Families

Recently the church has put out a new policy that children who have gay parents are not permitted to get baptized until they are eighteen years old.

In all honesty, when I first heard that I thought it sounded a bit harsh and would most likely spawn so many debates as well as give people just another reason to attack us and call us haters. I and many people have been trying to emphasize previously, the church does not hate gay people, we have nothing against them and we do in fact see them as equals. We only disagree with their lifestyle. The church believes that marriage should be between a man and a woman, that it was actually set apart by God himself. If someone chooses not to live this lifestyle, we respect that, but we also know that it is wrong in the eyes of the God that we love and worship on a daily basis.

So on the subject of this policy change… I did think it was a bit harsh and illogical at first. Isn't it the goal of our church to bring as many people into the fold as possible? What if there's some kid who really wants to be baptized, but cannot because they have gay parents? That's not the kid's fault. So they have to wait? How is that fair?

Then I began to think… The one thing more profoundly impressed upon us than missionary work in the church is families. Families are central to the Lord's plan for us. Heck, we have an entire document dedicated to families, "The Family: A Proclamation to the World". Even if a family is comprised of two dads or two moms, a family is still a family. What does this have to do with the policy change? Well, the fifth commandment tells us to "honor thy father and thy mother". If a child of a same-sex couple were to get baptized, it may break up the family. It is because the gay couple are directly not living the standards, acutely breaking one of the Lord's most sacred laws that this policy is in place. You know that this policy also applies to polygamists? You also have to wait a year after your civil marriage before you can enter the temple to be sealed. Marriage is so sacred to the church.

Basically, I think that this is here to keep families together. It is here to respect the gays, not to hurt them. On the surface, it may seem like an attack on the same-sex couples, like a prejudice against them and their families, but it's not. Nowhere does it say that they can't come to church or that they can never be baptized. The parents themselves can even come to church if they desire, anyone and everyone is welcome.

We-- the members-- know that missionary work is important to the church and that nothing should hinder it, so why would something like this policy be put into place unless it came from a higher call? Surely it must have a legitimate, important reason. My advice as a humble member, if you are doubting or questioning it, remember the words of Moroni: "I would exhort you that ye would ask God, the Eternal Father, in the name of Christ, if these things are not true; and if ye shall ask with a sincere heart, with real intent, having faith in Christ, he will manifest the truth of it unto you, by the power of the Holy Ghost." (Moroni 10:4).