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LDS Church Leader Proclaims Mormon LGBT Policy is According to “God’s Will”

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hljavery@verizon.net is licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0
15 LDS Leaders pondered, fasted and prayed to arrive at their LGBT policy.

The current Latter-day Saints Church or Mormon’s policy on the banning and disapproval of LGBT members remains and further strengthened. This is the proclamation made by the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles President Russell M. Nelson in a devotional event at the Brigham Young University (BYU) in Hawaii last Sunday, January 10.

LDS Church Leader Proclaims That Mormon’s Policy on LGBT is according to ‘God’s Will’.[/tweetthis]

According to the senior apostle, such confirmation of the church’s policy is made through God’s revelation to the LDS Church president Thomas S. Monson. The Mormons consider their current leader as a prophet, seer and revelator of the Lord.

In his speech, elder Nelson explained how the 15 top leaders (3 First President Members and 12 Quorum Apostles) of the church pondered, fasted, prayed and had countless meetings in the temple just to ask God’s guidance on the particular issue. As Nelson explains:

“The First Presidency and Quorum of the Twelve Apostles counsel together and share all the Lord has directed us to understand and to feel, individually and collectively… And then, we watch the Lord move upon the President of the Church to proclaim the Lord’s will.”

After a long time of balancing and considering the ramifications of their decision, the church eventually upheld is current position and the revelation made by President Monson. The Church issued a new policy last year to Handbook 1: Stake Presidents and Bishops, when it comes to same-sex-marriage. Members who enter into a same-sex union or avails of their same-sex-marriage civil right shall be declared as “apostates” or non-believers.

Additionally, their children shall be barred from being baptized and from taking part in all Latter-day Saints religious rites until they turn 18.

LDS Welfare Leader Resources: Manual -God Loveth His Children pdf handout.

The BYU event and Nelson’s address was directed towards the millennial members of the church. The elder apostle’s announcement was also streamed live on the internet for its global audience. Nelson also challenged the church’s young members “As a ‘true millennial’ whom the Lord can count on, you will make history too! You will be asked to accept challenging assignments and become an instrument in the Lord’s hands. And, He will enable you to accomplish the impossible… Every one of us has questions. Seeking to learn, understand and recognize truth is a vital part of our mortal experience. Much of my life has been spent in research. You, too, will learn best by asking inspired questions.

And in order to gain support from the church’s young members, elder Nelson warned them to be careful with most of the opinions they hear in and out of the church. According to Nelson “The somber reality is that there are ‘servants of Satan’ embedded throughout society. So be very careful about whose counsel you follow.

A lot of liberal-minded members of the church are obviously disappointed with the announcement. Blogger, author, and church member Jana Riess can’t help but utter provocative questions as a response. Riess asks if the pronounced revelation is in conformity with God’s desire to allow little children to come unto him unhindered, a reminder that children are never responsible for the alleged sins of their parents, and the recognition of the inherent sacred worth of LGBT persons including their marriages.

Finally, Riess expressed his thoughts on the church decision “I don’t believe God is behind this policy. This does not feel like holy revelation from the same God who declared there is neither Jew nor Gentile, slave nor free, male nor female — for we are all one in Christ Jesus. By rejecting this policy, are active LDS church members like me, people who hold a calling and a temple recommend, now to be regarded as ‘servants of Satan’?”

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