OPPOSE? TOLERATE? OR JUDGE?

The question is when are you 'righteously' opposing something sinful/evil/bad, and when are you UN-righteously forcing your religious values on others?

As I crept in late (helping with Primary music), our combined Relief Society/Priesthood was being taught by our bishop. From the board, it was obvious we were talking about those standard Mormon things (FHE, prayer, scriptures, tithing) that most of us standard Mormons at least try to do regularly.

And Bishop was emphasizing how important it was to use these times to teach our children, and not just assume that if we got them to church and Mutual, they'd somehow turn out okay.

Then he used a particular phrase - "And realize you are going to have to talk to them about the BIG things."



And my immediate thought was, "Oh, big things - like basic sex education, how to avoid drugs and getting pregnant!"

No.

It was homosexuality.

Now, yes, I know some gay people. I know some gay couples. Got a few gays in my family. And yes, from my church's teachings, sexual relations are to be limited to a man and woman in a legal, martial relationship.

But why is this a "BIG" thing?

I know a heck of a lot more teenage girls who have gotten pregnant because some young hot male convinced them that it was how to show love. I know a lot more people who got married at age 16 because of a pregnancy. I have seen more people in my life have to deal with drug addiction; I have seen quite a few fail miserably. I have a friend who died of AIDS.


And how many people do you know who are living together without the 'benefit' of marriage? Now, again, from my church's view, this is sinful. Why suddenly is this BIGGER if the couple happen to be of the same sex? They at least don't have to worry about unwanted pregnancy, right?

Another phrase used that raised my eyebrows was to "not TOLERATE homosexuality."

As my husband brought up, what is the alternative, exterminate?! And why isn't this judging? Isn't this forcing OUR religious views on other people?

I have no problem with sex outside of marriage being wrong - I agree with it. It's a betrayal of marital vows.

But before you start determining the "largest" of the "gay problem," please address all the married people who are having affairs - to all the physical, mental and emotional abuse that can occur in the home to spouses and children and parents - address and conquer addiction to pornography - focus on alcoholism.

And when you get all that taken care of, THEN being homosexual can become a "big" problem.

SOMEWHERE OVER THE RAINBOW

I am an optimistic. Well, most of the time. I'm going through a rather dark period right now, but I am seeing light at the end of the tunnel.

It's just still an extremely long tunnel at the moment.

But I mean, how you live with my name and be a pessimistic? Just doesn't work.

My husband's job for the past 30+ years has been thinking of horrible, terrible events that might occur, and then making the preparations to prevent them from actually occurring. Security, including physical, intelligence, computer and any other means that bad guys can make bad things happen.

So he is minute-to-minute bombarded by all the rotten, evil, and nasty stuff that is or even could be happening all around the world.

This must be one of the few jobs in the world where being clinically depressed and a natural pessimist are a great advantage.

But even when going through some dark times myself, there are so many incredible, wonderful things occurring each and every day, and I wanted to share some that have shown up lately:

- You may not like Obama, but isn't it incredible cool that we have a BLACK president? I mean, I can remember civil-rights protests and segregated schools. Even in the LA suburb where I went to high school, the real estate prices mysteriously suddenly got higher up when a non-white family came house-hunting.

- And in the same vein, I love the fact that no one (at least in my family) mentions anymore if a friend/work acquaintance/etc. is Hispanic/ Asian/ Black/ Samoan /Jewish/ From-New-York (okay, okay, maybe that last one, I'll admit).

- Why is it that some words sound exactly like what they  mean and some sooo don't? Succulent - I mean, I hate that word, but it sounds moist. But flatulence - doesn't that sound like the scrolled wire legs on those garden chairs?

- You know that story about some dude who pulls a thorn out of a lion's paw, and then years later when the guy is thrown to the lions to get eaten, the lion 'remembers' and does not tear him into pieces? I pulled a huge thorn out of my dog's paw tonight... and he still expects me to feed him before I go to bed. Geesh.

- And if by any chance you have actually read this all the way to this last paragraph, bravo! You are one in a million (or probably more!).