David Archuleta discussing the difficulty of reconciling his homosexuality with his faith
https://www.instagram.com/tv/CYwbqm8hqfu/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link
My heart breaks for David. Just want to give him a big hug. It's so hard to see him struggle like this. You can just tell that these religious doctrines have been torturing him for years. Yet, this is by no means an uncommon phenomenon. He represents the struggle of many.
It's so sad to see how he has internalized a type of self-hatred - the inability to lovingly accept the way he naturally is. The belief that the natural man is evil - a core Mormon doctrine (Mosiah 3:19) - is the beginning of self-hate.
What is good and evil anyway? Is morality based on the arbitrary opinion of God? Who has the authority to define God's opinion on morality? Is God's opinion based on a magical book written by iron-age thinkers who were wrong about everything scientific, but we are supposed to trust them on matters of morality? Is God's opinion based on arbitrary leaders who flip-flop on issues? Is God's opinion confirmed by spiritual feelings and revelation that have been proven to be unreliable as any religion can receive these feelings and all these feelings mutually conflict? Are prayer coincidences good enough to justify such harmful doctrines?
Secular morality has already improved our understanding of good and evil. Good is the beneficial; evil is the harmful. Whenever we want to judge morality, we always default to measuring the benefit against the harm. Whenever we judge a religious practice to be wrong, it is because we have identified the harm within it. When we want to say Islam is wrong to perform honor killings or female circumcision, we are appealing to the harm caused thereby.
No one ever complained about religious people doing beneficial things. Its only when religious people do harmful things that people get frustrated. No one ever complained that Buddhists or Hindus aren't killing enough animals. It's about time Mormonism took a deep look in the mirror at the harm it is causing.
Looking back at my experience with Mormonism, I am so frustrated and ashamed that I allowed myself to have a hard heart towards homosexuality. But then again, I don't think it was 100% my fault. I was a victim of an incorrect ideology. I was theologically obligated to view it as evil. It was a conclusion that logically followed from the premises of my religion. It was what I was taught was true by authorities that I trusted. I knew that God could not look upon sin with the least degree of allowance (Alma 45:15). How could I betray God by giving them the least degree of allowance?
Seven years after leaving the Mormon church, I am so happy that I no longer have to be so closed-minded. It feels so good to not have to repress the half of my heart that wanted to love everyone as equals without any moral condemnation. Undoing the burden of false doctrines frees the soul to experience more love, more empathy, and more connectedness.
LINK TO FACEBOOK DISCUSSION OF THE ABOVE