Obedience

I decided to listen to Elder Nelson's General Conference address on marriage.

I plan on listening to other conference talks, but I wanted to hear what the Church felt necessary to emphasize in regards to marriage. Appropriately, the emphasis was: Heterosexual marriage through the New and Everlasting Covenant is each individual to gain the greatest eternal salvation.

As I ponder this, I am reminded of my many years as a babysitter -- I've babysat ever since I was twelve years old... possibly eleven. As I started out, I used rewards basically as bribes (if you do [x], then you'll get [y]!). Such a tactic works, and most kids will do [x] in order to get [y].

However, there are a couple of snags: 1) There is a problem when a child has no desire for [y] -- a major problem when all one has is [y]; and 2) It's not the most effective means to motivate children to do [x].

I think it's rather obvious how this bribing method doesn't work too well when a child has no desire for [x]. This is perhaps one of the greatest reasons, in my opinion, why many homosexuals don't stick around with the Church: a life of eternal heterosexual-ism simply isn't appealing/desirable -- unless, perhaps, you're out just to get the gold. To many homosexuals, the definition of "the greatest joy" simply does not equate with being married to someone of the opposite sex... ever... especially if that marriage is forever and ever... and ever.

Oftentimes, the threat, "You won't gain eternal salvation if you act on your homosexuality!" only creates an "Oh no... I won't get what I don't want... how will I ever live..." response.

Simply put, bribing doesn't always work.

Of course, as a babysitter, I could custom tailor my rewards. For those who love to watch movies, the reward would be a movie. For those who love kicking the ball around, the reward would be kicking the ball around. Etc.

But then I started to notice something that motivated the kids to actually want to do what was needed (instead of wanting the reward): they loved me. They were loved by me. They felt safe around me. I attended to their needs. They trusted me. I trusted them. They were happy around me -- and when they were sad, they knew I was sad with them; we were sad together. And so on.

And simply because it was I who was asking, they did it -- because they knew I could be trusted to guide them to happiness and safety. Bribes became unneeded -- in fact, I never use bribes anymore, especially when babysitting children (granted, I never get asked anymore... but that's beside the point) -- instead, I build up relationships of trust, love, and compassion.

Of course, that's not to say there aren't any sort of rewards... it's just that the rewards are more of a consequence of the loving, trusting, compassionate atmosphere instead of being any sort of focus. That is, I watch movies with those who enjoy watching movies because I know they enjoy it (doubly so if it's with Uncle Andrew) not because they promised to go to bed on time. And they go to bed on time because they love me, and I have asked (and explained that it's the healthiest choice).

Such I believe is the case with God and eternal salvation. Eternal heterosexual unions are made eternal, not because it is the focus of life, but because God loves His heterosexual children and blesses them with an eternal tie. I believe it will one day be revealed to be the same with God's homosexual children.

True children of God obey His commandments because they love Him, and He has asked (and explained that it's the healthiest choice). Pertaining specifically to the homosexual child of God, the commandments may not be the same as prescribed by other children of God, but the commandments prescribed through a personal relationship with God (such is the case of many children of God... the LDS story of Nephi killing Laban is an example of such).

Anyway, the moral of this post is that true obedience is a consequence of love, compassion, and trust. True rewards are consequences of love, compassion, and trust.

Therefore, I say we shed this insistent, "You must obey [x] in order to get reward [y]" and take upon ourselves, "We must create an atmosphere of love, compassion, and trust." The former holds within itself nothing but selfishness -- "I want [x], so I'll give you something you want, [y], to get what I want..." "I want [y], so I'll do what you want [x], so I can get what I want..." The latter holds within itself nothing but selflessness -- "You are precious to me, you are dear to me, I love you... here, let me give you this so that you might be happy..." "You are precious to me, you are dear to me, I love you... here, let me do this for you so that you might be happy..."

If Christ is the Christ I have read about in the Bible and the Book of Mormon, then I believe this, the latter, is how He operates. And when it comes to eternal joy and salvation, I can imagine no other statement coming from Christ's lips to a homosexual couple than "You are precious to me, you are dear to me, I love you... I have seen what great joy your union has brought not just to you but to your children and to your children's children and to all those who are a part of their lives... here, let me bless you that you may retain this joy for ever..."

And from the homosexual couple's lips to Christ: "You are precious to us, you are dear to us, we love you... here, let us raise our children to love Thee as we love Thee... let us raise our children to love all Thy children... let us, ourselves, love all Thy children and hold no animosity, anger, hatred, prejudice, malice towards anyone... let us be yet another physical personification of Thy love here on Earth..."

This is my testimony of the heart and motivations of Christ.

Next Round

I'm starting to wonder if I'm ready for the next round of life... which has me worried because such a thought most often precludes a 'fun-tastic' ride of torment.

So, I guess the question is: am I ready? To be honest, I don't think so... but, it usually doesn't matter.

Priesthood Session

My family-- well, my mother-- invited me to attend the LDS Priesthood Session of General Conference; so, I went.

To be honest, I've been wanting to start attending church again, and I was fully expecting a strong prompting to do so as I listened to the leaders of the LDS Church.

But, I didn't. Overall, I felt let down. I was thirsty to be spiritually uplifted. I was expecting to be spiritually uplifted... but I wasn't.

It seemed to me that the great majority, at least 80%, of the messages were focused on such concepts as "a worthy priesthood holder has well coiffed hair" -- that is, it was rather rare to hear a message that focused on the internal, the heart, the desire to do good and serve mankind, on love, on compassion... and the bulk was focused on the external, the outwardly measurable, etc.

I didn't see the message of Jesus Christ... instead it seemed I got a heavy dose of the Mosaic Law. Has Conference always been like this and I've never noticed? I don't remember this. I mean, I remember a small dose of such, but not the majority...

Don't get me wrong, I'm not trying to critique or speak ill... I merely am addressing my disappointment.

I guess my beliefs in God and His Gospel have drifted even further away from Mormonism than I had thought.

Sinus Infection III

I am now on my third round of antibiotics for my sinus infection.

This is not pleasant.

A Social Study

I also love this clip... I love the message, the spirit, the tone. It grieves me deeply that opponents of gay marriage are afraid of this.

However, I didn't post this clip just because I love it or to express my sorrow about the previous mentioned fear. I posted this clip to address another fear opponents of gay marriage hold: "Gay marriage will destroy [traditional] gender roles."

If one is attentive, one can see something very interesting about gender roles, even traditional gender roles -- not in the song but in the responses to the very first two questions the host asks.

The majority of the children were attending with their mothers.

Even in such a secular country as Holland (I believe such is where this was filmed), it is primarily the mothers who are schlepping their kids around.

Neither did the children appear confused when the terms "mother" and "father" were used.

Hell, just the fact that the terms "mother" and "father" were used in their gendered classes is a testament that the fear that gay marriage will muddle the concept gender is unfounded.

And of course, within the song itself, there's still a distinction between what is considered motherly and what is considered fatherly.

Gender is not fading. Traditional gender roles are not fading.

Love Poem

I love this clip... I love the message, the spirit, the tone. It is precisely what I would have done had I the resources -- well, actually, I would have included a gay couple with their children.

I think the contrast between this clip and the clip found at ProtectMarriage.com speaks volumes about the hearts and attitudes behind the movement to either support or deny homosexual equality.

I hope to always side with the attitude found in this video clip. Even if God spoke to me face to face and said that such leads to eternal damnation, I would look squarely in God's eyes and firmly declare, "Then I will be damned."

Dreamweaver

I've been having weird dreams lately. I really don't remember details, but I do remember waking up and thinking, "... what?"

Last night was especially fitful. I kept slipping in and out of bizarre dreams, some of them lingering whilst I was awake.

... if I'm lucky, this will engulf me and I will become insane (the "I think we better institutionalize him" kind of insane)...

cross your fingers