To review the THRU IT Sexual Content Response Plan see: Sexual Content Response Plan: Do You Have One?
Here are the steps:

• Tag it: Call it what it is.
• Halt the behavior: Turn it off. Turn away.
• Responsible for the thought: Watch the thought pass on by.
• YoU have a divine nature and destiny: Repeat affirmations.
• Inhale: Take three deep breaths.
• Talk:  Talk with God.

Step 1: 

TAG IT-CALL IT WHAT IT IS

Name the sexual message just like you name the person in the photo in Instagram or Facebook. That’s it – just call it what it is:  “A low-cut blouse her breasts are showing;” “An internet pop-up of a nude male;” “A personal homosexual thought in my mind;”  “My friend just used the F-bomb;”  or whatever. Tag the sexual content by saying a complete objective description of the message to yourself in your mind or out loud!

BENEFITS OF TAGGING

There are numerous benefits of “watching for” and “tagging” sexual content. Here are a couple.

TAGGING PROVIDES PROTECTION

Naming upsetting sexual content in your mind or saying it out loud  evey time you engage it – crystallizes the content as evil.

To know where the danger is and to be able to (TAG IT) recognize it in all of its manifestations provides protection. The evil one is alert. He is always ready to deceive and claim as his victims every unwary one, every careless one, every rebellious one. (Fortifying Ourselves against Evil Influences, Spencer W. Kimball)

As you TAG Satan’s attempts to distort God’s “supernal power of procreation“ through his tsunami of sexual messaging, you weaken his evil influence.

I recommend initially to tag every sexual message “appropriate” and “inappropriate.” Certainly there are some healthy sexual messages e.g. “Grandpa and grandma kissing;” “Temple wedding pictures;” “New born baby;”  etc etc.  Nevertheless, the THRU-IT method targets  inappropriate sexual messaging by redirecting thoughts.

Remember, Satan WILL try to trick you and your family about “what is or is not” an inappropriate sexual message. See: Moses 4:4   Deception is one of Satan’s best techniques.

Satan’s methods of deception are enticing: music, movies and other media, and the glitter of a good time. When Satan’s lies succeed in deceiving us, we become vulnerable to his power…. Beware of the slick package and the glitz of a good time. What the devil portrays as fun can be spiritually fatal. (Dallin Oaks Be Not Deceived, Oct 2004)

TAGGING CREATES A LINK 

When you tag inappropriate sexual message you create a link from your “FEELING BRAIN ” to your  “THINKING BRAIN.”

What are the “Feeling and Thinking Brains?“

Feeling Brain

The “Limbic System” also known as the “Feeling Brain” releases these natural sexual arousal chemicals (See: God’s Love Chemicals) in response to sexual messages. A sexual message can be delivered in a thought, an image, a touch, a song etc etc. For older children, once triggered these chemicals cause feelings of being sexually aroused. This process is typically an automatic physical response regardless if the triggering sexual message is appropriate or inappropriate.

Thinking Brain

The “Frontal Lobe” also known as the “Thinking Brain” plans, weighs consequences, learns right from wrong and develop brakes for our basic emotions and sexual drives. When activated, the “Thinking Brain” can manage the “Feeling Brain.”

Review this with your children: Two Brains

Navigating away from the “FEELING BRAIN” to the “THINKING BRAIN” is essential to “controlling a thought or feeling.”

Like creating a Disaster Emergency Preparation Plan take some basic steps to practice yourself and teach your children a Personal  Sexual Content Response Plan.

TAGGING IS A COMMANDMENT

Tagging requires you to WATCH the world around you and make a value judgment of what you observe.  If you’re not watching you’re not tagging. “TO WATCH” is a commandment and a technique necessary to resist temptation. Check these scriptures out:

Verily, verily, I say unto you, ye must watch and pray always, lest ye be tempted by the devil, and ye be led away captive by him. 3 Nephi 18:15

Watch and pray, that ye enter not into temptation: the spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak. Matthew 26:41

Behold, verily, verily, I say unto you, ye must watch and pray always lest ye enter into temptation; for Satan desireth to have you, that he may sift you as wheat. 3 Nephi 18:18

 

Clearly “watching” is as important as “praying” if you are to be successful against Satan!

But this much I can tell you, that if ye do not watch yourselves, and your thoughts, and your words, and your deeds, and observe the commandments of God, and continue in the faith of what ye have heard concerning the coming of our Lord, even unto the end of your lives, ye must perish. And now, O man, remember, and perish not. Mosiah 4:30

In other words effective “Tagging” (watching the world around you and making a value judgment) is essential if you’re going to successfully resist Satan’s temptations.

Also see: The blog “Watch!“

SUMMARY

Scripture:

Be “quick to observe“ Mormon 1:2  “Watch and pray, that ye enter not into temptation” Matt 26:41  

Challenge:

1. Let’s Play “Tag it“.  Begin applying this Emergency Sexual Content Response Plan now!  Tag it – call it what it is. Accept the challenge-say out loud in front of loved ones, the description of the next inappropriate sexual message you encounter.  As a family make a game out of  it just like: I spy with my eye; Finding the  letters of the alphabet on a road trip;  etc etc. Have fun! See if you can out smart Satan and see through his deceptions. Take a family walk in the mall and give a prize to the family member with the most Tags.
2. Personal Tagging.  If the upsetting sexual message is in your mind – Tag it privately to yourself.

Remember:

It was necessary that this power of creation have at least two dimensions: one, it must be STRONG; and two, it must be more or less CONSTANT.  (Why Stay Morally Clean, Boyd K Packer,  Conference Apr 1972)

dr rick

(R) 2015