Homosexuality Does *Not* Compare to Blacks and the Priesthood

This is a common argument from "progressive" Mormons, anti-Mormons, liberal Mormons, and generally uninformed Mormons.  The Ordain Women Church tries to make a similar argument, and this article will provide insight that debunks their false doctrine as well.

Another common argument you will hear is, "Well the Bible also tells us to stone adulterers, are you proposing we do that as well?" I'll get to that one near the end, I think you will appreciate the insight.

    There is a great deal of misunderstanding about the revelation of blacks receiving the priesthood, which has caused both wild, and false, speculation about anything wrong eventually being made right. That is not to say that our black brothers receiving the priesthood was a bad thing, but that people take a good thing out of context and try to apply it to a bad thing.

    So the point of this post will be to show that there is a precedent for all races to hold the priesthood, while there is no precedent for God to ever accept homosexuality as being righteous.

The Priesthood Throughout the Ages

    Since the creation of man, the priesthood of God has been held by relatively few individuals. At first it was any of Adam's seed who were righteous, then it was only the Jaredites and Abraham's seed, then it was only the tribe of Levi among the Israelites, and then Israel was scattered to parts of the world unknown. For thousands of years the Gentiles had restrictions against holding the priesthood, meaning there is precedent for priesthood restrictions. 

    After Christ ascended 2000 years ago, God commanded Peter to take the gospel and the priesthood to the Gentiles. He was reluctant at first, but God worked on Peter and Paul to make sure that the gospel was taken to the whole world. The world rejected the Apostles, and the priesthood was lost.

    After the Great Apostasy, as we all know, Joseph Smith was called as a prophet of the Lord, and was given the priesthood by John the Baptist, and then Peter, James, and John. During Joseph Smith's life the priesthood seems to have been available to all worthy male members of the Church, including blacks.

   For reasons that we don't fully understand, Brigham Young pulled the restrictions back on who could attain the priesthood. We know the what, we don't know the why, it simply was no longer done. Brigham Young did promise that one day the Lord would restore the priesthood to all worthy males, but for a time this restriction was put in place. There are different trials that we all go through in this life to try our faith, but I guarantee that no one's salvation was limited by this policy. As Nephi states, God is no respecter of persons, and he favors the righteous and faithful.
 
    Thankfully, we know that all of the righteous who did not have the opportunity to have the fullness of the gospel, or the blessings of the priesthood, in this life, will be able to attain those blessings in the next life.

    Nearly 100 years later, in 1978, revelation was given to the prophet and the priesthood was again opened to all worthy males. Hurray!! This is something we can all rejoice in! The Saints were ready, and so another piece to the Lord's Kingdom is put in place.

Homosexuality Throughout the Ages

    People will tell you that Christ never said anything against homosexual sin. THIS IS NOT TRUE. Most people simply do not understand the scriptures because Christian scriptures lack some of the context that can be found in the Torah. In fact, Christ referred to the very first instance homosexual marriage was instituted on the earth.

    Christ said, "But as the days of Noah were, so shall also the coming of the Son of man be. For as in the days that were before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noe entered into the ark."

    Marrying and given in marriage sounds pretty innocent, right? Obviously there must have been something sinister about these marriages for them to be mentioned specifically about the flood.    

    We do know the conditions of the people in the time of Noah. We know that "every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually" and that "the earth was filled with violence."

    But there is another aspect that we often overlook because we do not have the right context: "That the sons of God saw the daughters of men that they were fair; and they took them wives of all which they chose."

    Again, this seems innocent enough, however, Jewish Rabbis gives us the following insight:

• Genesis Rabbah 26:5 
• “And the sons of God saw the daughters of man, that they were fair, and took for themselves wives, whomever they chose.” (Genesis 6:2) 
• “That they were fair”: Rabbi Yudan said, it is written “fair” (tovot), what it means or suggests is one who was being adorned (“made fair,” “metivim otah”) for her husband (-to-be; that is, for her wedding), the leader (literally, the great one) would enter and have sex with her first. 
• This is what is written: “fair” – these are the virgins; “and took for themselves wives” – these are the married women (i.e., they took other men’s wives for themselves); “whomever they chose” – this is a male or an animal. 

   (To summarize, in those days men would take other men's wives, other men, and animals, and marry them. Another practice they held was that their leaders got to sleep with their wives before the wedding.)

• Rabbi Huna in the name of Rabbi Yosef (said): The generation of the Flood was not wiped out until they wrote gemumasi’ot for (the union of a man to) a male or to an animal.

• The statement of Rabbi Huna in the name of Rabbi Yosef is also cited in Leviticus Rabbah connects a mention of (male) homosexual marriage to  Leviticus Rabbah 23:9 (comparable to Lev 18:3 in the KJV of the Bible)
• “According to the doings of the Land of Egypt…and the doings of the Land of Canaan…you shall not do…I am the Lord, your God”
• Rabbi Hiyyah taught: The passage reads- I am the One Who punished the generation of the Flood, and the people of Sodom and Gemorah, and Egypt; and in the future I will punish those who do as they did.

     So the sons of God are literally men who held the priesthood, and the daughters of man were women outside the Church. But there is more going on, and we can see that this wasn't simply marriage between man and woman, but all forms of sexual transgression was part of the institution of that society. For more info you can research here.

    They weren't just breaking the Law of Chastity in the shadows, the destruction of the family unit was accepted and forced as an organized manner from all of society. God has warned His children what will happen if we follow the path of Sodom, Gomorrah, Egypt, and the people before the flood.
   

The Destruction of Marriage causes the Destruction of Worlds

    We can see that it wasn't just Sodom and Gomorrah that were destroyed because of the institution of  homosexuality and the destruction of marriage, but God will destroy all nations, societies, and worlds, who accept the destruction of the family unit. 

    How can we be sure of this? We can look to the prophets of God, and the warnings they have given:

We warn that the disintegration of the family will bring upon individuals, communities, and nations the calamities foretold by ancient and modern prophets.

    So what is our role and our duty as informed and educated Saints of God, so that we are not held accountable for bringing about these calamities?

We call upon responsible citizens and officers of government everywhere to promote those measures designed to maintain and strengthen the family as the fundamental unit of society.

Policy vs. Doctrine

    Finally, we must understand the difference between policy and doctrine. It can be summed up as simply as this: policies change, doctrine does not. Policy does not violate doctrine, but is implemented by God, through the prophets, for the benefit of the Saints. 

    Examples of policy include:

• Age of missionary service
• Gathering together vs building Zion in our native land
• Temple sealings (single marriage vs. plural marriage)
• Who holds the priesthood
• Animal sacrifice
• The strict rules included in the Law of Moses

    The Law of Moses was largely a collection of policies based on doctrines. The Israelites were childish, and quick to do iniquity. Therefore, they needed strict laws on sin and punishment in effort to keep them on the strait and narrow path. Its not that the people didn't know what would happen if they committed sexual transgression. When they committed adultery they chose to disobey, knowing the consequences, hoping they wouldn't get caught.

    When Christ brought the higher law He did not change any doctrine, He only changed how we apply those doctrines. The laws of obedience and salvation remained the same, He simply brought to pass a massive overhaul in policy changes. One of the many doctrines that remained was the Law of Chastity, which says that sex is only to be between man and woman, lawfully married as husband and wife. We see that He did in fact speak of this doctrine in His "as in the days of Noah" prophesy.

How We are Expected to Stand for Christ

    As for the subject of stoning adulterers, we can look to Christ's example on how to deal with sexual sins by looking at the woman caught in adultery. He loved her, protected her, judged her righteously, forgave her, and called her to repentance. We can follow this pattern as well, in fact we are commanded to. Taking a closer look, do you remember what He said?

    "Go thy way, and sin some more."

    Wait, that's not right....

    "Go thy way, and sin no more."

    If we are to truly follow Christ's example, if we are to be true Christians, we must stand for righteousness, and we must stand against sin. If we do not, we will not be counted among His sheep. We are, in fact, commanded to raise "A Voice of Warning." If we do not, the blood and sins of this generation will stain our own garments.

“Then whosoever heareth the sound of the trumpet, and taketh not warning; if the sword come, and take him away, his blood shall be upon his own head.”3

On the other hand, “if the watchman see the sword come, and blow not the trumpet, and the people be not warned; if the sword come, and take any person from among them, … his blood will I require at the watchman’s hand.”4

   Standing for Christ will be difficult. We will be persecuted like the Saints of old, and like Christ himself was. However we must bear our cross, as Christ bore His for our sake. We must be loving, but firm in declaring the word of God. 

    

    Only by following in His foot steps can we be true Christians.