Greg Smith's Defense of Boyd K. Packer

[_consiglieri]

Assuming we have demonstrated that the revised version of BKP's talk is still clear (and even more strongly worded) that homosexuality is a tendency/temptation that one is not born with and that can be resisted, it still leaves open the question as to why the line ("Why would our Heavenly Father do that to anyone?") was excised.

Is it possible the open-ended rhetorical question could be answered in more ways than one, thus rendering it less rhetorical than BKP had originally intended?

In other words, the obvious answer sought to be elicited is, "He wouldn't."

But once you go that far, is it possible to take it one logical step further and conclude that Heavenly Father simply does not exist?

Is that perhaps why it was deleted? In order to reassume control of the conversation?

All the Best!

--Consiglieri

[_Cicero]

At least, the whole "you can be a gay Mormon as long as you never have sex with anyone you love and never masturbate, and never kiss passionately, hold hands with, or in any other way express physical attraction to a person of the gender you are attracted to" seems to be evidence of this.

My question is why any God worth worshipping would condemn 5-10% of the population of the earth to a life like that.

[_consiglieri]

Part of the problem is this verse in 1 Corinthians:

13 There hath no temptation taken you but such as is common to man: but God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able; but will with the temptation also make a way to escape, that ye may be able to bear it.

This verse can serve as both a comfort and a cause of misery. As a believer, I was convinced by this verse that any temptation I faced was within my power to resist and overcome.

I remember being taught the same thing about this verse on my mission, Sethbag.

And you are right, that interpretation conflicts not just with the Book of Mormon and other Pauline passages, but also with common sense and life experience.

The problem with the traditional Mormon interpretation is thinking "the way" God has made "to escape" is our own will power.

In Mormonism, the one thing God never made was our own will.

It is more likely Paul is referring to something God specifically made, which is probably something like Christ and him crucified, since Christ was referred to (in John 14:6) as "the way, the truth, and the life," and the name of the Church in Acts was "the Way."

All the Best!

--Consiglieri

[_consiglieri]

My question is why any God worth worshipping would condemn 5-10% of the population of the earth to a life like that.

That, of course, would be another way to answer President Packer's now-deleted rhetorical question . . .

[_Cicero]

My question is why any God worth worshipping would condemn 5-10% of the population of the earth to a life like that.

That, of course, would be another way to answer President Packer's now-deleted rhetorical question . . .

Precisely

[_Sethbag]

At least, the whole "you can be a gay Mormon as long as you never have sex with anyone you love and never masturbate, and never kiss passionately, hold hands with, or in any other way express physical attraction to a person of the gender you are attracted to" seems to be evidence of this.

My question is why any God worth worshiping would condemn 5-10% of the population of the earth to a life like that.

He wouldn't, at least the God I was taught to believe in wouldn't. And since it's increasingly looking like this does in fact happen, then, as Consiglieri mentions, I must look to the possibility that this God simply doesn't exist.

I think you're probably right, Consiglieri. I think this excision is intended to avoid that whole line of reasoning. No reason to give people any reason to doubt, after all.

[_Bob Loblaw]

My question is why any God worth worshipping would condemn 5-10% of the population of the earth to a life like that.

If God could kill Trayvon Martin, why wouldn't he consign a percentage of the population to misery?

[_Shulem]

Because I come to the same conclusion, I am at a loss as to why those with a homosexual agenda hail the change.

My homosexual agenda is to love as many cute boys as I can. Hell yeah. Just so long as they are 18 or over.

Paul O

[_Shulem]

Otherwise, the statement, "Remember, God is our Heavenly Father!" comes out of nowhere with no antecedent. It makes no sense the way it stands.

Yeah, God is our Heavenly Father and is straight and would never make one of his children have actual gay tendencies because he loves us too much to do something so aweful as that. So, he just let's his children get tempted with homosexual thoughts from Satan but never no tendencies that are inborn or naturally genetic to that person. No, not that. For heaven's sake, God is straight!

Riiiiiight, Packer.

Paul O

[_Bob Loblaw]

My homosexual agenda is to love as many cute boys as I can. Hell yeah. Just so long as they are 18 or over.

Paul O

My agenda is to recruit as many of the unwitting into the gay agenda.