Here's a response I sent this morning to the Salt Lake Tribune:
Regarding Carol Lynn Pearson's opinion "We can change history for gay LDS," I agree that we should certainly intervene whenever possible to help people avoid the awful choice of suicide. But her implication for Mormons seems to be, "We must sanction individuals indulging in sodomy without guilt or consequence, otherwise they're going to commit suicide and their deaths will be on our heads." That sounds like black mail to me, and I don't accept it.
Within Mormonism, we're all responsible for upholding the standards of the gospel. I consider it our responsibility to accept, love, and fellowship same-sex-attracted people who want to work on resisting their temptation and staying in harmony with Mormonism. However, we're under no obligation, moral or otherwise, to embrace those who expect Mormons to repent of our alleged bigotry and change the doctrine and commandments to accommodate sodomy.
UPDATE: The Tribune accepted this letter for publication, and it should appear this week. I believe the person who handles the letters at the Tribune deals with same-sex attraction, so I admire him for accepting a letter with some pretty charged language.
Monday, August 18, 2008
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8 comments:
Aparently carol isn't aware of the Articles of Faith. Arent we responsible for our own transgressions? And when are they(you know who I mean) going to stop categorizing themselves by their sins? Could any of the rest of us get away with "Well being an adulterer is just who I am, accept it" or "Im LDS but I have always worshipped graven images and I can't quit now, accept me" The line has been drawn for a very long time now, if we were to cross it, it would be to our condemnation not the other way round. So sorry carol you will just have to get your loved one to repent rather than a "get out of sin" recommend.
David West
is it sodomy that is bad, or just homosexual sodomy?
Anonymous #2:
I know my own personal answer, but you'll have to answer that one for yourself...
Oh, OK. I'll tell you my personal answer. No hetero sodomy for me, thanks.
all i'm saying is, you seem to be equating homosexuality with sodomy. i'm not sure if that's just an easy comparison, or because you want to make homosexuality sound as icky as possible to your audience.
but of course, sodomy does NOT equal homosexuality. it's probable that most active male homosexuals practice sodomy, but it's certainly NOT true that all who practice sodomy are homosexual OR male.
i can see that you advocate against accomodating homosexuality, especially ssm. but are you for sodomy laws, even for heterosexual couples? and if so, is that a religious advocacy or a personal one?
Dug wrote: "all i'm saying is, you seem to be equating homosexuality with sodomy. i'm not sure if that's just an easy comparison, or because you want to make homosexuality sound as icky as possible to your audience."
The word "sodomy" is good shorthand to cut through all the romanticizing of gay love/marriage I hear and get to what I see as the heart of the matter: no matter what emotions or causes or situations or rationalizations are
involved, the spider lurking at the center of the homosexuality web is named Sodomy, and it's hungry for souls.
"but of course, sodomy does NOT equal homosexuality. it's probable that most active male homosexuals practice sodomy, but it's certainly NOT true that all who practice sodomy are homosexual OR male."
Correct, sodomy is only homosexual if two people of the same gender do it.
"i can see that you advocate against accomodating homosexuality, especially ssm. but are you for sodomy laws, even for heterosexual couples? and if so, is that a religious advocacy or a personal one?"
I am against sodomy laws, even for gays. I think people should have the personal liberty to do what they want with their own bodies, as long as they don't infringe on the rights of others.
"the spider lurking at the center of the homosexuality web is named Sodomy"
but sodomy doesn't lurk at the center of lesbianism, does it?
Dug asked: "but sodomy doesn't lurk at the center of lesbianism, does it?"
I dunno, frankly. Do lesbians do things with foreign objects that count as sodomy, or like unto it?
I don't really deal directly with lesbianism, I admit. It's hard enough for me to understand male homosexuality, and I'm even more clueless when it comes to female.
Amen brother! We're new to your blog and couldn't agree more with your thoughts.
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