Mormons and the LGBT community: it's not what you think.

Many of you are here because of the recent rule of the LDS church regarding children of LGBT couples. The following is my take on what is going on, not an official representation of any organization.

I have gay friends. I believe people should be treated equally regardless of sexual preference. I am also a Mormon; a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints or LDS church. As such, I was unprepared for the recent rule of the church. I read with shock and surprise articles stating that my church will not allow the children of LGBT couples to be baptized into my church. It took a couple of minutes for the reason for that position to hit.

I guarantee that it's not what you're thinking right now, keep reading.

The church policy can be hard to understand sometimes. the following is from an official statement of the church:
"All visitors are welcome to our chapels and premises so long as they respect our standards of conduct while there. The gospel of Jesus Christ teaches us to love and treat all people with kindness and civility—even when we disagree. We affirm that those who avail themselves of laws or court rulings authorizing same‐sex marriage should not be treated disrespectfully. Indeed, the Church has
advocated for rights of same‐sex couples in matters of hospitalization and medical care, fair housing and employment, and probate.."

And yet there is this thing with the kids. If you're saying "What?!" you are not alone. I understand why people are outraged with the way the media puts it. I think they have it completely backwards, although I haven't found an official explanation from the church yet.

Here is the thing, I think this rule is in place to protect LGBT families from being torn apart. It's because we care about them. The rule is not to punish them, it's not because we find them impure, it's not because we hate them, it's not because the children are somehow sinful (all these are against the teachings of the church and contrary to its character)--it's because sexual preference is a core part of a person's identity, and no child should have to choose between faith and family. It is more important that they have a good relationship with their parents than it is for them to be a member of the church.

In the King James version of the Bible in Exodus 20:12 we read, "Honour thy father and thy mother: that thy days may be long upon the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee." This is one of the big ten commandments, and I believe is the reason the children can't join the church. We believe this trust and respect between parents and children is sacred and to be respected.

We also teach that giving in to same-sex attraction is a sin. Please note that I said "giving into same-sex attraction." Same-sex attraction (or SSA) is not a sin in itself. Many people are born with it and can't help it. It's nothing to be ashamed about; it is a "thorn in the flesh," a trial we are meant to overcome. However, entering into a sexual same-sex relationship is a sin. I don't apologize for this belief; it is scriptural and true. I do promise you that I will not force this belief on anybody or judge people who believe differently. I also can't teach this principle to a kid with two married moms or two married dads. We will not let any underage child join the church without the full support of their parents, regardless of their home situation. No parent could support their child if by example they completely go contrary to the teachings of the church by legal lifestyle choice. We choose to respect the head of the household.

Baptism in The Church of Jesus Christ is not like most other religions. Baptism in this church is the door to membership in the church. Maintaining membership in the church requires obedience to all of God's commandments, not just the ten commandments (again, this rule is to help us to grow, not to punish failure.) A life following the commandments of God means we live by the law of chastity: no sexual relations except with the one person of the opposite gender that we are married to. No exceptions. All members must do this. This does not mean we can't be friends or family with those who do not obey this spiritual law.

Perhaps most famously, only members living by our high standards of  morals and obedience can enter our temples. This has more to do with respect of the sacred and learning line upon line than it has to do with and secrets or a sense of elitism. It is simply very special to us.
Photo credit: "Salt Lake Temple, Utah - Sept 2004" commons.wikimedia.org

As the children come of age and become independent they may choose to join the church. When they are the head of their own household, they are free to choose as they wish. I pray that this rule will come to be seen as what I believe it was intended to do: a way to free families from the possibility of being pulled apart by our faith.

We are all brothers and sisters, sons and daughters of God with divine potential and infinite worth. He loves every one of you, and asks us to love one another. I pray for the day when voices of hatred, fear, misunderstanding, discrimination, and suspicion are replaced by universal love and understanding. We invite all to come to Christ, feel of his love and to join us. I hope this helps us all to come to an understanding.

Please understand that I do not wish to argue. Any language that is confrontational or disrespectful of others, be it Mormons or the LGBT community will be deleted. I hope to unite, not dive here.

Intelligent Design vs Guided Evolution and real science

I am a christian. I believe God created Heaven and Earth. I believe that He made the stars, planets and matter that make up our galaxy. I believe we are his children, made in his image. I also don't believe in Intelligent Design. Confused?

Don't be. Intelligent Design is not what you may think it is. It is a specific set of beliefs, not a blanket name for Creationism. It is propagated by a specific entity called the Discovery Institute, a christian conservative organization. In theory it is a scientifically based view not influenced by any belief, faith, religion  or preconceptions. In reality it is a christian religious agenda based primarily on a specific interpretation of The Bible. It is best summed up in a quote from them: "Certain features of the universe and of living things are best explained by an intelligent cause, not an undirected process such as natural selection." Intelligent design is NOT the only  form of creationism. It does NOT represent all christianity, and definitely not all creationists. In my opinion Intelligent Design is limited and dangerously restricting as well as misleading, as it is often thought to be the be only christian answer. Let's look at it flaws from both a christian and scientific stand-point.

Intelligent Design limits God

One of the first flaws of Intelligent Design that comes to our notice is that it is dependent on a single fixed view of God. Let us return to this quote: "Certain features of the universe and of living things are best explained by an intelligent cause, not an undirected process such as natural selection." There seems to be an assumption here that God can't direct natural selection, that he must use His direct power. Think about it - it's stating that the "intelligent cause" would not use certain types of creation. Albert Einstein once said "As I have said so many times, God doesn't play dice with the world." (I know I'm taking that out of context), I say God can play dice if he wants, he knows how they will fall. He can always roll sixes if he wants, they are His dice. He knows the end from the beginning. He has the fore-knowledge to be able to set things up so that "A" causes "B" which causes "C" and so on. To our mortal minds it may at first seem like a random process, because we don't know enough to predict the results out of the infinite possible ends. Our minds are not advanced enough to even grasp that. "For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the Lord. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts." (Isaiah 55:9 KJV) I believe God can use evolution as a powerful self-regulating tool.

Intelligent Design is not scientific

There have been no unbiased experiments conducted, no whitepapers published and it has never presented a body of proof sufficient to be taken seriously by the scientific community. Much of what they say hinges on flawed analogies, like the watchmaker analogy - which would be valid if we were talking about mechanical things and not biology. Every specific argument for Intelligent design has fallen prey to research. For example: Bacterial Flagella. These are small hair-like protrusions from bacterial cells that rotate, providing propulsion. Proponents state that the flagella are too complex to have simply evolved; they must be created. A partial flagella serves no purpose and would not provide an advantage. After the the proponents of Intelligent Design made this claim, it was shown that a poison spur on a similar type of bacteria were one protein short of a rotating flagella. In short, it was obvious how it evolved with a single mutation. It is clear that they have much to do and prove to be taken seriously as a viable theory.

Intelligent Design is dangerous to the future of science

I see it as deliberately blind view that things are what they are because God made it that way and that is that, stating that if you don't understand something you should ascribe it to God and call it done. This bugs me on many levels. I want to know how God created the universe. Yes, stating that God made it is true, stating that all things are His handiwork is valid, but not even trying to find out why - proclaiming it to be a dogma that science cannot and should not probe does not rest well with me. If you say that, you fall into the same stagnant trap that forces good people to chose between their faith and logic. It pushes all we do not yet understand into the untouchable realm of God's power. This is not right. Galileo ran up against a system like that. One cannot define science by religion, what exists is what is and deserves to be seen as that. Scripture is vague. In Galileo's time people believed that heaven had perfect spheres called planets. They were symmetrical and geometrically perfect. Along came a scientist who had evidence to the contrary. Today we understand that the Catholic church read into the scriptures things that were not there; they added to their dogma things with no scriptural basis. May I point out that scripture does not state "and verily He poofeth the earth and animals into existence fully formed in an instant."

Science must be allowed to postulate freely. Part of the scientific method is to observe objectively, not within the restrictions of dogma or ANY preconception.

So what do I think happened?

It's fairly simple. This video (you don't HAVE to watch it, but it comes recommended) has some real gold in it. It is produced by Sal Khan, founder of Khan academy.

In this, he states that a self-regulating universe speaks to a more profound God. The very fact that we continue to improve and grow shows that God is not done. The work of God is endless - endless number of creations, endless improvement of His creations and creations that have no end. The form may change, but matter (by the laws we know) can neither be created nor destroyed. Sal Khan also spoke of fractals. I imagine that God would know every whorl that a fractal would have in it in all its infinite complexity before it was done. If you think of the universe as a fractal, things start to get interesting.

We are at the Big Bang. God has looked across all the possible universes, all the infinite combinations and all the ends and chosen the one he wanted. The bang starts. Space and time are warped, the very concepts don't exist yet. As the universe expands, the laws God has chosen snap into place. The electromagnetic force is stronger than gravity. Dark energy, inertia and heat forces everything apart. Antimatter and matter cancel each-other out. In this improbable universe there is a tiny bit more matter. It is not evenly dispersed. As God planned, the irregularities cause it to collapse into clouds then stars. These live and die, they explode into heavier elements, seeding the universe with minerals needed for life. New stars form. Some organize planets in orbit around them from the heavy elements that were scattered. Some form life that grows and evolves into what we see today. God uses this genetic soup as the raw material to create his children on this and other worlds.

Some of these children stand and see the order and patterns and state "this must be the work of a God, I have my faith so I need look no further," others stand and see the same and say "I see how this was done, it must not be the work of a God, I'll look further." Then there are some of us who say "I believe it was God who made it. He is a God of order, let us see how he did it."

I live in wonder of the wisdom and power of God. This world of ours is beautiful and complicated beyond our current understanding, but I would love to understand as much as a mortal is able.