Concerning a Man’s Right to Live His Life as He Chooses – Sunday, November 01, 1942
There has come within the observation of all of us the type of person who loudly proclaims his right to live his life as he chooses, regardless of what anyone else thinks about it. His contention is that his life is his own, and what he does with it is none of anyone else’s business.
Usually he recognizes, in part at least, the restraints of the civil law, because he wants to keep out of the hands of those who are sworn to uphold it. But beyond that, he says that no moral law or social convention or public opinion or private counsel is going to have any affect on his way of living—and he doesn’t care who knows it. Much as we dislike to see a man make a fool of himself, perhaps we could bring ourselves to leaving this type of individual to his own devices—if it weren’t for the effect his life has upon others.
It is for this very cause that scripture enjoins us not only to avoid evil itself, but also to “abstain from all appearance of evil.” (I Thessalonians 5:22) In all the world there is no man or woman so inconspicuous that the acts of his daily living do not in greater or less degree influence the acts of others. If a man advertises his unbecoming conduct, his associates, and especially the young and impressionable and those who are easily led, may thereby have their own resistance lowered.
Even the least of us does not fail to be observed. And the higher the place a man reaches, the greater is his responsibility in this matter—which all boils down to the conclusion that our lives are our own only up to that point where we begin to affect the lives of others. Authority for this is the fact that every man is his brother’s keeper, and since almost anything that a man would or could do has its effect not only upon himself but upon others, we come back to the thought that not only must we avoid evil, but also the very appearance of it, lest others, seeing us, take license for themselves.
And this is the answer—or part of it at least—to those who proclaim their right to do as they please, regardless of the consequences.
By Richard L. Evans, spoken from the Tabernacle, Temple Square, Salt Lake City, Sunday, Nov. 1, 1942, over Radio Station KSL and the nationwide Columbia Broadcasting System. Copyright – 1942.
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November 01, 1942
Broadcast Number 0,689