By Nicholas Thiele
Students listened to Randy Bott speak Thursday on some sensitive questions related to intimacy in dating and marriage.
Women?s Services and Resources planned the second of a three lecture series on relationships. Bott, a professor of church history and doctrine, entitled his lecture ?Asking the Right Questions, Getting the Right Answers.?
?If you get embarrassed, put your heads down and blush,? Bott said jokingly to prepare students for the sensitive topics he would address.
Bott lectured on ways to discuss, or not discuss at all, past transgressions with a significant other.
?Should I tell my spouse about my past?? Bott asked to bring up a common concern. ?Better question: Are you now worthy in every way to take me to the temple? What does the atonement really do for you??
He also posed several questions to build and strengthen marital relationships, including sexual intimacy and how couples become one in every aspect of their lives.
?Premarital intimacy will always weaken your relationship, not strengthen it,? Bott said.
In addition, Bott compared feeling the Spirit to filling a bucket with water. Each sin will put a hole in the bucket. At first, one small hole may not seemingly make a difference, but as the holes add up, it will become more apparent.
He also talked about the importance of nourishing a relationship in the same way that people nourish their bodies on a daily basis.
?If you were to stop eating right now for six months, what would happen to your bodies?? Bott asked. ?Our relationships will die also if we fail to continue the courtship process after marriage.?
Sister Sharon Samuelson will give the final lecture in the relationships series on Thursday, Feb. 17 in 2015 JKHB.