Last week was the semiannual General Conference for our church. Twice a year, our leaders come together for a worldwide meeting to teach the lessons they believe we as a church need to hear. Conference usually leaves me feeling fulfilled and uplifted. The doctrines of our church are so beautiful, and when articulated by intelligent and spiritual men and women, they seem more divine. However, last week I was left with a crisis of faith, like many of my fellow saints, after President Boyd K. Packer's talk on homosexuality. I have been left wondering and pondering and hoping that Heavenly Father would not think the things that President Packer declared. And I felt guilty about it. About doubting someone who I regularly sustain as the "mouthpiece of God." I felt guilty when a friend at church yesterday bore her testimony about doubting people and how the CHURCH. IS. TRUE. NO. MATTER. WHAT.
Oh. my.
But this morning, I read the news that the Church is changing the wording of President Packer's talk in the official version. It is... relieving. To some degree.
And if one more person in Sunday School makes the analogy between tendencies toward alcoholism and homosexuality.... I might scream.
i feel the same way! i was a little unnerved by it as well . and i am very glad that their official stance is something i can agree with. elder oaks compared struggles with alcoholism to struggles with homosexuality in an interview once, it is on the church newsroom website somewhere, that is why everyone refers to it all the time....
ReplyDeleteIt is certainly understandable why you feel the way you do. It is also understandable why Elder Packer said what he did. I think we all struggle with articulating what a sin is and how to respond to it. It is hard to say to ourselves or to others that our desires might not be in accord with what God wants for us. It sounds like God must hate us, or that we are defective. It sounds like some type of permanent divorce from God. It does not seem like the loving God we believe in.
ReplyDeleteSo what is sin? Is there such a thing? Why are some things deemed sin? Is there a truth to it, or not? Or is sin all culturally determined and therefore dismissable as meaningless?
If there is such a thing as sin, should one raise one's voice against it? How do you do that without offending those who are engaging in it? What accountability do we have in these matters?
I guess the bottom line is, Caitlin, do you believe that certain individuals will be living a homosexual lifestyle in the next life? If the answer is yes, no, or "I don't know," each of those positions requires a careful explanation. And, logically, not all of these answers can be consonant with Church doctrine. And that raises issues of its own.
Ok, I have to know what type of analogies people are making between alcoholism and homosexuality?
ReplyDelete