Not infallible

There are two reactions to Pope Francis that I find interesting. I do find him likable and think that he is a good man. He looks especially good when compared to Pope Benedict. However, I think it is kind of silly when people get mad at him for not being liberal enough. You know how sometimes people illustrate how obvious something is by asking "Is the Pope Catholic?" Well, yes, he is. It is probably more productive to appreciate that he cares about climate change and economic inequality than to be mad that he still considers abortion a sin, though a forgivable one.

The other thing that I found interesting was when some people would get so angry at him for being more liberal, especially conservative Catholics. The Pope is supposed to be infallible, right? Don't you still think he's infallible?

We have never said that any of our leaders are infallible. We believe they are good men, and they are inspired, but we also believe they are human. There is room for error. Especially once you include local leaders, there's a lot of room for error.

Does it sound like I am getting to the new handbook instructions? I am.

Still, I am not necessarily going to write as much about that as I could. I have covered some of this ground before. I have written about believing in prophets and how things change before, most notably in a series from January 19. 2014 to February 23, 2014. I have written about gay marriage and homosexuality before:

http://preparedspork.blogspot.com/2013/06/preparing-for-marriage-equality.html
http://preparedspork.blogspot.com/2014/01/homosexuality-again.html

I do still have some thoughts on this particular thing, some more specific and some general.

Listening to Elder Christofferson, it sounds like the concern is more for if you have a household with a same-sex couple and children, and how it could be hard for the children to reconcile what they see at home and what they hear at church:

http://www.deseretnews.com/article/865640934/Elder-Christofferson-explains-updated-LDS-Church-policies-on-same-sex-marriage-and-children.html

I get that, but most of the people that I am thinking about are cases where one of the parents came out later, after there were children, so there are two households, one with a parent who probably had a pretty traumatic divorce and felt very betrayed, and now their kids can't even follow the normal path.

Initially I thought that this was poorly considered and would be walked back soon. Now I feel more like it will be that there are a lot of exceptions granted. I am sure there will be some growing pains. Those are my specific thoughts on this specific policy.

For my more general thoughts, one area that is frustrating in conference talks and things is that I often feel like the church is worrying more about the people who are thinking that someday gay couples will go to the temple, but my worry is more about the people who are always looking for validation that in fact all gay people are perverts and they knew it all along. I get really irritated with those people, and they get far too much validation which is often undeserved.

However, I believe that hard times are coming up for them too. The Church is putting out more documentation from its past. There is more information out there. Some people will find it disturbing - for example, could a major policy have just been decided and then upheld due to racism?

And then, when you look closer, you might find that it's not quite so simple, but also that a leader was allowed to be wrong, and maybe he was allowed to be wrong because so many members were willing to be wrong, and that doesn't invalidate everything but it is a lot to take in, especially if your faith so far has been built upon not thinking so much.

I think there are hard times coming. These are already hard times now, but they will get harder. There's a reason that only half of the virgins made it into the wedding.

That is not a happy thought, but what is a happy thought is that there is a plan. There is work in the spirit world, there is the Millennium for some things to be made up, and eternity for the rest. There is the Atonement, not just for forgiveness, and physical healing, but also emotional spiritual healing.

There can be legitimate questions about how to deal with any particular policy. Are there times when more needs to be said? For now, one thing I specifically want to be aware of is that there are people who are really hurt by this, and I want to be supportive of them. I am still going to church. I am still doing family history. I want to go to the temple Thursday. I will also correct anyone who says something really stupid.

It can be frustrating that sometimes we have such a hard time collectively finding the right balance, but I know my own struggles with doing so, and there are some ways in which I kind of have it together. Of course we mess up! I frustrate myself quite a bit too, but I remain amazed and grateful for the Lord's patience with us, and continued trust of us.