Dan Reynolds, the lead singer for the popular band Imagine Dragons (they won a Grammy), who is also sort of a Mormon, or used to be, has organized a gathering/sharing concert called the LoveLoud Festival for gay Mormon youth to be put on in Utah Valley near the end of August. He says this is "to help ignite the relevant and vital conversation of what it means to unconditionally love, understand, and accept and support LGBTQ+ youth in an effort to keep families together . . . and celebrate individuality. It all begins with talking about, sharing, and showing the realities of what LGBYQI+ teens face daily." He goes on to explain that religions that teach that homosexual behavior is a sin are hurting "our youth." More specifically, he says, " . .. Mormons believe the doctrine is if you are gay and acting upon it, that is sinful. That is a very dangerous and hurtful and hateful thing to preach and to teach our children. To be gay is beautiful and right and perfect . . . "Once again, there is so much wrong with this we hardly know where to start. But before we start we must give you a terrible heads-up. Reynolds reports that the LDS Church contacted him and asked what they could do to help. They suggested an endorsement. WHICH WAS GIVEN. We quote:
After receiving media inquiries, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has provided the following statement about the LoveLoud Festival in Orem, Utah, which takes place August 26, 2017:
We applaud the LoveLoud Festival for LGBT youth's aim to bring people together to address teen safety and to express respect and love for all of God’s children. We join our voice with all who come together to foster a community of inclusion in which no one is mistreated because of who they are or what they believe.
We share common beliefs, among them the pricelessness of our youth and the value of families. We earnestly hope this festival and other related efforts can build respectful communication, better understanding and civility as we all learn from each other.
And the Church is supposed to be against the behaviors!?
Someone hasn't done their homework.
Here's what we know. Sex is a serious thing. If it is used improperly someone gets hurt. Improper human sexuality is precisely what is being promoted through this concert.
This adult band person (30 years old) is using his position in society, especially attractive to young people, to get his clutches on youth, in other words, to contribute to the delinquency and destruction of minors, no age limit specified. He is providing a special meeting place for encouraging same-sex lust, sexual predators, and sexual experimentation. There will be pro-gay speakers and group story sharing before the concert begins.
Apparently Reynolds doesn't have a single warning to give youth about chastity or even the specific and inordinate risks connected with the gay lifestyle. (This includes lies and propaganda, pornography addiction, drug use, violence, mental health issues, unlimited promiscuity, disease, chronic illness issues, etc.) He doesn't know anything important about these kids, their troubles, their parents, their situation, their sexual development, or any abuse that may have occurred or be occurring. He has clumped these immature individuals together based on one superficial whim. Therefore it is obvious he doesn't care about "our youth;" he only cares about himself and pushing his passionate revolutionary sexual ideas. He disregards God and goodness and the welfare of immortal souls, and it is from this worldview that he seeks to influence minors. He is a modern-day Korihor. In fact, we've said before on this blog that Korihor was probably as popular as a rock star. LoveLoud? It's SinLoud, Thumb-Your-Nose-at-TruthLoud, HateGodLoud, ExploitKidsLoud. The "individuality" Reynolds wishes to celebrate is about sexual sin, which is as human and common and ancient as mankind itself. No individuality there. Please note the gay-affirming false rhetoric he uses. The "realities" gay kids "face daily" he mentions are actually sexual abuse and pornography and masturbation and sexual experimentation and sexual thrills and rebellion and misery and dead ends. Reynolds has the temerity to proclaim that it's hurtful to teach kids about sin. Sounds anti-Christ, doesn't he? Anti-Christs preach that there is no sin and no repentance necessary. To top it off he says he is using profits from this concert to raise money for adult-run gay activist groups, what we know to be four horrible, filthy rich, predatory, pro-gay organizations that seek to further the spread of unlimited sex and sexuality to all ages. That includes the 70 something sexes or genders now listed on facebook,
Why is our society and our Church encouraging this?
These are kids, Mormon kids, who are supposed to be cherished enough to be raised with a clear sense of right and wrong and knowledge of God, Jesus Christ, and the Holy Ghost. Truth is nowhere to be found, only deception, exploitation, shaky human relations, and vaporous immediate temporal felt needs. Kids---no age limit is mentioned---aren't even fully physically developed, not to mention intellectually and spiritually. Again we refer to the study that found kids are less and less likely to become suicidal the longer they PUT OFF self-identifying as LGBTQ+. And yet not only is no one warning these young people against what they are getting into, they are being encouraged and applauded for seeking out and experimenting with out-of-bounds, unnatural, high-risk sexual ideas and acts. All this by people perceived to be in positions of great admiration, influence, and authority.Now THAT'S what leads to suicide and every other kind of death.
Reynolds said, "We know that with the Church's announcement and endorsement of the event that that's going to help people feel safe and give them the confidence to want to come to this . . . and with the Church's encouraging people to be involved, I think that's going to push ticket sales over the top."
Wait. Did he just say he is doing this exploitation of kids to get money?Yep, that's what he said.
We did a whole 2-hour KTALK radio show today on this topic and callers and messagers alike were outraged. You can hear it here. Some good callers. One said he joined the church as a teen primarily because of its strong standards, and now he has seen it, and his mentors, do a complete 180. He is so demoralized he can't bear to go to church anymore. Another caller expressed the need to put our reliance on Christ, not church leaders.
We heard later from a 20-something LDS listener who was extremely frustrated about how when confusing and upsetting things actually occur that affect church members in living their lives (Boys Scouts, BYU changing its honor code, open homosexuality advocated from local pulpits, traditional values being pronounced "unkind and incorrect" from local pulpits) there is weak, superficial, or no response or leadership at all from church headquarters, but when there's something---anything---big happening that the whole world sees, the Church makes an official, carefully-worded, politically correct public statement, unconditionally pro-gay in this case. She feels abandoned and betrayed by her own church, and doesn't know what in the world she should teach her little children about these glaring omissions and contradictions.
Here's one instant message we received:
"Call to action. Flood the lines at LDS public affairs office. 801-240-1000! This is unbelievable. They have crossed my line of morality! Anal sex is dangerous, whether heterosexual or homo. Emphasize that! What happened to a message of living a clean life? This is an abomination and the Lord will condemn us for this atrocity being advocated to young people."
One concerned citizen, Angela Fallentine, a social scientist who works with the UN, wrote a comment on the Deseret News facebook page. You can read it here. It's excellent. Nice to have someone else besides us telling the truth for a change. The only thing we worry about is the search for "middle ground" coming from the Church she refers to a few times. Pretty sure there is not supposed to be fence-sitting of any kind when it comes to God and His Word. And we're pretty sure anything pro-homosexuality is not near any form of middle ground. It's pure leftist. But we understand her scrambling attempt to find some explanation for the Church's official volunteered endorsement of this horrendous event.
As always, make of this what you will.
No comments:
Post a Comment