Defending Your Faith Pt. 3: Homosexuality and Church History 🛡️⚔️

So far in this email series, we’ve discussed how crucial it is to study and pray about the doctrines we believe in as members of The Church. This preparation leads to what we talked about last time—responding confidently in a “religious debate.”
 
Over the next few emails, we’ll dive into specific topics that The Church often gets criticized for. Today, we’ll cover two topics that are fairly common, and I would argue that most members of The Church will need to address these topics with someone at some point in their life.
 

Homosexuality and The Church
Several major Christian denominations allow members of their congregation to practice LGBTQ+ lifestyles. Because of this, people often criticize The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints for not doing the same.
 
It’s important to clarify some things when it comes to this topic. The Church allows anyone to attend church services on Sunday, regardless of their sexual orientation. The Church also does not prevent anyone from reading scriptures, praying, or striving to have a relationship with God.
 
However, those who practice LGBTQ+ lifestyles are limited in their opportunities within The Church. This includes being unable to receive certain ordinances, such as baptism and those performed in the temple. God has high expectations for those who participate in ordinances because when we do, we’re also making covenants with Him that He expects us to keep.
 
When people criticize The Church for not allowing practicing LGBTQ+ members to worship in the temple, make sure to share that The Church is not directly excluding this community. Anyone who has sexual relations outside the legal bounds of marriage between a man and a woman cannot worship in the temple. Once again, this is because we make covenants with God that go against such practices.
    “To summarize, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is attempting to communicate to the world and the LGBTQ community that it welcomes those who battle homosexual attraction. However, it can never embrace the practice of homosexuality itself. The scriptures strongly forbid it, and the Church cannot sanction the concept of giving up the battle against sin and choosing to live the lifestyle of the natural man. In this regard, the Church and the homosexual community are at an impasse. There are no further reasons to criticize either side of the dispute."
    "If someone attacks the Church for its refusal to accept the homosexual lifestyle, the best strategy is to admit that the Church must continue in its refusal. Scriptures and other teachings of the gospel are contrary to the lifestyle, and the Church cannot accept those things which the Lord finds so deeply objectionable.” (Be Ye Wise as Serpents, Scott Frazer)
Again, it’s important to know that God loves all of his children equally and desires for everyone to find happiness in this life. As members of The Church, we understand that  long-lasting happiness comes from making covenants and being a disciple of Jesus Christ. There are many incredible members of The Church who experience same-sex attraction, but choose to live a life without a partner so they can make covenants with God. That’s a hard thing to do! God still loves those who choose to participate in LGBTQ+ relationships, but he also has commandments and expectations.
 
For more information on The Church’s stance on homosexuality, check out these sources:
Art by Yongsung Kim

 

Church History
Defending the history of The Church is challenging because it’s such a broad topic. In Be Ye Wise as Serpents, Scott Frazer talks about the word “presentism,” which is defined as “the interpretation of past events in light of present-day attitudes, rather than the light of their own historical context.”
 
When people criticize Church history, it’s often an act of presentism. Several things that Joseph Smith or early Saints did may seem strange to people now, but could have been normal back then. It’s important to understand the historical context of that time period before criticizing people and events from the past.
 
For example, Brigham Young often gets called a racist because of his announcement in 1852 that Black members would not be able to hold the priesthood. To avoid presentism, we have to look at the year this announcement was made—before slavery was even abolished, and more than a century before the Civil Rights Act was put into place.
    “Was Brigham Young a racist? The short answer to this question is yes, Brother Brigham was racially biased. He was the person responsible for deciding that Blacks in the Church should not receive the priesthood. However, the serpent side of our brain demands that we look at the assumptions behind the question and see if they are fair. In this case, there is a follow-up question that must be asked."
 
    "Was anyone in 1852 not a racist?"
 
    "For Brigham Young to have not been racially biased, he would have been over a century ahead of his time. He wasn’t, but no one else appears to have been either. In my reading of history, I haven’t found the name of any public official or celebrity who stepped forward to demand the end of racial bias in 1852 or for many decades later.” (Be Ye Wise as Serpents, Scott Frazer)
 
In this instance, it’s important to note that as members of The Church, we don’t have a full understanding of why this policy was put in place. We trust that God knows things we don’t and has our best interests in mind. We’re grateful that everyone, regardless of race, now has the opportunity to hold the priesthood.