If same-sex sexual attractions alone are not sinful and do not make one unworthy before the Church and before God (as goes the argument), how about these other types of sexual attractions? We’ve come up with some glib new gay-like names for them. Let’s define them, starting with gay, and include some of their "former" descriptions.
Gay: people being sexually attracted to people of their same sex (also called SSA, formerly called unnatural lust, wickedness, sexual disorder/addiction, homosexuality)
Bay: people being sexually attracted to other people regardless of anybody's biological sex (formerly called unnatural lust, wickedness, sexual disorder/addiction, bisexuality, homosexuality)
Tray: people insisting they are really supposed to be the opposite of their biological sex and then being sexually attracted to those of their same biological sex (formerly called mental illness, transvestite, transsexual, transgendered, homosexuality)
Fay: adults being sexually attracted to children/minors of either sex (formerly called unnatural lust, wickedness, dirty old men, pedophilia, pederasty, and/or homosexuality)
Pay: people being sexually attracted to sleazy, oversexed, extreme and perverse sexual material (formerly called sin, dirty mindedness, lust, sadism, more recently called pornography addiction)
Day: adults being sexually attracted to adults other than their spouse (formerly called sin of the heart, emotional affair, adulterous, betrayal, infidelity)
Ray: people being sexually attracted to children or young people who are their relatives (formerly called wickedness, sinfulness, dirty old men, incestuous, pedophilia, pederasty)
Say: people attracted to violent, masochistic forms of sexuality (formerly called iniquity, mental illness, sadism, sado-masochism)
May: people being sexually attracted to animals (formerly called iniquity, filthiness, bestiality)
And apparently there are even more "ays. " In addition, they often interconnect, such as pay linking to gay, day, fay, ray, or gay linking to fay, bay, say, etc. Like King Benjamin said, we cannot name them all.
We guess that most devout LDS who claim the gay/SSA identity and their sympathizers still believe most of the above "ays" are wrong in both thought and deed. And yet they invent sweeping allowances for homosexual attractions insisting that those afflicted have no control over them and can indulge in them emotionally, mentally, intellectually, and spiritually without harm to others or their own "worthiness."
We submit that if gay/SSA is okay as an identity that doesn't need, or can't, be fixed, why aren't all these other "ays" okay as permanent identities? Why aren't all these temptations equally harmless? Why don't all these other sexual attractions similarly cause no damage to afflicted people's character and worthiness? Unrepentant people who identify themselves as Gays, Bays, Trays, Fays, Pays, Days, Rays, Says, Mays---all are welcome to be teachers and leaders of the rest of us, including children and youth; why not? These attractions aren't harmful, that is, as long as they aren't "acted out." No big deal, right?
Of course not. It's safe to say that nobody in their right mind would knowingly allow proud, unrepentant, self-proclaimed fays, pays, rays, says, etc. to teach or lead others, even if they haven't acted out with their bodies. Their perverse sexual self-identification represents obsessive false ideas and wrong attitudes that spread as surely as a bodily disease spreads, especially among youth.
You see, giving in to this gay identity to any degree is not the answer. It's a dead end. There is excellent help available for those who truly desire to get straightened out---from the inside out.
As the miserable Pheadra who was lusting after her stepson said in Euripides's play Hyppolytus, "My hands are clean. It is my soul that's fouled."
And from Chaucer's The Canterbury Tales: "Oh foul sin of lust, observe your end! Not only would you weaken man's mind, but you wish completely to enslave his body. The end of your deeds or blind desires is lamentation. How many we see around us who, not for sometimes doing this sin but merely for the intention of doing it, are killed or ruined!" ("The Man of Law's Tale: Three," translation by R. M. Lumiansky, Simon and Schuster, 1948, 106.)
Here at SoL it's the rescue not just of bodies but of souls we care about.
Monday, April 25, 2011
Friday, April 22, 2011
Now is the Time to Be Valiant
The Lord needs valiant servants to do his work in the latter days . . . That's a line from a song in our church's children's songbook. Are we valiant servants?
When Satan is stirred up against that which is good, which he obviously is in our culture today, good people must be stirred up against that which is evil, as in being valiant. And yet what we see now is a lot of convenient silence.
We don't much stand or talk or preach against abortion anymore, even though unborn babies continue to be destroyed for no good reason. (There are seven abortion clinics in our state of Utah doing this evil work every day.) We don't dare mention traditional, natural gender roles, even though they are stated in our doctrine (The Family: A Proclamation to the World.) And we keep our mouths shut when it comes to homosexuality, even though it's wrong and harmful. All this because we've become conditioned, or we're afraid of offending somebody, or we think ourselves "enlightened."
The consequence of such behavior is obvious. When good men do nothing, evil triumphs. Of course we know that evil will triumph for a time. But in the eternal scheme of things, this doesn't matter. What will matter is if we were valiant servants of the Lord or not while we had the chance.
Chances to be valiant come often, in all kinds of ways. Parents, grandparents, teachers, leaders, citizens, public servants, all have opportunities to take an enthusiastic stand against these evils. Leaders especially seem to be in the hot seat because of their responsibility to make sure important and true (as opposed to false, vain, and foolish) principles are presented and followed. We are told that even those who are humble followers of Christ can go astray because their leaders teach them the precepts of men (2 Nephi 28).
It might be a good idea to think about what kind of person is the opposite of valiant. How about complacent, cowardly, afraid, shallow, hypocritical, selfish, blind, prideful, silly, ignorant, lazy?
Actually, the Lord doesn't need us at all. We're the ones who need him, his forgiveness, his redemption, and his Spirit to inspire and guide us, to make us valiant servants in our own stumbling way for the sake of our own eternal souls. Since none of us are perfect, it's safe to say we all have room for improvement.
Does anyone doubt that we will be judged according to how valiant we were in these crazy times?
When Satan is stirred up against that which is good, which he obviously is in our culture today, good people must be stirred up against that which is evil, as in being valiant. And yet what we see now is a lot of convenient silence.
We don't much stand or talk or preach against abortion anymore, even though unborn babies continue to be destroyed for no good reason. (There are seven abortion clinics in our state of Utah doing this evil work every day.) We don't dare mention traditional, natural gender roles, even though they are stated in our doctrine (The Family: A Proclamation to the World.) And we keep our mouths shut when it comes to homosexuality, even though it's wrong and harmful. All this because we've become conditioned, or we're afraid of offending somebody, or we think ourselves "enlightened."
The consequence of such behavior is obvious. When good men do nothing, evil triumphs. Of course we know that evil will triumph for a time. But in the eternal scheme of things, this doesn't matter. What will matter is if we were valiant servants of the Lord or not while we had the chance.
Chances to be valiant come often, in all kinds of ways. Parents, grandparents, teachers, leaders, citizens, public servants, all have opportunities to take an enthusiastic stand against these evils. Leaders especially seem to be in the hot seat because of their responsibility to make sure important and true (as opposed to false, vain, and foolish) principles are presented and followed. We are told that even those who are humble followers of Christ can go astray because their leaders teach them the precepts of men (2 Nephi 28).
It might be a good idea to think about what kind of person is the opposite of valiant. How about complacent, cowardly, afraid, shallow, hypocritical, selfish, blind, prideful, silly, ignorant, lazy?
Actually, the Lord doesn't need us at all. We're the ones who need him, his forgiveness, his redemption, and his Spirit to inspire and guide us, to make us valiant servants in our own stumbling way for the sake of our own eternal souls. Since none of us are perfect, it's safe to say we all have room for improvement.
Does anyone doubt that we will be judged according to how valiant we were in these crazy times?