When I was in Young Women’s, I was being interviewed to get my temple recommend and I felt that I wasn’t worthy because I had been looking at pornographic images. I knew that I was supposed to talk to the bishop about serious sins, but I wasn’t sure what exactly was meant by that, except that sexual sins were considered serious. I ended up telling the bishop about my problem, and he asked me if I had done anything sexual to myself or anyone else. I said no. It was true that I had not had sex with anyone, but I had masturbated. Of course, I didn’t feel comfortable telling that to the bishop, so “no” seemed to be the right thing to say. I remember talking to my mom about what had happened later, and she said that I didn’t have to answer questions about masturbation. In fairness, it didn’t get any worse than that, and I highly doubt the bishop had malicious intent. Still, the shame could have been avoided if I hadn’t felt pressured to tell the bishop about my sexual sins, or at least if it had been more clear to me exactly what sins I was “supposed” to talk to the bishop about.
Share this article