The Gospel According to Jeffrey

Following my August 26 post regarding Michael Crook and Mitch Mayne, I received a question in the comments. Strangely, I was not notified of its existence until just now, so I am now endeavoring to respond. Hopefully the author won’t be too unhappy with me. The question was as follows: Jeff, I appreciate that you've thought about the situation critically. That's awesome. That got me on a deep-think track about a few subtle differences between sexual orientation and the inclinations to which you've referred (e.g., to steal a Twix bar). You've basically asserted that all inclinations are basically on the same playing field. What happens, though, when God says to one person "You can act on this inclination" then turns to another person and says "I'm sorry, you can't act on this inclination"? That's how I view sexual orientation in the LDS Church: God has told straight Mormons, Date! Hold hands! Kiss! Develop these powerful urges withi...

I just came across another Answerbag post that I’m pretty pleased with. The question was as follows: Mormons: This statement from Joseph Smith has always puzzled me, "A man is saved no faster than he gets knowledge…" ( History of the Church , 5:588) What does it mean? Here’s my response: First of all, let’s put this in a little more context: As far as we degenerate from God, we descend to the devil and lose knowledge, and without knowledge we cannot be saved…. A man is saved no faster than he gets knowledge, for if he does not get knowledge, he will be brought into captivity by some evil power in the other world, as evil spirits will have more knowledge, and consequently more power than many men who are on the earth. Hence it needs revelation to assist us, and give us knowledge of the things of God (HC 5:588). So let’s establish first what President Smith is not saying. I think we need to recognize that he is certainly not talking about salvation from physical death—which i...