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Many leaders have also indicated that discerning a ''cause'' for this (or any other) temptation is, in a sense, immaterial—given that one has such a temptation, what ought one to do about it? Below are collected a variety of quotes; most deal with same-sex attraction specifically, while a few speak in more general terms about weakness, frailties, or other mortal afflictions. | Many leaders have also indicated that discerning a ''cause'' for this (or any other) temptation is, in a sense, immaterial—given that one has such a temptation, what ought one to do about it? Below are collected a variety of quotes; most deal with same-sex attraction specifically, while a few speak in more general terms about weakness, frailties, or other mortal afflictions. | ||
+ | ===1980=== | ||
+ | |||
+ | * President Spencer W. Kimball: | ||
+ | |||
+ | :The unholy transgression of homosexuality is either rapidly growing or tolerance is giving it wider publicity. If one has such desires and tendencies, he overcomes them the same as if he had the urge toward petting or fornication or adultery. The Lord condemns and forbids this practice with a vigor equal to his condemnation of adultery and other such sex acts. And the Church will excommunicate as readily any unrepentant addict.... | ||
+ | |||
+ | :Temptations come to all people. The difference between the reprobate and the worthy person is generally that one yielded and the other resisted. It is true that one’s background may make the decision and accomplishment easier or more difficult, but if one is mentally alert, he can still control his future. That is the gospel message—personal responsibility.{{ref|kimball.1980}} | ||
===1990=== | ===1990=== | ||
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:Don’t say, “No one understands me; I can’t sort it out, or get the help I need.” Those comments are self-defeating. No one can help you without faith and effort on your part.9 Your personal growth requires that. Don’t look for a life virtually free from discomfort, pain, pressure, challenge, or grief, for those are the tools a loving Father uses to stimulate our personal growth and understanding. As the scriptures repeatedly affirm, you will be helped as you exercise ''faith in Jesus Christ''. That faith is demonstrated by a willingness to trust His promises given through His prophets11 and in His scriptures, which contain His own words {{io}}.{{ref|scott.1994.april}} | :Don’t say, “No one understands me; I can’t sort it out, or get the help I need.” Those comments are self-defeating. No one can help you without faith and effort on your part.9 Your personal growth requires that. Don’t look for a life virtually free from discomfort, pain, pressure, challenge, or grief, for those are the tools a loving Father uses to stimulate our personal growth and understanding. As the scriptures repeatedly affirm, you will be helped as you exercise ''faith in Jesus Christ''. That faith is demonstrated by a willingness to trust His promises given through His prophets11 and in His scriptures, which contain His own words {{io}}.{{ref|scott.1994.april}} | ||
+ | |||
+ | ===1995=== | ||
+ | |||
+ | * Richard G. Scott: | ||
+ | |||
+ | :It is so hard when sincere prayer about something we desire very much is not answered the way we want. It is especially difficult when the Lord answers no to that which is worthy and would give us great joy and happiness. Whether it be overcoming illness or loneliness, recovery of a wayward child, coping with a handicap, or seeking continuing life for a dear one who is slipping away, it seems so reasonable and so consistent with our happiness to have a favorable answer. It is hard to understand why our exercise of deep and sincere faith from an obedient life does not bring the desired result…. | ||
+ | |||
+ | :When you face adversity, you can be led to ask many questions. Some serve a useful purpose; others do not. To ask, Why does this have to happen to me? Why do I have to suffer this, now? What have I done to cause this? will lead you into blind alleys. It really does no good to ask questions that reflect opposition to the will of God. Rather ask, What am I to do? What am I to learn from this experience? What am I to change? Whom am I to help? How can I remember my many blessings in times of trial? Willing sacrifice of deeply held personal desires in favor of the will of God is very hard to do. Yet, when you pray with real conviction, “Please let me know Thy will” and “May Thy will be done,” you are in the strongest position to receive the maximum help from your loving Father. | ||
+ | |||
+ | :This life is an experience in profound trust—trust in Jesus Christ, trust in His teachings, trust in our capacity as led by the Holy Spirit to obey those teachings for happiness now and for a purposeful, supremely happy eternal existence. To trust means to obey willingly without knowing the end from the beginning (see {{b||Proverbs|3|5–7}}). To produce fruit, your trust in the Lord must be more powerful and enduring than your confidence in your own personal feelings and experience…. | ||
+ | |||
+ | :How grateful I am personally that our Savior taught we should conclude our most urgent, deeply felt prayers, when we ask for that which is of utmost importance to us, with “Thy will be done” ({{b||Matthew|26|42}}). Your willingness to accept the will of the Father will not change what in His wisdom He has chosen to do. However, it will certainly change the effect of those decisions on you personally. That evidence of the proper exercise of agency allows His decisions to produce far greater blessings in your life. I have found that because of our Father’s desire for us to grow, He may give us gentle, almost imperceptible promptings that, if we are willing to accept without complaint, He will enlarge to become a very clear indication of His will. This enlightenment comes because of our faith and our willingness to do what He asks even though we would desire something else…. | ||
+ | |||
+ | :Please learn that as you wrestle with a challenge and feel sadness because of it, you can simultaneously have peace and rejoicing. Yes, pain, disappointment, frustration, and anguish can be temporary scenes played out on the stage of life. Behind them there can be a background of peace and the positive assurance that a loving Father will keep His promises. You can qualify for those promises by a determination to accept His will, by understanding the plan of happiness, by receiving all of the ordinances, and by keeping the covenants made to assure their fulfillment.{{ref|scott.1995}} | ||
+ | |||
+ | ===1996=== | ||
+ | |||
+ | * Richard G. Scott: | ||
+ | |||
+ | :You are here on earth for a divine purpose. It is not to be endlessly entertained or to be constantly in full pursuit of pleasure. You are here to be tried, to prove yourself so that you can receive the additional blessings God has for you. The tempering effect of patience is required. Some blessings will be delivered here in this life; others will come beyond the veil. The Lord is intent on your personal growth and development. That progress is accelerated when you willingly allow Him to lead you through every growth experience you encounter, whether initially it be to your individual liking or not. When you trust in the Lord, when you are willing to let your heart and your mind be centered in His will, when you ask to be led by the Spirit to do His will, you are assured of the greatest happiness along the way and the most fulfilling attainment from this mortal experience. If you question everything you are asked to do, or dig in your heels at every unpleasant challenge, you make it harder for the Lord to bless you…. | ||
+ | |||
+ | :Find the compensatory blessings in your life when, in the wisdom of the Lord, He deprives you of something you very much want. To the sightless or hearing impaired, He sharpens the other senses. To the ill, He gives patience, understanding, and increased appreciation for others’ kindness. With the loss of a dear one, He deepens the bonds of love, enriches memories, and kindles hope in a future reunion. You will discover compensatory blessings when you willingly accept the will of the Lord and exercise faith in Him.{{ref|scott.1996}} | ||
+ | |||
+ | * Neal A. Maxwell: | ||
+ | |||
+ | :Of course our genes, circumstances, and environments matter very much, and they shape us significantly. Yet there remains an inner zone in which we are sovereign, unless we abdicate. In this zone lies the essence of our individuality and our personal accountability…. | ||
+ | |||
+ | :...we become the victims of our own wrong desires. Moreover, we live in an age when many simply refuse to feel responsible for themselves. Thus, a crystal-clear understanding of the doctrines pertaining to desire is so vital because of the spreading effluent oozing out of so many unjustified excuses by so many…. | ||
+ | |||
+ | :Some seek to brush aside conscience, refusing to hear its voice. But that deflection is, in itself, an act of choice, because we so desired. Even when the light of Christ flickers only faintly in the darkness, it flickers nevertheless. If one averts his gaze therefrom, it is because he so desires…. | ||
+ | |||
+ | :What we are speaking about is so much more than merely deflecting temptations for which we somehow do not feel responsible. Remember, brothers and sisters, it is our own desires which determine the sizing and the attractiveness of various temptations. We set our thermostats as to temptations.{{ref|maxwell.1996}} | ||
+ | |||
+ | ===1999=== | ||
+ | |||
+ | * Henry B. Eyring: | ||
+ | |||
+ | :A second truth about our accountability is to know that we are not the helpless victims of our circumstances. The world tries to tell us that the opposite is true: imperfections in our parents or our faulty genetic inheritance are presented to us as absolving us of personal responsibility. But difficult as circumstances may be, they do not relieve us of accountability for our actions or our inactions. Nephi was right. God gives no commandments to the children of men save He prepares a way for them to obey. However difficult our circumstances, we can repent. | ||
+ | |||
+ | :Similarly, the world might be willing to excuse our bad behavior because those around us behave badly. It is not true that the behavior of others removes our responsibility for our own. God’s standards for our behavior are unchanged whether or not others choose to rise to them….{{ref|eyring.1999}} | ||
+ | |||
+ | ===2000=== | ||
+ | |||
+ | * Neal A. Maxwell: | ||
+ | |||
+ | :Yet there are other fixed limitations in life. For instance, some have allotments including physical, mental, or geographic constraints. There are those who are unmarried, through no fault of their own, or yearning but childless couples. Still others face persistent and unreconciled relationships within their circles of loved ones, including offspring who have “[become] for themselves,” resistant to parental counsel ({{s|3|Nephi|1|29}}). In such and similar situations, there are so many prickly and daily reminders. | ||
+ | |||
+ | :Being content means acceptance without self-pity. Meekly borne, however, deprivations such as these can end up being like excavations that make room for greatly enlarged souls. | ||
+ | Some undergo searing developments that cut suddenly into mortality’s status quo. Some have trials to pass through, while still others have allotments they are to live with. Paul lived with his “thorn in the flesh” ({{b|2|Corinthians|12|7}}). | ||
+ | |||
+ | :Suffice it to say, such mortal allotments will be changed in the world to come. The exception is unrepented sin that shapes our status in the next world. | ||
+ | |||
+ | ===2006=== | ||
+ | |||
+ | * Dallin H. Oaks: | ||
+ | |||
+ | :A man wrote a General Authority about how the power of the Atonement helped him with his problem of same-gender attraction. He had been excommunicated for serious transgressions that violated his temple covenants and his responsibilities to his children. He had to choose whether to attempt to live the gospel or whether to continue a course contrary to its teachings. | ||
+ | |||
+ | ::“I knew it would be difficult,” he wrote, “but I didn’t realize what I would have to go through.” His letter describes the emptiness and loneliness and the incredible pain he experienced from deep within his soul as he sought to return. He prayed mightily for forgiveness, sometimes for hours at a time. He was sustained by reading the scriptures, by the companionship of a loving bishop, and by priesthood blessings. But what finally made the difference was the help of the Savior. He explained: | ||
+ | |||
+ | ::“It [was] only through Him and His Atonement. … I now feel an overwhelming gratitude. My pains have been almost more than I could bear at times, and yet they were so small compared to what He suffered. Where there once was darkness in my life, there is now love and gratitude.” | ||
+ | |||
+ | ::He continues: “Some profess that change is possible and therapy is the only answer. They are very learned on the subject and have so much to offer those who struggle … , but I worry that they forget to involve Heavenly Father in the process. If change is to happen, it will happen according to the will of God. I also worry that many people focus on the causes of [same-gender attraction]. … There is no need to determine why I have [this challenge]. I don’t know if I was born with it, or if environmental factors contributed to it. The fact of the matter is that I have this struggle in my life and what I do with it from this point forward is what matters” (letter dated Mar. 25, 2006).{{ref|oaks.2006}} | ||
=={{Conclusion label}}== | =={{Conclusion label}}== | ||
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=={{Endnotes label}}== | =={{Endnotes label}}== | ||
− | + | #{{note|kimball.1980}} {{NewEra1|author=Spencer W. Kimball|article=[http://new.lds.org/new-era/1980/11/president-kimball-speaks-out-on-morality?lang=eng President Kimball Speaks Out on Morality]|date=October 1980|pages=39}} | |
#{{note|packer.1990}} {{General Conference|author=Boyd K. Packer|article=Covenants|date=October 1990|url=http://new.lds.org/general-conference/1990/10/covenants?lang=eng}} | #{{note|packer.1990}} {{General Conference|author=Boyd K. Packer|article=Covenants|date=October 1990|url=http://new.lds.org/general-conference/1990/10/covenants?lang=eng}} | ||
#{{note|pakcer.1993}} {{General Conference|author=Boyd K. Packer|article=For Time and All Eternity|date=October 1993|url=https://new.lds.org/general-conference/1993/10/for-time-and-all-eternity?lang=eng}} | #{{note|pakcer.1993}} {{General Conference|author=Boyd K. Packer|article=For Time and All Eternity|date=October 1993|url=https://new.lds.org/general-conference/1993/10/for-time-and-all-eternity?lang=eng}} | ||
#{{note|scott.1994.april}} {{General Conference|author=Richard G. Scott|article=To Be Healed|date=April 1994|url=https://new.lds.org/general-conference/1994/04/to-be-healed?lang=eng}} | #{{note|scott.1994.april}} {{General Conference|author=Richard G. Scott|article=To Be Healed|date=April 1994|url=https://new.lds.org/general-conference/1994/04/to-be-healed?lang=eng}} | ||
− | + | #{{note|scott.1995}} {{General Conference|author=Richard G. Scott|article=Trust in the Lord|date=October 1995|url=https://new.lds.org/general-conference/1995/10/trust-in-the-lord?lang=eng}} | |
+ | #{{note|scott.1996}} {{General Conference|author=Richard G. Scott|article=Finding Joy in Life|date=April 1996|url=https://new.lds.org/general-conference/1996/04/finding-joy-in-life?lang=eng}} | ||
+ | #{{note|maxwell.1996}} {{General Conference|author=Neal A. Maxwell|article=According to the Desires of [Our] Hearts|date=October 1996|url=https://new.lds.org/general-conference/1996/10/-according-to-the-desire-of-our-hearts-?lang=eng}} | ||
+ | #{{note|eyring.1999}} {{General Conference|author=Henry B. Eyring|article=Do Not Delay|date=October 1999|url=https://new.lds.org/general-conference/1999/10/do-not-delay?lang=eng}} | ||
+ | #{{note|maxwell.2000}} {{General Conference|author=Neal A. Maxwell|article=Content With The Things Allotted Unto Us|date=April 2000|url=https://new.lds.org/general-conference/2000/04/content-with-the-things-allotted-unto-us?lang=eng}} | ||
+ | #{{note|oaks.2006}} {{General Conference|author=Dallin H. Oaks|article=He Heals the Heavy Laden|date=October 2006|url=https://new.lds.org/general-conference/2006/10/he-heals-the-heavy-laden?lang=eng}} | ||
=={{Further reading label}}== | =={{Further reading label}}== |
This article is a draft. FairMormon editors are currently editing it. We welcome your suggestions on improving the content.
==
What have past and present Church leaders taught about why some people are tempted by same-sex attraction?
To see citations to the critical sources for these claims, [[../CriticalSources|click here]]
====
The Church does not have an official position on the causes for same-sex attraction. Many Church leaders have indicated that we do not know the cause(s), and that this is a question for science.
Many leaders have also indicated that discerning a cause for this (or any other) temptation is, in a sense, immaterial—given that one has such a temptation, what ought one to do about it? Below are collected a variety of quotes; most deal with same-sex attraction specifically, while a few speak in more general terms about weakness, frailties, or other mortal afflictions.
Some undergo searing developments that cut suddenly into mortality’s status quo. Some have trials to pass through, while still others have allotments they are to live with. Paul lived with his “thorn in the flesh” (2 Corinthians 12:7).
==
== Notes ==
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