in a combined RS & Priesthood meeting in a BYU YSA ward. Bought the small pamphlet a year or two later. This talk is always great to re-read. Oft quoted and much to think about and apply to one's life.
November 9, 2012
I was a freshman at BYU when I sat in the Marriott Center and listened to "President" Holland give this address. I can still remember how absolutely amazed I was at how beautiful this talk was. It has stayed with me for 25 years and was so happy to see it in print.
June 4, 2016
I really loved listening to this. it is short and concise and he explains things so powerfully and plainly as usual.
January 15, 2018
The most honest, kind, forthright, encouraging, and plain discussion of the purposes and beauty of the human body and our power to create and bring to birth more humans that I've come across.
From the text: "Of all the titles He [God] has chosen for Himself, Father is the one He declares, and creation is His watchword–especially human creation, creation in His image. His glory isn’t a mountain, as stunning as mountains are. It isn’t in sea or sky or snow or sunrise, as beautiful as they all are. It isn’t in art or technology, be that a concerto or computer. No, His glory–and His grief–is in His children. We–you and I–are His prized possessions, and we are the earthly evidence, however inadequate, of what He truly is. Human life is the greatest of God’s powers, the most mysterious and magnificent chemistry of it all, and you and I have been given it, but under the most serious and sacred of restrictions. You and I–who can make neither mountain nor moonlight, not one rain-drop or a single rose–have this greater gift in an absolutely unlimited way. And the only control placed on us is self-control–self-control born of respect for the divine sacramental power it is.
Surely God’s trust in us to respect this future-forming
gift is an awesomely staggering one."
From the text: "Of all the titles He [God] has chosen for Himself, Father is the one He declares, and creation is His watchword–especially human creation, creation in His image. His glory isn’t a mountain, as stunning as mountains are. It isn’t in sea or sky or snow or sunrise, as beautiful as they all are. It isn’t in art or technology, be that a concerto or computer. No, His glory–and His grief–is in His children. We–you and I–are His prized possessions, and we are the earthly evidence, however inadequate, of what He truly is. Human life is the greatest of God’s powers, the most mysterious and magnificent chemistry of it all, and you and I have been given it, but under the most serious and sacred of restrictions. You and I–who can make neither mountain nor moonlight, not one rain-drop or a single rose–have this greater gift in an absolutely unlimited way. And the only control placed on us is self-control–self-control born of respect for the divine sacramental power it is.
Surely God’s trust in us to respect this future-forming
gift is an awesomely staggering one."
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
February 13, 2019
While pondering the significance of the principles/doctrine taught by Jeffrey R. Holland keep in mind that the Lord's marriage is for eternity. For instance, if we are true and faithful to all our Temple covenants we will (through the Atonement of Jesus Christ) be creators and parents for eternity (even if we can not be a parent/spouse in this life)! Eternal life is parenthood.
The ideal principle/doctrine of chastity in the Lord's way is that we should reverence Celestial marriage by waiting for intimacy until after we have been Sealed (if we know what true marriage is under the New and Everlasting Covenant before marriage). -- For how can we give everything if we are only giving our mortality when we know life is everlasting!
The ideal principle/doctrine of chastity in the Lord's way is that we should reverence Celestial marriage by waiting for intimacy until after we have been Sealed (if we know what true marriage is under the New and Everlasting Covenant before marriage). -- For how can we give everything if we are only giving our mortality when we know life is everlasting!
May 15, 2025
At the time I read this, I would give it 5 stars and actually made copies and gave them to family members. But I was also single, on the asexual spectrum, and a virgin.
After over a decade of marriage and sexual issues, I suggest you leave this unread. Burn it instead.
(Dear Family Members, I'm Sorry!)
After over a decade of marriage and sexual issues, I suggest you leave this unread. Burn it instead.
(Dear Family Members, I'm Sorry!)
August 4, 2017
This book is a must read for those going into young men/young women. It gives you the why behind the no to unmarried sex. Even at my age it was a good reminder of how sacred the human body is and why we should treat it as such.
February 19, 2019
This book is a very powerful way to describe the sacredness of sexuality. It’s a fast read and also helps you understand how to teach the sacredness of intimacy between husband and wife. It would be awesome to use some of its teachings for youth.
May 4, 2017
This must have been a talk he gave and then later they published it in a book. It was short but I felt like I learned and got so much out of it!
August 2, 2017
Elder Holland is the man!
August 20, 2017
A great talk on the case for purity and morality. All YM and YW leaders should read and teach it.
January 17, 2018
One of the most doctrinally profound talks I have ever read. Insightful and thought provoking.
December 26, 2018
Beautifully written. I want my children to read this when they are older.
August 19, 2019
Wow. This book is amazing. Its really short but really powerful.
January 19, 2020
Lovely inspiration for Temple marriages.
January 31, 2020
Such a great discussion about the "why" behind being faithful and chaste in this life.
June 30, 2020
I read this for one of my classes this semester. It was amazing!
August 14, 2021
A profound discussion of chastity and everything related to it.
December 4, 2022
I love his approach to this topic, it really is important to our own soul to be chaste
January 24, 2025
Beautiful book and beautiful message.
February 12, 2020
I remember watching this as a fireside in 1989. I was floored!
It is still so so good and still so so relevant!
It is still so so good and still so so relevant!
September 6, 2014
I love this talk by Jeffrey R Holland. It is a BYU devotional that he gave in 1988 where he discusses the importance of human intimacy. My favorite quote from this talk is:
"I have heard all my life that it is the young woman who has to assume the responsibility for controlling the limits of intimacy in courtship because a young man cannot. What an unacceptable response to such a serious issue! What kind of man is he, what priesthood or power or strength or self-control does this man have that lets him develop in society, grow to the age of mature accountability, perhaps even pursue a university education and prepare to affect the future of colleagues and kingdoms and the course of the world, but yet does not have the mental capacity or the moral will to say, "I will not do that thing"? No, this sorry drugstore psychology would have us say, "He just can't help himself. His glands have complete control over his life--his mind, his will, his entire future."
To say that a young woman in such a relationship has to bear her responsibility and that of the young man's too is the least fair assertion I can imagine. In most instances if there is sexual transgression, I lay the burden squarely on the shoulders of the young man--for our purposes probably a priesthood bearer--and that's where I believe God intended responsibility to be. In saying that I do not excuse young women who exercise no restraint and have not the character or conviction to demand intimacy only in its rightful role. I have had enough experience in Church callings to know that women as well as men can be predatory. But I refuse to buy some young man's feigned innocence who wants to sin and call it psychology.
Indeed, most tragically, it is the young woman who is most often the victim, it is the young woman who most often suffers the greater pain, it is the young woman who most often feels used and abused and terribly unclean. And for that imposed uncleanliness a man will pay, as surely as the sun sets and rivers run to the sea."
The only reason I didn't give it 5 stars is because he inaccurately states that each of us has the power to create human life. As a person that has dealt with infertility for over 7 years I know this simply is not true. I know that this talk has nothing to do with this topic and that is most likely why he completely ignores the fact that not everyone has the power to create life. However, it still hurts to have my pain completely disregarded since we all supposedly "carry this procreative power that makes us very much like God in at least one grand and majestic way."
"I have heard all my life that it is the young woman who has to assume the responsibility for controlling the limits of intimacy in courtship because a young man cannot. What an unacceptable response to such a serious issue! What kind of man is he, what priesthood or power or strength or self-control does this man have that lets him develop in society, grow to the age of mature accountability, perhaps even pursue a university education and prepare to affect the future of colleagues and kingdoms and the course of the world, but yet does not have the mental capacity or the moral will to say, "I will not do that thing"? No, this sorry drugstore psychology would have us say, "He just can't help himself. His glands have complete control over his life--his mind, his will, his entire future."
To say that a young woman in such a relationship has to bear her responsibility and that of the young man's too is the least fair assertion I can imagine. In most instances if there is sexual transgression, I lay the burden squarely on the shoulders of the young man--for our purposes probably a priesthood bearer--and that's where I believe God intended responsibility to be. In saying that I do not excuse young women who exercise no restraint and have not the character or conviction to demand intimacy only in its rightful role. I have had enough experience in Church callings to know that women as well as men can be predatory. But I refuse to buy some young man's feigned innocence who wants to sin and call it psychology.
Indeed, most tragically, it is the young woman who is most often the victim, it is the young woman who most often suffers the greater pain, it is the young woman who most often feels used and abused and terribly unclean. And for that imposed uncleanliness a man will pay, as surely as the sun sets and rivers run to the sea."
The only reason I didn't give it 5 stars is because he inaccurately states that each of us has the power to create human life. As a person that has dealt with infertility for over 7 years I know this simply is not true. I know that this talk has nothing to do with this topic and that is most likely why he completely ignores the fact that not everyone has the power to create life. However, it still hurts to have my pain completely disregarded since we all supposedly "carry this procreative power that makes us very much like God in at least one grand and majestic way."
July 5, 2012
It's hard to even call this a book. It is more of a sermon. I downloaded it on my kindle and read it in a half hour.
It is very powerful, nonetheless. It is a sermon on the whys of the sanctity of sexual union.
It focuses in three areas.
1. The affect on our souls
2. The symbolism in the union between husband and wife.
3. The sacrament, or communion with God that exists within the union.
I won't say much more than that, other than to share a few of Elder Holland's words.
"We Latter-day Saints do not regard the body as something to be condemned, something to be abhorred. . . . We regard [the body] as the sign of our royal birthright."
"You must wait until you can give everything, and you cannot give everything until you are at least legally and, for Latter-day Saint purposes, eternally pronounced as one."
"You may come to that moment of real love, of total union, only to discover to your horror that what you should have saved has been spent and that only God’s grace can recover that piecemeal dissipation of your virtue."
I have heard all my life that it is the young woman who has to assume the responsibility for controlling the limits of intimacy in courtship because a young man cannot. Seldom have I heard any point made about this subject that makes me more disappointed than that."
To say that a young woman in such a relationship has to bear her responsibility and that of the young man too is one of the most inappropriate suggestions I can imagine. In most instances if there is sexual transgression, I lay the burden squarely on the shoulders of the young man"
"Sexual union is . . . a sacrament of the highest order, a union not only of a man and a woman but very much the union of that man and that woman with God."
It is very powerful, nonetheless. It is a sermon on the whys of the sanctity of sexual union.
It focuses in three areas.
1. The affect on our souls
2. The symbolism in the union between husband and wife.
3. The sacrament, or communion with God that exists within the union.
I won't say much more than that, other than to share a few of Elder Holland's words.
"We Latter-day Saints do not regard the body as something to be condemned, something to be abhorred. . . . We regard [the body] as the sign of our royal birthright."
"You must wait until you can give everything, and you cannot give everything until you are at least legally and, for Latter-day Saint purposes, eternally pronounced as one."
"You may come to that moment of real love, of total union, only to discover to your horror that what you should have saved has been spent and that only God’s grace can recover that piecemeal dissipation of your virtue."
I have heard all my life that it is the young woman who has to assume the responsibility for controlling the limits of intimacy in courtship because a young man cannot. Seldom have I heard any point made about this subject that makes me more disappointed than that."
To say that a young woman in such a relationship has to bear her responsibility and that of the young man too is one of the most inappropriate suggestions I can imagine. In most instances if there is sexual transgression, I lay the burden squarely on the shoulders of the young man"
"Sexual union is . . . a sacrament of the highest order, a union not only of a man and a woman but very much the union of that man and that woman with God."
February 16, 2017
This was a BYU devotional talk. It's short, straight to the point, and powerful.
January 28, 2024
5 stars because of the valuable information.
It is a very short book, more like an essay, but this is probably one of the best explanations for chastity and why being chaste is sacred and so important. This is a book that I will read several more times, so I can be able to remember as much so I can explain to my children why it is so very important. Elder Holland really showed how and why in a more true and sacred light. Nothing basic and easy to twist lines of dont ruin yourself, save for your future spouse, and so on... not that those aren't reason, but Elder Holland explains it is a deeper way where it answers the follow up questions of why. A must read for members, especially youth or parents of youth.
It is a very short book, more like an essay, but this is probably one of the best explanations for chastity and why being chaste is sacred and so important. This is a book that I will read several more times, so I can be able to remember as much so I can explain to my children why it is so very important. Elder Holland really showed how and why in a more true and sacred light. Nothing basic and easy to twist lines of dont ruin yourself, save for your future spouse, and so on... not that those aren't reason, but Elder Holland explains it is a deeper way where it answers the follow up questions of why. A must read for members, especially youth or parents of youth.
February 27, 2008
Why we must NOT adopt the world's views about intimacy. Jeffrey R. Holland is a master, and none more than here at explaining why it is wrong to be immorally clean, why fornication/adultery is the sin next to murder, why we hurt ourselves more than anyone by adopting the world's perspective on sex, casual sex, and sex outside of the bonds of marriage.
Love it when I have to go way deep inside to grasp a person smarter than I and how they concluded what they concluded.
Love it when I have to go way deep inside to grasp a person smarter than I and how they concluded what they concluded.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 102 reviews