Courage to Stand

Several different things on my mind tonight, and since this is a serious subject, you may not be interested.  This won't be one of my lighthearted posts about my kids or the craziness that invades my life sometimes.

Rather, I'm going to unwind some of the musings of my heart over the last little while.  Stay with me if you dare.  (Inside someone's heart can be a messy and confusing and scary place to hang out.)

To open, I'm going to link to an article that a facebook friend posted from Glenn Beck.  He is a polarizing figure to be sure (just with his name you are probably either rolling your eyes, spitting in fury, or silently shouting "Yes!" in excitement).  I don't fall into any of those groups.  I generally avoid his websites (but not always), but I have read several of his books with interest.  I don't think he is the devil incarnate but neither do I believe he is some kind of a prophet who will save America.  That said, I found the linked summary to be eerily in line with some of my own thoughts just this morning while reading the scriptures.

While studying the "Sermon on the Mount" this morning, one specific section caught my attention this morning.  I was reading it in the Book of Mormon (3 Nephi 12:10-12) but it's essentially the same in the New Testament as well (Matthew 5:10-12).  Here it is:

10 And blessed are all they who are persecuted for my name’s sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. 

11 And blessed are ye when men shall revile you and persecute, and shall say all manner of evil against you falsely, for my sake; 

12 For ye shall have great joy and be exceedingly glad, for great shall be your reward in heaven; for so persecuted they the prophets who were before you.

For me this morning, this was a true wake up call.  Being a follower of Jesus Christ does not mean my life will be easy.  It doesn't mean I will always be on the "right" side of history, with people all around me lauding my shining example of how to live.

Followers of God, good people of whatever faith who refuse to compromise their standards for convenience or popularity, always ruffle feathers.  Sometimes, depending on how hostile the culture they are surrounded by is to their beliefs, it goes beyond ruffled feather or annoyance into people transforming into rabid wolves, willing to murder people who believe differently than they do.  (The early Christian martyrs?  The Jews during the Holocaust?  The Christians being murdered by ISIS today?)

In the history of my own church there have been plenty of examples of bitter persecution.  The mistake I had fallen into was thinking that now we (as a people, at least in America) have grown beyond that.  That we could be tolerant of others' beliefs.  Surely we have tolerance preached at us often enough!

However, if you believe as I do, that there is a real force of evil (I do believe in the existence of Satan) working to keep as many people from becoming like God as possible, then why would he suddenly give up?  Why would believers in the past, from prophets to the New Testament disciples of Jesus, face reviling and persecution, yet believers in the present have smooth sailing?

This morning as I pondered this and wondered how I will likely face persecution in my life, one issue popped into mind immediately.  It is same-sex marriage.  I realize that people fall all over the spectrum with this, with even some devoutly religious people believing that same-sex marriage is approved by God and that we all need to get with the program.  However, I am a believer that marriage is ordained by God to be between a man and a woman.  I believe that to be an eternal, unchanging truth, no matter what we as fallible humans living in a fallen world with all kinds of infirmities and unexpected weaknesses may wish otherwise.  Expressing that opinion now has become a beacon to attract all kinds of reviling and persecution.   Some people, like Glenn Beck, believe that this issue will soon become a trial by fire for many religious people.  (In some cases it already is.  You could find yourself losing your job or worse for publicly expressing your opposition to such unions.)  We now face the possibility of being forced to support this practice whether or not we wish to.  I know there are people out there who feel that force is necessary in this issue.  That everyone must be MADE to comply, whether or not they feel it's right, the same way that desegregation of schools was forced by court order on the South.  That eventually, "right" will prevail, and we will all look back with embarrassment that there was ever a time that most of us believed that marriage should only be between a man and a woman.

But when I search my heart, I must stand against it anyway.  I believe in living prophets and apostles, as well as in the scriptures.  I listen to their counsel, and study and pray about this topic on my own.  I cannot say in good conscience that I support same-sex marriage.  Soon I may have to face intense pressure to abandon my "backward" thinking.  Will I do so?  I am so scared.  Courage in the face of public opinion is not one of my strengths.  I don't like to be reviled.  Really don't like conflict.  But stand I must.  I will always try be kind and courteous.  I have gay friends (I know, ridiculous that a Mormon woman could possibly have gay friends and still be against gay marriage, but there it is), and I don't hate them.  I don't treat them any differently than I do anyone else.  But I can't support what I see as a tactic by Satan to prevent as many of us as possible from becoming like God.  A twisted path to destroying the family.  Just because the ideal is broken and under assault from so many angles does not mean we need to throw out the ideal altogether.

I'll finish with another scripture, another one that I took to heart this morning:

 13 Verily, verily, I say unto you, I give unto you to be the salt of the earth; but if the salt shall lose its savor wherewith shall the earth be salted? The salt shall be thenceforth good for nothing, but to be cast out and to be trodden under foot of men.

 14 Verily, verily, I say unto you, I give unto you to be the light of this people. A city that is set on a hill cannot be hid.

I guess it's time for those of us who believe that traditional marriage is a divine institution to stand.  Our lights need to shine.  The worlds needs light, desperately, even if they do not realize it.  All we can do is continue to stand firm, loving those who revile us, but not letting our courage be shaken.  We are not alone.