So, no one has actually asked me yet if I support gay marriage (no, I don't, for reasons I will explain in this chapter) but I am sure at some point they will. So this chapter is me trying to organize my thoughts and feelings on this and other pertinent matters.
As a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, I firmly believe that "marriage between a man and a woman is ordained of God" and that "God has commanded that the sacred powers of procreation are to be employed only between man and woman, lawfully wedded as husband and wife." (The Family: A Proclamation to the World, emphasis added). This is from a Proclamation read by a prophet of God in 1995. I would like to point out that back then, the issue of gay marriage wasn't nearly as prominent as it is now. To me, that shows that God does indeed know what will happen and when, and He warns us, His children, through His prophets.
I believe that when God speaks on an issue, it shouldn't be necessary for Him to speak again. Sometimes, He will clarify an issue, and sometimes, because His children don't do what He asks, it becomes necessary for Him to repeat it. I mention this because after Christ was lifted up into heaven, the apostles spoke on this matter. In the Epistle to the Romans, Paul says this: "For this cause God gave them up unto vile affections: for even their women did change the natural use into that which is against nature: And likewise also the men, leaving the natural use of the woman, burned in their lust one toward another; men with men working that which is unseemly, and receiving in themselves that recompence of their error which was meet." (Romans 1:26-27). In our day, this message has been repeated by prophets and apostles. In October, 2013, Elder Dallin H. Oaks ( of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, a group of ranking leaders of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints) said, "Our twelfth article of faith states our belief in being subject to civil authority and “in obeying, honoring, and sustaining the law.” But man’s laws cannot make moral what God has declared immoral. Commitment to our highest priority—to love and serve God—requires that we look to His law for our standard of behavior. For example, we remain under divine command not to commit adultery or fornication even when those acts are no longer crimes under the laws of the states or countries where we reside. Similarly, laws legalizing so-called “same-sex marriage” do not change God’s law of marriage or His commandments and our standards concerning it. We remain under covenant to love God and keep His commandments." (No Other Gods, Dallin H. Oaks, November 2013 Ensign, emphasis added).
In its monthly magazine, the Ensign, the Church has published an article that is entitled The Lord's Standard of Morality. I encourage you to go and read it, because the points from it that I wish to make are too long to include in this post.
To continue with my reasoning, I will be using scriptures from the Bible, the Book of Mormon and the Doctrine and Covenants, all of which are accepted by me as the word of God, and by the Church as its official canon (Note: the official scriptural canon of the Church also includes the Pearl of Great Price, but I won't be quoting that in this chapter).
I testify that God calls prophets today to teach us His word and His will. In the Bible, an Old Testament prophet tells us "Surely the Lord God will do nothing, but he revealeth his secret unto his servants the prophets" (Amos 3:7). That is why I choose to follow the prophets, because I know that they will never lead me astray. In fact, they will lead me (and all of us) back to God.
I return for a moment to Elder Oaks' comments above. I would add to that this scripture from the Doctrine and Covenants: "Let no man break the laws of the land, for he that keepeth the laws of God hath no need to break the laws of the land" (Doc. & Cov. 58:21 emphasis added). I remind the reader that God's law is a higher law than man's law, and is a more sure way of receiving blessings from heaven.
All of this can be summed up in one phrase: the law of chastity. As I have explained, the principle of chastity is not a new one but it does come with blessings. But blessings only come by obedience: "There is a law, irrevocably decreed in heaven before the foundations of this world, upon which all blessings are predicated— And when we obtain any blessing from God, it is by obedience to that law upon which it is predicated" (Doc. & Cov. 130:21). I want to have the blessings from following the law of chastity, which is why I choose to obey the prophets.
You may be thinking that I have strayed from my original purpose but I have not. Let me sum up (and add a quote to) what I have already said. God has decreed that marriage is between a man and a woman. Anything else, such as gay marriage, is contrary to God's commandment. I have also stated (indirectly) that happiness comes from being obedient to God. For those of you who doubt this fact, "I would desire that ye should consider on the blessed and happy state of those that keep the commandments of God. For behold, they are blessed in all things, both temporal and spiritual; and if they hold out faithful to the end they are received into heaven, that thereby they may dwell with God in a state of never-ending happiness. O remember, remember that these things are true; for the Lord God hath spoken it" (Mosiah 2:41).
I realize that this post may be somewhat controversial and I may get a lot of negative comments about it, but I feel better about making my stance clear and supporting the Lord. To dispel the negativity slightly, I conclude with this final quote from the Bible, which you can apply equally to me: "And if it seem evil unto you to serve the Lord, choose you this day whom ye will serve...but as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord" (Joshua 24:15).
