Now That You're Choosing This

A few mohos seem to be slipping further from the Church. Others, including mohos, want to reclaim these lost souls and convince them to come back to a complete LDS lifestyle. Might I make a suggestion to those well-intended people? If you try to reclaim gay Latter-day Saints, you will likely not do it by demonstrating the negative effects of homosexuality or by being preachy about obedience or sacrifice or the authority of prophets. If you want to reclaim them, I suggest not being negative at all. I think your only shot is going to be in positivity. Do it by showing them how wonderful and amazing Mormonism is. The only way to convince a doubting Mormon to stay Mormon is by showing him what it is about being Mormon that is worth his while.

And in my mind, that is where the Church has failed. It hasn't showed me, at least, a lifestyle in the Church that gives me more blessings than a gay lifestyle would give. I realize that for some of you the promise of exaltation, which the Church claims sole access to, is enough of a blessing. Without meaning to sound pompous, let me say that the promise alone is not enough for me. In the words of Joseph F. Smith, "It has always been a cardinal teaching with the Latter-day Saints, that a religion which has not the power to save the people temporally and make them prosperous and happy here cannot be depended upon to save them spiritually, and exalt them in the life to come."