LDS church takes a stance for Gay Rights!

I am incredibly overjoyed by the news that the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints has come out in strong support of a new Salt Lake City ordinance protecting homosexuals from discrimination in housing and employment. The New York Times has the story here  “Mormon Support of Gay Rights Statute Draws Praise”

(Side Note: The New York Times is supposed to be the best in terms of journalistic standards….What’s up with using Mormon on first reference and only using the official church title in the third paragraph. That’s pretty shoddy.)

Up to this point in time, the church had issued tepid approval of acts protecting the rights of GLBTQ individuals in theory, but had done little to actually support such acts. In Utah, lack of approval from the church usually equals legislative death. A position stating that the church ““does not object to rights for same-sex couples regarding hospitalization and medical care, fair housing and employment rights, or probate rights,” was far far too vague and indecisive. Almost a year ago, I wrote an op-ed in my campus paper urging the church to come out in active support of Equality Utah’s moderate and reasonable legislative agenda. It is disheartening to see that those bills failed despite the support of popular Former Governor Huntsman. Moreover, there is a lot of ground to cover as Salt Lake City is the first city in Utah to pass such basic protections. At the time, I was very disappointed to see the church’s absolute silence.  Today is at least a first step in the right direction.

The rhetoric of church spokesperson Michael Otterson was especially encouraging.

Otterson made it clear that this is a moral issue in that it deals with vitals needs of individuals such as housing and employment “”The issue before you tonight is the right of people to have a roof over their heads and the right to work without being discriminated against. But, importantly, the ordinance also attempts to balance vital issues of religious freedom.”

Moreover, Otterson reiterated the church’s position of respect “I represent a church that believes in human dignity, in treating others with respect even when we disagree – in fact, especially when we disagree. The Church’s past statements are on the public record for all to see. In these comments and in our actions, we try to follow what Jesus Christ taught.”

I was incredibly pleased by this statement as an indicator that common ground will be looked for when possible and compromise is possible.

I hope that this open backing has the widespread impact of helping to finally lead to the passing of common sense legislation that also protects the right of religious groups.

Happy Veterans Day!

Even though I am generally critical of most of the wars that America has fought in recent years, I want to make sure that our troops get treated with respect as heroes that risk their lives for their country. We should never let our politics get in the way of honor and respect. Moreover, we need to make sure that our soldiers are treated as heroes when they return and given proper health care, benefits and treatment. It is so sad to see war veteran homeless on the streets. How can we allow those that would risk their lives for our nation to end up begging for scrap on the street.

As hard as it can be at times, we must also pray on this day for the soldiers and the veterans of the nations that we have warred against and even those fighting for terror groups such as Al Queida. I am inspired by the myriad of examples in the Book of Mormon of prophets praying for the well being of their enemies. They are someones father, husband or brother as well.  It is when we dehumanize the foe that we end up compromising our most precious moral values.

Gay Marriage, Maine and Mormons

It seems that voters in Maine, by people’s veto, overturned the legislature’s decision to approve Gay Marriage. The results are here

REJECT SAME-SEX MARRIAGE LAW
Yes	266324	52.75%
No	238595	47.25%

In Contrast, Washington State voted to approve legislation that would give domestic partnerships completely equivalent rights within the state except without the label of marriage ( of course, federal rights would be at issue were DOMA to be repealed. Results here.

This night thus provides an interesting contrast on legislation relating to gay rights and marriage. While it is still early to draw conclusions and a lot of analysis must be done to get a more complete picture I think there are two tentative conclusions that can be drawn.

Conclusion #1: Opposition to Gay Marriage even in the most liberal states is not a “Mormon” driven phenomenon.

Opponents of 1 in Maine were very quick to paint the effort as a Mormon initiative despite a lack of any church involvement. Advertisements were taken out declaring that The Mormons Are Coming. Despite my personal sympathy for the No on 1 position, it seems that individuals intentionally tried to run a xenophobic Mormon bashing campaign and to play up fears and dislike of the LDS church.

Yet, Maine voters turned out in record numbers and still ended up voting for 1. Catholics in Maine were large donors to the campaign and were involved in the get out the vote operation. Maine hardly has a Latter Day Saint presence and there has been no evidence linking to any officially sponsored church activity or to a large surge of LDS involvement. This statement is of course tentative as the rolls of Yes on 1 donors are yet to be disclosed.

Yet, it seems to me that the opposition is deeper than merely foreign religious conservatives invading an otherwise ‘tolerant’ state. Just as in California, overwhelming numbers of non-religious or non-partisan citizens voted to opposed Gay Marriage.

The other conclusion that I at least draw from the contrast between Washington and Maine is that Americans, at least in the more progressive states, are not bigots. There is an effort to name call and label anyone who votes against Gay Marriage a bigot. Yet, this is the position of the majority of Americans including the President and vice president of the United States. They are willing to approve domestic partnership rights and to grant all other rights under the law but are also willing to fight in regard to the utilization of the word marriage. This is not a hateful or bigoted position in and of itself. I have absolutely no sympathy for the large percentage not vote for the Washington Amendment but plenty of empathy for those that voted yes on 1.

As much as those favoring Gay Marriage must be frustrated and infuriated now, it is important to remember that name calling only belittles their side. Indeed, this name calling often makes the pro-marriage side appear callous and belligerent. In contrast, I think that a position that emphasizes both love and the practical benefits of allowing gay marriage could prevail in future contests. Support for Gay Marriage band rests on the feeling that something has gone seriously wrong with marriage as an institution and that banning gay marriage will somehow solve hurts that are much more deeply rooted and come from our fragmented society. In contrast, Gay Marriage backers need to show that their marriages would strengthen the institution by allowing for more loving families ( through adoption) and relationships that are enduring and long lasting. Both sides can be said to be pro-family and struggling to define family as best it can. This is the major struggle ahead of us in the debates.

Anyway time for sleep. I will have more thoughts in the morning.

Elder Ballard speaks at Cambridge Stake Conference Friday Night

Elder M. Russell Ballard of the Quroum of the Twelve Apostles presided at our stake conference this Friday night and Sunday morning, and also at the LDS education conference on Saturday. He also spoke at the Ward Leadership session but since I am but a lowly new convert I was not a part of that session. . I am going to blog about my reactions to the two sessions of conference first and then talk about all of the individual talks at the Education Conference in greater detail. I have an audio recording of the Friday session and a video recording of Elder Ballards talk on Sunday that I will try to get uploaded soon. I don’t think these sessions were recorded professionally and so these may well for all I know be the only copies that will be hitting the net. I apologize for the poor quality but they were recorded from far away on my iphone

Elder Ballard’s Talk Broken up due to Iphone limitations

Friday’s session took place at historic Trinity Church is Boston which was a pretty magnificent venue. The quality of music was stunning. I recorded a recording of the first hymn which was not the best one by far, but which shows of the absolutely outstanding organs.

Listen to the Beautiful organs in Trinity Church

On Saturday, Elder Ballard told us that his remarks on Friday were given without notes of preparation which makes it all the more remarkable. It was a beautiful talk full of inspirational stories and a beautiful message. Many on the bloggernacle noted the heavy promise on following one’s own promptings and gaining inner light at the most recent conference, and this talk was a continuation of that trend. Elder Ballard’s message seemed to be that we need to facilitate and follow the promptings of the spirit. We need to find quiet moments of reflection and allow ourselves to listen to the still small voice.

Before Elder Ballard began speaking he invited several people up to bear their testimonies and the last one to come up ended his testimony speaking about miracles. Elder Ballard began by recounting several cases of what he considered to be miracles.

He spoke about the process of discernment, which came miraculously when he needed to rearrange a stake. He had initially done this duty as a junior companion to then Elder Thomas S. Monson and the first time he went by himself he had no idea what to do. He met with many potential Stake Presidents, but did feel anything. Finally, the next to last brother came and he felt familiarity. He asked the brother how he knew him, and the brother told Elder Ballard that several years ago he had shaken his hand at a youth conference.

It was running late and the brother’s parents lived in a different stake. He called his parents and both said that the spirit had already told them that their son had been chosen to be the stake president. Elder Ballard recalled jokingly, “ The Lord expects us to keep his confidence but he does not keep ours very well.”

Elder Ballard then told a similar story about a brother that, even though he had not initially been considered one of the likely choices by the existing Stake president, had already planned out a full list of counselors which was ready when he was chosen at the absolute last minute after a lengthy search.

Elder Ballard spoke about how this is true in families and in our day to day life as we strive to understand what the lord would have us do.

He quoted “Be still for a moment and know that I am God.” And urged us to work out a regular period of time to be alone and in a quiet place. He told us to have scriptures in hand even if they are not necessarily open, and to engage in a conversation with our heavenly father.

The key is to be still and listen, and we can feel what every convert has felt. Almost every convert when asked when he or she first knew the church was true will almost always have a story related to feeling it was true rather than an intellectual experience.

Elder Ballard then went on to tell a story from 1985 when he was sent to Bolivia to Lake Titicaca which was rising at the time. He and his companions were on top of the hill and when he had a few minutes alone, Elder Ballard felt a strong prompting to bless the area. He had been nervous and unsure about what to do to help the Saints whose land was being flooded. He made the blessing and in 2.5 week the water dropped 11 feet which hydrologists could not understand and newspapers called a miracle.

He reemphasized that most impressions come with a few minutes of quiet and that our knowledge of the gospel and that the priesthood is on the land is our most precious precious gift.

Most of have had promptings to do something and not listened to them. Elder Ballard learned not to do so the hard way. He was a bishop in a ward and there was an old widow in the ward that he was very close to. He got a prompting one night late at night that he had to go see her. It was snowing and an improper hour and so he didn’t go. The next morning he went to go see her and found out from her daughter that she had passed away two hours prior.

He told of another somber story of a family he met with that had been wrecked by the loss of a father and several children within a short time period. He met with them after a session of conference and they said “ I’m grateful you can meet with what’s left of us.”

He again urged us not to let the world spin so fast that we miss personal quiet time. We are all here in the Boston area for something: To get an education or to get married and he urges us to get busy with that, but not to get so busy that we ignore our spiritual needs. When stressed he has found that we feel most dependant on heaven. We must have the desire to discern the will of god and structure life in order to allow those calm moments to list. We must stay spiritually in tune. Righteous desires of the heart are fulfilled although we have to wait. We must wait upon the lord listening for his promptings and act upon them.

Winning missionary ideas from the New England Education Conference

Winning missionary ideas from the New England Education Conference

Elder Ballard of the Quroum of the Twelve, Area 70 Clayton M. Christensen and Jet Blue/More Good Foundation founder David Neeleman spoke at the LDS Education conference this Saturday. I will be writing more about their talks, but I first wanted to share some of the innovative missionary ideas that participants developed.

 

We broke out into groups and each group came up with an idea that could be used to improve missionary activity or church outreach. Afterwards, we all went around and voted on our favorite ideas. Those with the most votes were selected to present to the whole group in front of the speakers. These are the winning suggestions:

____________________________________________________

WhyIbelieve.net/Testimony Website (Interestingly enough when you go to this URL it has temporary content of a temple)

A website that would offer a standardized place to write and record ( Audio and Video) testimony so that it could be searchable by name and linkable to/from facebook, blogs etc.

This would not be a random listing of testimonies as current sites but organized so that you could find testimonies by name, geographic location or topic.

 

____________________________________________________

Service website/Craig’s list

One of Elder Chritensen’s key points was that people are looking for opportunities to serve and one of the best ways to get investigators interested is to get them serving with us. But, service opportunities are often hard to find or through organizations that require specialized training and commitments. Thus, the church should sponsor a service website where people could post request for service and others could find acts of service to do. This would facilitate service and allow individuals to discover new service opportunities. This would sort of be like a Craig’s list for service

____________________________________________________

Testimony Twitters

Would involve a coordinated effort to flood twitter with LDS related tweets. Someone would post a testimony and everyone would repost/retweet it or post their own tweets.

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Customizable Pass-along cards

Current pass-along card are problematic because sometimes one really likes the image on one side but not the text on the other side or vice versa. Also, the size is a problem as certain people like business card sized while others wanted larger cards. One should be able to order and/or print out cards that are customizable in size and content. Also, digital pass-along cards should be available.

Another related idea that my group came up with though it was not in the winning groups presentation was the idea of adding personalization to the cards. Thus, you could print a card with some of your favorite church related websites or your own personal testimony page as well as the standard church sites.

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Digital Temple Tours

Would allow individuals to take a digital guided tour of a temple. This could either be done in accordance with a temple opening or on a permanent basis. The tour would allow people to understand what is done at the LDS temple and dispel myths.

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Improved Facebook App

Facebook application that would especially focus on displaying one’s testimony on ones profile and allowing individuals to click a button to ask a question about the church and another button that would show questions that you have already answered. These could be named or anonymous.

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Scholarships to non-LDS schools

Would fund scholarships to non-LDS universities in order to allow church members to spread to places other than BYU more rapidly. This scholarship would be based on observance to the same honor code as BYU ( though perhaps the dress code might be relaxed) and thus would ensure that strong members are able to attend top quality schools and spread the word.

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How being a Mormon gave me the edge lecture series

Would feature business leaders or other high profile individuals that were LDS explaining why being a Mormon helped them get the edge professionally.

My idea in relation to this would also involve a shadowing program that would allow people to accompany these individuals around their day to do work etc.This could perhaps be given alongside an idea that didn’t win: A 30 Day Mormon Challenge encouraging individuals to try living an LDS style life in terms of diet, modest and habits and to see how it makes them feel.

____________________________________________________

Free the MoTab

 

Would place whole albums of the Mormon Tabernacle Choir for free download on a church related website encouraging people to find out more about the church as well. Could turn the church into a primary source for beautiful and inspirational music. There could be seasonal promotions and downloads in order to entice people to return to the site more often.

Worst of all possible worlds

Worst of all possible worlds?

I just read this very interesting critique on the penal substitution model of the atonement. I really recommend it because I don’t think Latter Day Saints on the whole thing often enough about what the atonement actually is  and how to understand it in line with god’s divine attributes.

The comment that really struck me in this post was this one

“6. I repeat: God does not punish Jesus, or even will the death of Jesus tout court. Herbert McCabe: “The mission of Jesus from the Father is not the mission to be crucified; what the Father wished is that Jesus should be human…. [T]he fact that to be human means to be crucified is not something that the Father has directly planned but what we have arranged.” That is, the crucifixion of Christ is not a penalty inflicted by God but the result of human sin, what inevitably happens when human sin encounters divine love. The cross, therefore, represents the wrath and judgement of God not directly but indirectly: God “gives us up” (παρέδωκεν, Romans 1:24, 26, 28) to the consequences of our destructive desires and actions, the human condition with which Christ identified himself in life, and to which God “gave him up” (παρέδωκεν, Romans 8:32), and to which we (with Judas) “betrayed”/“handed him over” (παρέδωκεν, Mark 3:19), in death.”

It made me think about Enoch’s dialogue with God in the Book of Moses Chapter 7

32 The Lord said unto Enoch: Behold these thy brethren; they are the workmanship of mine own hands, and I gave unto them their knowledge, in the day I created them; and in the Garden of Eden, gave I unto man his agency;

33 And unto thy brethren have I said, and also given commandment, that they should love one another, and that they should choose me, their Father; but behold, they are without affection, and they hate their own blood;

34 And the fire of mine indignation is kindled against them; and in my hot displeasure will I send in the floods upon them, for my fierce anger is kindled against them.

35 Behold, I am God; Man of Holiness is my name; Man of Counsel is my name; and Endless and Eternal is my name, also.

36 Wherefore, I can stretch forth mine hands and hold all the creations which I have made; and mine eye can pierce them also, and among all the workmanship of mine hands there has not been so great wickedness as among thy brethren.

37 But behold, their sins shall be upon the heads of their fathers; Satan shall be their father, and misery shall be their doom; and the whole heavens shall weep over them, even all the workmanship of mine hands; wherefore should not the heavens weep, seeing these shall suffer?

38 But behold, these which thine eyes are upon shall perish in the floods; and behold, I will shut them up; a prison have I prepared for them.

39 And That which I have chosen hath pled before my face. Wherefore, he suffereth for their sins; inasmuch as they will repent in the day that my Chosen shall return unto me, and until that day they shall be in torment;

40 Wherefore, for this shall the heavens weep, yea, and all the workmanship of mine hands.

41 And it came to pass that the Lord spake unto Enoch, and told Enoch all the doings of the children of men; wherefore Enoch knew, and looked upon their wickedness, and their misery, and wept and stretched forth his arms, and his heart swelled wide as eternity; and his bowels yearned; and all eternity shook.

Aside from being one of the more striking and beautiful passages in all of scripture, this passage raises some interesting theological questions.

In particular  verse 36 suggests that we are the most disobedient of all of Gods creations

36 Wherefore, I can stretch forth mine hands and hold all the creations which I have made; and mine eye can pierce them also, and among all the workmanship of mine hands there has not been so great wickedness as among thy brethren.

Indeed, all of the other beings that we are aware of on this earth obey the word of god perfectly. We are the only beings we know of that ever disobey or go against the will of the Lord. Our divine agency is a major factor, but this passage suggests that agency and obedience can go together and have gone together better elsewhere.

Notice the language in line 39

39 And That which I have chosen hath pled before my face. Wherefore, he suffereth for their sins; inasmuch as they will repent in the day that my Chosen shall return unto me, and until that day they shall be in torment;

We are disobedient and deserve death but plead before God for forgiveness THEREFORE Christ suffereth for our sins.  In other words, Christ suffers because of the horrid state of man. We are the ones that mandate that he suffers.

This led me to speculate about the other planets where God has given agency to intelligent beings. Are we the only planet that has sunk so low as to crucify its redeemer? Is it possible that other planets did not require a divine redeemer in the same sense that we do? If we believe that As Man is God once was, does this imply that God once led a sinful life and required the redemption of another being, or can we think that God likely led a perfect mortal life and therefore did not require redemption.

Ultimately, the lesson I take away most strongly from this passage is that even as the atonement is a needed part of our redemption, the torture and pain Christ underwent was not inevitable but contingent. If human beings had acted more humbly or lovingly, might Christ not have lived a full long life and organized his church in the same way that he did after the resurrection among the Nephites? I have faith that had he not been placed on the cross, Christ would have found another way to redeem mankind. Heavenly father is not a vengeful being with a bloodlust. Christ’s martyrdom was necessary because of our wickedness, but our wickedness was neither inevitable nor desirable

What are the implications for our day to day life? What I take away at the very least is that we should not act as if the inevitability of sin is a reason to look at it with the least bit of tolerance. We need to take more active roles as Latter Day Saints in opposing misery and suffering worldwide. Often, I think we have this mentality that thinks ‘the end of the world is coming soon and therefore there’s not much we can do,” but this notion is contrary to our agency and purpose on this earth. We can spare the world a portion of its suffering and even still reverse the course of misery for untold millions. In my view, it is our duty and privilege to do so as disciples of christ.

Hearts of the children turned to the parents

I went to the temple with my friend Elena and did the temple work for my mother today. What an incredible experience. I really felt the spirit of God so strongly. As I sat in the temple and prayed, I also felt her presence near. We joined a group of YSA from Worcester though we went first. I was asked to pick a hymn to sing and chose Spirit of God because I think that singing that hymn in the temple is incredibly symbolic and poignant. I felt such incredible peace while the baptism was done in her name. During confirmation, the person reading the name stopped for several seconds seemingly over powered by the spirit. Everyone clearly felt it like a powerful jolt. I knew that she had accepted the ordinance being done in her name and that she had been able to find forgiveness and absolution. My mind in particular turned to the down syndrome child that she chose to abort a few years before I was born. I thought about a time while in a catholic hospital my mom had to cover a crucifix because she could not bare to look at an image of Christ. All of these mistakes and every wasted opportunity were forgiven. The member of the temple presidency gave the group a talk about how the people on the other side of the veil are closer than we think, and I know that to be true. I know that my mother will be working on my father and helping to soften his heart and that’s a great knowledge and feeling.

Principles to Guide our Efforts as Member Missionaries

I was asked to be a team leader at the LDS education conference in Boston, MA this upcoming weekend. There will be over 600 people at the event at which Apostle M. Russell Ballard, Clayton Christensen and Jet Blue founder David Neeleman will be speaking

As a group leader I was asked to look at the principles that are being presented by the speakers and to think of ways to generate discussion within a group of ten.

I want to post a quick initial thought about each of the principles being presented by Clayton Christensen because I think he has pretty powerful thoughts.

1. We cannot predict — nor should we judge from appearance, language, or lifestyle — who, of all the people we might meet, is prepared to learn of the gospel. Only the Lord knows this.

I have found this principles to be far too true even in the limited time that I’ve been in the church. I could have never anticipated some of the powerful spiritual conversations I’ve had with certain friends I never would have imagined having that kind of connection with. I think that one of the best ways to live according this principle is not be ashamed to mention the role that church plays in our life even to people we think might react negatively. Facebook status updates play a great equalizer in our society in this regard. By being able to convey information to everyone at once we are able to open ourselves to conversations from sources we would not have anticipated.

 

2. Transforming our relationships with others into deeper friendships as a means of “preparing” them to receive our invitation is not only unnecessary — it often is deceitful. We can invite friends, neighbors, work associates, classmates, store clerks, and fellow travelers to learn. As long as we do so in an open, straightforward way in which they can feel our love for them, they will not be offended.

Indeed, I think it might be harder at times to share the gospel with very close friends out of fear of offending. I’ve had difficulty with this principle in my life, with some friends feeling like I am just getting closer to them in order to have gospel sharing opportunities. Its important to become friends with people because we value what they give to us and how they impact our lives in positive ways.

3. Most people who live in prosperous circumstances have a deeper need to give service than to receive help. We rarely connect with their needs when we suggest that the gospel will help them become better, happier people. But when we ask them to join with us as we serve others in the kingdom of God, it often fulfills an important need in their lives. Just as we feel the Spirit when serving the Lord, they can too — and some of them will realize that something important has been missing in their lives

This principle is one that I think we need to work on at the ward and stake level. We need more service opportunities that are not internal such as home or visiting teaching. I am currently called as an assistant secretary for the Elder’s Quorum trying to find some service opportunities for the Quorum to do as a whole because I think that service is such a bonding experience internally and an opportunity to reach out to others. While people enjoy being invited to social events, there is a deeper appeal to involving others in something that helps others. Of course, I wonder how this applies to college students since MOST of our friends at least are doing some kind of service already and perhaps more service than I am if I discount church related service and callings.

 

4. People can’t exercise their free agency if we do not give them the opportunity to choose the gospel. We therefore succeed as member missionaries when we invite. Those who we invite succeed when they use their agency to accept the gospel.

 

I’ve been very good at inviting people to come to church activities, not so good at getting them to meet with the missionaries or truly find out more about the church. I am sure there must be a better way to bridge the two. I recognize that for me this requires more asking. I learned this principle in another area in my life. I have been debating for four years now. I used to never have the guts to ask people to debate with me at tournaments and so always got stuck with whomever else had not been asked. This in turn lowered my reputation and made it harder for me in the future. This semester I broke that cycle by becoming much more aggressive in asking people to debate with me and it has led to much improved tournaments.

5. Most people — even those with graduate degrees from the best universities — don’t know how to pray or how to find answers to their questions in the scriptures. If we teach them how to do these things through “homework” assignments, the Holy Ghost and the Book of Mormon will do the “heavy lifting” of conversion.

 

I actually just had an eye opening conversation with a good friend of mine. He is an orthodox Jew that has studied theology and knows an immense amount about God in theory. He approached me with a bit of a crisis of faith moment. We had a lengthy conversation about how to know what is God’s will and what is our own desire imposed on the image of God ( a fascinating topic deserving greater exploration). At the end of the conversation I told him that in my view ultimately it was God that had to tell us these answers through conversation with him. He was a bit shocked by this concept. He told me that he could not ever remember asking God for an answer. He is someone that prays three times a day and often asks God for very specific things, but the notion of turning to God for answers or direction was totally foreign. It was like he had never thought of the possibility.

6. Things get done when we have deadlines. If we commit to God that we will find someone to introduce to the missionaries by a specific date, and if we take the commitment so seriously that we become desperate to find someone, then God knows He can trust us to invite him or her — and He will put someone in our path who will accept our invitation.

This is a principle I can improve on considerably. I know that I’ve found that when we pray for opportunities God gives them to us in abundance. What I have not done as much as I should is pray more specifically to be able to have someone meet the missionaries or to bring someone to the church. My prayers in this regard tend to be overly general and I think this dilutes their effectiveness.

The Vatican and LDS same sex marriage

The Vatican recently announced a policy change in which it would ease the way for those dissatisfied with the more liberal Anglican stance on Gay Marriage and Women in the Priesthood to become Roman Catholic. For instance, an individual baptized into the Anglican church may not have to have a second baptism to become Catholic. More interesting, for a member of the LDS church is the new stance on married priests. One of the biggest differences between Anglicans and Catholics has traditionally been over the issue of priesthood celibacy. Anglican priests can and are married, while Catholics are not allowed to do so. The unique thing about the Vatican decision is that they are now institutionally allowing those priests that have been wed to remain so and still become members and priests in the Catholic church.

This decision got me thinking about how the LDS church could make a similarly pragmatic decision in regard to Gay Marriage. Right now, Missionaries and members face a serious challenge, especially in states where Gay Marriage has been legalized such as Massachusetts. Some gay couples have been together for over 20 or 30 years and have now been happily married for years. If these individuals are taking and believing in the missionaries lessons, they are unlikely to be willing to break off a long term and legally recognized union—and it would be cruel and wrong if it asked them to do so. Do we write these individuals off as lost causes, or can we find some practical way to accommodate them. Could the church allow these individuals to become members of the church while allowing them to remain in their legally sanctioned marriages? Sexuality for a priest is viewed as a rather large transgression in Catholicism quite similar to the way that we view homosexual relations and out of marriage relations. Could we as the Catholics are now doing, forbid the formation of new marriages and unions between same sex members, but recognize those unions that are already formed in order to bring individuals into the church?

Unfortunately, we have a culture where deviations from a very norm are scorned and treated with disregard. There would have to be a cultural change in our congregations to make this a viable option. Yet, it seems to me that there isn’t really a better way to try to reach out to these individuals that are already in long term relationships and marriages, and that to fail to do so is to fail in our duty to spread the gospel to others.

Is this a viable solution? Would the church be compromising on its values if it allowed the recognition of such marriages. Any thoughts?

Casting not away therefore my confidence

Cast Not Therefore Your Confidence Away

Elder Holland’s talk entitled Cast Not Therefore Your Confidence Away is one of my all time favorite talks because it’s scripturally deep as well as spiritually inspired. This week, this talk was incredibly relevant in my life.

I am a senior at Brandeis University and have been debating whether or not to graduate early ( in December) for a while. I originally came up with the idea because of the threat that my father would no longer support me if I were baptized into the church. I needed a way to minimize cost in order to be able to continue to afford studying. When my father moved to approve my decision that was no longer necessary. I suggested to him that I’d considered graduating early, and he actually became an advocate for the idea. I decided that graduating early would help me to get some work and save up some money in order to be able to contemplate serving a mission. A semester would cost 12,000 dollars and while I would not myself be getting all of that savings, having my father saving all of that would be beneficial.  I was very doubtful about my decision and the paper work for December graduation was due this Thursday.

Wednesday night I went to the temple and prayed about it. I often go to the Boston Temple with my questions and invariably leave with much clearer answers than when I came. I don’t even have to go into the temple to do baptisms, just coming and praying outside the temple has that effect on me. This decision had been torturing me for weeks, and on Wed. I got a fairly clear feeling that it was the correct decision. I experienced a pretty great comfort that things would work themselves out well

I put in the papers on Thursday early in the afternoon, and almost immediately got struck by the most severe and intense doubts.  Most frighteningly, I have been trying to be guided by the spirit in this decision and strongly felt what seemed to be spiritual promptings that I’d made a mistake. I literally had to summon the words of Elder Holland’s talk to my mind in order to make sense of it.

“But Moses’ message to you today is, “Don’t let your guard down.” Don’t assume that a great revelation, some marvelous illuminating moment, or the opening of an inspired path is the end of it. Remember, it isn’t over until it’s over. What happened to Moses next, after his revelatory moment, would be ludicrous if it were not so dangerous and so absolutely true to form. In an effort to continue his opposition, in his unfailing effort to get his licks in later if not sooner, Lucifer appeared and shouted in equal portions of anger and petulance after God had revealed himself to the prophet, saying, “Moses, worship me.” But Moses was not having it. He had just seen the real thing, and by comparison this sort of performance was pretty dismal.”

I sat in my car overwhelmed with a sense of anguish. I still had two hours to go ask them to remove my graduation form I thought to myself…It was then that I thought back on what I had felt the night before at the temple. I knew that whatever I felt there would not be deceptive but would be the real thing.

“Like Moses in his vision, there may come after the fact some competing doubts and some confusion, but they will pale when you measure them against the real thing. Remember the real thing. Remember how urgently you have needed help in earlier times and that you got it. The Red Sea will open to the honest seeker of revelation. The adversary does have power to hedge up the way, to marshal Pharaoh’s forces and dog our escape right to the water’s edge, but he can’t produce the real thing. He cannot conquer if we will it otherwise. “Exerting all [our] powers to call upon God,” the light will again come, the darkness will again retreat, the safety will again be sure.

As I waited and prayed, telling the darkness to dissipate from my mind, I was able to recapture the sense of calmness that I’d felt before. I was able to go into my apartment and do other things until it was too late to reconsider and my decision was final. It required an enormous amount of spiritual energy and power to resist the clouds that were hanging over me. I realized that they were certainly inspired by the adversary to confuse and distort my desires.

Cast not away therefore your confidence, which hath great recompence of reward.

For ye have need of patience, that, after ye have done the will of God, ye might receive the promise.
. . .

. . . If any man draw back, my soul shall have no pleasure in him. . . .

. . . We are not of them who draw back unto perdition. [Hebrews 10:35–36, 38–39;]