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Jan 9, 2024

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Find Answers Assignment Charlotte Jones Many youth in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints have met people or have friends who experience same sex attraction. Some even experience it themselves. This topic is not addressed often, and youth may be asked (or ask themselves) how members who experience same sex-attraction in the church should be treated. This article will use scriptures, quotes from historical prophets, and quotes from modern day living prophets to address this topic. The first way someone could answer this question is by remembering that we were given free agency when we chose to be a part of God’s plan. In a talk given by President Gordon B. Hinckley in 1987 he said that “ Prophets of God have repeatedly taught through the ages that practices of homosexual relations… are grievous sins…mankind has been given agency to choose between right and wrong." A piece of this quote that is important to highlight is the word “practices”. This teaches that thoughts of same sex attraction are not a sin but acting on those thoughts is. Another quote that really resonates with this thought is from Elder M. Russell Ballard. He said, “even though individuals do not choose to have such attractions, they do choose how to respond to them.” With the agency that God has given us we can choose what we do with our thoughts. It is only when thoughts of same sex attraction and homosexuality are acted upon that it is considered a sin. It is important to remember that the decisions we make in mortality will affect us eternally. Doctrine and Covenants 131 explains that to obtain the highest degree of glory in the celestial kingdom we need to enter into the new and everlasting covenant of marriage, which can only be between a man and women in the house of the Lord. Another way we can answer our friends when they ask about how the church views same sex attraction and same sex marriage is by expressing to them that our Heavenly Father loves all his children equally. In an address given by Boyd K. Packer to Brigham Young University in 1978, he stated “The Lord loves you! You are a child of God. Face the sunlight of truth. The shadows of discouragement, of disappointment, of deviation will be cast behind you…God bless you, the one. You are loved of Him and of His servants.” Through Elder Packer’s words we are reminded that even during our trials the Lord loves us, and we are his children. A scripture that corresponds with this topic is 1 Nephi 11: 17, “And I said unto him: I know that he loveth his children; nevertheless, I do not know the meaning of all things.” We do not always know the reasoning of the Lord’s doctrine, but we do know he loves us. Eternally the most important thing is to have faith that Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ know what is best for us. The next time we are questioned about Heavenly Father’s view of marriage and homosexuality, remember that everyone has their own agency to choose what is best for them eternally; and that we are children of Heavenly parents who love us each identically.

Work cited page: BYU scholarsarchive . Site. (n.d.). https://scholarsarchive.byu.edu/ Individuals . Homepage - The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. (n.d.). https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/topics/gay/individuals?lang=eng President Gordon B. HinckleyFirst Counselor in the First Presidency ImagePresident Gordon B. Hinckley. (1987, May 1). Reverence and morality . Homepage - The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/ensign/1987/05/reverence- and-morality?lang=eng

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