Gay Marriage: "...we have pleaded long and earnestly in behalf of these, our faithful brethren, spending many hours in the Upper Room of the Temple supplicating the Lord for divine guidance. He has heard our prayers, and by revelation has confirmed that the long-promised day has come when every faithful, worthy member, regardless of sexual preference, can be sealed in the holy Temple of the Lord, to whomever they love, for time and all eternity." or Women and the Priesthood: "...we have pleaded long and earnestly in behalf of these, our faithful sistren, spending many hours in the Upper Room of the Temple supplicating the Lord for divine guidance. She has heard our prayers, and by revelation has confirmed that the long-promised day has come when every faithful, worthy Sister of Faith in the Church may receive the holy priesthood..."
I guarantee the LDS Church will eventually fully accept the gays. Times change and so will the LDS Church. They're just always 30-40 years behind. Growth, desire for acceptance, and money are the real driving forces behind LDS Church policy.
There's going to be a point when the old members die off and the new generation becomes so embarassed and ashamed by the anti-gay policy that the church will finally give in.
For some reason it seems most Mormon women (and non-members) don't mind the men "are in charge because they hold the priesthood" crap. So I don't see that coming as soon, but who knows.
One of their central teachings is regarding control over the members' sexuality. Teaching people that asexuality is normal, and the only purpose we have sex is for procreation is a big part of this. Marriage is not here to facilitate intimacy between two people. It is here for the reasons tscc dictates. They refuse to acknowledge people have successful marriages all the time without ever having children, and people successfully raise children without ever getting married. How would they modify the temple ceremony for two women wanting to be sealed together? Women NEED a man to pull them through the veil since women can't hold the priesthood. What about two men? You all see where I'm going with this. The church will need to change some of its core principles in order to ever accept homosexuality as normal, and that's just not going to happen.
V.
Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 11/08/2010 12:02PM by vhainya.
vhainya Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > You all see where I'm going > with this. The church will need to change some of > its core principles in order to ever accept > homosexuality as normal, and that's just not going > to happen. >
TSCC has changed so many of its core principles already! Over and over and over in some cases. Think temple rituals.
do they ever change things in a way that allows them to lose control over the membership or allow them to think and make decisions on their own? Polygamy may be the only exception, but this was only because the US government literally forced the issue, and even then they continued the practice in secret for as long as possible.
Why? Because more people leave TSCC for not being accepted as gays and lesbians, than for not having the priesthood. Or am I wrong?
It's about money: more BIC mormons apostatize (and stop paying tithing) for not being accepted as gays than for not having the priesthood. Or am I wrong?
Both are allowed to join, so there is nothing that will threaten tax exempt status. Churches are free to decide who they want to marry, so unless the Constitution changes, they will never be forced to have gays be sealed [married] in the temple.
Someday they may be forced to legally acknowledge that a gay couple attending the Morg church is legally married (when done outside the Morg temple), but they will still not be allowed to be sealed in the temple after the fact, or after their deaths. Those are church rituals that the Morg is free to discriminate on anyone they want.
Same with allowing women and the priesthood. The Morg has always been a "good ole boys" club. Why would they want to let women in (and out of their place in being barefoot and pregnant)? IF (big IF) one were to happen it would be this one, but they wouldn't call it the priesthood. It would be something similar to allow women to feel more "speshul" but it would be very clear that it was still below the male priesthood.