Thank goodness the atonement is universal...

Over the last several weeks I have enjoyed Invictus Pilgrim's ongoing reasoned response to what I believe was a disingenuous question posted by Anonymous/Bryan, a Latter-day Saint zealot intent on defending outdated doctrine, much of which the Church itself no longer officially accepts. (To read IP's posts, which I think are wonderful, go here: http://invictuspilgrim.blogspot.com).

While Invictus Pilgrim continues to explain in clear simple terms the issues that those of us who are gay and Mormon must confront on a daily basis, Anonymous/Bryan with closed-minded determination refuses to bend. He is committed to his beliefs that homosexuality is a choice, that homosexuals are "impure and unnatural", and that unless we remain in the closet, denying our true selves, we are destined for...

Destined for what, Anonymous/Bryan? That's the question I would like to ask you. What are we who choose to live our lives as honest, open, good, gay men and women destined for? Hell, brimstone, Eternal punishment?

Hate to say this AB, but if that's what you're thinking, you need another year of seminary.

Last night as I read one more of AB's predictable, tedious diatribes, I had a bit of a revelation. I came to the remarkable understanding that we gay people need to cut Anonymous/Bryan a little slack. My suspicion is that he is an earnest young gay man devoted to the Gospel, just trying to do his best to "support the Brethren."

Weren't nearly all of us MOM guys and gals like him when we were 25 years old and naive about ourselves, our lives and the world in which we were doing our best to survive undetected?

One day, Anonymous/Bryan will wake in the morning like most of us have done and realize that the pain and anguish of living a lie is too much to bear.

It's then that he will remember with horror his comments on this blog and realize that what he wrote as a message of enlightenment and faith was actually nothing more than regurgitated hate and bigotry.

Thank goodness the atonement of Christ is universal. That means there is hope for those of us who are "impure and unnatural" as well as for bigots and hate mongers like Anonymous/Bryan.