We believe we were told we would be organized into families, and that through those families, we would receive the nurture and guidance that we would need in order to successfully navigate this earthly life. What does "successfully" mean? Well, it means that we make the right choice instead of the wrong choice (yes, we still believe in the concept of "right and wrong"). It means that when we diligently make the right choices, that eventually we can return to live in heaven with God again. We have been told that we will be given all that He has. We've been told that we can't even begin to comprehend the joy we will have there. And that joy will be never-ending. It's difficult to even imagine joy that won't ever end, since we're always experiencing things like sadness, disappointment, anger, despair, etc.
We believe that God has given us commandments. You've heard that Mormons shouldn't drink alcohol or coffee. That we shouldn't smoke. But we've also been told that for optimal health, we should go to bed early and arise early. We've been counseled to eat lots of fruits, vegetables, and grains and to eat meat sparingly. All of that is in our book of scripture.
Do we always do these things right? No, of course not. We skimp on our fruits and vegetables just like anyone else. Because meat tastes good. And so does junk food. Do we drink alcohol or coffee? Yes, some of us do. Even though we know we shouldn't. But it's not the end of the world if it happens. We just have to try a little bit harder.
These are just a few of the many commandments we are given by God. And everyone already knows that following these principles will help us to achieve our most optimal health.
Back to families.
We believe that marriage is meant to be between a man and a woman. We believe it because of the revelation given through scriptures. Just like any of the other commandments. Just like the Ten Commandments. Sometimes we don't even know why we should follow a specific commandment. For example, the scripture that tells us we shouldn't smoke? It was given to us many years before scientists discovered smoking was bad for you. Therefore, we believe every commandment has an important purpose, even though we may not fully understand what that purpose is.
We believe in the existence of Satan. We believe that his purpose is to prevent souls from coming to earth to receive a body. His ultimate goal is to keep us from returning to heaven to live with God and to make us as miserable as he is. So, he seeks to ruin the plan that God has for us (his children), which is to have us come to earth, receive a body, learn from experiences, and prove ourselves worthy to return to return to heaven and receive a fulness of joy and glory while living with the one who is our true Father.
The world's population replacement rate has already declined dramatically. Google it, if you want. It's pretty interesting how drastically it has decreased. We believe this to be a "sign of the times". That means that we expect that one of Satan's priorities is to prevent children from being born. Obviously, gay marriage would further this problem. Yes, of course, gay couples could and would adopt children. But it wouldn't be enough to help the fertility rate to increase from it's already steady decline.
Gay marriage. We don't support it for many reasons. Reasons that even WE don't understand. But we continue to support traditional marriage because we trust that God's ultimate desire is for all of his children (you and me and everyone) to be as happy as we possibly can. Not just in this life, but in the life to come. We believe that God knows us better than we know ourselves. We believe that he knows exactly what will bring us our greatest happiness. It may be hard for us to follow all of the commandments He gives to us. We may suck at it. We may even rebel. A lot. But that doesn't make us bad people. It just means we don't truly understand God's love and plan for us. We think we know what's best for ourselves. We think we know exactly how to make ourselves happy. But maybe, it's worth listening to His words. Because if there's one thing we need to understand about His words, it's that they are not there to limit us. They aren't there to keep us from being happy. We're getting it all wrong.
God's commandments are given to make us even more free and to bring us even greater happiness than we currently believe is even possible.
