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Show The Rocky Mountain Open Door, November, 1977 0 it appears that Paul was persondistance ally at a considerable r from the opposite sex. On the other similar illness givenPauls explicitness, it is doubt- other hand, he was strongly attached to his male companions, particularly Timothy whom he took with him often on his journeys. His Christian "broth erly love" for his male friends is but unquestionably intense certainly within the bounds of chaste expression. Above all things, Paul was the epitome of sexual continence. He uenoun-- . ced all sexual indiscretions with a fierceness attained by few. He was fanatic about .it as he was about every cause he took up. The tone of his personality has a striking resemblance to certain others who are fiercely fighting an inward battle. These men eloquently and vehemently denounce the desires which they 9 - -' ful he would have alluded to . . something ne could easily have stated outright and elaborated on. Malaria is not a satisfactory explanation ot his euphemistic phrase. If Paul was struggling with homosexuality, his carefully disguised reference makes more sense. There are few Biblical authors whose personal lives comes as close to approximating a struggle against homosexuality as does Paul which only adds weight to the possibility. The knowledgeable homosexual understands and appreciates what Paul says about homosexuality. (Christianity 'Today, Vol. 12:23, March 1, 1968). Many have gone through fear they might someday yield to. I think Maughms Rain and Lewis Elmer Gantry, and that of a friend, who went on a mission and for a while worked in the mission home. The mission President seldom missed referring to the evils of masturbation in his conferences with the Elders. In his interviews,' he always questioned them about their personal habits and strongly rebuked those who confessed that they masturbated. My friend had to go into the Presidents quarters one day to find some material and accidentally came across the President, who was masturbating. They were both embarrassed, and my friend quickly left. Nothing was ever said between them of the incident, and my friend never again heard the President mention the subject of masturbation to his missionaries. other two references ious illusion to his problem by say. ing it was malaria or some a similar effort. Paul evidently did not realize how transparent the doctrinal extemalization of his personal battle was. The Brethem are alerted to this and are far more anxious to sweep it . under the rug than Paul was. Given the social influence of the Greek society in that time and the sexual temperament of the Romans, it is amazing that the New Testament isnt full of explicit statements against ho- mosexuality. As it is, only a handful can even be misconstrued or loosely interpreted as mentioning the subject. The Old Testament has even fewer ' possible references. The pamphlet "Hope For i . . Transgressors . states that condemn homosexuality and lists 74. Of that list, only 4 actually refer to homosexuality. Two of those are from the old Jewish law contained in Leviticus. Application of the ancient Jewish law is, in our time, forbidden by federal and state law and ecclesiastically obso-lete- d through the Gospel of Christ. Many of the statutes of the old law carrying heavy penalties are not followed at all by the Saints today. Standing on their own, the references from ancient Jewish law are mainly of historical value. The In order to accurately account for his writings o n homosexuality, one has to take into account Pauls problem. Whatever it was, he had a problem, and he comes within a hairs breath of naming it, calling it his "thorn in the flesh. Many have tried to explain away this cur . . . : know-ledgab- , miod-20t- h ' . come from a thoroughly heterosexual environment, not a homosexual one. It is heterosexual parents who produce ' homosexual children. Our difficulty in dealing with causes and responsibilities leads us to erroneously and frantically point the finger of guilt at any and every convenient possibility of some ominous lurking figure who might have gotten to our poor innocent boy. We must have our witch hunt. Given our strong social prejudices against homosexuality, the outcome is entirely One whispered predictable. rumor is enough to ruin the most respected and influentialk. We have this fantastic idea that there are dirty old men lurking about waiting to seduce oure youth into homosexuality. In all of my investigation, I FOUND Century phenom- Fifty years ago, homosexuality was seldom, if ever, mentioned in polite company and then was called the sin that has no name. It was not until the late 40s that the subject was ever mentioned from the pulpit. Today, we discuss it in firesides and Relief Society. The fact that we are now able to talk about it gives the erroneous impression that there were few, if any, homosexuals around until recently. There have been LDS homosexuals as long as the Church has existed. Research ONLY ONE WHO TOOK THIS SERIOUSLY has been a part of human condition in all cultures throughout history. Our scriptural heritage contrasts sharply with our modem hyperphobia of homosexuality. . . Morinon .homosexual typically comes from a good Mormon home where the principles of BE THE closely and discovered that he, like some others, work this seduction proposition as an effective assuagement of the guilt evoked from an experience actively sought out but for which he couldnt face being . Interestingly enough, the TO CAUSE OF HIS HOMOSEX UAUTY. I questioned him very shows us that homosexuality .... ts . enon. le One of the more singularly striking facts is that in the entire Book of Mormon and the other . apparent relationship between David and Jonathan which was so intense"passing the love of women" (Samuel 1:26) that it became one of the major points in the personal chronicle of this biblical poet? The recent concern of the Church about homosexuality does not mean that is is a this little pamphlet. The Mor- - , mon homosexual comes away from reading it wil a sense of hopelessness and a disquieting realization that he can never ' turn to the Church for the guidance he so desperately needs. This is the ironic result of "Hope For Transgressors. Should not thge Church be in the forefront of wise and counsel on this problem instead of desperately trying to dress up old erroneous and destructive attitudes with clever new moralistic cliches and simplistic answsers, such as DR. Wilford Smiths treatise of it in "His Work and Glory" in which he says that "..human beings have no more need for sexual activity than they have for banana splits." NO REFERENCE TO GAYS IN BOOK OF MORMON value-judgmen- .. pot-ten- might exceed acceptable bounds of expression which, in our particular culture, is extremely limited. (Lionel Tiger, Men in Groups). And what about the ignorance of homosexuality more precisely than they do in applied. If anything, he is more active in the Church as a youth than his peers. His background is thoroughly heterosexual, and he is steeped in the aspirations, and of hetrerosexuality. For the Mormon these environmental t. influences are particularly As Martin Hoffman observes in his excellent book, 'Male Homosexuality and the Social Creation of Evil, the prohibi-- tions against homosexuality in our society are so, extreme and pervasive that it is inconceivable that anyone would simply choose to be homosexual. Marc Fasteau likewise shows in The Male Animal that we are hys-- . terical, paranoid, and otherwise irrational about the homosexual influence. The irony is that life-styl- e, Brethern are increasingly anxious that "brotherly love" . there are many scriptures that PAUL'S PROBLEM are from Pauls wrigings. Not one of the other 70 references can be construed to refer to Inhomosexuality directly. stead, these references deal with faith, repentence and the evils of sin generally. They are obliquely applicable to the view of h omosexuality as presented in the pamphlet, but; by no means do they accomplish what the list was supposed to prove-th- at the Bible condemns homosexuality. The fact that it is hard pressed to come up with just such a list discredits the pamphlet generally. Curiously, one of the references is to a statement by Jesus that there are some men who should not marry, and one reference does not even exist. Certainly the Brethem are better scriptorians than is indicated by this list. As Shakespeare observed, one can quote scriptures to prove any particular point. The' pamphlet further discredits its position by asserting that "some people will respond to a scriptural approach respond, of course, meaning change. The homosexuals who are given this approach do respond-b- y quickly turning elsewhere for informed intelligent counsel. The Brethem could not have articulated their the Gospel are taught and modem scriptures there is not one single reference to homoThese scriptures sexuality. contain the "fullness of the and all the essential Gospel commandments for the Saints, and yet the subject of homosexuality is conspicuously absent. To my knowledge, Joseph Smith never mentioned the subject. From The Teachings of Joseph Smith: "When we lie ;down, we contemplate how we ; may rise in the morning; locked In the arms of love, to sleep and . awake in each others embrace and renew their conversation." (p.295). This statement, made in all innocence, is in sharp contrast to the preoccupation the Brethem now have forbidding missionary companions to sleep together for fear that their affection will turn physical. The in this list . GAY SEX VERSUS STRAIGHT SEX Certainly, the first sexual i . t ' . Anitas & Holy War is replete with hatred, ugliness, ignorance and deception. Unwittingly, she has made a positive contribution to the gay movement, focusing national attention on the plight of the homosexual, by taking such an , |