THT: The Role of Gender

I might have briefly alluded to this thought in this post, but I was thinking about it again and thought I'd write. God is supposed to be all-powerful, all-knowing, etc, etc. Basically he can do anything and knows everything without any dependence on any other being or intelligence or whatever else there may be. I don't think that that goes against what Mormons believe... or any Christian.

BUT, then Mormonism teaches us that godhood can only be attained if you are sealed to a wife. Meaning, to be God, He must be dependent on another being and therefore, he really isn't all powerful. This kind of contradictory doctrine confuses me... A couple other things to note is that in the Adam and Eve story, God makes an observation and says that it isn't good for mankind to be alone... so, is this only a mortal need we have as humans to be in physical company with someone? I suppose if you were God (or a god) and shared some crazy connection with all intelligence and life and light, you would never really be alone because you have constant access to every kind of intelligence in the universe. Also, we as Mormons and Christians in general believe we are created in the image of God... yet as males and females and everyone in between, we have very different anatomy. Can we both be made in the image of God?

Well the Church places emphasis on the importance of gender... prophets have declared, "Gender is an essential characteristic of individual premortal, mortal, and eternal identity and purpose." This is one reason gays don't have a place in the plan... because it would seem they are going against their god-given gender and the roles that apply to it. But this importance that is placed on gender doesn't seem to mix well with other doctrine and when I think deeply about it, it really doesn't make sense to me that gender would be that important to God.

What would make sense to me is a genderless God. Not male or female... simply God. Think of all the problems that clears up right away! All these discussions about whether there is a heavenly mother or why all the power figures in Christianity are male, etc, etc. We invented a male God to fit our male-dominated culture. I think it is a nice idea that God has a spouse and they live in some great mansion together with a large picket fence, but that is us trying to make sense of God's world through our own human experience. If we really believe that God is who we say, he doesn't really need to have someone to say goodnight to. He is connected to EVERYTHING. Maybe gender was simply something God created as the means to an end. In any case, I don't agree that gender is all the modern church makes it out to be. If it was so very important why are there so many who don't exactly fit nicely into the categories male and female? Why are there people born with ambiguous genitalia... or both kinds of genitalia?

Lastly, being gay does not mean I want to be a girl. Nor does it mean that I am looking for a guy that seems like a girl. I am very aware of and accept my maleness. As a gay male, I am attracted to other gay MALES. I am not rejecting my gender or anyone else's. So in that sense, yes, gender is important to my sexuality... but I don't know that it is important to my eternal soul. What is important is love... and I can only experience the deepest feelings of love with other males.... so what? Is love not of God?

ARG: The Family- A Proclaimation to the World (Part 2)

Okay, this is the second installment of my thoughts on "The Family: A Proclamation to the World." I will discuss the first two paragraphs of this document:

We, the First Presidency and the Council of the Twelve Apostles of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, solemnly proclaim that marriage between a man and a woman is ordained of God and that the family is central to the Creator's plan for the eternal destiny of His children.

All human beings—male and female—are created in the image of God. Each is a beloved spirit son or daughter of heavenly parents, and, as such, each has a divine nature and destiny. Gender is an essential characteristic of individual premortal, mortal, and eternal identity and purpose.

Remembering that this whole statement is considered a "guide" and not a "revelation" by modern-day prophets, I will still approach this document as if it held weight as for reasons people believe homosexuality is bad.

In the first paragraph, it says nothing about homosexuality. It does say that marriage between man and woman is ordained of God, but it doesn't say that marriage between man and man or woman and woman is evil. It also says that the family is ordained of God, but does not specify what that family looks like. So I would have to say I agree full heartedly with those two statements.

Having said that, consider this: Say a woman was deceiving her husband during their time dating. Lets say that she led him to believe that she was a committed member of the church and believer in Christ. In fact, however, she never intended to stay in the church or raise a family in it. He, on the other hand, believed that she was on the same page and, like himself, was fully committed to the gospel. They get married in the Temple. A few short weeks later, the wife informs her husband she is leaving the church and doesn't want her family to be raised in it. They divorce. Now this was a man and a woman, married in the temple. Was it ordained of God? This is a true story. It is the story of one of my mission companions.

Another short story: A child grows up in an abusive home. His parents are a danger to his life. In order to survive, he literally has to run away. But his mother and father were his biological parents.  Do you think that kid will smile at the news that he can be with his family forever?? No. Not a chance. That would be his hell.  Was this family ordained of God?

My point here is that just because it states that marriage between man and woman is ordained of God and family is ordained of God doesn't mean that EVERY marriage and EVERY family is ordained by him. With the same reasoning, I would argue that just because it says that these two institutions are ordained of God, it doesn't mean that others are not.

Okay, now the second paragraph. First of all, I think that the wording is interesting. All humans- BOTH MALE AND FEMALE- are created in the image of God. Does anyone else find that interesting? How can both be in the image of God? I mean, we obviously have different parts right? Hmm... just something to think about, but I have no argument with it. Nor do i have a problem with the idea that God loves all of us.

One argument that is used against homosexuals that bothers me A LOT is a phrase within this paragraph. That phrase is "Gender is an essential characteristic of individual premortal, mortal, and eternal identity and purpose." Okay. That is fine. Being gay doesn't mean that I want to be a girl. I recognize and accept that I am a man and that it is part of my identity. I am in no way trying to reject that. So I have no argument with this either (when it comes to myself).

But now lets consider some people that don't fit inside this box we've so easily divided in half, females on one side, males on the other. What about those individuals with nondescript genitalia? What about those with both? How do you determine their gender? Does it need to be determined? Can you imagine being one of those individuals and reading this statement? Where do they fit in? What do you tell these people? In this document we are saying that gender is an essential characteristic, yet there are many who cannot be classified into male or female.

So my point is, first this idea of gender being an essential characteristic isn't any reason to justify the idea that homosexuality is inherently wrong. Second, obviously this document isn't all-inclusive and leaves out some individuals who God loves just as much as the next person.

ARG: The Family- A Proclaimation to the World (Part 1)

And so begins my commentary on The Family: A Proclamation to the World. Why do I want to discuss this? Because it is often used to denounce homosexuality. If people are going to use it against me, I want to know the validity of their argument. Before I begin, I want to say I love my family. I think families are so important. They really are the most important unit on the face of the earth in my opinion. I am very close to my family and even much of my extended family and never plan on distancing myself from them. There are a lot of truths in this document.

The first thing I want to talk about is the nature of this proclamation. Many members consider it scripture or revelation. This, however, is not the case. The most recent evidence of this can be found in the changes made to Elder Packer's recent controversial talk in General Conference. I am not going to go into that talk, enough has already been said about it, but there is one sentence that is very important in putting forth this point. Speaking of the proclamation mentioned above, Packer's original talk read:

"It qualifies according to the definition as a revelation and would do well that members of the church to read and follow it."

After the changes, that same sentence now reads:

"It is a guide that members of the Church would do well to read and to follow."

Not such a minor change is it? Downgraded from revelation to guide. Well, you don't need that talk to prove that it isn't scripture, it is built into the doctrine of the church. As outlined in the Doctrine and Covenants, a decision does not become established doctrine or scripture in the LDS Church until submitted to the "common consent" of church members. This hasn't happened.

So while the proclamation can be a helpful guide and good advice, it is not a blanket statement that can be draped around everyone. While no one should be judging another person anyway, they definitely shouldn't be judging someone using a statement as scripture when even the leaders who wrote it clearly teach that it is not scripture.

So. Before we go on this journey into the document, let's be clear that this is not a revelation, nor is it scripture. So we shouldn't be giving it that kind of weight.