A Visit From Mr. Bigelow #9 and #10

Him first in italics, then my questions, then his responses in italics again.

9. "If the Church ever says it's acceptable for people to give in to their gay inclinations, then I'm going to go ahead and start giving in to my inclinations to, for example, enjoy intoxicants once in a while, which I naturally would like to do but don't do because it's not in harmony with the gospel and because its unholy and impure, which also applies to gay sex."

Straw man fallacy. Please explain what you mean by "giving in to gay inclinations". Please also explain why you believe alcoholic drinks are "not in harmony with the gospel" and are "unholy and impure." How do you reconcile your statements with the fact that Joseph Smith and other general authorities regularly drank alcoholic drinks throughout their lives, including the Quorum of the Twelve who used wine when taking the Sacrament in the Salt Lake Temple until early in the 20th Century?

What do I mean by giving in to gay inclinations? Um, having sex with someone of one's own gender. (Duh?) The problem with alcoholic drinks is that society is very permissive today, and when we drink our inhibitions are lowered, and so it's very easy to get caught up in sins when intoxicated, much easier than 100 years ago, when even drink would not usually remove enough inhibitions to go against strong societal taboos. Also, alcohol is obviously addictive and damaging in of itself, regardless of other sins that it promotes, and it has no redeeming qualities as an intoxicant other than pleasure. We live in a very different world now than the earlier LDS did, and revelation has tightened up in order to help us survive morally in a much wickeder world. I think many sexual sins are committed, both gay and straight, in connection with alcohol.

10. "While homosexuality is more complicated than most vices, it's still at heart a vice to be resisted, not someone's real identity that can provide eternal happiness, even if some temporary earthly companionship and sexual gratification can be found in living gay."

Please explain the basis for your belief that the quality of homosexuality itself is a "vice to be resisted."

I could have worded that more carefully. Gay sex is the vice to be resisted. Homosexual feelings are a mortal problem or weakness or temptation that don't become a vice unless and until they are acted upon. Homosexual feelings are not given by God, in my opinion, so they must come from somewhere else. They are caused by confusions of various kinds, exacerbated by very real temptations from an outside spiritual influence called the devil.