Take a step back on the gay issue.

A couple months ago as I was driving to Las Vegas to pay homage to my other god gambling I watched the sun setting to my left cast its last rays of light over the hills in front of me. I was struck by how much more definition I was able to see in the landscape when shadows became more visible. In the light of midday when everything is the brightest landscapes have a tendency to look flat tricking people into thinking that not only is the terrain flatter then it actually is but it also washes out all the color that is actually present in the landscape. At sunset though all the canyons, holes and color become clear to us and we see the world the way it actually is.

I was thinking about this in perspective to the persecution the church and its members have been getting on the gay marriage issue. For a number of years society has flirted with the idea that the gay community is nothing more then a bunch of well dressed do-gooders who while acting a little flamboyant are good for the communities they live in. They do make over’s for the men and restore old neighborhoods and get down to some good old fashioned girl talk. But now under new lighting we see the way many of them actually are. For years they have called the religious community the ones filled with hate and repression but as is often the case with liberals and socialists the very sins they accuse their opposition of are the ones they actually indulge in to get their way.

This change in lighting while difficult in some respects for us to see given the history of the church with persecution will in my opinion only more sharply define the true people of God from the counterfeits. Now more sharply people can see the actual lifestyle of hate and repression our opposition represents. Maybe now people will ask “yea if the gay community cares so much about the world where are the charitable organizations representing them that even come close to those of the LDS people?” maybe now the elect of God who have been deceived by the subtle craftiness of men will ask “Are these really the tolerant people I have held up as oppressed?” Just Maybe people with actual critical thinking skills will see the double standard of who can and cannot express their views in this society as a sign post telling them who is actually on the side of free speech and who actually represents operation.

Fight this I think we should, we should stand up to these people and their tactics with everything we have in us. In no way do I think that Mormons will go out and bash queers the way they have gone out and bashed us. But just like the election showed who doesn’t actually have conservative/constitutional beliefs this experience should show us who our true friends are in the religious world. Will other churches let us take the popular fall for this or will they actually grow a pair and stand up with us?

In no way do I see this as a harkening of the second coming, no more then that Joseph Smith being called as a prophet was. Much like every generation I think we have a tendency to want to believe it will be our day that sees the end. Looking to a resolution where God confounds our enemy’s and we stand back saying “I told you so” is what we would all like to see happen. More often then not I think God is waiting for us to put on our big boy pants and do the confounding ourselves.