A news station in Arizona (ABC 15) recently did a four-part special showing the inside of a Mormon temple (temples are the most sacred buildings of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints). The temple featured in this news story is the Gilbert, Arizona temple. [An open house for the public will be held from January 18 – February 15 (see GilbertMormonTemple.org for reservations for free public tours).]

In this story, ABC 15 reporters talk about each of the main rooms used in every temple: a baptismal font, instruction (endowment) rooms, the celestial room, and marriage (sealing) rooms. They interview members and leaders within The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints for insights into what temples mean to Mormons. Hear a story, for example, of a family who lost a teenage son to cancer and how the knowledge of God’s plan and the doctrine of eternal families helps them find peace.

They get thoughts from leaders of other faiths as well.

They also talk about genealogy (family history) — and the free, open-to-the-public family history libraries available to anyone who is interested. (See how the reporter was able to find records of her ancestors as part of her report!) Volunteer missionaries can help people cull through the millions of family history records, even those usually only available through paid subscriptions.

They feature youth and their involvement in temple baptisms by proxy for the dead. They also talk about the youth celebrations that take place before temple dedications. This event in Gilbert will include 12,000 youth. Celebrations include singing, dancing, and cultural and historical celebration.

Speaking of celebrating the local area, even the design of each temple reflects a respect for the local area and/or history. In the Gilbert temple, the agave plant is a symbolic thread throughout the temple’s design, and on the temple grounds. Hear more about why the agave plant was chosen.

Thanks to ABC 15 for the thorough and thoughtful video series.

The post Inside a Mormon Temple appeared first on Women in The Church of Jesus Christ.

We recently received this comment/question from a reader, Katie.

So, I have a question about what mormons believe. Ephesians 2:8-9 says “For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith- and that not from yourselves, it is the gift of God- not by works, so that no one can boast.” In 2 Nephi it says: For we know it is by grace we are saved after all you can do. When I asked my mormon friend what is it that you can do, she replied to try & live a good life the best we can. so my question is, how do you know when you have done “all you can do”? How do you know you’ve done your best, or could you possibly have done any better? I mean, even when we try so hard to do good, we still have broken God’s law and since God is a righteous God as well as forgiving, he demands that justice be paid.”for the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in christ jesus our Lord.” (Romans 6:23) If a criminal asked a judge in court to forgive him & say he tried to live right & the judge let him go unpunished, wouldn’t he not be a good judge? Jesus is the only way we can have eternal life as it says in John 14:6 “Jesus answered, I am the way, the truth, and the life, no one comes to the father except through me.” Many places in the bible say that it’s only by grace we are saved, not by anything we do. It says that salvation is a free gift to anyone you believes in his name, not by works. so then why do you believe that water baptism, repentance, and trying to live a good life to the best ability will contribute to salvation as well as God sending his son to dies for our sins? I hope I am not sounding offensive, I do not mean it at all that way! I love you guys, I am just trying to better understand why you believe what you do. I’m a senior in high school & have been studying a lot about this! Also, you teach that there will be marriage in heaven but in Matthew 22:30 it says there will not be marriage. I’m confused. Do you have an answer to my questions? Thank you so much for your time!(and being patient because this message is so long!

Thanks, Katie, for your questions. Your questions are not uncommon ones, and they hit at the core of our beliefs. I’m just one person, and my responses will not be able to capture all the facets of our faith. There is always much more that could be said about these topics. But so much of it is to be experienced and learned through your own seeking and study and prayer, so I hope you will continue such seeking! God will help you as you ask for His guidance.

First of all, before I get to your specific questions, I think it’s important to understand a little about what members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints call the Restoration. We believe in the Bible and in the teachings therein. We believe in the teachings of the Savior and of His apostles, such as Paul, whom you quote above. We also believe that after Christ’s death, after Jesus’ apostles whom He called during New Testament times died, the authority He gave them to administer His church and teach in His place died with them.

You’ve probably heard about Joseph Smith and how he struggled as a young man with how the different Christian denominations around him would interpret and practice Biblical teachings. I imagine that some of the very questions you ask were ones that probably plagued his mind. He didn’t know whom or what to believe. He prayed about it, and got a response he wasn’t expecting — God the Father and Jesus Christ appeared to him and told him that Christ’s church would be restored through him. He had a specific and world-changing work to do!

Through the course of the next several years, he was taught by heavenly messengers; given (and given power to translate) the original plates of the ancient record known as the Book of Mormon; visited by some of the ancient Church leaders who restored sacred priesthood authority to him (John the Baptist (who restored the authority to baptize) and Peter, James, and John (who restored higher authority to confer the gift of the Holy Ghost and administer the Church and its ordinances); and guided to restore Jesus’ Church to the earth.

From that time forward, there has been a living prophet and living apostles continually guiding the Church, using ancient texts as foundations to their teachings, but also receiving current and continuous divine guidance. So, for example, the doctrines surrounding eternal marriage were received through Joseph Smith over time after the Church was organized.

I’ll address your questions about grace and works (baptism, etc.) in a separate post. 🙂

God bless you in your faith journey.

Warmly,

Michelle

Editor, Mormon Women: Who We Are

The post What Mormons believe: About grace, about baptism, about marriage (part 1) appeared first on Women in The Church of Jesus Christ.

Following is a video of a friend of our family who was married to her sweetheart this week. Marriage for time and eternity is an important part of the doctrine of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. You can learn more about the Mormon doctrine of marriage by watching the video, which includes teaching from Elder Russell M. Nelson, a member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

The post Mormons Believe in Marriage appeared first on Women in The Church of Jesus Christ.

Valentine’s Day (Día del Amor y la Amistad, Día del Cariño) is today (at least in many countries). It’s a day to celebrate love and friendship.

Today at Mormon Women, we want to celebrate marriage. Marriage is central to Mormon doctrine. We realize that not everyone is married, that some struggle in their marriages, some have had marriages that have ended. We are sensitive to the fact that marriage can be a sensitive topic for some. So if you are looking for a different Valentine’s Day post, Kathryn has a great post that explores more general thoughts about love.

But we believe talking about Mormon doctrine of marriage is important to understanding who we are and what we believe.

Sometimes people wonder why we talk about  marriage and family so much in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints when the reality is that not everyone enjoys a happy marriage. Elder Russell M. Nelson addresses this in a talk given last Saturday. We invite you to take a minute and read it: The Doctrinal Importance of Marriage and Children

Our featured Mormon Women post for today is found at We Talk of Christ, We Rejoice in Christ: “The Greatest Love Story Ever Told.” Jocelyn shared notes from a talk she gave on Sunday on the doctrine of marriage in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Writing about the day her man proposed to her, Jocelyn writes:

I remember how beautiful the world was at that moment.  There were birds and butterflies fluttering around us.  I kid you not, I even saw a family of bunny rabbits hopping in the grass.

Hopefully, anyone who has ever been in love remembers that feeling…the feeling that the whole world surely must have been created just so that two people could fall in love.

Well, in fact, the world was created so that two people could fall in love.  Fall in love and form eternal families.

Everything in Mormon doctrine centers around Jesus Christ’s mission not only to save individuals, but to allow marriages and family relationships to continue beyond the grave. Jocelyn continues:

The Bible tells us that after the Lord created the world he “created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them.”

So after creating the Universe, the very next thing that God did was place a man and a woman together and married them to each other for eternity.

Genesis 2:24 “Therefore shall a man leave his father and his mother, and shall cleave unto his wife and they shall be one flesh.”

This is significant:  The very first marriage performed on earth was an Eternal one!  (No, “till death do us part” nonsense.  Death had not yet entered the world!)

If you have ever wondered what Mormon temples are all about, this is it. The crowning gospel ordinance performed in temples is eternal marriages — marriages that are not performed just “’til death do you part” but rather can continue, “sealed” by the authority of God, beyond death into the next life.

We hope you’ll read the rest of Jocelyn’s post for more of her thoughts and some great quotes and scriptures that explore Mormon doctrine about marriage further.

For more information on Mormon doctrine about marriage, temples, and eternal families, see the following:

– There’s a great downloadable document at Diapers and Divinity that Stephanie uses as a wedding gift (and could be a nice Valentine’s Day gift). The articles in this 80-page PDF also explore and explain more about the importance of marriage in God’s plan.

– See the Worldwide Leadership Training Broadcast from this past weekend. Past training meetings also addressed the Mormon doctrine related to marriage and family:

• 2008 Worldwide Leadership Training Meeting: Building Up a Righteous Posterity
• 2006 Worldwide Leadership Training Meeting: Supporting the Family

The post Mormon Doctrine of Marriage appeared first on Women in The Church of Jesus Christ.

Chris talks about the power of prayer, of brotherly love, of letting go of anger and forgiving. He beautifully expresses how God has listened to his prayers, and how choosing not to direct anger and grief at the person who caused the pain has made all the difference…how letting the Savior take that pain has allowed the Savior’s healing power and love to flow to him as well as to the young driver and his family.

One of the family’s church leaders says, “There is Jesus’ way to resolve problems, to address situations, to handle sorrow, and then there is some other way.” This leader felt that Chris made the decision long ago to turn to the Savior in hard times, so that when this heartwrenching experience came, he was able to make that choice, even in the moment of the accident, to let it go.

Chris notes: “If through the forgiveness or anything else…[the driver] should know it was merely the Savior working through me…. All I had to do was not get in the way.” Chris testifies that all the goodness that has come is from Jesus Christ and His goodness, His love, His brilliance shining through.

He closes with his testimony about how life really is about coming to know the Savior, the “man of sorrows…acquainted with grief.” Tragedies and trials can help us love. His faith in Jesus Christ and his knowledge that he can see his family again keeps him moving forward.

For more on this topic, see the following articles at lds.org:

The Healing Power of Forgiveness

Forgiveness

The post Forward with Faith: Forgiveness Invites Christ’s Healing Power appeared first on Women in The Church of Jesus Christ.

“Seal to me.”

Three days after my husband’s death, I looked at his picture in our bedroom. While looking at the picture, I heard my husband’s voice say to me, “Seal to me.” My husband had taken me several times to the Visitor’s Center at the Oakland Temple, and to the Sacramento Temple Open House, he had been my very first missionary and had taught me what happens in Temples. I knew what he wanted me to do.

My husband converted to The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints in 1985. At the time, he was at a critical time in his life. He lost his home, all his money, was in the middle of a divorce and was losing his family. He had his first heart attack during that time. A Mormon friend gave him a copy of the Book of Mormon and asked him to study it. The Book of Mormon changed my husband’s life.

I met my husband years later online. I traveled a lot for my job as a TV producer in Bangkok, Thailand and only had Internet access one day a week. Several times when I came back to the office I would see ads for Match.com on my computer screen. I wondered what it was and filled in my information. My husband-to-be also traveled extensively for work, but upon returning from a business trip to his home in America, his computer screen declared he had a match and on the screen was my profile. We started corresponding. After 6 months of email and phone calls he came to Thailand to meet me.

On his trip to Thailand he told me he knew I was the one, and asked me to marry him, but he said, “Don’t answer until you visit me in America.” I came to America and felt like I had come back home. We courted for two years, and after asking my family’s permission we married in 2002.

I did not know while we were dating that my husband was a Mormon. After we started our life together he took me to the Oakland Temple Visitors’ Center often. We watched movies about the Church. He frequently invited the missionaries to our home. I was raised Buddhist in Bangkok, but attended Catholic private schools all through my life and was acquainted with Christianity. But on the first day I went to Catholic school my grandmother pulled me aside and told me “Don’t convert.” Although I enjoyed the messages my husband and these videos were sharing with me, I thought I did not need to convert to Christianity to be a good person.

On May 7, 2007 my husband had a heart attack in our home. My next-door neighbor, who happened to be LDS, rushed over to help give my husband CPR. He died in the ambulance on the way to the hospital. My neighbor called the Bishop of my husband’s church and the Bishop and some other members of my husband’s ward met me at the hospital. I did not know them, but I knew my husband did. It was well past midnight, so I was surprised people would come and visit me. When the Doctor confirmed that my husband had passed and there was nothing left to do I was lost. Bishop Beck said, “Don’t worry. We will walk with you and help you through this.” The Bishop and another ward member gave me my first Priesthood blessing that night at the hospital and I felt better.

The next morning, someone knocked on my door. It was the Relief Society President from the ward. She knew I did not have a driver’s license, and told me she would make herself available to give me rides anywhere I needed to go. Members of my husband’s congregation started delivering food that day.

Bishop Beck called the funeral home and assisted me with all the details of the funeral. We had a memorial at the church and since my husband was a veteran, he was buried at a military cemetery. Bishop Beck helped me arrange all the details with the Veteran’s Association. There was so much paperwork!

I was so surprised. These people didn’t know me, but they knew my husband and wanted to help. My husband’s message to seal to him was fresh in my mind when, after the funeral, I talked to Bishop Beck and said, “I am ready to discuss with the missionaries.” For five years missionaries had come to my home and I would not listen. I was ready to listen.

I was baptized on June 23, 2007. On my baptism day, a brother in my ward came to me to apologize. “I’m so sorry Krittiya, I have misspelled your name on the program.” But when I looked, it was the same way my husband had misspelled my name. I knew he was with me.

After baptism, I talked to my home teachers and visiting teachers about getting ready to go to the Temple. I took a Temple prep class and prepared myself spiritually to go to the Temple. On June 27, 2008 I went to the Oakland Temple and was sealed for time and all eternity to my husband. I cried the entire time. I knew my husband was there with me. He was very happy too.

I know that through the sealing powers offered in the Holy Temple my husband and I can be together forever, and that gives me peace.

Krittiya grew up in Bangkok, Thailand. She attended Catholic private schools before graduating from Thammast University, Bangkok, in journalism. She had never met a Mormon in Bangkok before meeting her husband, but had read in a magazine that Donny Osmond was a Mormon. She did not make the connection between the word “Mormon” and the Thai translation of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints while growing up in Bangkok. Krittiya now realizes that every Friday night, the LDS missionaries would host a TV show in Bangkok. We wanted to provide that translation so others could make the connection between the word “Mormon” and the Thai translation of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints.

The post Conversion Stories: Krittiya appeared first on Women in The Church of Jesus Christ.

This past week I celebrated my 15th wedding anniversary. Fifteen years ago, I made my husband the happiest man on earth. With us both being devoted members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, we decided to marry in a Mormon temple; the House of the Lord. With it came the promise that our continued devotion to each other and to living the gospel of Jesus Christ would bring the blessing of eternal companionship—a partnership, a marriage, a family– not just for the here and now and ‘til death do us part, but for, well, forever. I won’t say that I love him even more today than I did 15 years ago. I don’t even know what that means. I mean for me, if I love someone enough to commit to forever, how much more love can there be? But I will say I’ve never stopped.

Here are 15 things I love about my husband.

1.  Early on in our marriage he volunteered to be the designated fridge-cleaner-outer, and he’s still doing it.
2.  I can always count on him to make a corny joke.  And he loves it when I roll my eyes.
3.  He often can’t remember things I’ve told him 5 minutes before, but he recalls our courtship in vivid details even I had forgotten.
4.  He takes care of all the maintenance on my car and sometimes even makes a special trip to make sure the tank is full, not because he thinks I’m incapable or that it’s his manly/husbandly duty, but just so I won’t have to bother with it.
5.  I always know when I’ve “caught” him doing something because he has a guilty smile/chuckle that gives him away every time. He knows that I know, and he still smiles.
6.  He always compliments me and tells me I’m beautiful, even when I feel (and, let’s be honest, look) worked over.
7.  He’s very loyal. When I’m upset, he always takes my side—sometimes even when I’m upset with him.
8.  He still writes me love notes and makes me mix CDs, often pointing out the lyrics of special significance.
9.  He is careful with money (our finances are great), but he is not a tightwad, and if he’s ever been worried about my spending habits, he’s never let on to me. We have never had an argument over money.
10.  Whenever he needs to go out of town, our kids are very upset and make a BIG deal over his homecoming.  That says a lot about him as a father.
11.  He always asks my opinion.
12.  He sends me links and things that he thinks will make good blogging material.
13.  He would rather spend time with me than hang out with the guys, but doesn’t mind giving me a girl’s night out.  (Or at least he’s very good at pretending.)
14.  He is quick to reassure me when I doubt myself, quick to recognize my accomplishments (even if it’s just that I’ve managed to get the dishes done that day), and always without my feeling patronized our doubting his sincerity.
15.  He has a special appreciation for my particular flavor of crazy. He must, after all, he’s still here!
Happy anniversary, sweetheart!  I still love you!
One of our readers, L.B.S, has submitted the following in celebration of her 15th wedding anniversary:
This past week I celebrated my 15th wedding anniversary. Fifteen years ago, I made my husband the happiest man on earth. With us both being devoted members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, we decided to marry in a Mormon temple; the House of the Lord. With it came the promise that our continued devotion to each other and to living the gospel of Jesus Christ would bring the blessing of eternal companionship—a partnership, a marriage, a family– not just for the here and now and ‘til death do us part, but for, well, forever. I won’t say that I love him even more today than I did 15 years ago. I don’t even know what that means. I mean for me, if I love someone enough to commit to forever, how much more love can there be? But I will say I’ve never stopped.
Here are 15 things I love about my husband.
1.   Early on in our marriage he volunteered to be the designated fridge-cleaner-outer, and he’s still doing it.
2.  I can always count on him to make a corny joke.  And he loves it when I roll my eyes.
3.  He often can’t remember things I’ve told him 5 minutes before, but he recalls our courtship in vivid details even I had forgotten.
4.  He takes care of all the maintenance on my car and sometimes even makes a special trip to make sure the tank is full, not because he thinks I’m incapable or that it’s his manly/husbandly duty, but just so I won’t have to bother with it.
5.  I always know when I’ve “caught” him doing something because he has a guilty smile/chuckle that gives him away every time. He knows that I know, and he still smiles.
6.  He always compliments me and tells me I’m beautiful, even when I feel (and, let’s be honest, look) worked over.
7.  He’s very loyal. When I’m upset, he always takes my side—sometimes even when I’m upset with him.
8.  He still writes me love notes and makes me mix CDs, often pointing out the lyrics of special significance.
9.  He is careful with money (our finances are great), but he is not a tightwad, and if he’s ever been worried about my spending habits, he’s never let on to me. We have never had an argument over money.
10.  Whenever he needs to go out of town, our kids are very upset and make a BIG deal over his homecoming.  That says a lot about him as a father.
11.  He always asks my opinion.
12.  He sends me links and things that he thinks will make good blogging material.
13.  He would rather spend time with me than hang out with the guys, but doesn’t mind giving me a girl’s night out.  (Or at least he’s very good at pretending.)
14.  He is quick to reassure me when I doubt myself, quick to recognize my accomplishments (even if it’s just that I’ve managed to get the dishes done that day), and always without my feeling patronized our doubting his sincerity.
15.  He has a special appreciation for my particular flavor of crazy. He must, after all, he’s still here!

Happy anniversary, sweetheart!  I still love you!

The post <i>First Person</i>: Fifteen Years, Going on Forever appeared first on Women in The Church of Jesus Christ.

Below, we give some highlights from his talk that stood out to us.

Elder Bednar discussed the importance of truth, “things as they really are.” He focused particularly on the truths about the importance of our bodies in the plan of our Father in Heaven, quoting from The Family: A Proclamation to the World, teaching us that as spirit children of God, we:

accepted His plan by which His children could obtain a physical body and gain earthly experience to progress toward perfection and ultimately realize his or her divine destiny as an heir of eternal life.

Our bodies give us experience that is essential for our eternal growth. The adversary has no body, and as such, cannot have the opportunities and growth (and even challenges) available to us because we do. He does all he can to distort God’s plan, and to make us miserable like he is.

The devil seeks to influence us, Elder Bednar taught, to misuse our bodies, and to minimize the importance of our physical bodies in God’s plan. He warned against defiling of the body, and improper focus on body image. He invited us to learn “by study and also by faith” the ways we can discern what is and isn’t correct in relation to the proper use of the gift of a physical body.

Elder Bednar warned against extreme forms of extreme “entertainment” (sought for thrill or ego or social acceptance) that could put our physical safety at risk. He also warned against “digital distractions, diversions, and detours that have no lasting value.” Video and online games and social networking sites were two specific digital distractions he mentioned that can distort reality, rob us of the joy of eternally-important relationships, and even become addictions.

Elder Bednar made it clear that digital tools can be of great benefit when used for good purposes, but he reminded us that they can also be seemingly-harmless distractions that can numb our minds and spirits and gradually, subtly pull us away from truth and truly fulfilling relationships and activities. He pleads with us to not become so “engrossed in pixels, texting, ear buds, Twittering, online social networking, and potentially addictive uses of media and internet that you fail to recognize the importance of the physical body, and miss the richness of person-to-person communication.” What starts as “entertainment” can become enslavement if we are not vigilant.

He quoted from a sobering Wall Street Journal article, relating a tragic story about a man who spent so much time on Second Life (a virtual reality site), “married” to someone else, that he ignored his new wife of only seven months. Elder Bednar also quotes statistics from the article, illustrating that many who participate in online gaming tout their virtual relationships and experiences as being as good as, or even better than, “real-life” relationships and experiences.

He reminds us that electronic tools can also, of course, be used for outright evil and blatant disobedience of God’s commandments. But we found the more subtle ways media can distract from the richness of life and distort the truths of God to be the potent core of his talk. He quotes Paul, who reminds us that we “should know how to possess [our] vessels [bodies] in sanctification and honour.

We highly recommend his talk to anyone who uses the computer, who has children who do, who is wondering about the appropriate use of new media, and/or who desires to ponder more about the importance of the physical body in the plan of our Heavenly Father.

See other reviews here.

The post Elder Bednar’s CES Fireside Talk on Truth, the Body, and the Use of Media appeared first on Women in The Church of Jesus Christ.

The post More links on the Church’s teachings about homosexuality, marriage appeared first on Women in The Church of Jesus Christ.

First, we wanted to say, as a group of women who care deeply both about our faith and also about those who are directly affected either by the California decision or by the Church’s stand on this topic, that our beliefs about gay marriage do not stem from a place of hatred, bigotry, or insensitivity to those whose lives this issue personally touches. Many of us know and care about those who are in homosexual relationships. We understand some of the struggles that these people face, and the desires they have to have their relationships legally recognized and accepted by society.

But these feelings of sympathy and a desire to be sensitive to the emotional and often-divisive nature of this issue cannot change the position we believe to be true. And this is because of the overall beliefs we have about the purposes of life and the eternal potential we have as children of God. We understand the desire to pursue dreams and hopes and goals for this life. We understand the desire to solidify relationships that are significant to a person. But God’s purposes go beyond this life. It is this eternal perspective that influences our view on this issue. The plan of God centers around the institution of marriage, defined by God as a relationship between a man and a woman — a relationship that can continue beyond the grave.

As Boyd K. Packer has said, “In the center, we…know that the ultimate end of all activity in the Church is that a man and his wife and their children can be happy at home. When influences come that challenge or disturb the possibility that… home will exist in the next world, provided you have the ordinances, we find great dangers in them.”

In a sense, from our perspective, it wouldn’t fully be loving and caring behavior for us to uphold anything that threatens the potential blessing of an eternal family, for anyone. We realize we cannot force this blessing on anyone, and we recognize that not all share in these beliefs, but perhaps one can understand why we take the position we do, believing what we do about our eternal potential and what is necessary to obtain the blessings God has for us if we are faithful to His plan. Society may redefine marriage, but God will not, and so we cannot, no matter how much we care about those whom we know struggle with our position on this issue.

President Hinckley said this:

“We love them as sons and daughters of God. …
“We want to help these people, to strengthen them, to assist them with their problems and to help them with their difficulties. But we cannot stand idle if they indulge in immoral activity, if they try to uphold and defend and live in a so-called same-sex marriage situation. To permit such would be to make light of the very serious and sacred foundation of God-sanctioned marriage and its very purpose, the rearing of families.”

You can read more about our beliefs on this topic (and some people’s experiences with homosexuality) by linking to the following:

Compassion for Those Who Struggle
Loved One Struggles with Same-sex Attraction…and another article with a similar title
Marriage is Essential to His Eternal Plan
An interview with Dallin H. Oaks and Lance B. Wickman
The Proclamation to the World on the Family

The post Thoughts and Links on the Church’s position on Gay Marriage appeared first on Women in The Church of Jesus Christ.