[UtahDan]

Originally Posted by Adam

Wickedness was never happiness. I really believe that. And men truly are that they might have joy.

At the same time, it is only through going through a portion of what Christ went through, can we develop the empathy that Christ developed. We have to suffer to become broken and contrite. Some suffering can be vicarious, through an appreciation of the suffering of our ancestors or our Savior. But we have to go through a measure of it ourselves. Elder Maxwell called this the "wintery doctrine".

So I am not opposed to suffering, but when one suffers in rightousness, one will find joy. The peace of conscience that Elder Scott contrasts with peace of mind--which might never come and is affected by external factors.

But I just guess in the end it seems to me that he human sex drive is too strong and too powerful to allow one to have peace of any kind while denying all hope of satisfying it completely---and this pain on top of the lifetime of loneliness and isolation that one would be doomed to endure without hope of relief.

I guess this is why the Church always told the homosexual Mormons to pray that God would change them--so they could cling to some sliver of hope that their hell would one day end.

But in fact, the orientation doesn't end for the vast majority--as the Church's new homo pamphlet even admits.

Maybe it is because my sex drive is so powerful that I can't believe that a lone homosexual, without hope or companionship, could master his sex drive for life AND (and this is the key) find peace of conscience and the joy that God created him for in the process.

Maybe I am projecting and saying that because I don't think I could do it, I don't they they could do it either. Maybe I am selling them short.

But even if I am wrong and a homosexual could, certainly most could not. And it seems cruel to sentence all to the cross when we know only a few will be able to find redeeming value in the crucifixion. My heart really goes out to these my brothers and sisters and I suffer in my own small way with them.

That is the rub.