Taking a Stand

At the conclusion of yesterday's post, I mentioned how much I enjoyed last weekend's general conference of the Church.

Today, I became aware of the fact that there is a group of people, some of whom I know, who didn't particularly enjoy general conference - in particular, Pres. Boyd K. Packer's Sunday afternoon talk, titled "Cleansing the Inner Vessel." In fact, they downright hated it.

This talk, in fact, can now be viewed online here:



From what I gather, the part of the talk that did not go over too well with these people is when he preaches against those in our country who are trying to legalize gay marriage. The complaints I've been reading, mostly on Facebook, have been calling Pres. Packer "hate-filled," "harsh," and an "out-of-touch old man" and have been comparing his rhetoric to Adolph Hitler's - yes, really.

As I watched and listened to Pres. Packer's talk again today, I found nothing hateful or harsh about it - that is, I suppose, unless you're of the point-of-view of one who is upset "because the Lord would not always suffer them to take happiness in sin" (Mormon 2:13). Rather, I found it to be full of love and concern. But that's just me. For some people, sadly, tolerance is not a two-way street, and emphasizing an already established Church doctrine or, at the very least, expressing an opinion is tantamount to being "hateful" and/or "homophobic."

The fact that there were some people who disagreed with what was said at general conference is nothing new; if you've attended general conference in person, then you've seen these nutcases outside the Conference Center, holding their signs and shouting their slogans and trying to tear down everyone and everything around them. What is disappointing, to me, is when people criticizing a Church leader like Pres. Packer are people I thought were active members of the Church, who should know or act better than that.

Whatever becomes of this brouhaha, I’m grateful for inspired leaders who are courageous enough to stand up for and teach true principles, even in spite of the ever-changing ideas and attitudes of the world. God bless you, President Packer.