What I am about to write will probably offend lots of people, simply because of the nature of my stance on homosexuality. However, I will do my best to not be outright rude about it. So here's your disclaimer/spoiler alert if you do not want to read about someone's strongly anti-gay opinions.
Right now what bothers me most is that my favorite television shows keep adding in gay or lesbian characters. These are tv shows that I purposely chose to watch initially because of their straight content, whether it was a "family" sitcom, a mystery, or a sci-fi show--stuff that has nothing to do with a person's sexual orientation. Usually it's to spike the ratings, to progress some political agenda, to make it seem perfectly normal and acceptable. (Poor Walt--he'd be rolling in his grave if he knew what the Disney-owned ABC "Family" network was airing these days!) It's like tv networks are throwing in token gay characters like they throw in token black or Asian actors in shows that are predominantly white. (The big, HUGE difference here of course is that people are not immoral for having different color skin.)
I bet Martin Luther King Jr. does not appreciate the gay and lesbian activists putting themselves on the same level as the African-Americans struggling for civil rights back in the mid-20th century. Your sexual orientation is NOT the same as having to drink from a different water fountain or ride in the back of a bus, especially since the color of your skin, your heritage, is not a choice.
That's right, I believe homosexuality is a CHOICE. Before we ever came to this earth, each and every one of us was created spiritually first. Our souls have an eternal identity that is directly linked with our sexual orientation. That means I was a woman before I came to this earth, and my husband has a distinctly male spirit.
So what happens when our imperfect bodies are born with missing parts, or sexually ambiguous organs? I used to think this wasn't possible, but since taking several biology classes, I can see that sometimes there are mistakes. I hope I am never in a position as a parent to have to choose the sex of my baby; if my baby was born with genital defects like that, I would spend many long hours praying and fasting for guidance, to know what gender the baby was truly meant to be. But aside from that very RARE exception, God puts us in the bodies that reflect our true gender.
I often feel quite sorry for the so-called gays and lesbians I have met; in a lot of cases, these kids were sexually abused and never had the chance to heal. In the case of lesbians, they feel they can never trust men again, and being with women is the only "safe" option. And because the rest of the world condones this behavioral choice, these girls never get the chance to truly heal and learn to trust again. They simply avoid whatever caused them the harm, missing an opportunity to grow as a person.
The other kids who simply choose a gay lifestyle with no sexual abuse as provocation are confused, having had no clear role models in their lives. This could be from a dad that was never there, who left the family to be with another woman, a mom who abandoned her kids to pursue her own interests; all these can contribute to why a person chooses to be gay. They are lost, and I feel sorry for them.
What's worse is there are very few resources left for those wanting to reorient themselves in the right direction. Where does a man go who starts to have sexual feelings for other men but wants to conquer those temptations? Back in the 1980s homosexuality was officially removed from all psychology textbooks and encyclopedias as a mental defect; one of Satan's bigger victories, I should think. I have also been informed that therapists and other trained psychiatrists can lose their license for attempting to help anyone with homosexual tendencies, including patients who are purposely seeking help to overcome said tendencies.
Television likes to tout homosexuality as a political issue, teaching our youth today that only backwards-thinking old farts, people "out of touch" with the "real" world would reject a gay lifestyle. But it is not a political issue, it is a moral one. And nobody talks about morals anymore. So I will. It is morally wrong for men to have sexual encounters with other men; it is morally wrong for women to have sexual encounters with other women. (And those that swing both ways... well, that's being extremely selfish, in addition to being morally wrong.) It is also morally wrong to have sexual encounters outside of marriage, but that is a whole other blog entry.
We are meant to become like God one day, and God does not have an ambiguous sexual orientation. He has many spirit children that He wants to give a mortal experience, but that can only happen when a man and a woman who are legally wedded and committed to one another procreate, giving a body to one of God's spirit children.
Satan, a being that is just as real as God, does not want God's plan to succeed, so of course Satan encourages immoral behavior like homosexuality. If he can make everyone gay, then no more of God's children can come to earth and receive a body, completely eliminating the possibility of taking the next step on our way to eternal life and exaltation! If Satan can destroy the traditional family unit by encouraging promiscuity in every direction, then even the children that do come into this life will be lost and they will make immoral life choices, ultimately damning humankind's progress.
But this stance only makes sense if you believe in God, if you believe there is more to our existence than this life alone. Our society is falling apart, and that is a direct result of immoral behavior which directly impacts the family unit. Babies born out of wedlock do not get the traditional father-mother support they need, and then they go and have premarital sex, perpetuating this broken pattern. The family unit is the basic unit necessary for any civilization's survival, whether or not you believe in a pre- and post-existence.
Despite all this, I still believe those with homosexual tendencies can be forgiven, if they repent and stop following those incorrect impulses. Our world does not encourage self-control anymore; just look at our nation's debt. (That's actually another reason I think some teenage boys claim to be gay--they might be less attractive or somewhat nerdy and haven't had any dating success with the girls. So instead of being patient, working on becoming a better person, waiting for the right girl, they claim it's the rest of the world's problem to deal with their gayness.)
But God does not give us any temptation in this life which is beyond our ability to resist and overcome. He is there to help us. He wants us to succeed, as any loving father would want his children to be happy and succeed in life. Happiness does not come without pain and struggle, though. Gays will often beg their less supportive family members to just accept them and be happy that they are happy, but no one can be happy in this life going against God and nature. It may be a huge struggle for someone to overcome their homosexual urges, but those people are all the better for it in the end.
Very well-said Mary. I remember being in a speech class (not at BYUI) when someone did a persuasive speech on gays adopting and that sent me through the roof. It's like why should children go to these "families" when there are couples who physically could not have children and these couples are CHOOSING not to use their reproductive organs in the way God intended? There was a reason God made it so that it takes a man and a woman to create a child. I stood in the very small minority in that class who felt that way.
ReplyDeleteJust wanted to comment on one thing you said: "[God] has many spirit children that He wants to give a mortal experience, but that can only happen when a man and a woman who are legally wedded and committed to one another procreate, giving a body to one of God's spirit children."
Unfortunately, wedded bliss in not the ONLY way God's children come to Earth. It is the only way God wanted them to come and the only moral way for them to come. But another sad part of society is the number of children born to broken homes, born to young teenagers not ready to mothers, or born to couples who only see the children as a tax break and not as the precious children of God they are. Precious, precious cargo.
Thank you for taking the time to express your views. I hardly watch any tv shows these days because of that issue. I remember one show Brian and I were watching and 3 episodes in there's a kiss shared between two women and we were just put off and done with that show.
I've never seen the psychological view of homosexuality and so I appreciate your enlightening comments on some common backgrounds of those who orientate themselves that way. Thanks for the post.