As same-sex marriage inevitably becomes legal in more and more states, thoughtful members and investigators must ask themselves: if the Church believes so strongly in marriage, and believes that families are forever, and since same-sex marriage and families headed by same-sex couples are the law of the land, why does the LDS church still frown upon this, and excommunicates whose who also strongly believe in the institutions of marriage and family?
I don’t see it as much of a doctrinal stretch for the LDS church to embrace same-sex marriage.
- The first step, of course, would be to approach God on the subject and be open to new revelation that somes. Revelation comes in answers to questions. If a person believes he already knows all the answers and that God has spoken the final word on the subject, he will not seek the mind and will of God, and is no better than the sectarians who deny modern-day revelation.
- The second step would be to insist that the Law of Chastity applies to all. The 1990 version of the Endowment describes this covenant in a non-gender-specific way. Same-sex couples must be under the same obligation to be faithful to their husband or wife, the same as opposite-sex couples. There is no special pass for gay couples.
- The third step would be to realize that, as the D&C says, not all of God’s judgments have been given to man. Why? One reason why is we have not asked to know them, or they have not been relevant until now. One question all Mormons have is what happens to those who do not inherit the highest degree of the Celestial Kingdom? This has never been explained to us, and is a “mystery”. But, our founder, JS, Jr. specialized in uncovering the mysteries. Therefore, if there is a living prophet cut out of the same cloth, he should be able to do the same. This brings us back to point 1.
John144 