Do ye not perceive, that whatsoever thing from without entereth into the man, it cannot defile him; because it entereth not into his heart, but into the belly, and goeth out into the draught, purging all meats? And he said, That which cometh out of the man, that defileth the man. For from within, out of the heart of men, proceed evil thoughts, adulteries, fornications, murders, thefts, covetousness, wickedness, deceit, lasciviousness, an evil eye, blasphemy, pride, foolishness: all these evil things come from within, and defile the man. (verses 18-23)I think what is being taught here is that external circumstances are not what defiles people in the eyes of God, but the choices that they make -- that which comes from within. Orientation is something that you don't choose. We don't choose who to have crushes on. However, we do make choices about developing relationships, and we are accountable for those. Our choices can defile us. If we choose to rebel against God, His commandments, or His representatives, that can defile us. But our attractions, our natures, our circumstances -- these things that go into us do not defile us.
Thursday, March 12, 2015
Defiled
In the seventh chapter of the Gospel of Mark, Christ teaches his disciples:
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That is a relatively new stance of the Mormon Church it seems. For years and years it went on about how the act of being gay was a sin - hence suicides, etc. Glad to see it is moving along - glacially but still. Gotta give them credit.
ReplyDeleteIt's a new definition of "gay", too. In the past, being gay meant having sexual relations with the same gender. So as the definition morphs, the church's stance had better change to match.
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