But if we are all special, then no one is special.
This hype over gays being special, unique, and in need of protected status is bogus. It is akin to the radical racists who claim that everyone hates them because of their race. I harbor a particular distaste for most racists, (those who claim others are racists,) but it is because they are conniving, whining, manipulating operatives with subversive agendas; it is not because of the color of their skin. So, here's a news flash: gays are not special.
They are special to their parents, their children, their friends and associates, but they are not a special sub-set of mankind that requires preferential treatment or accommodations. The leaders of this movement want us to feel they are special because they want us to publicly and openly accept their way of thinking and living. But they are just like everybody else. Homosexuals are homosapians, with strengths and weaknesses, challenges and opportunities.
The lesbian couple in Oregon who sued Sweet Cakes by Melissa over the emotional stress of their rejection, obviously have issues that were present long before they walked into the cake shop. When you are doing something that is different or repulsive to many people, feeling hurt because you weren't accepted is like a smoker complaining of their cough. Not that we should be offensive to those who are different, but people also need to accept responsibility and the responses to their unorthodox actions.
God told a prophet over 2000 years ago, "I give unto men weakness that they may be humble". We all have challenges to overcome, phobias that need to be faced, and proclivities that should be controlled. We are all swimming in this soup together and we need to provide the support and help to others we can.
Recognizing the un-specialness of those with challenges is important to healing and health. Assigning a special classification prolongs the problem, it doesn't help with healing. Some individuals, such as children, the mentally challenged, or those with crippling diseases, need to be afforded special treatment and consideration. But rational adults, who have made their life choices, must accept the consequences of their actions, including acceptance or rejection.
The Lord also declared that we should have no sexual relations except with our husband or wife to whom we are legally married. The only reason he told us this is that sexual relations in any other setting; fornication, adultery, homosexuality, promiscuity, etc., will not bring us the happiness most of us are seeking. It is the same with abortion, drugs, alcohol, tobacco, murmuring, backbiting, lying, stealing, coveting, and a host of other actions.
Sin is simply, any action which brings sorrow or pain to ourselves or to others. As a loving father, God advises us to avoid those behaviors. We may have a propensity to deviant behavior, and unwelcome thoughts may spontaneously pop into our minds at any moment, but it is our reaction, not the thought that defines us. The question is, do we change the thought and thereby dictate our actions, or do we foster, fertilize and fantasize upon the thought until it becomes a deed?
God's solution is to come unto him and his beloved son, Jesus Christ for strength and direction.
The Apostle Paul told us "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." I think that sometimes, the escape he provides is from the cords that bind us, after we have succumbed to temptation, but the escape is none the less real.
The Prophet Nephi told his father, "I will go and do the things which the Lord hath commanded, for I know that the Lord giveth no commandments unto the children of men, save he shall prepare a way for them that they may accomplish the thing which he commandeth them."
Jesus Christ told Joseph Smith while he was wrongly imprisoned, "My son, peace be unto thy soul; thine adversity and thine afflictions shall be but a small moment; And then, if thou endure it well, God shall exalt thee on high; . . ."
The promises for all mankind are that we can become the best we can be, we can find the happiness we seek, and we can help others achieve the same. May God continue to guide us to him, I pray in the name of his son, Jesus Christ.
