I believe there are three important questions to consider in these discussions. (1) Are there absolutes when it comes to righteous conduct? (2) Is the Bible the word of God? (3) Does what individuals do in the privacy of their own homes impact society at large? The vast majority of people who are citing the Bible as authority for their position have not actually read it cover to cover. I have spent over seven years trying to put together families who are at risk and almost without exception the situations where child abuse was documented involved a significant deviation from the standards of conduct promoted by the Bible. For example, I have never found a family who has one or both parents addicted to pornography where that marriage is thriving, and that fact always impacts the children. The problem is that deviations from God’s standard of morality, precludes the power and influence of the Holy Ghost. This, in turn, precludes the ability to truly love and minister to others to the degree we might.
Latter Day Saints and many churches who profess Christ, have not arbitrarily put homosexuality on the list of moral sins, nor do they put it on the top of the list. It is simply on the list. Statistically speaking, a high percentage of Americans, including religiously affiliated individuals, engage in premarital sex, are unfaithful to their spouses, will likely get divorced and engage in things that are not holy within the walls of their own homes. Christian doctrine promotes that having strong sexual urges doesn’t make it right to engage in immoral acts. In fact, through the help of Christ, we are to reach the point we overcome those lustful desires and adapt our passions to their doctrinally lawful and appropriate use. Saying that Christ cannot heal us and change our natures is to deny the atonement. Several times the scriptures in the New Testament recorded that he "healed them all". Such is the power of truth and the Lawgiver. We are all sinners and, as the apostle John taught, if we say we aren’t, we are liars. While I cannot and must not force you to choose a moral course, I cannot be a Christian and not promote what I believe to be true. Additionally, I should do all in my power not to reinforce that which is wrong nor say there is no wrong. I simply invite all to actually read the Bible and pray to God as if He is, with a desire know what is true and then pray to know what to do as a result of that knowledge. There are sins of greater weight than other sins, but all sin makes us dependent on the mercy of God and require repentance and turning fully to God. If we are not putting efforts to become more holy, we are in the process of becoming more sinful. We don't have the power to change ourselves, but "with God all things are possible".
Reading scriptures, gathering and sharing with others of like faith, and praying earnestly to know hear and commune with God, can literally kindle a desire to live righteously, as well as give us the power to do so. If we constantly watch that which is unholy and makes light of sacred things, we will never come to know the things of God. "God stands revealed or he remains forever unknown, (Bruce R. McConkie)".
Vicki Robinson
Latter Day Saints and many churches who profess Christ, have not arbitrarily put homosexuality on the list of moral sins, nor do they put it on the top of the list. It is simply on the list. Statistically speaking, a high percentage of Americans, including religiously affiliated individuals, engage in premarital sex, are unfaithful to their spouses, will likely get divorced and engage in things that are not holy within the walls of their own homes. Christian doctrine promotes that having strong sexual urges doesn’t make it right to engage in immoral acts. In fact, through the help of Christ, we are to reach the point we overcome those lustful desires and adapt our passions to their doctrinally lawful and appropriate use. Saying that Christ cannot heal us and change our natures is to deny the atonement. Several times the scriptures in the New Testament recorded that he "healed them all". Such is the power of truth and the Lawgiver. We are all sinners and, as the apostle John taught, if we say we aren’t, we are liars. While I cannot and must not force you to choose a moral course, I cannot be a Christian and not promote what I believe to be true. Additionally, I should do all in my power not to reinforce that which is wrong nor say there is no wrong. I simply invite all to actually read the Bible and pray to God as if He is, with a desire know what is true and then pray to know what to do as a result of that knowledge. There are sins of greater weight than other sins, but all sin makes us dependent on the mercy of God and require repentance and turning fully to God. If we are not putting efforts to become more holy, we are in the process of becoming more sinful. We don't have the power to change ourselves, but "with God all things are possible".
Reading scriptures, gathering and sharing with others of like faith, and praying earnestly to know hear and commune with God, can literally kindle a desire to live righteously, as well as give us the power to do so. If we constantly watch that which is unholy and makes light of sacred things, we will never come to know the things of God. "God stands revealed or he remains forever unknown, (Bruce R. McConkie)".
Vicki Robinson
