The President Packer Postulate (Part III)
If you’re just coming in now, you may want to check out the first two parts of this discussion. As always, I’ll wait. ;-)
So now we come back to President Packer’s discourse, and particularly the passages people are complaining most vocally about:
President Packer didn’t deny that those tendencies exist. He didn’t even claim that the feelings would go away. What he said is that they’re surmountable, and he’s absolutely right. It doesn’t matter what tendencies you have, you don’t have to act on them. With enough prayer and fasting and hard, hard work, you can overcome them, and you can be happy in the way your Heavenly Parents intend. Period.
He continues:
God’s laws are not there because He wants us to be miserable. They’re there for the same reason human laws are: to protect us from the natural consequences of our incorrect choices. The difference is that God knows, through His infinite experience, what will ultimately make us the happiest. He knows that only a husband and wife, Eternally sealed and Eternally together, can produce the worlds, the posterity, the indescribable joy that He and Mother have. No matter what the governments of the world may do, the laws of nature absolutely require that a man and a woman come together in this way.
It saddens me that so many people have felt the need to vilify President Packer for saying what needed to be said. Hundreds, perhaps thousands, are claiming that he is preaching “hatred,” that his remarks will result in the suicides of large numbers of so-called “gay Mormons.” Even some Church members have joined the fray, with some “Mormon” bloggers calling for him to apologize. To be honest, I find it not only sad, but ridiculous.
Now, don’t get me wrong; I don’t want to see anyone suffer, much less to the point of suicide. As I said at the beginning of this trilogy, it is never right to persecute others. But what President Packer preached had nothing to do with a call to harm; it had to do with love. There was absolutely nothing in his words that could even be construed to encourage hatred and intolerance. Was he blunt? Sure. That’s one of the things I love about him. But I, for one, do not choose to be offended by the truths that he taught, rather to learn from them, to apply them to my own life.
President Packer is an Apostle of the Lord Jesus Christ, and if anyone has a problem with that, I suggest they take it up with his Boss.
Thanks for reading! :-)
So now we come back to President Packer’s discourse, and particularly the passages people are complaining most vocally about:
“Some suppose that they were pre-set, and cannot overcome what they feel are inborn tendencies toward the impure and the unnatural. Not so. Why would our Heavenly Father do that to anyone? Remember, He is our Father.
Why are people so up in arms about this? He’s right. Before joining the Church, I was involved in immoral acts that are every bit as wicked and addictive as homosexuality, perhaps even more so. After many years of hard work and sore repentance, I overcame them. The temptation hasn’t gone away; I still struggle with it on an almost-daily basis. But I have overcome them, and have done so completely, for over a decade.“Paul promised, ‘God… will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able; but will with the temptation also make a way to escape, that ye may be able to bear it’ (1 Corinthians 10:13). You can, if you will, break the habits and conquer the addiction, and come away from that which is not worthy of any member of the Church.” (President Boyd K. Packer, Cleansing the Inner Temple, 180th Semiannual General Conference of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.)
President Packer didn’t deny that those tendencies exist. He didn’t even claim that the feelings would go away. What he said is that they’re surmountable, and he’s absolutely right. It doesn’t matter what tendencies you have, you don’t have to act on them. With enough prayer and fasting and hard, hard work, you can overcome them, and you can be happy in the way your Heavenly Parents intend. Period.
He continues:
“There are those today who not only tolerate but advocate voting to change laws that will legalize immorality, as if a vote would somehow alter the designs of God's laws and nature. A law against nature would be impossible to enforce. For instance, what good would a vote against the law of gravity do?” (ibid.)Again, President Packer is correct. The laws aren’t there to suppress us; they’re there to protect us. Just as a speed limit is still in force when there’s only one car on the road, so God’s laws are still in force when only a few—even none!—of His children are listening. And there’s a darned good reason for that.
God’s laws are not there because He wants us to be miserable. They’re there for the same reason human laws are: to protect us from the natural consequences of our incorrect choices. The difference is that God knows, through His infinite experience, what will ultimately make us the happiest. He knows that only a husband and wife, Eternally sealed and Eternally together, can produce the worlds, the posterity, the indescribable joy that He and Mother have. No matter what the governments of the world may do, the laws of nature absolutely require that a man and a woman come together in this way.
It saddens me that so many people have felt the need to vilify President Packer for saying what needed to be said. Hundreds, perhaps thousands, are claiming that he is preaching “hatred,” that his remarks will result in the suicides of large numbers of so-called “gay Mormons.” Even some Church members have joined the fray, with some “Mormon” bloggers calling for him to apologize. To be honest, I find it not only sad, but ridiculous.
Now, don’t get me wrong; I don’t want to see anyone suffer, much less to the point of suicide. As I said at the beginning of this trilogy, it is never right to persecute others. But what President Packer preached had nothing to do with a call to harm; it had to do with love. There was absolutely nothing in his words that could even be construed to encourage hatred and intolerance. Was he blunt? Sure. That’s one of the things I love about him. But I, for one, do not choose to be offended by the truths that he taught, rather to learn from them, to apply them to my own life.
President Packer is an Apostle of the Lord Jesus Christ, and if anyone has a problem with that, I suggest they take it up with his Boss.
Thanks for reading! :-)
Right on Jeff....Its sad that even members of the church are calling for an Apostle of the Lord to apologize for comments that didn't even resemble hatred. Just because it doesn't fall in line with their political views they take offense. This may weed out some of the tares from the wheat so to speak. In regards to comments on immoral laws...I'm finding it harder and hard to separate my religious beliefs and politics. Any more with what is being put on ballots, what candidates stand for, etc., it is hard not to do so. All in all, a great explanation. Honestly, its sad that it has to be explained.
ReplyDeleteThanks, Jeff. I feel the same way. I have a hope that there are more people that feel as we do on the subject. Maybe they just need a little fire under them from such blogs as this, and they'll help defend an Apostle of the Lord. Thanks for your faith, conviction, and example.
ReplyDeleteI just want to add my two cents that I whole-heartedly support everything you've said in these three posts.
ReplyDeleteI'd also like to point out that I felt that President Packer's talk included a more general call to repentance than "singling out" any specific group. I know I came away from that talk not even thinking about how people who call themselves homosexuals would react, but more about the kinds of things that I need repair in my own life. I think that was the real point of his talk.
Thanks for posting this.
Amen! You have just hit the nail-on-the-head; you've conveyed exactly why President Packer said what he did, and you've also provided him an excellent defense through this series of blogposts. God bless you! :D
ReplyDeleteWell said, Jeff; thank you! In all this upset, I'm reminded of D&C 1:38: "What I the Lord have spoken, I have spoken, and I excuse not myself; and though the heavens and the earth pass away, my word shall not pass away, but shall all be fulfilled, whether by mine own voice or by the voice of my servants, it is the same."
ReplyDeleteOne very important thing people overlook is that if it had been Christ at the podium that day, He would have said the same thing.