Doctrines of Salvation 2:345; VIOLATION OF COVENANT OF SACRAMENT. Again, I have wondered how members of the Church can go to the sacrament service and partake of these emblems, and make these solemn covenants, and then immediately after the close of the meeting go out to some place of amusement, to attend a picture show, a baseball game, or some resort, or to gather at some home to play cards.
When any of these things is done, the guilty person violates this sacred covenant so recently made or renewed. Do they who do this pay so little attention to their obligations that they really do not sense their significance? Or do they think that the Lord in his abundant goodness and mercy will overlook their shortcomings, and do they look upon it as being not a very great sin after all to violate covenants made in this manner? Of course, only those who are guilty are able to answer these questions.
The fact remains, however, that when we indulge in habits of this kind we are covenant breakers guilty of offenses, as taught by Paul, of the most serious kind. Because of these breaches of the commandments, and the violation of covenants thus solemnly taken, many among us are in the same condition as they were in the days of Paul; they are spiritually sick, weak in the faith, and they sleep the spiritual sleep that leads to death. . .” – Joseph Fielding Smith
