i know you all want to hear more from me on this topic, i just know it! this post was unplanned but with all the somewhat unexpected and overwhelming feedback i've received on my recent post in the last 24 hours through comments, facebook, emails, and texts i feel the need to share a post tying up unfinished thoughts and responding to a few comments. this post was thrown together as a blur of all the pressing thoughts in my brain. please be patient with any errors in any of these posts. since this is a post closing some dialogue, and finishing unfinished sentences, i will be closing the comments. feel free to email me if you have anything you truly would like to express. i am open to that.
first off-i am flattered that anyone read the post at all, and i'm extremely impressed with the (mostly) thoughtful and meaningful input i've received.
just a couple of things that i really should have shared to begin with. i do not in any way believe that i have received revelation for the world or for the church. i don't have any feeling in my heart to lead mankind in anyway (even saying that just sounds weird!). the only invitation i am making is for others to take time to pray, study, and ponder this topic with more thoughtfulness and openness than before.
i have a testimony of the prophet and apostles as leaders of our church. i believe God reveals eternal truths to our church leaders that guide us back to Him. this is one of the important pillars of my testimony of the restored gospel. however, i believe even church leaders would say (in an improbable situation but also in the right situation) that their opinion on matters of political or social issues, though extremely influenced by their testimonies of the restored gospel, are just that, opinion. i'm okay with this. i'm also okay with the fact that a large number of you would disagree with me on that. my testimony of the restored gospel and of a living prophet and apostles is firm. do i think it's okay for members to follow church leaders on political matters, even blindly? because there is safety in following the prophet, yes. because the whole point of being mormon is to work with heaven to make choices for yourself, no.
the church is mostly silent on matters of politics because God hasn't revealed His word on the subject, so it's interesting that the church has chosen this political topic to make an official stance. the thesis for many members who are against same sex marriage claim that because the church has made an official stance, it is doctrine; i believe that claim is incorrect. my thought on this: i don't know why church leaders have chosen to make a stance. however, through all of my personal discourse with heaven via prayer and scripture study i feel the stance is incorrect. i hope that doesn't come off all-knowing or arrogant. i am a mormon because all my personal discourse with heaven is green check marks on every doctrine taught by the church and our leaders (does that make any sense?). the spirit has confirmed (most) everything the church teaches to be true, obviously excepting this political topic (and obviously not the doctrinal topic, because i've made it clear that i agree with the church's official doctrine on homosexuality). i follow the prophet simply because what is taught by church leaders is confirmed to me personally through revelation from heaven.
i recently read this talk by president uchtdorf about the search for truth. it. is. amazing. and so relevant to this issue. and the most mormon talk ever given, i swear. to quote some favorite passages,
"I believe that our Father in Heaven is pleased with His children when they use their talents and mental faculties to earnestly discover truth."
"I ask you to spare no efforts in your search to know this truth for yourself--because this truth will make you free."
"It is my prayer that you will seek the truth earnestly and unceasingly, that you will yearn to drink from the fount of all truth, whose waters are pure and sweet, 'a well of water springing up unto everlasting life.'"
the key here is that as mormons, we are strongly encouraged to search for truth, wherever it can be found. and it's quotes like these that i fall hard for this church of mine, hard i tell you. it is how this church was started, with the prayer of a fourteen year old farm boy. joseph smith said, "one of the grand fundamental principles of mormonism is to receive truth, let it come from whence it may." i ended part 1 inviting anyone who read it to pray, study, and ponder on a handful of thought-provoking questions. again, the key is that we should be searching for truth. my prayer is that i can help others be inspired to search, and at times lead others to truth, if i have it.
"Yes, we do have the fulness of the everlasting gospel, but that does not mean that we know everything. In fact, one principle of the restored gospel is our belief that God “will yet reveal many great and important things."
this is president uchtdorf saying that at this time, as children of God, members and leaders alike, we don't know e.v.e.r.y.t.h.i.n.g., and basically this quote is the entire basis for part 1. the key is being prepared to receive more light from heaven by showing heaven that you are searching, asking, and ready for it.
"If you follow the Spirit, your personal search for the truth inevitably leads you to the Lord and Savior, even Jesus Christ, for He is “the way, the truth, and the life.” This may not be the most convenient way; it will probably also be the road less traveled, and it will be the path with mountains to climb, swift rivers to cross, but it will be His way—the Savior’s redeeming way."
how well do we tread this path? are we choosing to tread it at all? i hope that as a latter-day saint and an american, i am always on a personal quest for more truth. there have been moments of quiet knowledge that jesus christ lives and that he is my savior. those cherished moments are unmistaken and very meaningful guide posts to me that i am on a correct path. the path of searching and finding. and more searching, and hopefully more finding.
final thoughts.
as much as i obviously support same-sex marriage, and will support all consenting adult americans to have the freedom to marry whom they please, the mormon i am will still be the missionary i always have been and share with those who would like to hear it, my testimony about the gospel of jesus christ. some of your comments sorta made me sick to my stomache a little because you inferred that i am not standing up for what i believe, and the missionary that i am was a little bit heartbroken. i believe it was evelyn beatrice hall who said, "i disapprove of what you say, but i will defend to the death your right to say it." i may spiritually disagree with your choice to marry as a same-sex couple, but i do support your legal right to do it. and the same goes with many other behaviors that i believe are sinful (as taught to me by modern prophets, no less). and this paragraph sums up everything that gives me pride to be an american, gosh dang it.
it is all about expectations. if you expect u.s. law to meet the unchanging, eternal, and universal truths sent to you by the quiet whisperings of the holy ghost, then, as a faithful latter-day saint you will never support same-sex marriage as legal under u.s. law. and if that is you, then i'm admonishing you to do more than just oppose the opening of a strip club near your home. in my opinion, it is hypocritcal to be against same-sex marriage, and not be against the legalization of any behavior that you know is sinful. so yeah, oppose a strip club opening near your home (i hate strip clubs). but then you better be doing what you can to make sure u.s. laws are changed so that even attending a strip club is illegal; and that even smoking a cigarette is illegal, and that goes with using alcohol, and marijuana in colorado, and no american may be allowed to drink coffee. i will look you in the eyes and be disappointed in you if you don't do these things, because that is your moral compass, and you know that is wrong if you don't oppose the legalization of every possible sinful behaviour. and i expect more from you than to sit idly by. and i don't even say this with the least bit of sarcasm. i do expect a lot from those of you in this camp.
but, if you are okay with u.s. law differing from the unchanging, eternal, and universal truths sent to you by the quiet whisperings of the holy ghost, then it is possible for you to support same-sex marriage, and the legalization of many other behaviors that we latter-day saints know to be against God's wishes for His children, like smoking, and drinking, and strip clubs, and the list goes on. because you know that barack obama is the president of this nation, not Jesus Christ. you look forward to the day that He does reign over the earth, but have lower expectations from u.s. law until that day comes.
