Saturday, October 9, 2010
Which Is Worse: "Tendencies" or "Temptations"?
Posted By Brandon Burt on October 9, 2010, 12:31 AM
The money shot in LDS Church Apostle Boyd K. Packer's now-infamous General Conference talk was his statement that:---
"Some suppose that they were pre-set and cannot overcome what they feel
are inborn tendencies temptations toward the impure and unnatural. Not so! Why
would our Heavenly Father do that to anyone? Remember, he God is our Heavenly
Father.”
Yes, it's been marked up. That is, the official transcript of the talk has been altered. But why?
Some feel the changes were made in response to the Human Rights Campaign's demand that President Packer correct his statements in light of a recent rash of tragic gay-youth suicides.
But, if this were true, wouldn't the replacement text be less cruel than the original? As far as I can tell, the characterization of homosexuality as a set of "temptations," in all the sinister connotations of that word, is even worse than "tendencies," which at least can be understood in a clinical sense.
According to the HRC, the changes "didn't go far enough" -- as though the edits were intended to make President Packer's comments seem slightly more rational and compassionate. But why assume the changes were meant to pacify LGBT outrage at all? If anything, the new wording is even more defiant and contentious than the original.
If the changes have any meaning at all, perhaps they were meant as a big "screw you" to the LGBT protesters.
All I'm sayin' is that sometimes you catch more flies with honey.
Update: It also appears the title of the talk has been changed from "Cleansing the Inner Temple" to "Cleansing the Inner Vessel" -- make what you will of the Freudian implications.
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