It was the Conference talk heard 'round the world. I knew as soon as President Packer uttered the words, "Why would our Heavenly Father do that to anyone" that there would be a harsh and immediate response. I even told my husband that we could expect to see that on the evening news. And I was right. The response was immediate - even before that session of conference ended, the cyber-world was ablaze with comments both against President Packer and in support. Groups were formed on both sides of the issue. Protests were planned. This was not surprising to me in the least, as the LDS Church's stance on gay marriage has brought an abundance of criticism recently. What was surprising to me, however, was that there were people very close to me who were questioning President Packer's ability to lead the church.
I can't even begin to try and interpret President Packer's comments. It is entirely possible that he believes that homosexuality is a learned trait, rather than an inborn quality. But couldn't it also be possible that he simply misspoke? He edited the text version of his talk to "clarify his intent", and I choose to believe that since he took that particular phrase out, his intent was not to say that homosexuality can be learned or unlearned.
Because I am not gay, nor do I have a super close relationship with any members of the gay community, I will not pretend to know how President Packer's talk affected any one of them. I have only read commentary from gay members of the church which was both supportive and hate filled. It's a very volatile issue, and I understand that.
My purpose in this post is not to either agree or disagree with what he said. Rather, I wanted to express my feelings as to the reaction from those who have questioned his ability to effectively lead the church. Boyd K. Packer is an apostle of Jesus Christ. He is also a man. Whether he believes what he said or whether he simply misspoke does not take away from his discipleship. He was called by the Lord to serve Him and to serve us as members of the church.
...and behold, he stretched forth his hand unto the multitude, and cried unto them, saying: Blessed are ye if ye shall give heed unto the words of these twelve whom I have chosen from among you to minister unto you, and to be your servants;...(3 Nephi 12:1)
I do not believe that we must follow blindly. I think that it's sometimes appropriate and necessary to question what an apostle says. We can take our questions to the Lord. We can take them to our local leadership. Anything that we ask the Lord, in faith, will be answered - especially questions about the direction that His servants are taking the church. To openly question an apostle's ability to lead the church is, to me, to question the very judgment of Jesus Christ in calling his disciples. Not the kind of slope I want to be caught sliding down.
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