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Template:BoydKPackerHomosexuality
| Element | 1978 | 1990 | 1995 | 2000 | 2003 | 2006 | 2010 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Unsought feelings, thoughts, or temptations are not sins. | Is sexual perversion wrong? There appears to be a consensus in the world that it is natural, to one degree or another, for a percentage of the population. Therefore, we must accept it as all right….
The answer: It is not all right. It is wrong! It is not desirable; it is unnatural; it is abnormal; it is an affliction. When practiced, it is immoral. It is a transgression. |
You may not be able, simply by choice, to free yourself at once from unworthy feelings. You can choose to give up the immoral expression of them. | We cannot, as a church, approve unworthy conduct or accept into full fellowship individuals who live or who teach standards that are grossly in violation of that which the Lord requires of Latter-day Saints. | With some few, there is the temptation which seems nearly overpowering for man to be attracted to man or woman to woman.... If you do not act on temptations, you need feel no guilt. | In the Church, one is not condemned for tendencies or temptations. One is held accountable for transgression. If you do not act on unworthy persuasions, you will neither be condemned nor be subject to Church discipline. | If you are bound by a habit or an addiction that is unworthy, you must stop conduct that is harmful. Angels will coach you, and priesthood leaders will guide you through those difficult times…. You can, if you will, break the habits and conquer an addiction and come away from that which is not worthy of any member of the Church. | |
| One may have to resist for a lifetime. | Establish a resolute conviction that you will resist for a lifetime, if necessary, any deviate thought or deviate action…. If they have to be evicted ten thousand times, never surrender to them….
No spiritual wonder drug that I know of will do it. |
Some have resisted temptation but never seem to be free from it. Do not yield! Cultivate the spiritual strength to resist—all of your life, if need be.... | How all can be repaired, we do not know. It may not all be accomplished in this life. | That may be a struggle from which you will not be free in this life. | |||
| There is no quick cure. | I do not know of any quick spiritual cure-all…to instantly kill this kind of temptation—or any other kind, for that matter. | It is not likely that a bishop can tell you what causes these conditions or why you are afflicted, nor can he erase the temptation…. | Every soul confined in a prison of sin, guilt, or perversion has a key to the gate. The key is labeled "repentance." The twin principles of repentance and forgiveness exceed in strength the awesome power of the tempter. | ||||
| 1 Corinthians 10:13 cited | The Apostle Paul taught, "There hath no temptation taken you but such as is common to man…God…will with the temptation also make a way to escape, that ye may be able to bear it." | Paul promised that God "will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able." | |||||
| Some falsely claim that such acts are inevitable. | It is not unchangeable. It is not locked in…. You have a God-given right to be free and to choose. | A tempter will claim that such impulses cannot be changed and should not be resisted. | If you consent, the adversary can take control of your thoughts…convincing you that immoral, unnatural behavior is a fixed part of your nature. | Some think that God created them with overpowering, unnatural desires…That is not true. | The angels of the devil convince some that they are born to a life from which they cannot escape. | The most wicked of lies is that they cannot change and repent….
Some suppose that they were preset and cannot overcome inborn tendencies. Not so! | |
| Those who so sin are not rejected. | Oh, if I could only convince you that you are a son or a daughter of Almighty God!…The Lord loves you! | Now, in a spirit of sympathy and love, I speak to you who may be struggling…. | Pure Christian love does not presuppose approval of all conduct. | We do not reject you, only immoral behavior. We will not reject you, because we love you. |