Here is my answer to a common question lately: what is the LDS view on gay marriage and the reasoning behind it? I'll try and make this as complete as I can, and please take the time to read the whole thing instead of fragments.
First, I would invite you to read The Family: A Proclamation to the World, and Leviticus 18:22. One key quote from the Proclamation is, "We, the First Presidency and the Council of the Twelve Apostles of The
Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, solemnly proclaim that
marriage between a man and a woman is ordained of God and that the
family is central to the Creator’s plan for the eternal destiny of His
children . . . The family is ordained of God. Marriage between man and
woman is essential to His eternal plan. Children are entitled to birth
within the bonds of matrimony, and to be reared by a father and a mother
who honor marital vows with complete fidelity." That quote is official doctrine of the church. A point that I feel should be made here is that church policy may change, but doctrine does not change, it has been exactly the same from the creation (side note: creation and evolution do not need to contradict each other, and it is my personal opinion that they are more or less the same) of Adam, and it will remain the same forever.
If you want to know more about "The Plan" as mentioned above, I could write another blog about that too if someone wants, or you could search "the plan of salvation" or "the plan of happiness" on lds.org. That is an essential doctrine for the LDS church.
Now, before I go any further on the subject of gay marriage, I'll say that if you read Moroni 10:4-5 (at the end of the Book of Mormon) the prophet Moroni writes: "...I would exhort you that ye would ask God, the Eternal Father, in the name of Christ, if these things are not true; and if ye shall ask with a sincere heart, with real intent, having faith in Christ, he will manifest the truth of it unto you, by the power of the Holy Ghost. And by the power of the Holy Ghost ye may know the truth of all things." That should be enough explanation on gay marriage (not that Mormons are encouraged to follow blindly. We are in fact encouraged to study out any questions and concerns we may have). There are a couple points I would like to make about this scripture. Some people read these verses, go pray, don't really receive an answer by the power of the Holy Ghost, and then determine that the Book of Mormon is false. To these people I would say that they need to read those verses again and notice things like "having faith in Christ," and "with real intent."
More about faith...
-Faith is a verb.
-"...ye receive no witness until after the trial of your faith" -Ether 12:6
-"...faith, if it hath not works, is dead, being alone." -James 2:17-18
-Alma 32 compares faith to a seed. You need to nurture and care for faith in order for it to grow. Faith isn't something that is just given to anyone, and once you have a certain level of faith, you need to constantly care for it, or it will diminish.
-With enough faith, great miracles can happen (miracles do not grant faith, but they can strengthen faith and a testimony.) Examples of miracles can be seen in the Book of Ether where the Brother of Jared builds ships to sail to the Americas, a similar story in the First Book of Nephi, where Nephi builds a ship to sail to the Americas, Exodus 13 & 14 where Moses parts the Red Sea. There are countless other examples, the vast majority of which are not recorded in scripture.
So really, anyone who hasn't at least read the Book of Mormon cover to cover really has no grounds on which to denounce the book or the church.
A witness may not come at first, it didn't for me, but I can bear testimony that if you show a little faith and truly seek out to know if these things are true, with an open mind without dogma, you will get an answer as I did. It takes longer for some people than others, but remember that the more righteously you live your life, the more easily the Holy Ghost can testify to you. The Holy Ghost cannot dwell in unclean places.
I realize that it is unlikely that everyone who reads this blog will read the Book of Mormon, and put Moroni's promise to the test to gain a testimony of the work. And that is the purpose for the rest of my blog.
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The most important thing to remember is that Mormons believe that marriage is a divine institution, and that anything but a man and a woman is an abomination. Marriage was originally a religious practice, so shouldn't it then reflect the ideas of religion? Today, the world is attempting to redefine marriage and the family, and as Mormons, we believe that this should not happen.
One thing churches have to worry about that if gay marriage is legalized, any church that refuses to perform gay marriages (which will be most of them) will be considered to be discriminating against gays. This will cause these churches to lose their church status in the eyes of the government and tax exempt status. In my opinion, once the government starts to tax the lords money, things will go downhill very quickly.
One point could be made that Mormons are harsh towards gay people. This is true to some extent, although that harshness is going down. It was never official church doctrine that gay people are bad people, or that they will automatically go to hell. Mormons believe that everyone has one or more specific challenge in their life, and that we must learn to overcome those challenges. Gay people are no exception.
The main problem here is that many Mormons have been falsely raised to be homophobic. We are commanded to love everyone, even those who sin (who happens to be everyone except Jesus Christ). We are not commanded to love the sin, but we are also told that we will be judged by God in the same manner that we judge others. In short, a Mormon that says gay people are evil is mistaken. Gay people only become unclean when they act upon their lusts. Let me clarify here that the Mormon church is a "perfect church made up of imperfect people."
Contrary to popular belief, there are actually a lot of gay Mormons that are active and have a strong testimony of the work. You can search for them on mormon.org.
Here's another good article on gay marriage: The Divine Institution of Marriage
That is all for now, I hope someone reads and gets something out of this.
