Do As I'm Doing, Follow, Follow Me

Scott W. emailed us: "You are totally incorrect. Homosexuality is not taught from the pulpit. I have not heard one church leader say that committing a homosexual act is not a sin. On the contrary, homosexual acts by members will result in Disciplinary Councils. The church still stands by the Proclamation on the Family. Divine truth does not and has not changed."

It would be nice to believe the LDS Church is holding out against homosexual behavior, that it will not abandon such a basic biblical tenet. A lot of people are hanging their hats on that. But is this true anymore? Here are the facts. You decide.

In early 2015 the Church orchestrated and wholeheartedly supported a Utah law which of course passed which specially protects unlimited perverse sexual and gender identities and behaviors. Some of the most staunch and outspoken family values legislators flipped overnight and voted for this bill. On what planet is the proactive protection of those who engage in homosexual behavior not a recognition and encouragement of homosexual behavior? On what planet will this sentiment, spoken or unspoken, not extend to church members? Obviously it did in the case of these legislators.

True, acceptance of homosexual behaviors has not been proclaimed or announced from the general pulpit in so many words (yet), although Elder Oaks came close in his Oct. 2014 conference talk when we were instructed to be gracious and good listeners and noncontentious to those we disagree with (this obviously included the issue of homosexuality and gay marriage which is homosexual behavior). Funny how this sort of thing has translated into homosexual behavior being accepted and even celebrated in wards and stakes in Washington, California, and Connecticut. Talking about celebrations, on March 19, 2015 Pres. Uchtdorf attended a banquet, spoke, received an award, and handed over a $10,000 check from the Church to a gay rights organization thinly veiled as a humanitarian group (affiliated with the Utah Pride Center, Equality Utah and all other gay rights groups; search Inclusion Center Utah Gay). There's no question the people in this group are all for LGBTQI+ behavior.And the Church just gave them moral and financial support.

As for disciplinary action for gay behavior within the Church, this is up to thousands of different bishops and stake presidents. Church headquarters does not define homosexual behavior or give clear comprehensive guidelines. Therefore there is a great deal of leeway and rationalization and, where gays are concerned, lying. Yes, deceit is part of it, perhaps the worst part. We and experts believe that identifying oneself publicly as gay is homosexual behavior. Then there's lusting, pornography, chat rooms, phone sex, cruising, flirting, holding hands, hugging, kissing, dating, marching in gay pride parades, and on and on, aside from actual sodomy and the like. All are pro-homosexual acts.

If we believe the scriptures, we must admit that lust is a sinful mental activity, a behavior. All lust, including homosexual lust, is pleasurable. A person makes a conscious decision to indulge in lust. Lust is sin, one of the seven deadly sins. Lust leads to more and more sinful activities. Some Church leaders have flipped on this principle without explanation or correction. One of many examples of contradictory statements is: in a 1995 Ensign article Elder Oaks wrote, "Immoral thoughts [homosexual lust] also need to be resisted and repented of because we know our thoughts will also condemn us."  Then in 2006 in the Oaks/Wickman interview, he said, "It is no sin to have inclinations [homosexual lust] that if yielded to would produce behavior that would be a transgression." What? He used to say immoral thoughts are sinful ("need to be resisted and repented of") and then changed to say immoral thoughts are not sinful, even if they lead to transgression. Make of that  stunning reversal what you will.

This new idea that crept out from the Church that homosexuality is not sinful unless "acted on" (no definition) is probably the most quoted and encouraging factor used by self-identifying individuals to validate and cement the false gay identity, to pave the way for sexual experimentation (if it's okay in principle, it must be okay in practice---the Church is evolving after all), and to promote the acceptance of homosexuality within the general church. On mormonsandgays.org (2012), there is nothing, repeat, nothing, about resisting or repenting of or rejecting or overcoming homosexual lust. No help is offered. ZERO. No spiritual help, no psychological help, no nothing. This means these outspoken leaders aren't concerned with how miserable these lusts make a person, or how likely it is that these lusts will lead to destructive and dangerous behaviors both temporally and spiritually, nor is there any concern shown for their would-be posterity. (Gays themselves admit that no self-identifying gay will remain celibate for long, whatever they mean by celibate.)

There are lots more examples of the Church softening on homosexuality in principle, such as the change in BYU's honor code, the video "It Gets Better at BYU" being allowed, and BYU inviting acting-out ex-communicated homosexual Lee Beckstead to train counselors in its Counseling Center. The Church also edited Pres. Packer's 2010 conference talk, and the list goes on.


Sorry, Scott W., what is accepted in principle is accepted in practice, sooner rather than later, secretly if not publicly.  Whatever Church leaders say---and what they say is certainly contradictory and confusing to anyone paying any sort of attention--- it's what they actually do that does the most to create public sentiment and inform public opinion, which in turn encourages and escalates certain acts.