In Which I Draw My Line In the Sand (In the Name of Love)

I'm a Christian.  I'm a Mormon Christian to be more specific.  But I'd like to talk about something that I have been thinking about for awhile now.  It's my opinion.  It's just that, and you don't have to agree with it.  I expect it will also make some people not want to speak to me any more.  You can even "unfriend" me for it if it makes you that angry.  That will make me sad, but I really don't expect to change your opinion any more than you will change mine.
When I was growing up, I was taught that being gay is a choice.  Hmmm.  I wondered about this.  I even believed it half-heartedly for awhile.  I've never understood bullies.  I've never understood why people can't just be nice to each other no matter what.  But why would you choose to be gay when so much hatred will be thrown at you as soon as you make that choice?  The truth is, you wouldn't. It's not a choice to be gay.  The church that I belong to acknowledges this.  They call it same-gender attraction.  It's not a choice to be attracted to the same sex, but everything you do after that is a choice.  I agree with this completely.  That's where our agency gets to be exercised.  I'm a pretty big fan of agency.
When I was twenty-two, I heard about a problem that I never even knew existed (yes, I lived in a bubble and yes, I still pretty much do.  I like my bubble.  Leave my bubble out of this).  There was this gay couple who had been together for quite some time and now one of them was in the hospital.  Their partner was not allowed to visit her (or it could have been a him - I can't remember) because the family of the person in the hospital did not approve of this union and they were not married, so she had no spousal rights.  I was horrified.  How could this be?  What kind of injustice is this?  What a load of poo.  Then I started learning about all the other reasons it sucks to be gay and not able to marry the person you love.  No filing for taxes jointly, having to pay inheritance taxes that you would have been exempt from if you were married.  All of this is bull to me.  It's bull just plain bull shit.  There, I said it.
I don't talk about this much.  It's frowned upon in my religion to agree that same-sex couple should be allowed to get married.  My church believe that marriage is sanctified by God.  I do too.  I believe in the teachings of my church.  But I also believe in agency above anything else.  I believe in equal rights for all people regardless of their sex or sexual orientation.  I also believe that not everybody believes in my religion and to deny people equal rights based on my religious beliefs is unconstitutional.  That's pretty much where my argument begins and ends.
That being said, I don't think people who have religious convictions about marriage being between a man and a woman should be told they are wrong either.  Our religion has what we like to call the plan of happiness.  I think it's a wonderful plan.  Heavenly Father created our spirit bodies and he called us to a council.  He said, "I have this plan.  It involves leaving me for a little while and going to a place I like to call Earth.  You will receive a body, like mine and you will learn and grow and become more like me.  While you are there, you will forget about where we are now and you will have to make choices.  Some will be good and some will be bad.  But I will send a Savior to make it possible for you to return to me."
We were all there.  Lucifer, stood up and said, "Oh, hey!  I have an idea!  I would like to be that Savior and I will make sure that everybody makes the right choices and then everybody will come back.  It's a good plan!  It really is!  Because mumble mumble everyone will give me the glory and worship me mumble mumble"
Jesus rolled his eyes* and looked at Lucifer and said, "That's great, buddy, but you forgot something.  If people aren't allowed to make choices of their own fruition, they will not grow and they will not learn anything.  They will not be more like Father in the end."  Then he turned to God and said, "I will do it.  And the glory shall be Thine."
Lucifer (aka Satan) did not like this one bit.  He turned to the spirit children and tried to convince them to join him and to vote for his plan.  It was not a really good plan.  I didn't vote for it.  But one third of the spirits thought it sounded great.  You wouldn't have to think for yourself and you would just go through life doing only what you were supposed to (I honestly haven't figured out how that was to work myself.  There are too many ways to screw things up) and when you died, you would be with God again.
Mormons call it the war in Heaven.  Only it wasn't a war with guns and tanks and bazookas.  It was a war of words.  Are you wondering if you were one of those people who choose to follow Jesus or Lucifer?  Well, here's the good news.  You know you choose to follow Jesus while you were there because you are here on the Earth.  Excellent.  I'm so glad you're here!
God wasn't even going to consider Satan's plan when it comes right down to it.  He had his plan and he knew it was the plan he was going with, but you know God.  He's patient.  He listens.  He loves us all.  But then he just goes and does what he knows is best whether you like it or not.  God always wins.
Of course, this really enraged Lucifer and all of his followers.  They haven't stopped trying to get us to "come to the dark side."  Temptation, feelings of fear, shame and worthlessness are all tools he uses.  He's pretty good at it.  It's like an art to him that he has been refining and mastering for - well since the dawn of time, really.  If it wasn't so evil, it would be inspiring.  We're kind of down here, going, "Um.  We won that war.  Why are you still fighting it?"  But it's part of the plan, really.  To see if we will continue to follow Christ.  We can't give up, or give in.
Then God created the Earth and all things therein.  Don't confuse this with Creationism.  We don't profess to know how God created the Earth, nor how long it actually took him.  We love science.  We do believe He used matter that was already in existence, and that could explain a lot.  But that's another blog post (and mere speculation, really).  He placed man and woman on the Earth.  We even believe that He married Adam and Eve.  This is why marriage is so important to our faith.  It's part of the plan of happiness.  Men and women fall in love, marry, and have cute babies in order to bring His spirit children to the Earth.  That's why family is so important to Mormons.  Because we are all just one big family.  It's a beautiful plan.
But I get that not everybody believes in this plan.  And I don't believe that everybody should be required to.  The thought makes me say, "Hey!  If rights are denied to certain people at all, then what did we fight for before we came here?"

I almost forgot that it is Flashback Friday.  Here is a picture of me and my love on our wedding day.  Everybody deserves to be happy.  Everybody's experience is different (even if you grew up in the same house).

*Jesus didn't really roll his eyes.  He wouldn't do that.  I'm just making up all the quotes, too (except mine).  You know, using my imagination and all. :)