{"id":72841,"date":"2019-04-13T13:02:46","date_gmt":"2019-04-13T19:02:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/admin.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/?p=72841"},"modified":"2019-04-13T13:08:38","modified_gmt":"2019-04-13T19:08:38","slug":"o-brave-new-world-that-has-such-complexly-gendered-people-in-it","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/2019\/04\/o-brave-new-world-that-has-such-complexly-gendered-people-in-it.html","title":{"rendered":"O brave new world, that has such complexly-gendered people in it!"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"San<\/a>
The nighttime skyline of San Diego, California \u00a0(Wikimedia Commons public domain image)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

For your interest and consideration, I offer you three short articles written by members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints<\/a> that advocate positions rather unlike those that you typically hear in sacrament meeting or from the pulpit of the Conference Center:<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cDrop in the Bucket: Changes to Temple Ordinances\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cPlea to President Nelson about Families\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Mormon Church<\/a> still doesn\u2019t accept same-sex couples \u2013 even if it no longer bars their children\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

I note with fascination that the conviction that the free (and guilt-free) expression of one\u2019s sexuality, sexual autonomy, ranks among the supreme human goods has become an unquestionable axiom outside the Church within a remarkably short time, and that it now appears to be making notable inroads within the Church, as well. \u00a0It is coupled with the twin conviction that \u201cjudgment\u201d \u2014 unless, of course, it be judgment passed against judgment \u2014 is among the ultimate and essentially unforgivable sins.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

To \u201cinclude\u201d is the highest virtue, and to say anything that might be taken as \u201cexcluding\u201d anyone, however lovingly it may be said, with whatever compassion it may be expressed, is to commit a kind of crime. \u00a0Thus, President Nelson\u2019s pleading reiteration of the Church\u2019s doctrine that the ordinances of the temple are necessary in order to seal families together through the eternities is now seen as hurtful instead of hopeful, and as something to be backed away from.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

Traditionally, mainstream Christian teaching on marriage as been that it is an earthly institution \u2014 a very good one, to be sure \u2014 that continues until death parts husband and wife, and that, thereafter, men and women live on as saved or damned individuals in the life to come. \u00a0And, obviously, atheism offers no prospect of a continuation of family ties among persons who persist beyond the grave.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints comes into the world to affirm, among other things, that, in fact, we survive as conscious persons after death and that, through temple ordinances, our family relationships can be rendered permanent and eternal.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

In recent years, though, I\u2019ve watched as the Church has been attacked on the grounds that it hatefully seeks to separate nonmember spouses and to break up nonmember families, cruelly denying the continuation of eternal relationships to anybody who isn\u2019t a committed Latter-day Saint. \u00a0But this presumes that eternal families are the default understanding in Catholic, Protestant, and Orthodox Christianity, in Judaism, in Islam, and, for that matter, in naturalistic atheism \u2014 which is certainly not the case.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

***<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

Some interesting and relevant news items:<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cRomantic greeting cards blasted as sexist: \u2018When are we going to evolve?'\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cMy Daughter Identified as Transgender. I Was Powerless to Stop Doctors From Harming Her.\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cPressure from above:\u00a0<\/span>Why Iran is a hub for sex-reassignment surgery:\u00a0<\/span>It is not because the regime is liberal\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

***<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

I wonder, among all of this, whether there aren\u2019t some lessons to be learned by Latter-day Saints from the terrible scandals through which our Roman Catholic friends have recently been passing. \u00a0It\u2019s important, however, that they be the right<\/em> lessons. \u00a0Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI has plainly been thinking about what those lessons might be:<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cBenedict XVI Breaks His Silence on the Catholic Church\u2019s Sex-Abuse Crisis:\u00a0In a German-language essay published Thursday, the pope emeritus provides a way forward.\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

Here\u2019s an English translation of his actual essay:<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cPope Benedict Essay: The Church and the Scandal of Sexual Abuse\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

Benedict XVI may have an ally in a very powerful cardinal<\/a>, as well:<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cPope Benedict And Cardinal Sarah Provide Leadership In The Age Of Francis\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

Posted from San Diego, California<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

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

\u00a0 \u00a0 For your interest and consideration, I offer you three short articles written by members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints that advocate positions rather unlike those that you typically hear in sacrament meeting or from the pulpit of the Conference Center: \u00a0 \u201cDrop in the Bucket: Changes to Temple Ordinances\u201d […]<\/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-72841","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\nO brave new world, that has such complexly-gendered people in it!<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"    For your interest and consideration, I offer you three short articles written by members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" 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