God Loveth His Children

So I hear the church is putting out another pamphlet (And I REFUSE to capitalize the word church), “God Loveth His Children.” Once again, I’m so touched by their little warm fuzzies. Should I be encouraged by this “step forward”, or once again frustrated by the homophobia that permeates the backward, octogenarian thought process? I don’t think I have any alternative than to choose the latter.

Once again, they tell me that:
a) many people suffer from Same-Sex Attraction (SSA) in this life
b) acting on SSA is a sin
c) don’t associate with others with SSA
d) don’t flaunt your SSA
e) don’t talk about your SSA

One new thing:
a) church members should be tolerant of those suffering from SSA

So as long as a gay person (sorry, someone suffering from SSA) does not act on his or her feelings, they can be a righteous member of the fold. Bullshit. Am I the only one that remembers being taught that thinking about sinning is as bad as actually committing one? Sounds like the church is pulling a 180. They know that the times are a changin’, and this new brochure is just part of a poorly hidden strategy for the eventual revelation where the prophet will declare that homosexuality should no longer be considered a sin. To continue to be a viable religious institution in the next few decades, they will have to make many such concessions. But how many young people will take their own lives before then? One is too many; but I know there will be significantly more than that.

Throughout its history, the church has vehemently opposed sex outside of marriage. So what happens when the early church leadership wants to indulge their sexual appetites for women (and teenage girls) to whom they’re not married? Sounds like the perfect time for a revelation requiring polygamy. Hmmmm. Fast forward 150 years when two consenting adults of the same gender want to tie the knot. Now that’s just taking things too far. Let’s send a couple million dollars from the church coffers into defeating a marriage amendment in Hawaii. Puh-leese. Weren’t the early polygamists considered sexual deviants by mainstream society? And things certainly haven’t changed there. Ironic, I think, that a bunch of deviants fought for their right to live life as they wanted, their descendants honor their heritage, and the church still fights gays and lesbians that want to join together in healthy, monogamous relationships.

I can’t begin to tell you how glad I am to be out of that environment. I wasn’t suicidal as a teenager (I was too busy eating myself to death), but I did approach the ledge, as it were, when I was 26. Scary stuff, no doubt; but I lived through it with the help of a very caring psychologist. It breaks my heart to think about the higher-than-average suicide rates among gay teens in Utah. Stuart Matis, I feel your pain. No young person should ever go through the self-hate, the guilt, and the shame you did. Did I mention the guilt? And all the others like you, like us; it’s a tragedy. So the church puts out another “God Loves You” piece of crap statement that only further pushes these poor souls towards a bitter, lonely, agonizing precipice. Make the pain go away, or continue to suffer for year upon year upon year. Shame on you, Gordon B. Hinckley. Shame on you and all your cronie buddies.