My Thoughts on Buttars

I don't like Chris Buttars, the Utah legislator who spouts off racist rhetoric and is otherwise apparently a boneheaded hillbilly. After last year's kerfuffle with his "black baby" remark, I thought he should have been unseated, and I was unpleasantly surprised when he actually earned reelection.

Now he's in the news again for so-called hate speech against gays, and I again feel uncomfortable with the way he's expressed himself and with all the bad publicity he's generating. And this time my feelings are even more mixed because I also agree with some aspects of his position.

I don't hate gays or think they are completely evil or that the average gay person has any desire to bring down America. I think they are people saddled with a difficult attraction, and those who choose to follow that attraction have made a terrible mistake that I hope they can ultimately repent of. I don't presume to judge any individual's accountability, and there may be some people who honestly can't help themselves, but I don't think there's any situation where God would countenance an actual gay marriage.

I would put it differently than Buttars. I don't think that gays "will destroy the foundation of the American society." But I do agree that the gay ISSUE could well contribute to destroying our society, splitting it apart and causing God to remove his protection and blessing if and when the majority of the nation accepts something contrary to his will.

I am more alarmed by a person who does not have gay sex but who says that gay sex is fine and should be celebrated with marriage than I am by someone who has gay sex but admits it's wrong. Gay behavior is like any other vice or perversion; it's bad to do but can be repented of, and we need to be patient and understanding of those who are caught in its grip, especially if they are humble about it and do not try to redefine God's laws to accommodate their sin.

I absolutely do not accept that God created some people as gay and that they should receive special dispensation to follow their bliss, while the rest of us have to keep resisting our desires that aren't in harmony with God's laws.

We're in a war here, and the gay activists are very powerful. I'm amazed by how many Mormons who should know better are caught up in the deception that homosexuality is just like race and that the Church will eventually come around like it did with blacks and the priesthood. I definitely think the gay issue will be the main engine that divides those who follow God from those who do not, including within the Mormon church. And as more people choose to put aside God and champion the gay cause, I think society is really going to break down.

So I agree with Buttars when he says, "In my mind, it's the beginning of the end." It's a new, terrible phase that clearly shows how mixed up our nation is getting and how far from God we're getting. Never before have people actually said, "Let's take a sin and embrace it and celebrate it and put it on an equal level with real marriage." It's a whole new ballgame compared to abortion or drugs or anything else. I mean, no one has been trying to say that abortion is acceptable to God, just that people have their freedom of choice (which I agree with). But gay marriage is saying that gay unions are deserving of God's full acceptance, which they're not.

I agree with Buttars when he says, "Sodom and Gomorrah was localized. This is worldwide." Previously, one civilization could be falling apart morally while another one was on the upswing. But now we're essentially one big worldwide civilization, or fast becoming one, and when we go down, we're all going down together as a planet. I can see how the Second Coming will happen because it will be necessary, because the whole planet will have gone rotten all at once and will not be salvageable except through such a dramatic, extreme event.

I don't think there should be laws against sodomy or that we should be mean to gay people. I wish they could just live their lives and not try to gain further acceptance for their lifestyle, which I'm certain that deep down they must all sense on some level is not right. Many gays probably are content just to lie low and follow their own passions without trying to alter the civilization. But there are gay radical activists out there who will not stop until they've persuaded our civilization to not only accept but embrace their sinful lifestyle, and they are gaining in power and influence.

One main reason I'm religious is that I've experienced the devil in person for myself, so I know he's a real being, and I see his handiwork all over everything related to homosexuality and the gay movement, from tempting kids starting at a young age to think they are gay and follow same-sex temptations to carefully orchestrating the whole gay agenda and campaign, twisting it to confuse people and appeal to their sympathies by making it seem like it's an issue equivalent to racial rights.

I don't know how long it will take--I hope several more decades. But I agree with Buttars that eventually the gay issue is going to help split this nation apart and cause terrible civil war. It's the latter days, and the world is going to gradually get worse, and this whole gay thing is a BIG part of that. I honestly don't know for sure if Buttars is doing us a favor by drawing a line in the sand or if he's just making things prematurely worse (probably more of the latter). On some level, I admire his courage to say what he thinks, even if most people don't like it, including fellow Mormons who deep down think much like he does but who want to keep things peaceful and easy.

It's going to be very painful for a lot of Mormons to have to choose which side they're on and, if they do choose the right side, to stand up for it in the face of persecution that I'm sure will eventually get every bit as bad as it was for the early Mormons. I hope it takes another 100 or 200 years, but I think it will take only 10 or 20 years for things to really start getting bad, especially if we have another 10-year depression that keeps everyone in a pissy mood.