The following is a comment we received (we'll leave off the name) and our response. Make of it what you will. We quote:
I would just like to point out a couple of things, not to argue but to give contrast as I generally agree with you and you past e-mails.
Most every human being has the ability to within a second to determine the gender of an individual on the street, so likewise can one with a few seconds determine if a man is effeminate.
The following Apostles and Prophet are Effeminent:
[We will spare you this list of names, six of whom our reader claims are effeminate and seven masculine!]
There is a spectrum of sexuality, everyone falls on a different place. Only seventeen percent of men are %100 heterosexual, the rest can be turned to bi-sexuality. Ask Jan Shipps Mormons seem to trust her, she was a sexologist for decades... lol
In my stake we had a stake president who ruthlessley persued bi-sexual and homosexuals members for decades, it recently came out that he is bi-sexual which makes sense because he could not reconcile his own sexuality so he hunted and persecuted others in an twisted psychological attempt to reconcile his own issues, what he knew was not right in himself he took out on others.
My point is that this is a complex issue, trying to keep it black and white is fundamentalist and anti-intellectual.
SoL response:
Thanks for your comments.
Sane people can control their thoughts and desires. The scriptures are clear. There are absolute truths and there is right and wrong on important things. Sex and sexuality are important; if they are abused people get hurt. Calling people who stand for basic, unchangeable truths trendy epithets like "fundamentalist" does not change the fact that there are fundamental truths. People's outward mannerisms which you perceive as masculine or feminine are greatly subjective according to cultural trends (as in, what some perceive as effeminate now was considered gentlemanly fifty years ago) and do not necessarily have anything at all to do with their sexuality. Men whom you say are effeminate actually have everything it takes to be manly in all the important ways. One problem with our world today is people making such outrageous superficial presumptions, sexualizing and oversexualizing people, including children, such as the obsessed pervert/pedophile Alfred Kinsey did with his "spectrum" you appear to mention. Sexuality is taught, and the world today is teaching all manner of false, vain, extreme, harmful,and foolish notions. (Learn more about Kinsey in Kinsey:Crimes and Consequences by Judith Reisman.)
We recommend you read our book Chased by an Elephant, The Gospel Truth About Today's Stampeding Sexuality, and Me Tarzan, You Jane, the text of which is available free by clicking on our web site's front page. Lord bless.
Tuesday, January 17, 2012
Friday, January 6, 2012
If You See Your Brother Falling By the Way
There's an old Glen Campbell song called, "Try a Little Kindness." In the song we're encouraged to tell people they are on the wrong path. After all, it isn't kind to to turn away as a brother stumbles willy-nilly toward his own destruction. The kindest thing is to put aside our own feelings, such as fear of displeasing or upsetting the person, and let him know he's heading toward a cliff.
Unfortunately, political correctness and a corrupting of Christianity has edged many of us church-goers toward a dangerous cliff ourselves. We're on a path of pseudo-kindness and false compassion, a path paved with man-made philosophies embodied in such cliches as: just spread the 'love,' build your self-esteem, err on the side of 'kindness,' believe in yourself. These catch-phrases are not gospel-based, they are more indicative of the preachings of the anti-Christs in scripture who insisted there was no such thing as sin and no need for repentance, that God saves us all without repentance, that our eternal future is dependent on our own merits rather than the merits of Christ, that there is no Savior. Of course true followers of Christ know that the way to salvation is through Christ the Redeemer alone, through turning back to God continually, through seeking the Holy Ghost for truth and guidance and learning, all of which is possible only because of Christ's Atonement.
The anti-Christs preached delusions about the self, about ease, about temporal feelings, about our own merits, about getting self-esteem from ourselves, each other and our deeds, whereas Christ is all about reality, God's perfect love apart from our deeds, our fallen state, letting go of our selfishness and pride, giving all credit to God for any good we do, killing off the natural man and replacing him with humble spiritual reliance on Christ. To those who resist this doctrine, here is the litmus test. Which way would fit us for God's holy presence: the self-serving, self-congratulatory, self-centered way or the humble, grateful, submissive Christ-centered way? The truth is, the Christ-centered way is the only way to learn all those magnificent godly traits God wants to bestow on us---humility, long-suffering, unselfish love, the riches of eternity---while the self-centered way stops one's progress toward those traits like a brick wall.
Here at SoL we receive a certain amount of hate mail. It's interesting that most of those who hurl the most angry attacks also call us unChristlike in the same breath, as if to use Christianity as a weapon against us. But if these people were truly followers of Christ who sincerely believed we were wrong, the truth is they would react in a completely different way. They would show a firm and constant kindness rather than wish us dead. They would intelligently try to persuade us back onto the right path rather than cast dispersions, call us terrible names, or condemn us to hell.
Please note that we at SoL do not engage in personal attacks. We see our detractors as on a wrong path. To them we stop and kindly say, here's the right one. While standing for God's unchanging and objective standard of reality, truth, and righteousness, we wish the best for our enemies, now and forever. That's Christianity, and kindness, in its solid true form.
Unfortunately, political correctness and a corrupting of Christianity has edged many of us church-goers toward a dangerous cliff ourselves. We're on a path of pseudo-kindness and false compassion, a path paved with man-made philosophies embodied in such cliches as: just spread the 'love,' build your self-esteem, err on the side of 'kindness,' believe in yourself. These catch-phrases are not gospel-based, they are more indicative of the preachings of the anti-Christs in scripture who insisted there was no such thing as sin and no need for repentance, that God saves us all without repentance, that our eternal future is dependent on our own merits rather than the merits of Christ, that there is no Savior. Of course true followers of Christ know that the way to salvation is through Christ the Redeemer alone, through turning back to God continually, through seeking the Holy Ghost for truth and guidance and learning, all of which is possible only because of Christ's Atonement.
The anti-Christs preached delusions about the self, about ease, about temporal feelings, about our own merits, about getting self-esteem from ourselves, each other and our deeds, whereas Christ is all about reality, God's perfect love apart from our deeds, our fallen state, letting go of our selfishness and pride, giving all credit to God for any good we do, killing off the natural man and replacing him with humble spiritual reliance on Christ. To those who resist this doctrine, here is the litmus test. Which way would fit us for God's holy presence: the self-serving, self-congratulatory, self-centered way or the humble, grateful, submissive Christ-centered way? The truth is, the Christ-centered way is the only way to learn all those magnificent godly traits God wants to bestow on us---humility, long-suffering, unselfish love, the riches of eternity---while the self-centered way stops one's progress toward those traits like a brick wall.
Here at SoL we receive a certain amount of hate mail. It's interesting that most of those who hurl the most angry attacks also call us unChristlike in the same breath, as if to use Christianity as a weapon against us. But if these people were truly followers of Christ who sincerely believed we were wrong, the truth is they would react in a completely different way. They would show a firm and constant kindness rather than wish us dead. They would intelligently try to persuade us back onto the right path rather than cast dispersions, call us terrible names, or condemn us to hell.
Please note that we at SoL do not engage in personal attacks. We see our detractors as on a wrong path. To them we stop and kindly say, here's the right one. While standing for God's unchanging and objective standard of reality, truth, and righteousness, we wish the best for our enemies, now and forever. That's Christianity, and kindness, in its solid true form.