Tuesday, June 25, 2013

In The Dark

In the Book of Mormon, secret combinations are the main culprit for the destruction of several whole civilizations.  What's so bad about secrets?  It's pretty clear that those secret societies like the Gadianton Robbers depended on the mask of secrecy to avoid the immediate consequences of their evil acts.
These secret combinations were their cloak to get away with murder, robbery, etc.  When Cain slew Abel, what was the deal he made with the devil?  It was that if he killed his brother, he would inherit his brothers goods and nobody would know that Cain was the perpetrator.  Of course, the devil doesn't have any intention of keeping his side of a bargain.  Cain's action is one of the most well known crimes in all history.

Keeping secrets is an important fuel for addictions and bad behavior today.  Online, under secret pseudonyms, people can be cruel and reckless when they comment, under the impression that nobody will know it's them.  Pornography also flourishes under the mask of secrecy and anonymity.  That's why I think it's such a tragedy that our current culture in the church still tends to want those who have gay orientations to stay in the closet.  Insecurities and problems that people might associate with their orientations tend to grow without anything to check them when they have to stay in the dark corners of the closet.  For many people, don't-ask-don't-tell can be a cruel prison sentence, keeping them from dealing with their own natures in a healthy way.  How I wish the culture within the Church would change so this terrible situation could more easily be avoided.

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