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Just read this: http://www.sltrib.com/sltrib/blogsfaithblog/56068269-180/emmett-church-mission-brooks.html.csp tl;dr:
Kid wanted to serve mission but has gay siblings. Told Bishop in interview he wouldn’t be able to tow the church line if asked while a missionary. Bishop was understanding but SP disagreed, denied him for mission, denied him for TR and told him to fast and pray until he realized the truth.
So, this article brought up some interesting memories for me. When I left on my mission the church was right in the middle of it’s all-in support of proposition 8 in California which as of yesterday has made it all the way to the supreme court. My personal feelings on gay marriage are not really in line with the church either. (For those interested, I wish we would separate civil and religious marriage in the US like it’s done in much of Europe. That way gov’t can recognize whatever proves legally acceptable and religious marriages are completely apart from the government and become just between a couple and God–not the gov’t.)
Anyways, being less mature in my beliefs back then I sucked up my differences, deferred to the Church’s opinion and tried for forget about it. That lasted only a couple of weeks in the MTC. Part of the MTC was answering the phone calls from those who called the numbers on the pass-along cards. However being in the MTC during and right after the election meant that ~50% of my calls were angry people from California calling to harass us and saying some pretty horrible things. While I didn’t agree with their words per se, I sympathized greatly with their cause and felt that I was on the wrong side of it. After 2 times on the phones I couldn’t do it anymore. My teacher told me I had to. So I either killed time or conveniently had to use the restroom for a half hour at a time when we were supposed to be on the phones. It was an overall horrible experience for me.
Fortunately for me I didn’t have to deal with the issue in the field. Texas wasn’t the most kind state to gays anyways so they weren’t as vocal. The few times I taught gay people I think I reflected the spirit of mormonsandgays.com several years before it was introduced. I tried to talk about acceptance and prayer and God’s love–not sin and temptation and whether it was a choice or not.
In some ways I envy this kid. He knows what he believes and isn’t afraid to stand up for it. I am of the opinion personally that I will do what I feel the spirit tells me is right and if the church ever decides to force me out then my conscience would be clean at least. That’s always seemed to be a better solution to me than just giving up on it all. This article just brought up a lot of memories on my mission of many issues where I had to take a different tack than I would have if I was just representing my own views. It was hard. About half way through I stopped caring. I read a quote in a book by elder Holland that said “god calls us because of who we are, not in spite of it”. I don’t think they’re his words originally but I took them to heart and decided to be myself. Made me much happier.
Jesus wept! Even though I support gay marriage, I agree 100 percent with the Stake President. The Church is a private organization that should be able to choose who gets to represent it or not. The topic never should have come up in an interview to be a missionary. If any leader brought it up, that leader was out of line; if the young man brought it up, he caused a situation that didn’t need to have happened. There is no prohibition on serving a mission if someone supports gay marriage, as long as the person is willing to not fight the Church about it. It shouldn’t have come up in the conversations.
I want to say this carefully, since I don’t mean to “blame” the young man, but this is a great example of how we often cause battles that simply don’t need to be fought.
Now, about denying a temple recommend because of support for gay marriage, the Church said explicitly during the whole Prop 8 situation that members could support it or not and not lose their temple recommends. The SP was wrong, unless the young man said he was going to publicly fight the Church over the issue. If he didn’t say that, I hope the top leadership sees the story and leans on his SP as hard as necessary to reverse that decision.
The article says the kid volunteered the information. I reckon a church representative shouldn’t blatantly contradict a church position. Still, I think there could be a way for him to serve a mission if he really wants to teach the gospel. This is a bummer. SamBee wrote:Jesus wept!
I used this scripture once for a seminary devotional. The lesson was that “even the best of us have to cry sometimes”.
My teacher was not amused…
Anyways, upon a second and third read of the article I noticed some stuff that hadn’t stuck out the first time. Namely that he advocated temple sealings for gay couples. If he was actively working to find some way to force the church into doing that then on those grounds I can understand the SP’s reluctance to send him on a mission. However, if he just had those views and wasn’t doing anything about it then don’t know of a temple recommend question that he would be in such violation of as to not receive his TR at all.
But the biggest issue for me is the way the SP told him he was wrong and to fast and pray himself into compliance. I have too many experiences where I was told I lacked faith or just needed to pray about something more. We all have–it’s why we’re here. But as a missionary where you’re supposed to represent the church, it becomes much more pointed. I guess this article just dug up my emotions about working the phones in the MTC during prop 8 heh.
I wish they could have found a way for him to serve. I think they could have been better served asking him why he wanted to serve and finding out the positive aspects of his testimony. Even if he couldn’t serve just say “while we respect your position we don’t think it is consistent with what missionaries are required to teach.” That validates the person but explains there is a disagreement.
I just hate people being told they’re basically broken like he was.
Anyways, perhaps my earlier rage was a bit misplaced. I can see more of where the SP is coming from. I disagree with the outcome though.
But on the flipside this could be an epic troll by this young man to get people like me fired up at SPs.
:problem: wuwei wrote:
But on the flipside this could be an epic troll by this young man to get people like me fired up at SPs.:problem: I hope Brooks at least did her homework to confirm this actually happened.
Even then, perhaps it was still his intention to raise awareness on behalf of his siblings. Or is that just us trying to shove this onto the mental shelf?
mackay11 wrote:wuwei wrote:
But on the flipside this could be an epic troll by this young man to get people like me fired up at SPs.:problem: I hope Brooks at least did her homework to confirm this actually happened.
Even then, perhaps it was still his intention to raise awareness on behalf of his siblings. Or is that just us trying to shove this onto the mental shelf?
I was also wondering why he brought it up twice. If he just wanted to clear the air then he might have been satisfied with the Bishop’s “sympathy” and not felt the need to re-air the issue before the SP. I think that he wanted validation – just like any of us might want when we charge into the Bishop’s office with a list of historical issues. I don’t believe this young man to be wrong, just young and foolhardy.
wuwei wrote:But the biggest issue for me is the way the SP told him he was wrong and to fast and pray himself into compliance.
Exactly.
It is kind of like my brother proposed to me. Do you think if Joseph prayed enough that maybe he could of convinced himself to let Martin Harris take the plates? If you try to convince yourself of something long enough you will believe it. Brainwashing?
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I suppose the upshot of this is that they thought he was a troublemaker. There’s a time and a place for protest, and he may have misjudged it.
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