Constitutional Rights and Religious Reactions to DOMA

[Dear God, I've been fighting off a crash all day, but I have something to say and I really need to be able to concentrate because I think it's worth saying. So please help me do this quickly and clearly and then I promise I'll go lay down and rest and watch Stargate like a good little girl. Thank You, Me]

There are strong emotions all around after the Supreme Court ruled against the Defense of Marriage Act today. As I have freely admitted, I am a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. For those not Mormons, please, keep reading. This is not a place of bashing, but I hope it is one where hurt or anxious feelings are soothed.

Particularly in California, Mormons are seen as the hated force behind Proposition 8, the vote where the majority agreed that marriage, by definition, is between a man and a woman. What has been clouded is the fact that Mormons were far from the majority in that effort. They have also been mis-represented as doing so to attack the LGBT portion of our society. For Mormons, mis-representation is hardly a new thing and one that our mature members recognize as almost routine. But that is hardly the point. Rather, it is a concern to protect our most sacred beliefs - that the family unit is crucial to fulfilling our Heavenly Father's plan on earth.

This is not only a mortal affair, but an eternal one. The family is meant to continue throughout forever. And to achieve these highest blessings possible, the promises must be made in the proper place (the temple) and by the proper authority (one with the legitimate priesthood of God who has been authorized to 'seal on earth and have it be sealed in heaven'. See :Matt. 16:19, Hel. 10:7, and The Guide to the Scriptures - Seal, Sealing). I cannot and do not attempt to speak for God. I can only understand and follow His revealed word as best I can in my honest desires to be true to Him and the church I believe He has formed for His children to be able to have all parts necessary to return to Him. And the crowning point of those needed steps is to be married in God's temple for time and eternity, which marriage is between man and woman. His definition, not ours.

So what about those who chose a different lifestyle? Some will argue it is not actually a choice at all. I believe in some it is and they use the claim 'they were born that way' to side-step responsibility. Some I think are more naturally inclined towards a different way of life. This is the area where the discussion tends to get heated and people feeling attacked on both sides tend to say things that only intensify the antagonism. Again, this is not the place for that.

Religiously speaking, I feel sadness when I think of those living the alternate lifestyles as I see it ultimately having a negative impact on their eternal future and I would want everyone to have the best possible. I would also consider reminding those who claim that 'God made me this way' as an excuse that all people have their weaknesses, temptations, their thorns of the flesh to test and prove them as did Paul in 2 Corinthians 12 wherein God answered:
 9 And he said unto me, My grace is sufficient for thee: for my strength is made perfect in weakness.
Furthermore, in 1 Corinthians 10:13 we are promised:
There hath no temptation taken you but such as is common to man: but God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able; but will with the temptation also make a way to escape, that ye may be able to bear it.
I cannot claim to know how God will succor those in this particular situation, but I can say that He helps me every day carry the burdens and sorrows of my own life. His power, His love is real and dependable to all who will steadfastly seek it.

There are, of course, those who will think being considered according to religious views which do not legitimize their positions as distasteful if not insulting. This is where today's title comes into play.

America was primarily peopled by those who sought a refuge where they could fully worship their God the way they believed they were supposed to. Our very first amendment in the Bill of Rights is supposed to guarantee the 'free exercise' of religion. To have the government make rulings on what is to us a religious matter is distressing in the least. To have a religious matter co-opted and secularized places it in the realm that leaves it open for further legal interference. Which directly counters first amendment rights. There is a reason the religious right gets anxious about this subject.

Unfortunately, I think the instinctive anxiety clouds the recognition of why there is so much concern. Admittedly, there is also a portion of the population who are narrow-minded bigots, but to apply that title to all who stand by man-woman marriage merely places the attacker in the same category. Sorry if it hurts to read it, but it is true none-the-less. Bigotry is simply intolerance of any other belief system outside your own and is used as an excuse to attack verbally, politically, physically any who do not comply. As I said, some fall into that category on the religious front, but some are merely seeking to participate in the conversation.

What I'm hoping is that considering what this means to us, both the religious and the alternative life-style people will recognize what our concern truly is. Maybe then there will be less reaction and more honest conversation.

I, personally, think all people should be treated with respect and love. Our scriptures teach that all are welcomed, that the gospel message of Christ and His sacrifice and offers of repentance and forgiveness are available to everyone. And everyone needs it. Each for their own personal situations, but everyone will need to apply the Atonement appropriately to survive this life and return cleansed and refreshed for whatever lies beyond mortality. And as the Declaration of Independence states, "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness." Religion should not stand in the way of civil rights just as those who do not believe should not be allowed to inhibit the 'free exercise' of religion. It goes both ways.

One final note for those who may still be inclined to condemn The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints for voicing our position regardless of public criticism. There are two Responses I would have you read closely - that to today's DOMA ruling and that on the Boy Scout policy regarding gay membership. If you pay attention, the concern expressed in the first is with the process of a government which ignores a legal, public vote rather than any railing attack. It also simply reaffirms our beliefs in man-woman marriage. In the second, you will see that our church welcomes the gay membership ruling under the same terms that we welcome gays in general. Those terms are simply that so long as one lives according to the commandments of God, their particular leanings are no basis for condemnation or exclusion. And those commandments are the same for them as they are for us - that sexual relations are to be shared only between a man and a woman lawfully married. Pre-marital sex is a no-no for everyone. So agrees the majority of religious moral standards. It is, therefore, no more of an inhibitor than any other would face.

I hope this is understandable and received in the spirit in which it was intended. Now, if you all don't mind (my years in Texas are threatening to show through...), I'm going to lay down and rest. My body does not function in certain normal manners and I happen to be having trouble of late. Until the doctors understand what they know happens but not exactly why, let alone what to do about it, that will kinda be the story of my life... With love and best wishes to all - Till next time. :)

Q & Agency

So it happens that I am exploring the Star Trek conglomerate since it seems to be the primary source material for modern science fiction stories. I was quite surprised to discover a great delight in the Original series that I have not so far found in The Next Generation. Of course, it would naturally leave me with a bad first impression, despite the delightful Patrick Stewart. This is due to the baddie in the very first episode who later played a future Stargate SG-1 baddie (a rather despicable, slimy sort which, unfortunately for the actor, seems to be showing a pattern of type-casting).

The character of personal disgust seems to be named 'Q' and has just shown up again. And what to my wondering mind should appeal, but an insight on agency and this whole mortal deal. [Yeah... just as I don't care for writing, I also have an ironic dislike for poetry...] Anyway. Whoever this 'Q' is, he's clearly a being of power far greater than even the higher advancement of humans some 300 years hence. And he seems to think that all things should follow according to his will, his intentions. He also is free with kangaroo court judgment and generally allows his superior power to convince himself of his own general superiority. Rather 'might makes right' of him.

As a number of stories in our current era have explored, we fairly well recognize how bogus that claim is. Unfortunately, these stories exist precisely because there is a portion of people among us in this mortal realm who live as though it were true in hopes of forcing it to be true - that if they can become the powers that be, then by simply declaring it so: so it will be. It smells rather of megalomania and god-complex.

Which brings us round to the real God. So many wonder why, how He can allow bad things to happen, especially to good people, if He is a good god. If God were really just a Q, then the reactions of so many people to their 'unanswered' (simply because they have not yet heard it, not because there is no answer) question in turning away from such a being would make perfect sense. But God is not Q, and Q is a perfect example of why there is so much bad 'allowed' (allowed but not received with any level of pleasure).

In Romans 8, we read:

 14 For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God.

 15 For ye have not received the spirit of bondage again to fear; but ye have received the Spirit of adoption, whereby we cry, Abba, Father.

 16 The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God:

 17 And if children, then heirs; heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ; if so be that we suffer with him, that we may be also glorified together.

In Mormon understanding, we are literally a combination of body and spirit and while our bodies have mortal parents, our spirits are also literally children of God. He is not only God, but Heavenly Father. Before mortality, we lived in heaven with an immense family of spiritual siblings. But like Wendy, it was time for us to leave the nursery. Wendy, of course went on an adventure to Neverland where she came to realize that to truly live, she had to face the hard unexpecteds of life; that as happy as Peter seems, such an eternity was really an eternal sentence of stagnation.

God, of course, wants more for His children. He gathered everyone together for a ginormous family council and laid out the plan: we go to earth, learn to balance both spirit and body, learn, grow, and do so with a sort of amnesia allowing us to discover what we ultimately, in the deepest, truest way possible, want for ourselves. Unfortunately, as most of you will admit, the learning curve includes making mistakes. Also, media has made it quite clear the propensity teenagers have for partying and getting into trouble when the parents are out of town, or rebelling simply to prove they can.

Now God is a perfect and pure being and His very nature means that anything impure entering His presence would ultimately be burned to a crisp, so to speak. But then how could He send us away knowing full well we could never return for the impurities mortal life would inevitably collect? Enter the Savior. One who lived perfectly could show the way that would help us overcome the impurities because He went through the crucible Himself. If we would turn to Him and follow His way, we can return both to our bodies at the resurrection, and to our Eternal Family and even our mortal families. This, like all things in our mortal life, is our choice - it is the agency which is central to God's plan. For He would not force anyone to heaven, however much it pained Him to be separated from His child. If they wished it, the Peters could ultimately choose Neverland over life.

Lucifer, however, had a different idea. He liked the idea that he could claim power and actually could 'force' everyone to heaven. How he imagined he could pull that off is up for debate. Also, since that would mean that he had managed to do what God would not, then clearly he would be the true power, even greater than God Himself.

Let's see. Claiming superior power. Claiming subsequent authority to force everyone else to act according to his will? Sound familiar at all? To anyone? Oh, yeah - Q! Megalomaniac extraordinaire. Good for us, Lucifer's posturing did not actually place him higher than God. But he did betray his motives and being unwilling to submit to God's decision that Christ should come and we all should be allowed to choose our own ways for ourselves, Lucifer defiance literally drove him from God's presence (remember the whole 'no impure thing can survive' part?).

So Lucifer was cast down with his other die-hard followers and they are rather hateful to mortals cause we moved on and got bodies when they declined. Rather like the spiteful, self-centered, immature temper-tantrum of one who thinks that no one else ought to be able to move on when they've clearly just orchestrated the 'biggest show-stopper ever!' So they like to distract and tempt and generally complicate and muddy and make it as impossible for anyone else to move on as they can.

That, combined with the natural troubles of life - health, adolescence, old age, employment, natural disasters, and learning to deal with others who are also trying to figure things out means that life's kind of a mess. Add the creepy mortal versions of Q who still try to imagine the failed plan can succeed and life can actually be downright scary.

Until you take into account the God knew that it'd be a mess from the beginning. You don't introduce toddlers to a toy room and expect them to leave everything in perfect order. Remember that He provided a Savior who could, and would, teach and lead the way to any and all who would listen, who would help us with our bumps and bruises, who would cheer us on and surprise us with His attentive gifts, and who will happily present us to the Father once we've made our way to that point on the path. And then we'll remember why we chose to come. For as Star Trek repeatedly proclaims - we are a curious people. We seek to learn, to grow, to explore. Ultimately, we seek to become.

3 Nephi 28
 10 And for this cause ye shall have fulness of joy; and ye shall sit down in the kingdom of my Father; yea, your joy shall be full, even as the Father hath given me fulness of joy; and ye shall be even as I am, and I am even as the Father; and the Father and I are one;