We sit down today and interview Bryce Cook on his new article “What Do We Know of God’s Will For His LGBT Children? An Examination of the LDS Church’s Position on Homosexuality”. We talk at length about good fruit vs bad fruit, doctrine vs policy, where the Church has changed, and what we can hope in. The is ground breaking and it once again asks us to step back and to ask ourselves and reflect on what President Uchtdorf has stated –
Unfortunately, we sometimes don’t seek revelation or answers…because we think we know the answers already.
Brothers and sisters, as good as our previous experience may be, if we stop asking questions, stop thinking, stop pondering, we can thwart the revelations of the Spirit. Remember, it was the questions young Joseph asked that opened the door for the restoration of all things. We can block the growth and knowledge our Heavenly Father intends for us. How often has the Holy Spirit tried to tell us something we needed to know but couldn’t get past the massive iron gate of what we thought we already knew?
Resources:
https://mormonlgbtquestions.com/
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Great discussion. I believe that When truth is discoverd gradually, through an analysis of every side of the argument, the understanding gained is more profound.
I wish there was more concrete information on the state of marriage in the afterlife, but from what I have gained through the writings of Swedenborg and Borgia, among others, there seems that very few, at least in the realms they visited, were in the slightest bit concerned about marriage and appeared more than contented with their single status. Swedenborg did see married couples, none of which were homosexual, but that doesnt mean they didnt exist.
If we attribute incarnate sexual union to purely hormonal activity, then we should not be durprised that sexuality can go in various directions and without that hormonal activity, should that be the case in the spirit realm, then the desire for that union will not exist. There may, however, be a spiritual union based on spiritual love, gender aside.
I agree that we know prescious little about this topic and statements by church leaders may be a case of the blind leading the blind.
I also hold to the opinion that the universal force is divine love and that heaven will allow residence to a diversity of souls who have developed an advanved capacity to use that force wisely. Gender may be irrelevant. But I may be dead wrong. The paucity of references in the BOM, the D&C and statements by Christ on the topic suggest that it is not important in the big picture.
Bill, I thought I would let you know that whenever you post these ‘resource’ posts where the title links to the resource, no one can read the rest of your post or post comments because the title and the ‘read more’ take us directly to the resource instead of to your post first. I have noticed this on a few of your posts.
I know but I have no solution.
Not directly related to the topic, but I had a thought when you said, Bill, something about multiplying and replenishing the earth. I think that in today’s climate (change), we probably should have quit multiplying back in the ’60’s (just kidding if you are reading this and were born later) and we haven’t done such a great job of replenishing the earth either. In fact, as we look into the bowels of the corporate church, I’m not so sure they set a great of example on what that means given the bazillion dollar mall and other church funded (and might I add extravagant) projects it is taking on.
This was a land-mark podcast, in my mind, and helped me shake off the last of the mold on my very narrow ideas about the LGBTQ community having had the misfortune of being brought up in the ’60’s and the prevalent church attitudes of the time. I dug out my dusty copy of Miracle of Forgiveness and OMG it’s disturbing. The church has certainly come a long way, but my question is does line upon line require us to marginalize groups of people for decades before we figure out God’s will on the matter? Does it take countless suicides, and the broken aftermath of such to arrive at that place where we recognize the revealed of God? Seems weird to me this would be the methodology God would employ. Seems more likely, the churches progress on these issues is a matter of feeling the squeeze of public pressure and their inability to no longer control the narrative given our access to info. world we live in.
Great job Bryce and Bill. Articulate, enlightening, and two enthusiastic thumbs up! I will definitely be reading your entire manuscript in the weeks to come, Bryce. You bring up critical points that EVERYBODY including those who drafted the 2015 Nov. policy change I mean revelation.
Great podcast! Bryce was a breath of fresh air for all of us who are gay and are/were Mormon. He can actually say the word “gay” instead of “same-sex attracted”!!! (If members and leaders could just do that it would be a big step in the right direction.) Bryce’s matter-of-factness and ease in talking about LDS/LGBT issues, and Bill, your platform for truth, made for a must-listen-to for all members.
Thank you!
THE BIBLE SAYS THAT HOMOSEUALLILY IS AN ANBOENATION TO God, READ it.
Are you the Linda Burton…. GA Linda Burton? Its in the bible and it says so… take that. Wow. That seems reasonable. Lots of things in the bible that God doesn’t like… including being left handed….. which hand do you write with
The bible says no, IT’S wrong, it will bring forth death
You are seeing it.