LDS Perspectives: Faith Alone?

I am realizing that this blog will be more frequently updated as I copy and paste my different responses on other blogs, messages, etc. :-) The following represents my personal, religious beliefs on the matter. I wish to separate this from other secular perspectives, because I know these perspectives will not impact most when it comes to voting.

The following is a response I wrote to an LDS woman who was feeling torn about Prop 8. She felt like the message to support Prop 8 was being "crammed down her throat" and that this conflicted with the Church's teachings on agency. She wondered if she could personally ask Heavenly Father about the matter, or if she should take it on faith alone.


"I think perhaps what you are feeling is the pressing urgent nature of [the First Presidency's] statements. Because this is a short-term endeavor, that is perhaps why you feel suffocated, but that is why we are being admonished with a sense of urgency.

You don't have to take it on faith alone. However, if you have a testimony that President Thomas S. Monson is a prophet of God and the mouthpiece of God, then you can know what the First Presidency says is from Heavenly Father. We don't have to pray about every single thing that we hear in General Conference. All we need to pray about is if these people are prophets & apostles of God. They are not perfect, but in those settings, they are delivering His message. "Whether by my voice or the voice of My servants it is the same."

We will always have agency. God will not withhold from giving commandments through His prophets because He doesn't want our agency taken away. When we are given any sort of commandment whether it's the Ten Commandments or a commandment to support Prop 8, we will always have a choice whether or not we want to follow. Your agency is not being taken away. Someone inviting you to do phone calls is an invitation. No one can force you to do ANYTHING.

Look past the here and now and all of the details of laws, codes, etc. What it comes down to is that Heavenly Father created man and woman as separate and different but equal partners and that anything other than this is not marriage. He also created His plan that we would form family units of a father, a mother, and children, and this is the unit through which we are organized in the eternities. This is an eternal matter. God defined marriage; we as His children do not have any place to define it. He is all knowing, loving and merciful, but He nor His servants will ever ask us to be cruel. By supporting Prop 8, we are in no way persecuting others. We must absolutely love people with all of our hearts but this does not mean embracing lifestyles that clearly go against God's ETERNAL plan for His children. We can love people without loving what they do, and truly loving others mean inviting them, not forcing them, to a better way: His way."

Christian Perspectives: My Response

I received a message on MySpace from someone who is part of a tolerance group. This person asked me to consider the Bible's admonition about judging others, particularly the story of the Good Samaritan which teaches us to love our neighbor, (i.e. everybody), and the story of the adulterous woman who was about to be stoned. Jesus stopped those with the stone by saying, "He is without sin, let him cast the first stone." Everyone left because we all sin at some point. Here was my response:

"I consider myself quite understanding of both sides. I have visited the No on Prop 8 website as well to get the full perspective. What I love about the story of Jesus stoning the woman though, is that He did say that we are not to judge, however He also went to the woman and said, "Go and sin no more" after saying that He did not condemn her. Christ urges us to not condemn or judge others, but that does not mean that we have to be tolerant of sin. God loved sinners, not sin. Truly loving someone is loving them no matter what, but at the same time leading them to be more like God. By legalizing same-sex marriage, we are encouraging more opportunities for same-sex couples to be together rather than encouraging them to live another way. I am not being insensitive to those that struggle with homosexual feelings. I realize that is very real, but just because we have certain feelings or thoughts does not mean we need to act on them.

The Bible is full of examples of how God feels about homosexuality. You are absolutely right that it is not our place to judge; it is God's place to judge. God created Adam and Eve, man and woman, and instituted marriage as between a man and a woman. Those of us voting "yes" on Prop 8 are not calling the shots and defining marriage, we are simply KEEPING marriage the way God defined it a the beginning of time. It is not our job to define marriage; God has already done that. I have seen other Christians struggle with Prop 8 because they feel that Jesus did not legislate His teachings, and I completely agree that government ideally should stay out of it. Prop 22 passed in 2000 and FOUR judges decided that what CA voted on doesn't matter. That is the reason that this issue is even on the ballot again.

I am absolutely against persecution against homosexuals in every way, shape and form. I don't feel that Prop 8 is about equality or persecution. Civil unions will receive all of the same benefits for insurance, property, and hospital visitations. But redefining what God defined as marriage will open the door for marriage no longer having a fundamental place in society as a holy sacrament. As far as inequality goes, I feel that much of the inequality that will result if Prop 8 doesn't pass will be seen in churches that lose tax-exemption status or get sued because they won't marry gay couples, or parents who find out after the fact that gay marriage has been discussed in their child's classroom because the teacher has to teach gay marriage as being equal. If you had to choose to not have a mother or not have a father, would you be able to choose? A mother and a father are the best situation to raise children. I realize this does not happen often, but that does not mean that we need to encourage it from not continuing to happen."

I then thanked them and agreed that we need to get the beam out of our own eyes before we look at the motes in others eyes. I hope to receive a response from that person soon.