So, I read a Newsweek article this morning that I found very sweet and considerate. It was about a religious man who was once filled with hate and ignorance for homosexuals. He thought homosexuals were all sinners and bound for hell. At the encouragement of his mother he looked into what his real beliefs were and what Jesus Christ would say about that. Over a period of a few years he changed his mind. He saw that homosexuals are created in God's image just like the rest of us. It was even to the point of him joining in rallies for "gay rights".
What his story reminded me of was the view of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints on people who are homosexual. This is the church I belong to, more commonly known as "the Mormon church". Often times when people think of my church and homosexuality they envision a religious group that hates homosexuals, their lives and their existence. This is not true. Of course, there are individuals who are confused and judgemental, but that's not the official stand of the church. Elder Oaks (member of the Council of the Twelve Apostles) said, "The distinction between feelings or inclinations on the one hand, and behavior on the other hand, is very clear. It’s no sin to have inclinations that if yielded to would produce behavior that would be a transgression. The sin is in yielding to temptation. Temptation is not unique. Even the Savior was tempted."
At the end of the day we do believe homosexuality is wrong and a sinful behavior. However, the feelings and inclinations are not wrong or sinful. It's what we do with those feelings and temptations we're given that determine whether we're living correctly or not.
The main reason I wanted to bring this up was to say that I don't hate homosexuals or think of them as less than me. I might not agree with what they're doing, but I'm opinionated. I don't agree with a lot of things other people are doing, but that doesn't change things. I love all people and want them to be happy. There needs to be a lot more love and compassion in the world.
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2 comments:
I'm just curious how an attraction even if not acted upon is not sinful with the literal translation used that says the act is sinful. Did Jesus himself not say that lust was the same as adultry, or looking at a person with desire, you might as well of done the act.
I don't understand how the Word can be used so literally to say that attraction is ok but actions is not. Using this technique does not seem compatable. Either homosexual thought are sin as well or homosexuality is not sinful.
That does bring up a good point about the difference. I think that the inclinations and the general attraction to someone of the same gender is not sinful, just as it's not sinful for heterosexuals to be attracted to someone of the opposite gender. It's what we all do with those thoughts. Not every man who is attracted to a woman has sexual thoughts about her because that would be lusting and sinful. The sin comes when we decide to make a choice what to do when those thoughts pop into our mind.We can choose to ignore them, not sinful. Or we can dwell on them and play them out in our minds or physically act them out, that would be when it's sinful. Does that make sense?
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