Because a physical body is so central to the Father’s plan of happiness and our spiritual development, Lucifer seeks to frustrate our progression by tempting us to use our bodies improperly. President Russell M. Nelson has taught that spiritual safety ultimately lies in “‘never taking the first enticing step toward going where you should not go and doing what you should not do.’ … As human beings we all have [physical] appetites necessary for our survival. ‘These appetites are absolutely essential for the perpetuation of life. So, what does the adversary do? … He attacks us through our appetites. He tempts us to eat things we should not eat, to drink things we should not drink, and to love as we should not love!’”10

One of the ultimate ironies of eternity is that the adversary, who is miserable precisely because he has no physical body, invites and entices us to share in his misery through the improper use of our bodies. The very tool he does not have and cannot use is thus the primary target of his attempts to lure us to physical and spiritual destruction.

-thus Elder Bednar,

Your appetites are good. Satan attacks them for the same reason he attacks anything great and beautiful.

Embrace your appetites . . . but refine them.

A man should be able to feast and fast.

Embrace your appetites . . . but embrace all of them. Your desire to be in control of yourself is also an appetite. Your appetite tomorrow is also an appetite. The man who indulges himself in appetites today to the extreme, ruining his appetites tomorrow, does not enjoy his appetites more than anyone else. Over time, he enjoys them much less.

Integrate your appetities. If you started as a hedonist but did not artificially limit your appetites to just a few–if you determined to enjoy them all–and if you determined to enjoy them all for as long as you possibly could–you would eventually end up at the gospel.

A man who never fasts is a cripple.

A man who never feasts is a cripple.