For all my life, I've been told that every member of this church ought to be a missionary - that we should all try to share the gospel with our non-member friends - and for a long time, I hid behind the fact that I had no non-member friends to share the gospel with. That changed a few weeks ago when I discovered that a classmate of mine plays Magic: The Gathering. Well, actually, he mostly plays Yugioh, but has a Magic deck, whereas I mostly play Magic and have a Yugioh deck, but my classmate's roommates also play Magic, so he invited me to get together with him, his roommates, and another classmate of ours who also plays Yugioh, so we could all play card games together for a half-hour or so between classes. It's been fun. But a little more than a week ago, I realized that I now have a non-member friend and I'm starting to feel morally obligated to share the gospel with him.
On the plus side, he has told me that he's semi-agnostic. I'm not sure what all he believes, but hey, asking that question might be a good conversation starter. Also, his father is a Mormon. Not sure if that's a plus or a minus right now. On the plus side, he'll already know some stuff about our beliefs and practices, but on the minus side, his dad has probably already tried to share the gospel with him, and he seems not to have accepted it.
If those were the only factors, I think I would just have to grow a backbone and start talking about the gospel sometime. It wouldn't really be too hard. I could start with "What has your dad taught you about Mormonism?" and continue with "Would you like to learn more?" Piece of cake, if I could just build up the courage to do it. But there's one more problem, beside my lack of backbone: my classmate is gay. One of his roommates is also his boyfriend. And Mormonism has a reputation for looking down on homosexuality.
If it were any other sin, I might be able to work with it. If it was a Word of Wisdom issue, he'd already know it's not the best thing for his body anyway. If it was a straight cohabitation, it'd still be awkward, but at least it wouldn't be controversial. But how do you tell a gay person that they, in the long run, would be happier if they didn't act on those inclinations? Being gay (as far as I understand it, which I don't) is all about the freedom to be yourself, no matter what anyone else thinks or says. Now, am I going to tell him that he should fight against that part of himself, just because I believe that God, for reasons that I myself don't actually understand, says he should? I can see that conversation not going well.
I suppose a part of my problem is my personal stance against homosexuality. I've said before, I'm more than happy to just live and let live. Let them do what they feel is right and okay, as long as they understand that I need to do what I feel is right as well. That leads to us voting against each other on certain issues, but I don't see that as any reason we can't leave each other alone and just be friends. The trouble is that "leaving each other alone" would probably include not shoving my anti-homosexual religion down his throat. When I finally bring up the subject of my religion, if I actually bring it up at all, I'm going to have to do it very carefully.
1 comment:
As it comes up naturally, you can discuss your beliefs. I think that for your own knowledge and understanding and so that you are prepared to talk to gay friends, you should study the church's actual stand and teachings on homosexuality and not rely on "general knowledge". Also read some of the writings of gay Mormons and find out their perspective. There are some awesome faithful saints who are gay and willing to talk about their situation.
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