I am writing this because I think that we as Mormons are shortsighted with regards to interpreting important parts of our doctrine. As a result of our misinterpretations, and the perpetuation of them, we have made life hard for younger Mormons and given false perceptions of Mormon thought to people who are not of our faith. I have decided to write a series of doctrinal treatises to clarify how certain doctrines should inform our worldviews as Latter-day Saints.
In order to address these prominent issues, I will first explain different core doctrines in LDS theology, and then show how they should inform the Latter-day Saint Worldview. As I discuss sensitive topics, I hope that we remember one important concept taught by Joseph Smith, and reiterated in our present century by Elder Jeffery R. Holland, member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, “Heavenly Father is more liberal in His views, and boundless in his mercies and blessings, than we are ready to believe or receive…God does not look on sin with [the least degree of] allowance, but…the nearer we get to our Heavenly Father, the more we are disposed to look with compassion on perishing souls; we feel that we want to take them upon our shoulders, and cast their sins behind our backs” (Teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith, sel. Joseph Fielding Smith (1976), 257, 240-241 [as quoted in “The Grandeur of God” by Jeffery R. Holland in 2003]). The present treatise will focus on homosexuality.
LDS doctrine regarding the afterlife sheds light on what could be a more liberal worldview of homosexuality. Most Abrahamic religious thought dictates that there is One Heaven and One Hell. Those who are faithful to that particular Abrahamic religion will go to heaven, and those who chose other religions will go to Hell. For example, Christians go to Heaven and others go to Hell, or Muslims go to Paradise and others go to Eternal Fire. LDS theology offers a stark viewpoint from other Abrahamic Religions. We believe, as Jesus taught in the New Testament, that in Heaven “there are many mansions” or Kingdoms of Glory (John 14:2). Joseph Smith made it clear that “It appeared self-evident from what truths were left, that if God rewarded every one according to the deeds done in the body the term ‘Heaven,’ as intended for the Saints’ eternal home, must include more kingdoms than one” (Doctrine and Covenants 76 [section heading]). Modern revelation identifies at least three general Kingdoms of Glory in Heaven: Celestial, Terrestrial, and Telestial. It is important to remember that each is a Kingdom of Glory, and each is a part of Heaven. Therefore, those who choose to practice homosexuality during their mortal lives will NOT go to hell. According to what we know now, it could be supposed that those persons will be received into the Telestial Kingdom of Heaven (See LDS Article of Faith Nine, and Doctrine and Covenants 76:81-113 ). LDS theology was probably the first theology to make the bold claim that those practicing homosexuality during their mortal lives will not go to hell forever, but will in fact be received into a kingdom of glory in Heaven. Our founding Prophet received that revelation in 1832, and can now be found in Doctrine and Covenants section seventy-six. Leaders from other religions have only started to make that claim in the late 20th century or early 21st century - over 150 years later.
Each Kingdom of Glory has its Law: Celestial, Terrestrial, and Telestial Law. In order to inhabit a place in one of those Kingdoms of Glory, one must abide the law that corresponds to it (Doctrine and Covenants 88:17-31). Thus, each person, in this life or in the spirit world before resurrection, will ultimately choose in full knowledge which law they will obey. It is important to note that The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church) was organized by God to help people live the Celestial Law. It was NOT organized to help people live the Terrestrial or Telestial Laws. There were already plenty of organizations that could help people live up to the standards set forth in Telestial and Terrestrial law, and there are plenty of organizations today that can help people live up to the standards set forth in Telestial and Terrestrial law (See Elder Oaks' "The Purpose of Missionary Work," missionary satellite broadcast in April 1995). The LDS Church’s purpose should be remembered when one analyzes the standards that it sets for its members, and the commandments that it helps Mormons to live. It would be erroneous to ask the LDS church to change in order to allow for Telestial and Terrestrial habits in its organization. For the moment, God has not design the LDS Church for that purpose. Again, there are other inspired organizations that can support those who have Telestial and Terrestrial goals (and those are not bad goals to have, they are just different goals that require a different set of laws to achieve them).
The purpose of the Celestial Law is to help individuals become like God the Creator. The image of God the Creator is male and female (Genesis 1:29). Thus Celestial laws and ordinances are designed to help male and female persons come together in order to become Creators like our Heavenly Father and Heavenly Mother (who together constitute God the Creator- again see Genesis 1:29). For that reason, the practice of homosexuality is against the Celestial Law, and by default the LDS Church. When a human man and human man have sex, or a human woman and a human woman have sex, no creation occurs. Thus, these forms of sexual conduct are not considered holy. However, if creating innumerable Kids, and having the responsibility to govern them, is not something that you want to do forever (ie. being the parent of a very large family with a TON of pets FOREVER), then you can choose to live a Terrestrial or Telestial law. God revealed in holy writ that “men are that they might have joy” (2 Nephi 2:25), and it has also been revealed that He “granteth unto men according to their desires” (Alma 29:4). Therefore, an individual should not hesitate to discover which or those laws brings them joy, espouse the law that corresponds to it, and commit to live it. Our purpose on earth is to gain knowledge of the truth, pick a destiny, and repent so that we can perfectly live the law that allows us to fulfill our chosen destinies. Furthermore, if one were to choose to live a Terrestrial or Telestial Law, then that individual can go to several wonderful organizations that are organized to help them live those laws- you are free to do so! What’s more, those choosing to live a Celestial lifestyle have a regal duty to protect every individual’s right to choose Celestial, Terrestrial, or Telestial life paths. For example, the eleventh article of faith for Latter-day Saints states:
We claim the privilege of worshiping Almighty God according to the dictates of our own conscience, and ALLOW ALL MEN THE SAME PRIVILEGE, let them worship how, where, or what they may. (emphasis added)
John Taylor, third president of the LDS Church states:
Besides the preaching of the gospel, we have another mission, namely, the perpetuation of the free agency of man and the maintenance of liberty, freedom, and the rights of man. (The Gospel Kingdom, pg. 222)
Ironically, it could be more doctrinally correct for Latter-day Saints to support civil gay marriage than to oppose it, given the poignant statements above from LDS Prophets, and our inspired view of the afterlife. Marriage is a form of worship, and Mormons believe in allowing ALL men and women the privilege of "worshiping how, where, or what they may" so long as we are extended the same privilege in return (Article of Faith Eleven). In fact, President John Taylor would suggest that it is part of our regal duties as God's saints to ensure the agency of man in all of the earth. However, we also covenant to sustain our Prophets and Apostles. The covenant to sustain a leader, or fellow Latter-day Saint, means that we will support them as they shoulder the responsibility of an assignment that is meant to be a service to us. This means that we offer our opinions and ideas as we sit in counsel ( in fact, we are encouraged to offer our honest thoughts and opinions), but once a decision is made by the person who heads the organization, we are expected by God to support that person. In this spirit, I offer here an alternative viewpoint grounded in LDS doctrine to show that there is doctrinal room to ponder about the LDS viewpoint on civil gay marriage. However, I did support Proposition 8, and if called upon I would do so again because I have covenanted to support President Thomas Monson, and I intend to keep that covenant.
Finally, don’t worry about not seeing friends who may want to live a different law than you, we will all be able to interact with one another in heaven (Celestial, Terrestrial, and Telestial people can interact with one another, it is not like you are isolated).
It should be noted that desires can be educated over time, and that the education of desires does not end when an individual exits mortality and moves into the Spirit World. According to LDS theology, the Atonement of Christ extends the time for men to meet God from the point of Mortal Death to the point of Resurrection. In other words, before the resurrection of Christ, Mortal Life was our time to discover what we really truly desired (Alma 32), and that time ended with mortal death. Now, after the resurrection of Christ, we have until the resurrection to decide what it is that we really desire (D&C 138, Peter). Therefore, one could exit mortality desiring Telestial Glory, but decide in the Spirit World that they actually desire Celestial Glory, repent to live the Celestial Law, the corresponding ordinances could be conducted for them vicariously on earth, and then they could be resurrected unto Celestial Glory. It could be argued that one of the greatest gifts that God gave to man after the Fall was time to discover what we wanted, and that the second greatest gift that God gave to man was to extend that time beyond the grave. Thus, it cannot be said that the education of our desires ends with death, through the Atonement of Jesus Christ that education continues until the resurrection.
The aforementioned concept of Heaven has several important implications. First, sin is relative. Sin is a willful transgression of the law, and in Heaven there are three Kingdoms of Glory with three different sets of laws. Therefore, a certain act may be considered a sin the Celestial Kingdom but not a sin in the Terrestrial and Telestial Kingdoms, and another act may be considered a sin in both the Celestial and Terrestrial kingdoms but not in the Telestial Kingdom. Finally, a certain act may also be considered a sin in all three kingdoms of glory. Thus, sin is relative to the type of glory and law that you have chosen to bind yourself to before God. However, it is important to note that the relativity of sin does not mean that there is not such thing as right and wrong. Sin is relative so far as God has allowed it to be, and he makes clear the differences of the three types of law in scripture. Another implication is that God does not pigeon hole his children into one type of life. Arguing that there is one Heaven, with one law, and that everything else besides that lifestyle is worthy of Eternal Hell is like saying that there is only one worthwhile career, every other career path should not be considered, and everyone, no matter your interests, should conform to that career path. Not everyone wants to be President of the United States. Everybody does not have to love the same hobbies, and everybody does not have the same talents.
In another direction, LDS theology refers to Hell as outer darkness. In order to be cast into outer darkness forever, one would need to faithfully receive all of the ordinances that the Church has to offer (from Baptism to the highest temple ordinances), be extremely faithful to those covenants, receive complete assurance by revelation from God that you will be saved in the Celestial Kingdom, and then deny it all, begin to actively seek the destruction of the Church, and never repent in this life or in the spirit world before resurrection. In short, almost nobody is going to Hell forever; not even those former Mormons who adamantly fight against the LDS Church today are going to Hell forever. It’s harder to go to Hell forever than to the Celestial Kingdom. Therefore, 99.9999999999% of everybody who lived, lives, and will live is going to one of the Kingdoms of Glory in Heaven. Again, the LDS theology has a very stark viewpoint on the afterlife from other Abrahamic faiths because it is more inclusive. We believe that basically everybody goes to Heaven, including our brothers and sisters of the gay community, and it has been a part of our theology since the 1830s.
Understanding the doctrinal view of the afterlife makes the smaller questions about homosexuality easier to answer:
- If I practice Homosexuality in this life, will I go to Hell?
- NO. According to our theology, if practicing Homosexuality is something you want to do in this life, and you never want to repent of it in this life, then according to what we know now, you would probably go to Heaven and be received into the Telestial Kingdom. We know that the level of joy in the Telestial Kingdom surpasses any level of joy that can be attained in this world.
- If I am a Homosexual, can I be received into the Celestial Kingdom?
- Well it depends on what you mean by “I am a homosexual.” In mainstream culture, the terms “gay”, “having same sex attraction”, and being “homosexual” all mean the same thing. In LDS worldview, we often distinguish between those terms. We believe that some can have same sex attraction, or be gay, but not necessarily be homosexual. For many Latter-day Saints, same sex attraction is a feeling or inclination, while homosexuality refers to the act of breaking the Celestial Law on Chastity with someone of the same sex. Therefore, in our framework, you can be gay (or have same sex attraction) and still keep the Celestial Law on Chastity. Thus, if someone is Gay, and they choose to keep the Celestial Law on Chastity because they want to create numberless amounts of children so that they can be a Creator like Heavenly Father and Heavenly Mother, then YES they can be received into the Celestial Kingdom. However, you cannot practice homosexuality in this life, never repent of it, and be received into the Celestial Kingdom because that type of sexual practice does not lead to Creation (THE central life purpose of Celestial Beings).
- What is the “Celestial Law of Chastity”?
- It is best outlined in the LDS Church’s For the Strength of Youth Pamphlet, “Do not have sexual relations before marriage, and be completely faithful to your spouse after marriage” (For the Strength of Youth, Sexual Purity). The pamphlet goes onto to say that before marriage a person should not “participate in passionate kissing, lie on top of another person, or touch the private sacred parts of another person’s body, with or without clothing”(For the Strength of Youth, Sexual Purity). If I were a person seeking to keep the Celestial Law, then I should not do those activities with someone of the opposite sex or of the same sex. Therefore, an ideal Mormon date before marriage would be the following: boy picks up the girl at her place, they go out and have a fun time participating in a wholesome activity, hopefully they had plenty of time to talk and get to know one another, and if it was serious enough, maybe they held hands, and then kissed (not passionately) each other goodnight when the boy dropped the girl off at her place at the end of the night. If you were looking for a hard line, the same scenario would technically be fine if two boys did the same thing: boy picks up boy, they go out and have a fun time participating in a wholesome activity, they hold hands, and kiss (not passionately) each other goodnight when one boy drops the other off at his place at the end of the night. Technically, that would not even mean that they are gay or that they have same sex attraction. It could be two men who are friends- men holding hands, or non-passionately kissing each other is NOT a sign of being gay in many cultures.
- So I can go on dates with other gay men and still keep the Celestial Law on Chastity?
- Technically yes, if it were along the lines described above. However, it takes a lot of introspective thought as to whether one should flirt with that very “red line” described in the hypothetical situation between the two boys, “Never do anything that could lead to sexual transgression” (For the Strength of Youth, Sexual Purity).
- I am a Mormon parent with a child that practices homosexuality, what does this mean for him and our family?
- First, do not blow it out of proportion. Sadly our community of Saints puts anything surrounding homosexuality on this kind of pedestal of sin as if it something extra crazy, extra sinful, and even something extra special to repent of. Other times, we make those who work through this struggle en route to keeping Celestial Law out be heroes and heroines upon whom we should shower extra praise above those who struggle in different ways to keep Celestial Law. This is also incorrect. Remember that sin is relative to the law we choose to be held accountable for before God. Also, remember the words of James, “For whosever shall keep the whole law, and yet offend in one point, he is guilty of all” (James 2:10). In other words, sin is sin. If I were to sin against the law that I were trying to keep, then I will not be received into the kingdom of glory in heaven that corresponds with that law. There is no inequality among sinners. One who breaks the law of chastity and one who breaks the law of the Sabbath are both equally left out of the celestial kingdom; one of them is not more of a sinner than the other. The reason why we tend to rank sin is because certain sins take more time to abandon than others. For example, if one were guilty of the celestial law of tithing, then all they need to do in order to repent of it is to start paying tithing when their next paycheck comes in. However, if one were addicted to cocaine, then by the very nature of the sin, it will take more time to abandon that habit. But again, the cocaine addict is no worse a sinner than the one who broke the law of tithing- all are alike unto God, and we should not think ourselves proud because we are not guilty of certain sins. Nor should we shower extra praise on somebody because they happen to struggle with certain elements of Celestial Law. Thus, do not treat homosexual sexual practice as some other worldly sin against the Celestial law. Yes, it is a sin against the Celestial law, but it is no worse than other sins against the Celestial Law, and struggling with it also makes one no better than others who struggle with different things. Second, you must be patient, loving, supportive, and long-suffering. This is a time for parents to help their child figure out what they want to be eternally, and to live the law that helps them become that Eternal Person. Certainly, we should teach them in their youth the Celestial Law, but recognize that there could come a time in their maturity where they may discover Terrestrial and Telestial Law. In all things be believing, and remember that if they leave this life with those same practices, we still will not be able to judge which desire they will express to God at the time of resurrection. Furthermore, no matter their desire at judgment day, they will go to heaven and you will all get to visit one another there.
- I am a Mormon parent, and my child has same sex attraction, what does this mean for him and our family?
- Again, same sex attraction, or being gay, is not a sin against the Celestial Law of Chastity. Therefore,first thank the child for being open with you, and hopefully you have instilled in him/her the correct doctrinal viewpoints so that he/she can navigate their eternal course. Again, this is a time for parents to help their child figure out what they want to be eternally, and to live the law that helps them become that Eternal Person In all things be the loving parent that Heavenly Father shows you how to be, not their friend. Instill in them the truth of who God is, and who we are in relation to God.
- What does this mean for your US Political point of view?
- “We claim the privilege of worshiping Almighty God according to the dictates of our own conscience, and ALLOW ALL MEN THE SAME PRIVELAGE, let them worship how, where, or what they may” (LDS Article of Faith 11). In accordance to this article of faith, which I whole-heartedly endorse and believe, I think that all government unions should be called civil unions instead of calling some civil marriage and some civil union. I think that Marriage is a religiously loaded word that has lead to the current social battle which we see in America despite the fact that civil unions are exactly the same as civil marriages except for the name. We should call them all civil unions, and give churches the right to administer their marriage ordinances to whomever they choose because “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof” (Amendment I, US Constitution). In that setting, couples, both heterosexual and homosexual, will get their civil union from the state, and then have their personal marriage ceremony where and how they want it to be. Religion will work like any market, people will probably choose a church that administers the marriage ordinance how they think that it should be administered, or they could choose no church and design their own marriage ceremony. I imagine that the LDS Church may lose some membership over not administering their marriage ordinance to same-sex couples, but we would be okay with that and society should be okay with that- let us worship how we want, and we will also extend the same courtesy to you. However, if society were to infringe on our right to administer our Marriage Ordinance according to the dictates of our own conscience then I would support all legal civic action at our disposal to defend our right to worship God according to the dictates of our own conscience, just as we allow all men the same privilege. Finally, I would again note that I did support Proposition 8 in California in 2008 because the LDS Church supported it, and I would do so again because I do believe in keeping my covenant to sustain the Prophet despite my personal views.
To conclude, if I were to state what I am trying to say with this treatise in one sentence, it would be that God is more Liberal in His ways than many of us are ready to believe and to receive. I recognize that my comments may be very liberal for some fellow Mormons; probably too liberal for many of you to believe and to receive, but I promise you that they are true. There are many Mansions in Heaven, and God is preparing a great one for you.
Ryan Coles
VII
Wonderful, wonderful read.
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