| Questions
for Latter-day Saints
Since the beginning God’s will and desire has been to protect man’s gift of agency. God said, “I, the Lord God, spake unto Moses saying… because that Satan rebelled against me, and sought to destroy the agency of man, which I the Lord God, had given him, … I caused that he should be cast down” (Moses 4:1,3). Millions of our Gay and Lesbian brothers and sisters want to use their agency to marry a companion they truly love. Why are so many seeking to destroy their agency to do so? Do you believe God has changed and is now pleased when you seek to destroy the agency of His children who are different from you in some way or who simply believe differently than you? In 1831 the Lord said with simple clarity to the Prophet Joseph Smith, “…verily I say unto you, that whoso forbiddeth to marry is not ordained of God” (D&C 49:15; see also 1 Timothy 4:1-3). Why do so many LDS politicians, leaders and members believe they are an exception to the Lord’s all-inclusive injunction and try to legislatively forbid Gays and Lesbians to marry? [Please keep in mind that, as most Latter-day Saints well know, the verses following this verse are not a complete description of God’s law of marriage. It is a statement of one thing that is lawful and one purpose of marriage. See D&C Section 132 for more information on what is lawful in God’s eyes and remember Article of Faith 9] The Book of Mormon teaches: “…it was strictly contrary to the commands of God that there should be a law which should bring men on to unequal grounds” (Alma 30:7). If Utah or Federal law allows some members of our community to marry according to their heart and belief, and forbids Gays and Lesbians that same privilege, how is that equal grounds? When the Missouri Saints were suffering persecution, defamation of character, misunderstanding and having laws enacted against them (just as is being done to Gays today), the Lord spoke to Joseph Smith: “…the laws and constitution of the people which I have suffered to be established, and should be maintained for the rights and protection of all flesh, according to just and holy principles; [like agency and love] That every man may act in doctrine and principle pertaining to futurity, according to the moral agency which I have given him, that every man may be accountable for his own sins in the day of judgment…. And for this purpose have I established the Constitution of this land, by the hands of wise men whom I raised up unto this very purpose, and redeemed the land by the shedding of blood” (D&C 101:77-78, 80). When the Lord said that those rights and protections should be “maintained”, why are so many Latter-day Saints determined to change the divinely inspired Constitution and take away those rights and protections from your Gay and Lesbian brothers and sisters? Do you believe that God’s Gay and Lesbian children are somehow excluded from the Lord’s terms “all flesh” and “every man”? Since the agency God gave us includes “moral agency”, why do so many Latter-day Saints use “morality” as justification to destroy the moral agency which God has given all His children? Isn’t it fundamentally immoral to destroy God’s gift of moral agency? Our LDS scriptures state: “We believe that no government can exist in peace, except such laws are framed and held inviolate as will secure to EACH individual the free exercise of conscience… We believe that religion is instituted of God; and that men are amenable to him, and to him only, for the exercise of it, unless their religious opinions prompt them to infringe upon the rights and liberties of others….” (D&C 134:2, 4) Isn’t it strongly held “religious opinion” about what marriage is or isn’t, and what a family is or isn’t, that is causing the national uproar leading to serious infringement of basic human rights and civil liberties of millions of Gay Americans? This scripture also states that human law “should never suppress the freedom of the soul…holding sacred the freedom of conscience… We believe that … governments have a right, and are bound to enact laws for the protection of ALL citizens in the free exercise of their religious belief … We do not believe it just to mingle religious influence with civil government, whereby one religious society is fostered and another proscribed in its spiritual privileges, and the individual rights of its members, as citizens, denied….” (see D&C 134:5,7, 9). Do we Latter-day Saints believe any of this anymore? All the anti-Gay legislation and sentiment in Utah and the US gives strong evidence that these truths are either not believed or not practiced. Why are so may LDS politicians and leaders on a State and National level trying so vehemently to impose their religious beliefs and way of life on our Gay and Lesbian citizens? Why are so many LDS passionately trying to destroy the religious freedoms of other churches which do value Gays and Lesbians and their monogamous relationships and want to offer them the blessings of marriage and family? Why are so many Latter-day Saints today doing the exact same things to Gays as the US government did to our polygamist ancestors? Was nothing learned or passed on from all the persecution our ancestors endured in their efforts to live according to the truth they were given? Is there no inheritance of sympathy, empathy, or compassion left from our pioneer heritage? Have the persecuted now become the persecutors? “We
believe… in doing good to all men” (Article
of Faith 13). Is discriminating against any one good? Is taking
away freedom doing good to anyone? Is depriving them of their civil
rights good? Is depriving them of marriage and family good? Are any
of the things you are doing to your Gay and Lesbian neighbors good,
or kind or loving? One more consideration: 1 Ne. 13:39-40 teaches that the Book of Mormon and other books that will come forth in the last days (including the Book of Mormon, D&C, and Pearl of Great Price), will establish the truth of the Bible. The Lord taught Joseph Smith that the teachings of the Book of Mormon prophets will “bring to light the true points of my doctrine” (D&C 10:62). If traditional anti-homosexual interpretations of Bible scriptures are true, why doesn’t the Book of Mormon, Doctrine and Covenants or Pearl of Great Price reaffirm those teachings? How are LDS marriages or families threatened by allowing their Gay brothers and sisters to marry and have families according to their conscience and religious beliefs? Most Utahns enjoy the rich blessings of marriage and family. A Book of Mormon prophet spoke “concerning pride; and those of you which have afflicted your neighbor, and persecuted him because ye were proud in your hearts, of the things which God hath given you, what say ye of it? Do ye not suppose that such things are abominable unto him who created all flesh? And the one being is as precious in his sight as the other” (Jacob 2:20-21). Are you truly willing to believe this scripture, that one of God’s Gay children is as precious as His Straight children? These
and other helpful resources will eventually be available at www.ldsreconciliation.org
The 1998 LDS Priesthood manual quoted Brigham Young: “If the Kingdom
of God, or a theocratic government, was established on the earth, many
practices now prevalent would be abolished.
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