Handbook 1, Section 16.13

I am a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints…

The Mormons

I am what is commonly called “A Convert”; meaning that I was not born into the Church, but joined later after being converted into the faith.

Never the less, even as a convert, I have been a member for about thirty years.

As a member of a Christian based Church, basing our faith on the teachings of the Bible, as well as other Gospels, we are taught that marriage is a holy union between a man and a woman. Same sex relationships are denounced by the bible, which is in fact the word of God, -as far as it is accurately translated. This, therefore, makes this “same sex” thing a sin;

…and not a Mormon sin, but a Christian sin.

Now, as soon as I say this, I know that many of you are throwing up your hands in disgust and thinking me a narrow minded religious fanatic. You would probably also think that this Mormon Church is obviously a cult controlled by sexist pigs who think that it should be their way, or the highway.

However, it is not only the Mormon Church that professes to believe this seemingly narrow minded view.

If you profess to be a God loving Christian, of any faith not just this “Mormon Cult”, then you would be professing to believe in the God inspired scriptures that support this belief. In defense, one could refer to any one of several scriptures that explain things as they are “Supposed to be”:

Genesis 1:27-28

27 So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them.

28 And God blessed them, and God said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it: and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth.

Genesis 2:24

24 Therefore shall a man leave his father and his mother, and shall cleave unto his wife: and they shall be one flesh.

Leviticus 18:22

22 Thou shalt not lie with mankind, as with womankind: it is abomination.

 

Simply put… If you believe in the teachings of God, then, these are the rules. These are the doo’s and the don’ts.

Now, enter the first challenge:

The United States ruled that “Gay marriage” was legal. This ruling was passed in a country that also professes to allow religious freedom. This religious freedom also allows those organizations to in-force church sanctioned rules that say same sex marriage is wrong.

So… who’s right!

Once again, I ride the fence.

I may be a member of the Mormon church, but personally, I don’t really have a problem with Gay relationships, however far they may go… even unto marriage. As for me: I prefer womenfolk… Well, one specific woman but, you know…

And if you prefer someone with all the same parts as you, then God bless you! Really!

The problem I have, is when their right TO marry in the same sex, infringes on others rights to believe it is wrong.

Religious establishments should have the right to teach marriage in their religious based organizations, and to restrict those practices as they see fit.  And, it only seems fair:  Because the supporters of same sex marriage wanted and gained their rights, so those on the other side of the fence should have theirs as well.

The real challenge here is when one side becomes so self-righteous that they begin to think that the other side is SO WRONG… that they must be eliminated.

Hitler tried this once… Didn’t go over very well.

It may be that someday when I finally meet God in heaven, he will fill me in on the real truth of things; that God Hates Gays…

Or, that he does not hate them.

Until then, I choose to believe in the following:

“For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.” – John 3:16

“…That whosoever believeth in him”

He did this for everyone! He did not say No Gays, No Blacks; No men that like to wear bras… whatever. It was an all-inclusive statement.

So, as for me:

I have always supported the Churches right to believe that same sex marriage is wrong, because it is wrong in the Gospels that they follow. And,  I have always believed that people can love whoever they desire, as long as it is truly love; “Because God So Loved the World…”

So when the LDS Church published:

“The Family: A Proclamation to the World”

https://www.lds.org/topics/family-proclamation?lang=eng

I was fine with it. I saw it as an effort to proclaim to the world that this is what we believe; this is what we think is right. In a perfect world, under perfect conditions, and based upon Gods laws, this is how it should be. If any possible flaw could be found in this text, it would be that this proclamation does not include all of the possible family situations that could exist. There is no allowance for the possibility of a single parent family, for example; or a situation where the grandparents raise the children.  In these examples alone we see situations that are not covered by the above proclamation. I am sure there are many more.

 And now, the next challenge:

Like most religious organizations, the Mormon Church has handbooks and guidelines for their members and church leaders to follow. These handbooks cover every possible situation that readers may come up against and offer the churches stance on how to handle these situations.

On or around November 13, 2015, the Church made a change to “Handbook 1, Section 16:13”. This change deals with how to handle situations where the children of these same sex relationships are interested in Church membership and in participating in Church activities.

Handbook 1 deals specifically with numerous sensitive and private matters so it is not made available to anyone. It is available, but usually provided to the bishopric and other church authorities to be used as a guideline for leadership. In researching this article, the only reference I could find, was from another “non-church” website where I found an article about the change (In this case, one must consider this information suspect because it is not from a Church authorized source).

I was however able to find an article published on the church website addressing the original handbook change written for the benefit of those members and nonmembers who had a problem with the changes being made. The text of this article can be found here:

https://www.lds.org/pages/church-handbook-changes?lang=eng

In digest, it seems like the change basically says that the children of same-sex marriages are not allowed to partake in church ordinances. After discussing this topic with certain authoritative church members, I learned that basic ordinances such as blessings for the healing of the sick, and other family related blessings in time of need would not be restricted. However, formal membership in the church, which includes baptism and the laying on of hands for the purpose of membership, would not be allowed. Furthermore, involvement in church activities would also not be allowed.

To be fair, when one understands the church stance on same-sex relationships, it becomes somewhat partially clear why a decision such as this would be made. In order for a child to become a member of the church, church authorities must have permission from both parents. Obviously, if the church does not recognize a same sex relationship they would not be able to recognize approval from those same sex parents.

Furthermore, it was made clear in this article that any active member in this situation that was made a member before this change took place should not have their status changed in any way. Only those people in this circumstance seeking membership after this change will be affected.

To me I think the most disturbing part of this article stated that decisions about the children of same-sex relationships should be left up to the leadership of the individual stakes and wards in question.

Once again, I ride the fence: even though admittedly I feel like I am leaning towards one specific direction.

As I have previously said, we live in a country where a man is allowed to marry a man and a woman is allowed to live with a woman and those relationships are allowed to either adopt or artificially inseminate and give birth to their own children. We also live in a country which was founded on the principle of freedom of religion.

Long before mankind became concerned with all of our modern-day problems, the first Europeans to set foot on the shore of this great country called the United States did so for the purpose of being allowed to exercise their own religious choices as they saw fit. Yes, there were other reasons for them coming here but this was one of the major contributing factors.

And I’m not trying to say that these modern problems that we face are insignificant or unimportant. On the contrary they are very important. They are very important because the decisions that we make now will affect generations of Americans to come and will mold how this country proceed forward.

I must admit, I am a little disturbed to live in a country where a football coach gets in trouble for praying with his team in public, and yet two men can walk arm in arm in public without any fear of repercussions.

In the end, I believe that all church organizations should have the right to practice their faith as they see fit. I believe that these same church organizations should responsibly and intelligently guided their membership to follow the rules as they understand them.

But I all so believe that these same churches should remember some of the other Gospels that come from the very same books that they base their rules on:

 

13 ¶ Then were there brought unto him little children, that he should put his hands on them, and pray: and the disciples rebuked them.

14 But Jesus said, Suffer little children, and forbid them not, to come unto me: for of such is the kingdom of heaven.

15 And he laid his hands on them, and departed thence.

(New Testament | Matthew 19:13 –

or, in plain English when the disciples tried to keep the children from bothering Jesus he said bring the children unto me for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

I know that the Christian church is in a difficult situation defending a stance that is unpopular and not supported by federal law.

But as Jesus said: “do not stop the children from coming to me” to his disciples: I believe our church leaders today should do no less with the children of today, regardless of where they are coming from.