tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9056860424380980828.post8842045145351891695..comments2023-11-26T00:28:03.695-08:00Comments on The Wanderings and Delusions of a Gay Mormon Boy: A Series of Sundays, Part 5A Gay Mormon Boyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02366029507118022319noreply@blogger.comBlogger7125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9056860424380980828.post-88926975762792624262010-10-01T08:44:48.400-07:002010-10-01T08:44:48.400-07:00@Biki: Thans for the kind words. I think it'...@Biki: Thans for the kind words. I think it's an especially difficult lesson to learn. It really is sad to see what happens to kids who are taught these things. In the wake of gay teen suicide #6 in recent weeks, I think there's a lot to consider in this vein.<br /><br />@Miranda: I'm glad to hear you've enjoyed my story. It's gotten more difficult to share as I realize more people will take offense with the lessons I've learned and the decisions I've made, but your feedback and the emails of a few anonymous readers have shown me that I've done far more good by sharing than I ever could by keeping this all to myself. <br /><br />Yes, things do get complicated into shades of gray. Often, one of the simplest things we can do is go back to the old lessons in new light. Whenever some criticism comes my way, I ask, "Have I done any good in the world today?" and I feel better because I don't need to worry about others' opinions quite so much when I can tell myself that I know I'm a good person.<br /><br />@Carla: I've seen too many promises of "pray the gay away" destroy people emotionally and psychologically to know something is awry when reason is not involved in choices.A Gay Mormon Boyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02366029507118022319noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9056860424380980828.post-62019392693746726942010-09-30T15:53:32.140-07:002010-09-30T15:53:32.140-07:00"By committing yourself to the covenants you&..."By committing yourself to the covenants you've made, you'll find all of the answers you need."<br /><br />That kind of certainty is what I think enslaves people to religions, that no matter how much is asked of them, if they get a certainty that they are in the right and that they will be rewarded in the end, they will stay.Carla Schmidt Hollowayhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12947846629735463824noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9056860424380980828.post-79065497327147436602010-09-28T17:08:47.366-07:002010-09-28T17:08:47.366-07:00Your words have such power and your courage is ama...Your words have such power and your courage is amazing. I have been an ardent admirer from a distance for some time. <br />I do not pretend to understand all the feelings of your heart, but you have helped me to clarify some of mine. That is the test of great writing.<br />I have been thinking about religion all day--with this thought in mind. When I was a child I saw God in black and white and everything was clear. There were answers to every question. The older I get the more subtle shades of gray I see and the more reason I find to turn to him on my knees in supplication for understanding about the questions I can never fully express. I have faith that one day the answers will come when I am ready to understand them.Mirandahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10285298476199018877noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9056860424380980828.post-56834118802501942772010-09-27T17:03:06.537-07:002010-09-27T17:03:06.537-07:00I applaud your courage and devotion to charting an...I applaud your courage and devotion to charting an unknown path to search for your own meaning of what you life is supposed to be. <br /><br />We can only so long live life proscribed by others before it begins to erode our very foundation of our selves. What makes me so sad, is that often what is right and true runs counter to every thing we have been taught as true as children.Biki Honkohttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06731335682679434307noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9056860424380980828.post-49412541812326189032010-09-27T10:27:41.306-07:002010-09-27T10:27:41.306-07:00@naturgesetz: This is really fascinating. I'...@naturgesetz: This is really fascinating. I'm thankful for these doctrinal connections you make. It helps to see other people viewing the world similarly. Far too often in religion, people are afraid of understanding other religions out of fear, when there is so much to be gained from it.<br /><br />@Keaton: It is indeed a complex passage incumbent upon the context of all of my preceding posts, especially the last four. In so many ways I felt like the things in life I was supposed to be able to depend on and strengthen me were the very things tearing me down and making me unhappy. <br /><br />A change was necessary: in becoming vulnerable I became stronger; I began building a life of my own rather than the one pre-manufactured for me. I began fulfilling, depending on one's view, a deeper promise to God: that I would make life worth living rather than living in frustration, anger, and stagnation.<br /><br />Admittedly, the answer itself is semi-ambiguous because that is the nature of paradox.A Gay Mormon Boyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02366029507118022319noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9056860424380980828.post-72720430362598263522010-09-26T19:24:49.245-07:002010-09-26T19:24:49.245-07:00dude...
Standing as a constant reminder of the sta...dude...<br />Standing as a constant reminder of the standards I was to hold and the godly power supporting me in this journey, I stood in awe of the holy garments for a moment. Then, I removed them for the last time and stood before myself completely vulnerable.<br /><br />You have to explain this. To give away power & support & purposely become vulnerable. I know its complex and simple at the same time. If you ever needed some heavenly connection that garments give us...is it not now in this struggle? I well understand that the table at the institution is not inspiring but your personal spirituality something very separate must carry forth with hope and courage. Your body is a work of beauty and power and seeks fullfillment. Why can't the physical and the spiritual unite?Keatonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08346931656530258800noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9056860424380980828.post-85194067464231862592010-09-26T16:46:53.408-07:002010-09-26T16:46:53.408-07:00"For years, I'd been taught that this was...<i>"For years, I'd been taught that this was God's greatest gift, that the human body stands as a vessel of godliness containing the power of creation."</i><br /><br />This reminds me of something Pope John Paul II said in the talks he gave presenting his Theology of the Body. Here is how it is paraphrased in the book I am excerpting on my blog. "The body is a primordial sacrament, a visible sign of God's invisible mystery. This is the mystery of truth and love, of the divine life, in which the human person really participates. <b>The body alone is capable of making visible the invisible. It was created to be a sign of God's love in the visible world.</b><br />"Through man, created in God's image, the sacramentality of the world is revealed. By means of the physical body, the human person is a visible sign of the love out of which God created all things." <i>(Emphasis added)</i><br /><br />In fact, in his own words, the Pope also said that the body is "created to transfer into the visible reality of the world the mystery hidden from eternity in God."<br /><br />No doubt there are some differences between Catholic and Mormon theology on this point, but I was struck by the element of resemblance.naturgesetzhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15268507379933286863noreply@blogger.com