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I “characterized” Matthew as a conservative because he does, on his facebook page. If you check out his blog, he says the following, “We have observed a new religion seeping into the membership of the Church over the past decade. This religion is a deconstructed imitation of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. It copies the culture, vocabulary, and standard works of the Gospel, but waters down (and sometimes rejects outright) the foundational truths of the Gospel. If the Gospel is the healthy cows of Pharaoh’s dream, then this alternate religion is the sickly cows– hollowed-out shells of the real deal. And like the emaciated kine of Pharaoh’s dream, this skeleton gospel devours and destroys healthy testimonies of the true Gospel it imitates. In my experience, a significant percentage of the practicing members of the Church currently subscribed to this counterfeit gospel.”
let us talk about that. Who is following a “counterfeit Gospel”? We are warned in 2 Nephi, “27 Yea, wo be unto him that saith: We have received, and we need no more!
28 And in fine, wo unto all those who tremble, and are angry because of the truth of God! For behold, he that is built upon the rock receiveth it with gladness; and he that is built upon a sandy foundation trembleth lest he shall fall.
29 Wo be unto him that shall say: We have received the word of God, and we need no more of the word of God, for we have enough!
30 For behold, thus saith the Lord God: I will give unto the children of men line upon line, precept upon precept, here a little and there a little; and blessed are those who hearken unto my precepts, and lend an ear unto my counsel, for they shall learn wisdom; for unto him that receiveth I will give more; and from them that shall say, We have enough, from them shall be taken away even that which they have.
31 Cursed is he that putteth his trust in man [Logic], or maketh flesh his arm, or shall hearken unto the precepts of men, save their precepts shall be given by the power of the Holy Ghost.”
Even Elder Orson Pratt said that to expect more revelation is not unreasonable and to expect it is not unscriptural. Who are we to tell God we need no more revelation? To whom has God revealed he can’t or won’t reveal more of himself? the answer is no one. Don’t place limits on what God can reveal, it’s a counterfeit Gospel.
I don’t see Watkins saying that we can’t receive more revelation. I do see him arguing that it’s not reasonable to expect new revelation that will overturn the Church’s teachings on heterosexual marriage. You can disagree, of course — engaging with his arguments would be fine. But simply saying “you’re a conservative and conservatives resist revelation” isn’t a response to his arguments. If the arguments are flawed, address the flaws in the arguments rather than just imputing flaws to the author.
(For my part, I’ll just add that I think the idea that it’s specifically conservatives who “resist revelation” is silly. Liberals resist revelation too, when it goes against political beliefs that they value more than revelation. The tendency to listen more to the philosophies of men than to true messengers from God is a human problem, not a “conservative” or “liberal” one.)
You are missing what I am saying, but thank you. I have more important things to do with my time that argue with a member of the church why we should expect more revelation.
Watkins’ article can be summarized as follows, “i’m a conservative and I don’t want God revealing something I don’t agree with”. Simple as. He said “There is no way to remove it without losing all confidence in modern revelation and prophetic authority and, by extension, the Book of Mormon, the First Vision, and everything else that makes the Church unique and true.” Drama much? God revealing more of his plan isn’t undermining anything. Conservatives in the church resist revelation, which is why they come up with these types of articles to justify their inability to change. Revelation means change. I simply don’t buy his arguments against new revelation.
Characterizing Matthew as a “conservative” and then imputing to him without evidence a position further imputed to all “conservatives in the Church” is neither logically warranted nor supported by what he’s written; it amounts to not only argument by assertion, but also an argumentum ad hominem – “a fallacious objection to an argument or factual claim by appealing to a characteristic or belief of the person making the argument or claim, rather than by addressing the substance of the argument or producing evidence against the claim.” For what it’s worth, I’m not a conservative myself, and yet I find the arguments in Matthew’s article much more logically compelling than this comment.
A fine needed article.
This “we don’t know” idea is an impossibly fragile thread to try to hang the notion of same-sex sealings on. The fact is that we do know, as pointed out in this piece, thankfully.
And the fact also is that there are many things the prophets and apostles do know, that have been revealed to them, that they do not tell an unbelieving world that quickly mocks and ridicules them. And inspiration really has and does guide this church in its policies and practices (including the items mentioned in D&C OD1&2–canonized scripture).
One could hope that Oman’s article gets little traction among faithful believers and is soon forgotten.
“And the rib, which the LORD God had taken from man, made He a woman, and brought her unto the man.” Gen. 2:22
How do we reconcile the belief that “bone” removed from a XX male can be converted to an XY female?
Before we answer that question, let’s turn back the creative clock, to a pre- existent world of spirits. When we speak of “identity” regarding gender, we are talking about designated gender before we came to earth, in spirit bodies.
When we are born into a physical world with a physical body, the gender identity had already been pre-determined before it entered the spirit body.
We were and are and always will be, sons and daughters of God, irrespective of “labels”, “classes” or identities that are erroneously attributed to individuals to suit medical or scientific guidelines and in some cases where the individual decides to identify because of “personal preference”.
As far as medical consensus, Gender identity is not solely determined by the reproductive organ but by the dominant chromosomes, which indicates either male or female. Even in the case of hermaphrodites, where both sexual organs are present, they are still determined by the chromosomes XX or XY. (Male or Female)
The structure of DNA is found inside the nucleus of a cell, where it forms the chromosomes. Chromosomes have proteins called histones that bind to DNA. DNA has two strands that twist into the shape of a spiral ladder called a helix. Genes are short pieces of DNA that carry specific genetic information.
These genes determine what you are, from the colour of your hair, eyes and skin to your gender. They can also predispose your health and physical normality/abnormalities, however even the predisposition is as a result of governing Law applied to the individual at some period but does not affect their eternal potential.
The gender of an individual is determined by a pair of chromosomes. Females have two of the same kind of chromosome (XX) and are called homogametic. Males have two different kinds of chromosomes (XY) and are called heterogametic.
In humans, the presence of the Y chromosome is responsible for triggering male development; in the absence of the Y chromosome, the fetus will undergo female development. In most species with XY determination, an organism must have at least one X chromosome to survive. As we have mentioned previously, what is being triggered here is what was from a pre-existent state, not a random event but a determined result.
Now let us look into the transition process to becoming male or female according to God and identified by science. Evolution plays not part in such a process. All is governed by MIND, even the MIND of God and determined according to the will of God.
However it appears that the intelligence or Mind, had “inherent qualities” that exhibited male or female, not in an organic or physical sense but within the nucleus of the mind.
Men and women lived a personal life before the earth-life began (spirits), and currently live a mortal existence and continue to live a personal existence hereafter. (Immortal). That is, the identify was formed before this world was.
Notice the wording in the Garden of Eden dialog between Eve and Satan.
“You, my brother, and come here (to this Garden) to persuade me to disobey Heavenly Father”?
Eve attributes Satan as male (in spirit) calling him brother.
One of the noble and inherent qualities of gender, is procreation patterned after the similitude Creator. To create life so that life can have legacy, inheritance and eternal increase, after its own kind, likeness and image.
This is only achieved through the union of male and female. Even in the scientific community recognize that all births are either male or female,
XX or XY.
You can identify and label whatever your heart desires, but we will always be XX or XY, male or female. One can alter the reproductive organs to mimic the alternate gender but whatever you were born you will die as. The garment worn or the facial hairs, hormone treatment will not alter the birth gender.
Let us retain the likeness and image of God so that when we return to Him as His creations, He will recognize us as His sons and daughters, not the counterfeits and labels that society and the medical community seek to manufacture, to satisfy the desires of the flesh
Thank you for clearly laying out the primordial and lasting importance of marriage between a man and a woman as a key doctrinal teaching, even throughout all 3 of Dr. Oman’s “eras”.
Sometimes I feel like we attempt to liken (or insert) ourselves, our preferences, and our worldviews into and onto the scriptures, rather than applying and inserting the scriptures onto and into ourselves.
Elder Renlund’s most recent conference talk was very timely as well.