I just posted this, but deleted the previous post because I felt like I had digressed from the main reason I made the post and I don't want to have anything I say construed so as to make me come across as negative toward the Mormon Church. I love the Church and I respect it.
I've gone out with the missionaries here in Tennessee quite a few times and there is one of the things that they've been instructed to tell people which I have found to be very interesting. One of the main reasons why people do not invite Mormon missionaries back to hear more lessons about the church is because they have encountered, in some form or other, some anti-Mormon literature. Therefore, missionaries tell people that they should come to the church for truth about the church, rather than look to third-party sources, such as those that publish bad things about the Mormon church. They say that you wouldn't go to a Dodge dealership to learn more about a Ford Fusion, and so you shouldn't go to some other church or some other source to learn more about the Mormon church.
I feel like this is a very good idea, and a very good reasoning. I would not want to learn math by visiting the art department of a university, and similarly I would not want to learn about the history of my church by visiting the websites of its enemies. In a similar manner, I would not want to learn about homosexuality or homosexuals by going to an organization that says negative things about them. I would prefer to go to the source itself. That is, if I want to learn about the nature of homosexuality, I will look to homosexual people before I look elsewhere. Who would be more qualified to give information on its nature that the individual in the situation? If I want to know whether a gay couple can be truly happy and experience true love the same way a straight couple does, should I go to a church led by straight men or should I go to a gay couple for the truth on the matter?
At any rate, I have resolved to keep the same standard with all people and organizations. I will not look to outside sources to make a judgment. I will look to the Church to make judgments about the Church and I will look to gay people to make judgments about them. I will not judge the Church by what any third party says, nor will I judge homosexuals (or any other group of people) based on what the Church (or any other third party) says about them.
I've gone out with the missionaries here in Tennessee quite a few times and there is one of the things that they've been instructed to tell people which I have found to be very interesting. One of the main reasons why people do not invite Mormon missionaries back to hear more lessons about the church is because they have encountered, in some form or other, some anti-Mormon literature. Therefore, missionaries tell people that they should come to the church for truth about the church, rather than look to third-party sources, such as those that publish bad things about the Mormon church. They say that you wouldn't go to a Dodge dealership to learn more about a Ford Fusion, and so you shouldn't go to some other church or some other source to learn more about the Mormon church.
I feel like this is a very good idea, and a very good reasoning. I would not want to learn math by visiting the art department of a university, and similarly I would not want to learn about the history of my church by visiting the websites of its enemies. In a similar manner, I would not want to learn about homosexuality or homosexuals by going to an organization that says negative things about them. I would prefer to go to the source itself. That is, if I want to learn about the nature of homosexuality, I will look to homosexual people before I look elsewhere. Who would be more qualified to give information on its nature that the individual in the situation? If I want to know whether a gay couple can be truly happy and experience true love the same way a straight couple does, should I go to a church led by straight men or should I go to a gay couple for the truth on the matter?
At any rate, I have resolved to keep the same standard with all people and organizations. I will not look to outside sources to make a judgment. I will look to the Church to make judgments about the Church and I will look to gay people to make judgments about them. I will not judge the Church by what any third party says, nor will I judge homosexuals (or any other group of people) based on what the Church (or any other third party) says about them.
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