Wednesday, November 5, 2008

who wouldn't want an international holiday?

MEDIA ADVISORY, Nov. 4 /Christian Newswire/ -- In response to the truly despicable, bigoted advertisement, Home Invasion, produced to defeat California's Proposition 8, the members of the Ruth Youth proclaim November 5, 2008 to be International Mormon Appreciation Day.

for the full statement, click HERE.

For more information go to www.whatisprop8.com

10 comments:

Eric Dane said...

I feel appreciated. Thank you Ruth Youth! I appreciate the Ruth Youth too. You guys and gals rock!!!

Anonymous said...

How can you support traditional marriage and support those that oppose it? McDonald's, Apple and Google all donated money to fight traditional marriage. Yet here you are using Blogger by Google to blog. It's not convenient or easy to stand for something, but as Elder Oaks counsels, do you really want to be seen in public in a way that could construe support for gay marriage? The blogspot.com url for your blog says it all. Traditional marriage at any price, except for my iPod, Big Mac or blog.

Hizzeather said...

I have never really boycotted anything in my life. I may not watch a tv show or a movie I don't think is appropriate, but I can't imagine throwing my ipod away or deleting my blog because the company that produced it disagrees with me. The product itself is still great and it blesses my life. Getting rid of it would only hurt ME.

Am I the only one that feels this way? Boycotting a company for how they feel just seems wrong. I sure wouldn't want people to boycott or punish me for my beliefs. At the end of the day, we're all people and deserve each other's respect.

Do you have a link to Elder Oaks encouraging us to boycott these companies? If you don't, I would encourage you to stop insinuating that he endorses your cause.

Christa Jeanne said...

Dwight, are you kidding me?! How about the fact that Elder Ballard has said several times that we should blog. He didn't say to avoid Google or Blogger. It's the medium through which our voices can be heard.

We're in an ever-secularizing world. This is just par for the course. We're supposed to be IN the world but not of it, remember? That does require us to be IN it. If we isolated from everything and everyone that disagrees with us, there'd be no way for our light to shine. If we're only among friends, how can we help others and share the light with them?

I think it's pretty self-righteous of you to judge us. And it's ludicrous. You don't know us; you don't know the hours and hours we've poured into fighting for what's right and following the counsel of our leaders at the cost of alienating many friends and loved ones. At the end of the day, THAT is what matters. The URL is trivial.

Anonymous said...

The counsel is linked in the LDS Newsroom. Elder Oaks counseled parents that while they need to decide for themselves, that they should consider being seen in public with their gay offspring as it can be construed as support of the gay lifestyle. While it's not the first thing that comes to mind, a blogger blog, iPod in your ears and Big Mac in your hands is saying that just cause they don't agree with traditional marriage it's okay. You are putting money into their hands which they are contributing to people that are turning it into ads that attack traditional marriage.

There is no church sanctioned boycot, neither would the church have you use lies to support prop 8 and this blog is full of them.

It's inconvenient for you to give up a good iPod and blog, but it's inconvenient for me to tell my gay friends that are still good people that I love and respect them, but I can't let them marry, cause then they will be all up in my church's business, even though the church operates in ways that protects it from all the fear-mongering lies used to drum up support for prop 8. If the church operated more in the public there might be basis for discrimination lawsuits. If family services used government money and worked as agents of the state they could be sued, but prop 8 either way doesn't affect their ability to limit their services to married temple recommend holding members.

If you look at the history of the church and homosexuality you will see troubling that unlike smoking and drinking which have been taboo early on, the church's stance on homosexuality has followed as new information is determined by men. Painful shock aversion therapy was used, a 1981 manual suggested gay members could be cured by dating and marrying and having families, the 1992 update decided that since those families more often than not ended in divorce with kids involved that it was no longer the recommended course.

Christa-
And you don't know the hours and years I have spent on my knees trying to reconcile my faith with homosexuality. Let's be honest that the proclamation while great does nothing to address it. If I am self-righteous at least we are both equally self-righteous to judge one another.

Christa Jeanne said...

Dwight, let me just ask you - are you in California? Did you attend the broadcast by Elder Ballard, Elder Cook and Elder Clayton? Because we received some pretty specific, over-the-pulpit direction to get involved. And it wasn't the easiest thing for some of us to get involved, but I put my faith in my leaders and jumped in.

You're right, I don't struggle with same-sex attraction, and I can appreciate what a challenge that would be. You're not alone, and in the broadcast we were reminded that there are a lot of members who do struggle with it, and to be sensitive to them in this issue. My heart goes out to you. That would be difficult - I can't even imagine.

But please do not tell me that leaders of the Church don't care about homosexuality. Things in the manual might have said that years ago, but homosexuality also used to be classified as a mental illness. It wasn't as well understood then as it is now, and just as the rest of society has evolved in its thinking on the issue as more information has become available, the Church's stance has become more understanding.

But at the end of the day, that doesn't change that marriage is between a man and a woman. It just doesn't.

Anonymous said...

I'm just pointing out that we have the word of wisdom that told us to stay away from harmful things. In homosexuality the church is following the knowledge of men, when it was a mental illness it could be cured, and now the church doesn't believe it's something that can just be cured, so perhaps there has been no direct revelation on the matter other than it's a sin. Also marriage as an eternal principle is one man and one, or more, women. I can embrace that part of my religion.

BTW I'm happily married to my wife, I just have gay friends that grew up in the church and I've watched their journey and know a little more about homosexuality than your average Mormon. I've talked about homosexuality with numerous active Mormons that are psychiatrists. None of us are at the head of the church, but the rate things are going one of us just might someday. Just like someone who couldn't be racist to deny the priesthood to someone based on the color of their skin. Not that I believe homosexuals will ever have a place except alone and celibate in the church, but at least we could follow the 11th article of faith and let others believe what they want and we believe what we want.

No, I'm not in California. I'm looking forward to the special instruction and meetings as gay marriage is being determined by the Swedish parliament where I live. If this is truly a universal matter to fight we should. Of course I don't think the church is willing to ostracize the 9000 members (~2000 active) and hinder missionary efforts. Especially since roughly half of the ward would get up and leave such a meeting, but we are all heathens like that cause we live daily in a society that gay partnerships are as normal as straight and if we or our children our suffering for it we can't see it.

Christa Jeanne said...

Dwight, please - I didn't call you a heathen. Don't put words in my mouth or in the mouths of the brethren (ie Elder Oaks). It's uncalled for.

Anonymous said...

Okay, you are right, I mean the Swedish people as a whole willingly are paying higher taxes to take care of the sick, poor and needy among us as a people, we are living closer to the united order after all.

Kierst said...

In response to Dwight, my husband belongs to the teachers union and they donated 1 million dollars to fight prop 8. Unless he's going to quit his job, he's paying for that. It wasn't what he wanted, but it happened, nonetheless. We still have to live our lives.