Why are you here on this earth? Is mortality all there is, or did you live in a cosmic existence somewhere else in time before you were born? Will you live in another dimension after you die? These are questions people have asked throughout time.
This is the doctrine of Jesus Christ: we lived before we came to mortality with our Father in Heaven (God.) He created our spirits, our souls. (Jeremiah 1:5) In order for us to grow and progress, we would come to earth, gain a physical body, re-learn about God and His ways, learn to be obedient and faithful to God; learning how to consistently make right choices, and in the process, become Holy. Because we would make mistakes, some of them grievous, He would provide a Savior and Redeemer for us to help us return to our Father in Heaven, and perfect our path of Holiness. This plan, is called the Plan of Salvation.
A key element in this plan is one of agency. You have to choose to follow Christ and the path of holiness. In the pre-earth life, you chose to follow Christ, or at a minimum, accept that you needed to. Not everyone did, in fact a third of those living in Heaven did not. They chose a different plan, with Satan as their leader. A war broke out, and those following Satan were cast out of heaven, and will never gain a mortal body or have the chance to return to Heaven. (Revelations 12:7-17) But YOU voted to follow God's plan. YOU can still vote to follow God's plan with your faith and your behavior, and in the process, become Holy.
To give us a better chance at returning to our Father in Heaven, we have been organized in Family Units, with a mother and a father who have been charged with the responsibility of leading and directing their family unit in the way they should go. Look around you. Throughout time, how has mankind been organized? Singularly? Or as a family unit? That's not an accident, that is design. Regardless of religious affiliation (or any at all), the family is still the vehicle which gives us the best chance to learn, grow and progress. To be sure all sin and come short of the glory of God (Romans 3:23) and this is reflected in families too.
Why a traditional family unit? What's so important about it? You intuitively know that it is important, even if you can't put your finger on why. Logic would tell you it must be super super important, because Satan works night and day to destroy it.
I believe it is because the traditional family unit mirrors the doctrine of the Plan of Salvation. That we lived there and live here, with a Father and Mother. We learned/know there and here that we are their children. There and here, our parents love and care about us. They taught there, and parents teach here, by listening to, and following the counsel and example of, our parents, we can succeed. If we choose wisely, as a family unit here, we have the opportunity to return to our eternal family unit and reunite with our family unit there.
Enter the not-really-"new" policies of the LDS Church on same sex "marriages" and its impact on those families. What the haters will ignore is that this is not new policy, rather it is an expansion of policy already in place. Children who reside with polygamous parents are not able to be baptized until after they reach the age of majority etc. Yesterday, the Church expanded this to include children residing with cohabitating parents (gay or straight) and children residing in same sex "married" households. Lest the haters forget: the children of a single gay parent are not impacted. It is solely the households whose parents are modeling parenting and households which are contrary to doctrine. The same standard it has been for 100 years, for straight households.
Haters (in and out of the church) are going to scream how mean and vile it is "to the kids." So here's what I don't get:
1. How do you (as the parent engaging in sinful behavior) flip the bird with one hand to the Church ("you can't tell ME how to live, screw you") and simultaneously demand with the other fist that your underage children be allowed to baptized? In the Church you're saying bite me to.
2. If you're actively participating in a behavior (gay or straight) which "your" Church holds is contrary to doctrine, and you're proud of that...um, I'm sorry, why do you claim to be part of that Church? Further, why would you want your children to be bound by covenant to something you don't want to follow yourself?
3. Baptism, missionary service, ordinations to the Priesthood...they're not checklist items people. They mean something because they mean something: like, THIS is the Church of Jesus Christ. You get that right? What sets LDS/Mormons apart is that they believe that Jesus Christ (not Joseph Smith etc.) established this Church. As in: it operates under His (God's) authority.
So if it's God's church, again I say, why exactly are you modeling an unGodly parenting pattern? The whole point of this life, is to mirror and pattern our lives to God's holiness, not demand God mirror our decadence.
4. "It's mean" when the kids reach majority to have to choose between God and disavowing an unholy lifestyle.
That sentence is self explanatory right? It's not mean to demand an adult to choose (for real) whether they are going to commit to follow God's plan to holiness, or not. In fact, it's rather the whole point of this journey we call life.
5. It's odd one demands access to priesthood ordinances (baptism, sealing) while simultaneously rejecting that priesthood authority. A same-sex "married" couple can not enter into a temple and be sealed for eternity, neither have their children sealed to them. This is also true for a cohabitating straight couple. Guess what? Neither can a straight couple when one is LDS and the other is not. But the fact that you and your choices put your family at risk is your decision. Sometimes our choices have serious consequences.
To be clear: children caught up in this situation are not being "punished" no matter what the haters say. Their blessings, should they choose to get them, are being deferred until they are able to make that decision on their own.
6. In case you were wondering if it's TEOTWAWKI**, you shouldn't be surprised: God promised he'd start cleaning in his own house first (1 Peter 4:17):
"For it is time for judgment to begin with God's household; and if it begins with us, what will the outcome be for those who do not obey the Gospel of God?"
Do I feel bad for children caught in this situation? I sure do, just like I felt bad for my daughter who was caught up in my bad situation. But just because I thought I was doing the right thing didn't mean I was doing the right thing. My daughter would have been better served by someone waking me up sooner, setting me straight, and helping me get back on the path.
I hope this is a wakeup call for us all. The time is short, the Lord is cleaning His house, and we need to remember that the Plan of Redemption requires us to walk in His Holiness.
**The End Of The World As We Know It
A screen shot of changes to be made to The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints’ Church Handbook of Instructions
A screen shot of changes to be made to The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints’ Church Handbook of Instructions
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