{"id":31401,"date":"2016-03-02T11:03:29","date_gmt":"2016-03-02T18:03:29","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/admin.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/?p=31401"},"modified":"2016-03-02T11:03:29","modified_gmt":"2016-03-02T18:03:29","slug":"there-are-no-homosexual-members-of-the-church","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/2016\/03\/there-are-no-homosexual-members-of-the-church.html","title":{"rendered":"“There are no homosexual members of the Church.”"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"Still<\/a>
Elder David A. Bednar
(LDS.org)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

So said Elder David A. Bednar<\/a>, of the Council of the Twelve.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

And, quite predictably, he\u2019s being depicted by a number of critics as insane, a bitter hater, oppressive, tyrannical, a homophobic bigot,\u00a0oblivious to\u00a0reality, an embarrassment to Mormonism<\/a>, someone who ought to resign, in denial, and so forth.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

Now, on one level, there are clearly homosexual members of the Church. \u00a0As a former singles ward bishop and as someone who has held various leadership positions, I\u2019ve counseled with people who experience same-sex attraction. \u00a0I\u2019ll admit that, when I was serving as a bishop, there were actually fewer such cases than I had anticipated. \u00a0Still, though, and while I hope and believe that, in doing so, I\u2019ve been compassionate, empathetic, fair, and attuned to the teachings of the Church on this difficult issue, I certainly can\u2019t deny the existence of homosexually-inclined Latter-day Saints.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

But is that really what Elder Bednar was doing? \u00a0Is he really \u2014 to put it bluntly \u2014 that stupid or that flagrantly and demonstrably dishonest?<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

How about this, for a comparison: \u00a0When Paul wrote to the Galatians that \u201cThere is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither bond nor free, there is neither male nor female: for ye are all one in Christ Jesus\u201d (Galatians 3:28), was he stupidly and dishonestly denying the fact that both men and women had joined the Christian church? \u00a0Was he really claiming that no Jews (including himself) and no Greeks had accepted the message of Jesus? \u00a0Was he actually saying, against the evidence of some of his own letters, that there were no Christian slaves? \u00a0And, if he was, how could he also be insisting that there were no free<\/em> Christians? \u00a0Was he expressing his hatred for Jews, Greeks, slaves, freemen, males, and females?<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

When, at Ephesians 2:19, Paul writes \u201cNow therefore ye are no more\u00a0strangers\u00a0and foreigners, but\u00a0fellowcitizens\u00a0with the\u00a0saints, and of thehousehold\u00a0of God,\u201d is he expressing not his openness to all, but his raging and hateful xenophobia?<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

Of course not. \u00a0To read Paul in such a fashion would be completely stupid.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

So, too, to misread Elder Bednar in such a way argues either for stupidity on the part of the misreader or, more likely, for an animus-driven unfairness that should, but (sadly) typically doesn\u2019t, embarrass the person doing the misreading.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

Here is Elder Bednar, in his own words and his own voice:<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

http:\/\/www.millennialstar.org\/lets-see-if-readers-can-understand-what-elder-bednar-says-in-this-video\/<\/a><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

Judge for yourself.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

Certain critics of Mormonism would be more persuasive if they weren\u2019t so consistently unfair, uncharitable, and unjust in their criticisms.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u00a0 \u00a0 So said Elder David A. Bednar, of the Council of the Twelve. \u00a0 And, quite predictably, he\u2019s being depicted by a number of critics as insane, a bitter hater, oppressive, tyrannical, a homophobic bigot,\u00a0oblivious to\u00a0reality, an embarrassment to Mormonism, someone who ought to resign, in denial, and so forth. \u00a0 Now, on one […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1019,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-31401","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\n"There are no homosexual members of the Church."<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"    So said Elder David A. 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