I have recently been watching videos and reading blogs and stories about members of the church who are going through what I have, in trying to find find answers about their SSA and the LDS Church. One thing I have noticed which has saddened me greatly is how cunning and deceitful Satan and the world is.
Many of the blogs I've read & the videos I have watched talk about how that person left the church because they no longer believed, or because someone persuaded them to believe that they don't need organized religion (church) or the full gospel. They believed they could pick and choose which gospel principles they could follow and which to ignore, and believed they would be fine.
I've also seen many times where a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints who has an addiction, SSA, or some other habit/behavior which is contrary to what the church teaches is right, will reach a point where they justify acting on those feelings, urges, &/or addictions, and yet still call themselves faithful members of the church.
In no way am I suggesting that those people should leave the church, or that they are 'bad'. What I am stating is that the gospel is not like a salad bar. You cannot pick and choose what you want to follow and call yourself a faithful member. In other words, you cannot do it halfway, you're either in or out, for or against, active or non-active, a Latter-Day Saint or not. The gospel is the strait and narrow path to Eternal Life, you're either on it or you're not. Granted everyone's path in life is different in some way, everyone must still follow the same gospel principles. No one is an exception.
In short, if you're doing things willingly and without regret and repentance which go against what the church teaches, but you have decided it's perfectly acceptable, you are not truly converted. You cannot date, marry, or have sexual relationships with a member of the same-sex and still consider yourself a faithful Latter-Day Saint.
As stated in 3 Nephi 13:24 and Matthew 6:24 "No man can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or else he will hold to the one and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and Mammon." (emphasis added)
I couldn't have said it better myself
So what is my position on this? Obviously I have SSA, and have struggled with it for quite some time. I had a time in my life where I was acting on those attractions, and I thought I could still be a faithful member of the church and live a gay life, but looking back on it now, I realize what a great lie that was.
The only way you can find out for yourself what is right and what is wrong is to read the scriptures, pray, listen to and read the words of the prohpets and apostles, attend church, gain a testimony, and eventually become truly converted.
I am definitely not a perfect person. I've made many mistakes in my life, and continue to mess up everyday. But there is not a doubt in my mind that acting out on homosexuality is wrong. There is no doubt in my mind that if anyone with SSA does not act on those attractions, and who repents when needed, lives their life in a way which is pleasing to God, and become truly converted, that they can receive all the glory and blessings that any heterosexual child of God could.
D&C 14:7 "And, if you keep my commandments, and endure to the end you shall have eternal life, which gift is the greatest of all the gifts of God." (emphasis added)
I love you all, and I wish you strength and truth in your journey for Eternal Life. I apologize it takes me a while to get on and write a post, life is busy busy! Stay strong and fight the good fight!
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