Purpose.

It occurs to me that the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (or any church) is here more to allow us to help ourselves than to help us help others.  Traditionally, Christian churches, including the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, teach that good Christians help each other.  Without a doubt, charity is "the true love of Christ." Sometimes I think that we interpret that to mean that 'if we are charitable we have the true love of Christ.' I would argue that it sometimes needs to be read that 'if we have the true love of Christ, we can then be considered charitable.'

Lately it seems that the discourse of President Packer of the Quorum of the Twelve has come under fire for a myriad of reasons by people who are pro "appreciating the fact that being gay is not completely understood and it is not as easy to deal with it as some might think but at the same time need to acknowledge a religion's right to preach what it believes." It also seems that his remarks are being defended by those who are pro "following the Lord's chosen leaders, in a seemingly hateful manner because they are, I'm sure, perfect and don't have any sins that need to be taken care of *cough, pride, cough cough.*"

Both sides, as in any situation, have good and relevant points.  It angers me, however, the amount of animosity shown by many parties from both sides.

Those in defense of people who are, for whatever reason, homosexual in any fashion argue that the Church is out of touch and it's leaders don't know the world of today. They argue that change is in order, etc.  Anyone who knows anything about religion will tell you that churches are ALWAYS out of touch! That's why they are churches and not night clubs. This takes nothing away from churches, it just means that they don't, or shouldn't, change with coming and going fads.

Those defending President Packer's statements claim, without any seeming personal experience or proof, that homosexuality is absolutely a choice. That those who engage in it are sinners and of the devil. 

I won't get into each side too much, because that would require more reading of angry people. Suffice it to say that they vehemently disagree and aren't afraid to show it.

My argument is this. Lighten up. If you are pro-homosexual rights you need to understand three things:

           1.) Any church is allowed to preach its doctrine. Just as you are allowed to speak your mind.

           2.) If you believe a church to be true, you should follow it. No one is perfect, neither you, nor the Lord's chosen leaders of His church. But if you believe your church is led by divine inspiration, you kind of need to go along with its teachings the best you can.

      note: This may be amazingly hard. I don't want to imply differently.

           3.) If you don't believe a church is true, why do you care what they preach? Ignore them. Also, shut up.

If you are pro-absolutely following the Lord's anointed no matter what:

           1.) Look first at yourself. Are you perfect? If not, shut the hell up.

           2.) Do you know for sure everything that you know about homosexuality is right?

           3.) We are all given the freedom of choice to sin however we want. I use my freedom on a daily basis. Let everyone live their own life.

It occurs to me that if you consider homosexuality a sin, you shouldn't treat it (or the sinner) any worse than other sins (or sinners) of equal or lesser value. We forgive adulterers, we forgive fornicators, we forgive liars, etc. We help them repent, and if they don't want to repent, we leave them alone (at least we should). 

Let us help those that want help, but help ourselves first!

Note: I am personally against homosexuality, for me. There is nothing more terrifying than another man's wiener. But to each their own.