With the heavy "discussion" about the issue of same-sex marriage this week, I have seen and heard the arguments on both sides of the issue. None of the arguments are new to me, or likely to anyone. I served an LDS mission in Fresno, California from 2007-2009 in the heat of Proposition 8. Growing up in northern Utah and never really having discussed the issue, I felt very unprepared to respond to the questions I received from people on the issue of same-sex marriage. Now that I've had some time to think about it, I've realized that most of the major arguments both for and against support of same-sex marriage are really missing the point.
There are masses upon masses of people who claim that those
who have homosexual feelings should have the right to marry whomever they
want. After all, what business is
it of mine what they do with their lives?
Do they not have the right to be happy and to spend their lives with the
person they love? Shouldn’t we be
more concerned about children having parents who love them than we are about
the genders of the parents? Many
of those stating these claims are my fellow Latter-Day Saints who feel that
somehow our living Prophets and Apostles, who receive constant revelation from God, are being insensitive to the LGBT
community. While I admit that
these claims make perfect sense logically, they are not good enough for me.
I sincerely believe that those who have homosexual feelings
have every right to the pursuit of happiness in this life. What I know for sure is that while
homosexual feelings are not a sin in and of themselves, homosexual relationships
are sin. I also know that no one
is forced to sin – we may be very strongly tempted to sin, but we always have a
choice. Finally, I also know that
because of the Atonement of Jesus Christ, we can always find our way out of
temptation and away from sin.
Therefore, the choice we have when any of us are tempted
with any sin is to either turn to Christ and let Him help us through it, or to
give in to sin. Through years of
my own mortal, sinful behavior, I have come to understand that when I sin it is
because I lack the faith in Christ enough to allow Him to satisfy my desires
for sin. When I sin, it is because
I forget that Christ declared that He is the Bread of Life, and that whosoever
should come unto Him should never hunger.
When I sin, it is because I don’t trust enough in Him as the Living
Water, even though He promised that whosoever drinketh of the Living Water
should never thirst more.
So then, what kind of disciple of Jesus Christ would I be if
I were to stand aside and say that I am OK with letting people give up on the
Savior’s Atonement? Do I not have
a duty as a Christian, not even necessarily as a Latter-Day Saint but just
simply as one who believes in Jesus Christ, to proclaim to the world that
Christ has paid the price for our sins, and that we can go unto him and have
our hearts changed? I know as
certain as you know that you are reading these words that there is a better way
to find happiness than giving in to sin, for wickedness never was happiness.
What I do not know is if we can completely change our mortal
appetite for sin. In other words,
I don’t know that anyone with homosexual feelings can ever change those
feelings. What I do know is that
Christ can give us a new heart, and that as we turn to Him in all things, we
can overcome the desire to sin with a desire to stay true to our faith in Christ. That is not easy for anyone, but it is
possible for everyone.
If you were to ask me how one with homosexual feelings is to
overcome those feelings, or find happiness in this life if they are expected to
deny themselves of the kind of relationship with a loved one that we all come
to desire, I would tell you that I don’t know. I would tell you that I do know that it is possible because
Christ’s Atonement has made it possible to keep His commandments and find
happiness in this life among all circumstances.
Let us have a little more faith in Christ. Let us turn to a loving Heavenly Father
for guidance. Let us trust that He
will make all righteousness possible for us. Let us stand up for what we believe in and invite others to
have a little more faith in Christ as well. I know that Christ lives and that anyone struggling with any sin can turn from their sins, give them to Christ, become a new person, and find happiness.
