Sunday, December 9, 2012

Did Jesus Experience so-called "Same Sex Attraction"?

Christ Blessing by Raphael, 1505

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (the Mormons) launched a new website this past week with the URL MormonsAndGays.org. I haven't spent much time on it, but what little I have read got me to thinking...

On the site's homepage, we read:
Where the Church stands:

The experience of same-sex attraction is a complex reality for many people. The attraction itself is not a sin, but acting on it is. Even though individuals do not choose to have such attractions, they do choose how to respond to them. With love and understanding, the Church reaches out to all God’s children, including our gay and lesbian brothers and sisters.
Further down on the homepage, we see talk of "temptation," which, given the context of the page, must be understood to be in reference to so-called "Same Sex Attraction" (ugh, I hate that phrase -- more on that another time).

So follow my thinking here: SSA is, in and of itself, NOT a sin, but a mere temptation. In the Book of Mormon, we learn that Jesus "shall go forth, suffering pains and afflictions and temptations of every kind; and this that the word might be fulfilled which saith he will take upon him the pains and the sicknesses of his people" (Alma 7:11).

So would we be safe in assuming that Jesus experienced so-called Same Sex Attraction, but just withstood the temptation to act on it (thereby keeping him free of sin)? If so, I find the idea of a Homosexual Jesus (albeit a celibate one) to be quite a progressive move for the LDS Church and hopefully a sign of better things to come.

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