This past weekend was LDS General Conference--a twice yearly chance to listen to church leaders teach and guide the membership of the 14 million member worldwide church body.
President Packer always seems to get difficult topics on which to speak. This time was no different. He spoke for a time on gay marriage--without specifying it in so many words.
Here is the thing: I have a hard time with this topic because of the vitriol and hatred that gets brought in, by both sides. As a religious person, I believe that marriage is ordained between a man and a woman. Anything else is not a marriage in the eyes of God.
I feel incredibly uncomfortable in voicing this opinion because of the "PC" world we live in. I am thusly categorized as a hater and a bigot. The opposition pushes the envelope to the point that I must not only allow their viewpoint to be seen as correct, but that my own opinion is held at naught because I'm infringing on their civil rights.
Tolerance is a one way street with this crowd. In fact, tolerance alone on my part isn't enough for them. They want me to say that the lifestyle they choose is as valid as the one I chose. I can't even say politically that civil unions may allow the same rights of survivorship, medical decisions, and inheritance--they want these pairings to be called marraiges.
To me, a marriage is a union ordained of God, instituted at the time of Adam to provide a family situation: a family which includes a mother, father, and children--with the intent to return to live in the hereafter with God together.
The opposition is not interested in a family by my definition, as they flagrantly disobey God's laws, if they even recognize Him at all. If they oppose everything I think a marriage and a family really are, why do they insist on being allowed to call their cohabitations by these same names? Why are they so anxious--to the point of bitter, inflammatory and hateful talk against a hetero-lifestyle--to have the same things? I don't see that it means to them what these things mean to me. So why all the hastle to call their situations the same?
I dislike confrontation about things like this. Even the political ads on TV right now--moral issues aside--make me squirm. I guess I must be slow here, as I just don't get why they care so badly what I believe when it isn't at all what they believe.
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2 comments:
I had a hard time with this for a while after a Sister I went to VT told me that she didn't think that she could tell people in California (right after the prop 8) about our stance on gay marriage. So I investigated and prayed.
God is a god that creates. All that he has and does creates. A marriage between a man and wife can create and family. Two people of the same sex can not create.
Same sex marriage, and homosexuality offends God; and therefore, offends me. I still love these people as people, but their acts offend God. Although they want me to be "tolerant" of what they are doing, I cannot, because I fear God more then I fear them.
Wow, what a great way to look at this. I have a dear friend from HS who is now openly gay. I love him, as I always have, but I do not agree with his lifestyle. I told him we'd have to agree to disagree on this point. Thanks Kira for the wonderful insights and thanks Shauna for approaching a scary subject. xoxoxo
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