Thursday, April 18, 2013

"Gay is okay!" -God

Dear journal, 

For this entry I want to share the main reasons I feel I do not need to reconcile my homosexual self with my Mormon self, the reasons I do not believe homosexuality is wrong nor an abomination to God. But is in fact just fine and acceptable to our Heavenly Father. And don’t get me wrong, I love the church, I mean not to disprove the church or speak against it. I mean only to explain why I believe the (LDS) church will one day change it’s view and stance on homosexuality. 

I have three points: 1. God created me and only intends for me to achieve eternal salvation. 2. The “plugs” DO very well fit. 3. God gives us line upon line and precept upon precept. I’ll do my best to explain and be concise. My reasons and explanations come from more of a Later-day Saint understanding and doctrine, But I’m sure no matter who you are, you’ll be able to grasp my point. 

Reason #1
Moses 1:39- For behold, this is my work and my glory—to bring to pass the immortality and eternal life of man. We understand this to mean two things: 1. God wants us to have eternal life and salvation. 2. For God to continue to progress and obtain even higher glory himself, he must help us to do so as well. 
Lets look at number 1.  Heavenly Father WANTS us, every single one of his children to have salvation and return to live with him in the highest glory. He loves us and does nothing to hinder our progression, He does nothing to keep us from progressing to eternal life and again living in his very presence. The Lord created every one of us. He created every aspect of our very being. And thus he created me and all his LGBT children with homosexual “tendencies”. Heavenly Father creates perfection. He did not accidentally create me gay or forget to turn on my “I like girls” switch. No, he created me perfectly the way he intended, one of his male children who will one day love another perfectly created male child of his. And because he created me as such and wants nothing more than for me to be happy and obtain salvation and eternal life, how could he then tell me, “if you choose to love another man and “act on” the homosexual “tendencies” I have given you, you will not be able to obtain eternal life”. “I love you and want you to return to me but you don’t have that great of a shot since you’re a homosexual”. No, Heavenly Father would not do anything of the sort. He would not handicap my progression and chance at eternal life. Some people may say, “Yes, he gave you the temptation or burden of these “tendencies”, you did not choose them. However you do choose to “act” on them. And that is your trial in this life.” Or, “It’s just like when someone has alcoholic tendencies”. One, no one is born an alcoholic and two, ones personal happiness and fulfillment is not dependent on if they get a shot of vodka or not. The temptation to drink pales in comparison to “act” on homosexual tendencies. And to the first argument, Heavenly father does not give us temptations or burdens, he allows them to happen but he does not give them. However, by your statement, we both agree that Heavenly Father has created me with these “tendencies” and therefore can not be a temptation or burden. The God I love, know, and worship would in no way damn his own children before they even knew what their name was. It’s like God sending one of his children to earth knowing full well that the person is going to die by burning to death, this person will have no choice in how they die. Once this person gets to earth, God decrees that any person who burns to death, shall not receive eternal life or be able to return to live with him. This is not how the Lord works. 
Now looking at number 2. For the Lord to continue his own progression and obtain more glory still, we, his children, must obtain Eternal life and glory ourselves. By creating, say, 100 children, and needing all 100 of us to return, would he not be hindering his own progression by making 25 of us gay or lesbian and forbidding us from being able to return and live with him?

Reason #2 (This one is a little more mature): 
I read an article not to long ago (And I tried really hard to find it again so that I could link it) that surveyed men and women on sexual satisfaction. From the results, they found that some high percentage (It was in the 60-70’s) of women reached orgasm more often by being externally stimulated. Now, we all know that male organs do not stimulate externally. More than 50% of women reported this! 
Now look at the males physical make up. The anus contains more pleasure nerves than anywhere else on the body (Male and female). It’s true, look it up!  Meaning sexual satisfaction is certainly obtainable by stimulation. And not to mention that the prostate is found right there, which again, provides a great amount of ....satisfaction. 
So what exactly is my point? It’s this rather elementary. Heavenly Father, having created our bodies, putting every cell, bone, and even the nerves in very meticulous spots to work perfectly together and serve varying purposes, knew exactly what he was doing and made it possible for- no matter which gender you were with- everyone to be sexually satisfied and fulfilled. So it’s more unnatural the way we grow our food than to have sex with someone of the same gender. 
Here, someone might argue “well, what about the law of chastity?” To that I say this, a homosexual person is perfectly able to keep all the laws and commandments a heterosexual person can. The law of chastity simply is no sexual relations outside the bonds of legal marriage. And guess whats been happening! Gay couples are being able to marry, LEGALLY! Meaning, a homosexual couple if remaining chaste before marriage  and has sexual relations only with their spouse after, are perfectly within the bounds of that law. 

**Edit: Point three somehow was cut off. I'll have to make a future post going into how blacks and the priesthood is a precedent to LGBT's and the church.  Sorry. 

Ditto

14 comments:

  1. I see where you are trying to go with this, but you are logically off base. If God only makes perfection,then that would assume we are all perfect, which is far from the truth. Also, your struggles do not damn you,they test you. They are for us to overcome and be tried even as Abraham. They are for us to see who's on the Lord's side and willing to follow His chosen servants whom He has called to lead and guide us. God did not damn us in anyway by us having imperfections, we damn ourselves by acting on them.

    From an LDS theological view. We all lived with God before this life and developed and had personalities and made mistakes. We were not perfect then and we won't become perfect until well after this life.

    Please read d&c 68:2 and 1:38 then re read the family proclamation. The Lords stance on the matter is clear.

    As for your second point, Hos glory is also our glory and while there may be mor satisfaction, two women or two males cannot conceive or have any off spring. They can't bring to pass the eternal life and immortality of man.

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    1. Hey! Thanks for taking the time to respond! I have to take off for class and a busy day, but I will get back to you at some point, I promise!

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  2. Ditto,
    I think you're going somewhere with this, although I am still really confused about all this, and the only thing I know is true is the Gospel; I am still seeking out how I feel about all of this. Heavenly Father made me in a very unique way. I envy people like you that can say "I am Gay!" or for the people that can say "I am Straight!". As for me, I can't quite do that because the minute I proclaim one, the other sneaks up on me and messes up my mind set. Bi-sexuality to me seems to be a bit more cruel, especially with me having discovered that side of me before I discovered the Mormon side of me, lol.
    But I appreciate very much what you wrote. You're very admirable in what you stated, and how sincere you stated it. On the other hand though, I can not quite state where I stand on the marriage thing, because I am still really confused myself. Which is why until I figure out what I think, like I said earlier all I know to be true is the Gospel. I hope that was not offensive, in all honesty I REALLY ENJOYED reading this! I think you're great! And it gave me a whole other perspective that I am happy I realized. Especially since I sometimes feel guilty for my "homosexual tendencies". lol. So in simpler words, this article made me feel a lot better about myself.

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    1. Hey! Thanks, I'm glad you like it and it was able to help you in someway, anyway. And you should check this one out too: http://scottditto.blogspot.com/2013/03/i-am-scott-zackery-ditto-ditto-to-most.html. ;)

      I also knew long before I joined the church, but like I said in that linked entry, It doesn't make the church any less true! I'm glad you realized that yourself and got baptized! I mean, if you didn't you wouldn't be here and then we wouldn't know you :)

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    2. Thanks! You're awesome love!

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  3. OH! And I also admire you because of your bravery, I have been wanting to come out to my friends and family for a long time and have considered doing so through my blog... but I just don't have the guts.

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    1. I don't know how I feel about people coming out to family and close friends via blog. I'ts just not super personal and your family finds out the same time everyone does. But for some families, it could be the best way to do it. I told my family and close friends in person before I did this blog thing. And I'm very glad I did. Everyone I told in person was very loving and supportive and I felt much closer to them, I wouldn't had experienced that via web.

      You just have to do what suits you and the people you want to know!

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  4. You're a fun writer to read. Your second point made me smile.

    Your first point, as you probably know, I disagree with. Would you mind if I dissected it and wrote out my reasoning for my post on BTS this week? I was going to move on from last week's topic, but I guess I have more to say.

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  5. We share some similar beliefs, ie, that being gay is not a defect or a mistake and that God wants all of his children to be happy. I don't view having anal sex as the defining characteristic of being gay. After all, straight people can have anal sex. I think the emotional bond is the determining factor. I say that based on being married over twenty years to a woman who I loved but who I could not fully bond with emotionally.

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    1. My point about the sex was not to say anything about....IDK how to word that. But I mean that my point about pointing out the whole anus and its nerves was that God created a way for you to be sexually satisfied, no matter if you are having sex with your wife or your husband.

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  6. Let me see if I can restate in my own words what I hear you saying in Reason #1.

    We are taught that Gays are ether "damned" in this life, aka prevented from growing spiritually through the refining fire of a loving marriage and parenthood, or they are dammed in the hereafter, prevented from growing spiritually through the refining fire of a loving marriage and parenthood throughout eternal life. But the mistake is believing that God would willfully create in his children a state of damnation whether temporary or eternal.

    How close is that idea to what you were expressing in your blog?

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    1. Hmmmm. I'm not sure if thats restating what I was saying or not, haha. But it is an interesting thought and way to say what you are saying! haha.

      Either way, it's a statement I would agree with.

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  7. Way to be brave and get your personal argument and reasoning out there. It's helpful for everybody!

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