Applying the scriptures: Addictions, bad habits can 'bind like chains'
E-mail story
It's easy. Send a link to the story you were just reading to a friend. Just fill out the form on this page and we'll send it along.
Your name and e-mail address are transmitted to the recipient. Otherwise, it is considered private information; see Privacy policy.
At the October 1986 general conference, Elder Marvin J. Ashton of the Quorum of the Twelve spoke of bad habits that "bind like chains."
He mentioned a man who refused to even try to quit drinking alcoholic beverages and remained bound by the chains of alcoholism. He spoke of a woman who broke the habit of smoking and became free of tobacco addiction.
Elder Ashton said, "As I have been rereading the Book of Mormon . . . I have been even more impressed with the counsel father Lehi gave his family shortly before his death. He pleads with his sons with these words:
" 'Awake, my sons; put on the armor of righteousness. Shake off the chains with which ye are bound, and come forth out of obscurity, and arise from the dust.' (2 Ne. 1:38.)
"Those words apply to us today. Who among us hasn't felt the chains of bad habits? These habits may have impeded our progress, may have made us forget who we are, may have destroyed our self-image, may have put our family life in jeopardy, and may have hindered our ability to serve our fellowmen and our God. So many of us tend to say, 'This is the way I am. I can't change. I can't throw off the chains of habit.'
"Lehi warned his sons to 'shake off the chains' because he knew that chains restrict our mobility, growth and happiness. They cause us to become confused and less able to be guided by God's Spirit."
