Sometimes when I am talking to people who deal with attractions to the same gender, they will ask me what their chances are: chances to be happy in the Church, chances to be able to have a happy and successful heterosexual marriage. I used to ask those questions. I wasn’t really interested in statistics, though. My question really wasn’t about other people, but I wanted a prediction, an assurance about my future self: could I make it?
Statistics, of course, cannot answer that question. The number of people who made it to the moon before Neil Armstrong: 0. The number of people who climbed Mount Everest before Edmund Hilary: 0. Despite those long odds, the effort to get there was still worth it. I honestly don’t know what the odds are with this challenge. I was recently re-reading a book that had a wonderful answer to this question, however. It’s a mother speaking to her daughter:
This is a bit late for a Christmas post, but it follows a similar theme as Rex and Kim’s posts. When I woke up on Christmas morning this last Thursday, I sat alone by the fire for a couple hours before others in my family got up and going. I opened up my scriptures to read again through the nativity story in the New Testament, but then I stopped and decided to read through the parallel events in the Book of Mormon, in the last chapters of Helaman through 3 Nephi 1.
Since being diagnosed with diabetes, I’ve necessarily explored all of the options for sugar-free alternatives to my favorite kinds of foods. I never liked diet soda. The after-taste always made me wish I hadn’t had any. Yet, I dropped thirty pounds when it became necessary for me to avoid sugary drinks.
Long ago, when I was a child and my grandmother had diabetes, I was told by my family that I had to be careful about my sugar intake or I would become like my Granny. I, of course, ignored it, and look where it got me.
Also, long ago. I was deeply involved with sexual activity with males. I struggled for many years to quit. After a prayer experience, I finally did, and that was the beginning of the real pain.
The following are recent homosexuality-related blog discussions on other popular LDS-themed blogs:
Partners with benefits? The possible relationship between universal health care and marriage
By Common Consent - December 28, 2008Several thoughts on marriage and politics
Mormon Inquiry - December 22, 2008They will not go away
Latter-day Commentary - December 19, 2008
I have been pondering for days the same issue Rex presented in the post just below mine. When I read his, I was tempted to not write mine, but I heard somewhere that in the mouth of two or three witnesses … :)
About sixteen years ago, risky actions I took helped me come to the realization that my in homosexual behaviors was not some mere phase I was going through. As I looked back on my then 36 years of life, I saw clearly that even though I was no longer having sex with males, I was still very deeply attracted to them. Even though I was married with five great children, I realized that I was more robotic than human towards my wife and children.
On January 5th, prior to the fireside sponsored by Fred and Marilyn Matis, Pam Infanger is hosting a dinner for mothers with gay/SSA children. The dinner will be held at her home in Saratoga Springs, west of Lehi, Utah, at 5:00 PM. The fireside in Lehi, Utah, will begin at 7:00 PM.
If you are a mother and would like to attend, or would like to pass the invitation on to your mother to attend, please contact Pam via North Star to RSVP.
I am dismayed and disappointed by the lack of posting and conversation on this blog as the election fades into the past. I like being able to tell myself that I was right. Without stating a position on Proposition 8, the fear that I had and have realized was that the question of gay marriage would raise a lot of interest in this blog, interest that would quickly fade away when the political scene played out.
The following are recent homosexuality-related blog discussions on other popular LDS-themed blogs:
Prop 8 Backlash Is “An Outrage That Must Stop,” Group Says in Support of Church
LDS Newsroom - December 8, 2008The price of voting one’s conscience
Mormon Inquiry - December 13, 2008How To Torpedo Your Own Argument!
Article VI Blog - December 12, 2008Mad at the LDS Church
Mormon Inquiry - December 10, 2008
View the December Newsletter.
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