Green Oasis

If I only ever pointed out what I believe to be the shortcomings of the LDS church without praising the positive, I would prove myself to be nothing more than a partisan. With that in mind, I must praise the LDS church’s latest pamphlet on homosexuality, God Loveth His Children, which I found out about through the Sunstone blog. This pamphlet acknowledges that people may be born with homosexual attractions (i.e. just like other people are born with heterosexual attractions) and encouraging members of the church to treat those with homosexual attractions with love.

The pamphlet is not perfect, but it’s a good step toward a healthier view of homosexuality.

There’s something that puzzled me for a long time when I was Mormon: women officiating in the ritual washings and anointings in the temple. Women are forbidden to hold the priesthood which allows a man to perform the religious rituals which are necessary to gain exaltation in the Celestial Kingdom. Yet, in the temple, women perform rituals which are considered essential to exaltation exactly as though they were members of the Mormon priesthood.

When I first noticed this, I presumed that men didn’t officiate in these rituals in order to preserve feminine modesty during a ritual that was historically received in the nude (as suggested by the photograph of the ritual washing tub in the Salt Lake Temple circa 1912). Even so, this pragmatic solution didn’t explain how women could perform what must be a priesthood ordinance without being a member of the priesthood. I then realized that other temple rituals promise women that they will become “priestesses”, albeit just “priestesses to [their] husbands”.

Up to that point in my life, I had been staunchly against women priests. It seemed presumptuous that people desired to change what God had ordained. I speculated based on this new evidence provided by the temple that women would indeed be inducted into the priesthood in God’s own time.

I know that I’m not the only one who has ever noticed this inconsistency, but until now, I’ve never had anyone to share my ideas with. The irony is that now that I feel free to share, I don’t care about it much, though the idea of women holding the priesthood still causes angst and controversy even among feminist Mormons. It seems to me like people are fighting over a gorgeously wrapped gift full of nothing.

Mr. Deity and the Meaning Game, Season 2 Episode 2

I’m sorry mom. I went and did what I thought good people were supposed to do, and that meant you were not able to go to see me sealed to my wife. Even today when I hold no faith in the temple ceremonies, I feel sealed to my wife. If God is truly compassionate, then he would not separate people who love each other. If he would, then to hell with him. You missed out on the marriage of your first son, and I wish I could make that decision again. You were there when my dad was less then a good person, and then died. You had to show strength that has always impressed me. You were there when the world seemed rough to me, and I left you out of that important day. I’m sorry. (Gunner)

It hurts to hear these stories of ritual violence which I was deaf to back when I was married. To all those excluded by my decision to marry in an LDS temple, I am sorry. It seemed so simple to me then that I was oblivious to how unjust my hurtful actions were. The irony that I may also face this exclusion by those I love most dearly doesn’t escape me.

Madonna’s Love Profusion just popped up on my playlist. I discovered that the balance between despair for knowing the truth clearly without illusion and the soft, loving gratitude to life portrayed in this song reflects a part of my unnamed mind state.