I was sitting by my mom int he foyer of the church today because I didn't want to go to Sunday School and she was preparing a lesson. As I read wikipedia articles on my phone (I think I was looking at JK Rowling), she thought out loud, "How do we attribute the charitable nature of people to the atonement?" For her lesson, she needed to tie that together.
I suggested that maybe it does not have anything to do with the atonement. Perhaps not everything that is good is a result of the atonement. While the atonement, in Mormon thought, is a wonderful thing, not everything great has to be attributed to it. She didn't buy that and found some sort of connection. (Disclaimer: my mother is a brilliant women and definitely does not fall into any sort of closed-minded Mormon group)
That situation reminded me that Mormons try to tie everything back into the church. Everything can be explained through it because it is God's church, and God created everything. I don't agree with that, of course, but it seems to be the thought process of most LDS members.
I was just looking through a facebook group entitled "The Straights: You're Not In? What... are you Gay?" at the discussion board and encountered the phenomeon again. There are both closed-minded and open-minded comments that are anti-homosexual. Those I considered "open-minded" tried to consider secular evidence that homosexuality is not a learned thing or it is not a choice. However, in the end they had to return to the Church and concluded it must be a choice because God intended that men and women be together.
Situations like that greatly sadden me. Here, we have a chance for greater understanding to happen with some individuals. Yet, they cannot reach it because the Church is holding them back. It is a defeat for progress, understanding, and intellectualism.
I was feeling a loss reading those, but later I happened upon an opinion column in the Salt Lake Tribune entitled "LDS and Gay." That returned me to my usual hopeful mindset. One day, I hope, the Church will escape its homophobia. As I said before, it can only happen when it is no longer afraid of homosexuality.
How does homosexuality threaten the Church? That's a topic for another day.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
2 comments:
Homosexuality doesn't threaten the church. Quite the opposite is true.
Homosexuality is a threat just like women and blacks are a threat.
Did you know that Joseph Smith ordained both women and blacks to the Priesthood? He was a strong abolitionist and it was actually his campaign as he ran for president of the US. When Brigham Young became prophet he kicked some of those out that Joseph had ordained and said they didn't belong.
Why are these groups a threat? Well, when an organization follows the bias of a man and bases years of "doctrine" on these baises...they can't very well change them without losing credibility.
The Church only halted poligamy because the US wouldn't let them become a state if they didn't. The blacks were given the Priesthood because their "tax exempt" status was challenged, nobody would play BYU in sports and people were boycotting the church. If you look at that declaration, it is not a revelation, but merely a statement to the government saying the discrimination would cease.
If gays can marry and the church "follows the laws of the land" they must abide or lose their tax exempt status. Sad day.
Post a Comment