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Today\u2019s new article in Interpreter: A Journal of Latter-day Saint Faith and Scholarship<\/em> reviews an essay by a friend and former student of mine (one of the brightest that I\u2019ve ever had).\u00a0 It touches on a sensitive and often inflammatory subject:<\/p>\n \u201c\u201cWe Don\u2019t Know, So We Might as Well\u201d: A Flimsy Philosophy for Same-Sex Sealings,\u201d<\/a><\/span>\u00a0written by Matthew Watkins<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n Review of Nate Oman, \u201cA Welding Link of Some Kind,\u201d Thoughts from a\u00a0Tamed Cynic\u00a0<\/em>(Substack, September\u00a027, 2022).<\/span><\/p>\n Abstract:\u00a0<\/strong>Nate Oman claims to demonstrate a\u00a0theological path that allows for same-sex sealings within existing Latter-day Saint doctrine. In fact, he claims that such an adjustment would be not only compatible with most Church doctrine but more scripturally sound than current teachings and policies regarding same-sex relationships. However, he falls short of his declared objective. His essay sets up an exaggerated pattern of dramatic theological overhauls in Latter-day Saint theology, downplays existing revelation on the subject of sealings and exaltation, and proposes a\u00a0new theology to justify his policy conclusions. In the end, his essay completely ignores the root cause of the contention surrounding the issue: the nature of doctrine and the truth claims of the restored Church.<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n After three weeks of heartwarming chaos, we saw the world\u2019s cutest three-year-old (and, oh yes, her father, our son) off at the airport today for the first leg of her return trip to Bogot\u00e1.\u00a0 Such partings always strike me as a little bit like death.\u00a0 Happily, I don\u2019t expect this to be a final goodbye, just as I\u2019m confident that mortality itself doesn\u2019t end with a final farewell.\u00a0 But, as every parent knows who\u2019s ever sent a child off on a mission or to the military or to a distant school or anything similar, the mere confidence that that child will probably return, perhaps even much grown and \u201cimproved,\u201d doesn\u2019t altogether eliminate the pain or the empty loneliness of it.\u00a0 Our house seems forlorn.\u00a0 Silent.\u00a0 Even desolate.\u00a0 We\u2019re picking up toys that are still scattered in almost every room.\u00a0 Christmas is over, and our granddaughter is far away.<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n Continuing with my supposed denigration of the late Pope Benedict XVI<\/a>, I share the following small batch of links:<\/p>\n \u201cLetters from Rome: #2: On the Death of Joseph Ratzinger, Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI: The True Joseph Ratzinger\u00a0,\u201d <\/a>\u00a0written by George Weigel.\u00a0 (Please note the use of the late pontiff\u2019s baptismal name, which, when I<\/em> used it, was said to be grossly offensive to Catholic sensibilities and intentionally insulting to the man himself.)<\/p>\n \u201cBenedict\u2019s Middle Path:\u00a0A model of moderation, discernment, and erudition,\u201d<\/a> written by Daniel J. Mahoney<\/p>\n \u201cBenedict XVI \u2014 Priest, Prefect, Pope, Rest in Peace: With the pope emeritus\u2019 death, the Catholic Church loses one of the greatest minds in its 2,000-year history.\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n I quite enjoyed this last linked article, above, which comes from the National Catholic Register <\/em>and which provides a good and appreciative overview of the late pope\u2019s life.\u00a0 Having been falsely pronounced guilty of not one but two heinous offenses against Pope Benedict XVI and the world\u2019s Catholics \u2014 not only using his baptismal name, Joseph Ratzinger, but having said that he has now entered\u00a0into a new life, the hereafter, \u201cafter decades of attempting to serve God in the best way he could.\u201d\u00a0 That was supposedly intended as an insult.\u00a0 But it\u2019s actually just basic Christian doctrine, which holds that all of us, even popes and prophets and saints and apostles, fall short of the glory of God and need the merciful atonement of Jesus Christ in order to be saved.\u00a0 (My critics, I think, may once have been aware of that doctrine, even if they\u2019ve since forgotten it.)\u00a0 It\u2019s certainly a doctrine that Pope Benedict seems to have understood very clearly, as witnessed in the final paragraphs of the National Catholic Register<\/em> article:<\/p>\n In a . . . letter responding to the Munich investigation that served as a profound and memorable coda for his ministry as a priest, archbishop and pontiff, the pope emeritus asked for the forgiveness of abuse survivors, noting that he had \u201cborne great responsibility in the Catholic Church.\u201d<\/p>\n Concluding his letter, Benedict looked toward his judgment before God.<\/p>\n \u201cQuite soon, I shall find myself before the final judge of my life. Even though, as I look back on my long life, I can have great reason for fear and trembling, I am nonetheless of good cheer, for I trust firmly that the Lord is not only the just judge, but also the friend and brother who himself has already suffered for my shortcomings, and is thus also my advocate, my \u2018Paraclete,\u2019\u201d he wrote.<\/p>\n \u201cIn light of the hour of judgment, the grace of being a Christian becomes all the more clear to me. It grants me knowledge, and indeed friendship, with the judge of my life, and thus allows me to pass confidently through the dark door of death.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cIn this regard,\u201d he concluded, \u201cI am constantly reminded of what John tells us at the beginning of the Apocalypse: he sees the Son of Man in all his grandeur and falls at his feet as though dead. Yet He, placing his right hand on him, says to him: \u2018Do not be afraid! It is I \u2026\u2019\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n Reportedly<\/a>, Pope Benedict\u2019s last words \u2014 spoken in German, his native language \u2014 were\u00a0 Jesus, ich liebe dich<\/em> (\u201cJesus, I love you\u201d) or, alternatively<\/a>, \u201cLord, I love you,\u201d spoken in Italian (the language of his adoptive home in Vatican City or Rome).\u00a0 Either way, they\u2019re significant, and not a bad program for a life.<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n I wasn\u2019t really intending to continue to post about the late pope emeritus.\u00a0 Certainly not even after his funeral.\u00a0 But I\u2019m still running across worthwhile reflections on his life and ministry.\u00a0 So, as long I continue to do so, I\u2019m likely to keep on posting links to them.<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n I liked President Nelson\u2019s message for the New Year:\u00a0 \u201cBe Patient, Be Persistent, Be Prayerful: A New Year\u2019s Message from the Prophet.\u201d<\/a>\u00a0 For whatever little this may be worth, it\u2019s somewhat parallel, thematically, to the remarks that I delivered on 17 December of last year to the U.S. Hazara Conference<\/a>.<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" \u00a0 \u00a0 Today\u2019s new article in Interpreter: A Journal of Latter-day Saint Faith and Scholarship reviews an essay by a friend and former student of mine (one of the brightest that I\u2019ve ever had).\u00a0 It touches on a sensitive and often inflammatory subject: \u201c\u201cWe Don\u2019t Know, So We Might as Well\u201d: A Flimsy Philosophy for […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1019,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[33429,33438,33441,33444,22192,33270,22505,1809,33465,4306,33462,32802,33372,33276,2905,1812,1815,7113,33471,788,55,1667,32101,33423,470,9107,7308,33072,7569,33447,33453,33450,33456,3742,33273,6390,33459,21144,1215,20332,4267,32104,33426,33435,641,1676,33432,33468],"class_list":["post-98193","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-a-welding-link-of-some-kind","tag-be-patient","tag-be-persistent","tag-be-prayerful","tag-benedict","tag-benedict-xvi","tag-cardinal","tag-church-of-jesus-christ-of-latter-day-saints","tag-daniel-mahoney","tag-gay-marriage","tag-george-weigel","tag-hazara","tag-joseph-aloisius-ratzinger","tag-joseph-ratzinger","tag-latter-day-saint","tag-latter-day-saints","tag-lds","tag-lds-church","tag-mahoney","tag-mormon","tag-mormonism","tag-mormons","tag-nate-oman","tag-nathan-oman","tag-national-catholic-register","tag-nelson","tag-new-year","tag-new-years","tag-oman","tag-patience","tag-patient","tag-persistence","tag-persistent","tag-pope","tag-pope-emeritus","tag-prayer","tag-prayerful","tag-president-nelson","tag-russell-m-nelson","tag-russell-marion-nelson","tag-russell-nelson","tag-same-sex-marriage","tag-same-sex-sealings","tag-so-we-might-as-well","tag-temple","tag-temples","tag-we-dont-know","tag-weigel"],"yoast_head":"\n<\/a><\/a><\/a>