With all the talk about Utah gay marriage and statements from the church, I'm a little tired. I think we as Latter-day Saints (and many Christians generally) say, "love the sinner; hate the sin" but then spend so much energy on the second half of the couplet that we don't have strength for the first, which is the more important admonition. It makes me sad.
I wonder what our Heavenly Father thinks.
You know what, you are right. I'm going to remind people that next time I hear it being used.
ReplyDeleteYes. I find this is often a tactful way to end a Sunday School lesson gone gay bashing.
DeleteHow do we as members of the church feel when people constantly judge our beliefs? How do we respond when people say "I love you, but I hate the religion you've chosen and believe you'll go to hell because of it"? I think it explains why, as gay people, or as Mormons, we are often viewed as having a "persecution complex."
ReplyDeleteI'll have to think about this one.
DeleteI have a close family member that smokes and when I say "I love you, but hate that you smoke" his response is "Whatever. It's my life." (That's the PG version.) We as Mormons probably need to have a little more of his "Whatever" attitude in response to the well meaning Christians who think we're going to Hell. As gay people we probably need to be less offended by the Church's stance on homosexuality.
DeleteSo now to my smoking family member I say, "I love you, but please don't smoke around me." And I admit I find myself wondering "Which is the better response to his bad habit?"
This is an example of a painful complication in the situation: some people speak up and say things because they _do_ love. Certainly this isn't the most common motivation, perhaps, but it can hurt--a lot--when it happens.
DeleteBeing the (sort of) optimist I am, though, I can't help but think that people like that, with their intentions in the right place, will eventually come around to seeing the truth of the "sin" of homosexuality. As for smoking though, that may be a different matter...