Dear Rational Faiths,
As an active, temple recommend holding member of the LDS faith, I was a bit shocked at your recent blog post about infertility (to be honest I didn’t read most of it…I stopped at the word “infertile,” lest the Spirit withdraw).
It offends me that you try to put infertile people in the same discussion as all of us normal, fertile church members who are trying to do God’s will by having children.
Infertile people, in my opinion, should be denied from getting married in the temple, since their marriages are not based on procreation, but instead on dirty, dirty sex for just for pleasure. Gross. Sex is ordained of God for the sole purpose of making babies. I don’t know why that’s so hard to understand.
Yes, I know that “man’s law” allows these people to adopt children, but we all know the will of the Lord by a thorough reading of the Bible, wherein God commanded Adam and Even (not Adam and Barren) that the purpose of their union was to multiply and replenish the earth.
You can look it up, it’s right there in the scriptures. Plus the modern prophets have said so, from the very pulpit of General Conference.
Oh, then there’s the Proclamation.
“We declare that God’s commandment for His children to multiply and replenish the earth remains in force.”
In other words, infertile are breaking the commandments by not multiplying. Love the sinner, hate the sin.
“We further declare that God has commanded that the sacred powers of procreation are to be employed only between man and woman, lawfully wedded as husband and wife.”
See?!? It’s a commandment to be fertile. Thus, it must naturally follow that it’s a sin to be infertile. I’m not even convinced that these people are really infertile. They’re probably just faking it in order to get attention.
Not to mention the fact that these infertile marriages are a threat to my marriage and family, and that’s why they should be outlawed. Don’t ask me how, they just are.
All of these infertile people asking for babies just so they can be trendy and fit in with the rest of us is just another sign of the times. I for one, look forward to the day when Christ himself will come and take all of us virile Saints with him to live in the Celestial Kingdom, where we who know how to actually make physical babies will be able to make spiritual ones there, too.
Sincerely,
James
James Patterson
James Patterson lives with his wife and two children in North Carolina. He makes no apologies for being an avid fan of both Duke basketball and Taylor Swift.
All posts by James Patterson
*snicker*
Freakn brilliant.
Yup and yikes.
Near D.C.? Cool, I’m down here in Virginia, Haymarket Ward.
The world is full of fools who think they are brilliant.
…Except gay people can choose to act on their inclinations or not. Infertile people have no choice about their infertility. Agency is sorta a big part of the plan, so no, actually I don’t think you’re comparison works at all.
True, but the fact remains that they are still homosexual. Abstaining from sex doesn’t make someone “not gay” anymore than it would make a heterosexual anything but straight. Not acting on your sexual desires does not make them go away. I’m not even going to go into the whole “it’s a choice crap”.
And I so enjoy seeing such foolish arguments being seriously presented in a court of law against marriage equality. Thanks for turning it around to emphasize even more the irrationality of their position.
Love this! Just had this exact conversation today!!! Thank you!!
LMFAO!
Well said.
*wink*
or . . . I got it.
You are nuts!!! Unfortunately you are not the only one. At least you are not alone in your ignorance.
I have to be honest. I can’t tell if this was meant as a complete joke article or not. I am trying to keep my composure after reading your completely insane views on infertile couples. Let me give a little background. I was born into a LDS family. Very active my whole life up until I was 19 years old. It’s been almost a decade since I considered myself a member of any ward. What made me become inactive was the senseless judgmental views that plague a lot of the people in the church. However, I am not angry at the gospel or the church. To this day I still completely believe in the church and the BoM. I have always lived by the motto that “the church is true, but the ‘people’ in the church are only human”. I understand you have the right to your own opinion, but its people like you that are driving away members at a staggering rate. Although our missionaries working hard and bringing a record number of converts to the church, we are losing a record number of ‘active’ members due to people like you.
I have been married 6 years. My wife and I have been trying to conceive since we got married. It wasn’t until last year we decided to get tested for infertility, since we were still relatively young and thought ‘when it happens, it’ll happen’. After about 9 months of testing, surgeries, re-testing, etc. I finally got the results. I found out last week that I am completely infertile and will never have the opportunity to create my own biological children. This has killed me. I have always wanted my own children, and always just anticipated I would have a house full of children.
I have been doing a lot of research in this grieving period trying to find anything I can that would help me to cope with this nightmare that was thrust upon me. This is when I came across your article. I can’t even begin to put all my thoughts down in this comment section. So let me just keep it simple because you don’t seem to be a very bright person. It is not a choice to be infertile. I feel like I am grieving over the death of my unborn children. You are truly an awful person. I feel bad for your children that they have to be raised in an environment that condemns good people for something that is utterly out of their own control. What’s next… going after handicap people. Wow. Good luck in your made up version of the Celestial Kingdom!
I am so sad for the experiences you are currently having. Dealing with infertility is never, ever easy. And your grief will not be a straight line. You will have ups and downs for many years to come.
The piece above though is completely satire. Please don’t take it to heart!
i’m sorry for your struggles, infertility is one of the greatest heartbreaks of life. but hey, this article was satire. it was written to point out the broken logic some members use to explain why homosexuality is considered to be wrong. this post had nothing to do with infertility and everything to do with church member’s logic towards being gay. i have no idea your attitude or feelings towards homosexuality, but maybe the hurt you experienced from this post can help you understand the hurt gay church members feel when someone uses this exact same logic about them being gay.
I’m so sorry for your loss. As Camille said, it will not be a straight line.
As an active member my whole life up until about 5-6 years ago, I know the pain of hearing the “when are you having kids” or “when are you having another one”? I was blessed, once, with a son, who is the light of my life. But I still feel that void where 5 other children are supposed to be (I always wanted 6). My husband (at the time) and I did not prevent for 7 years, as like you, I thought, “Hey, we are young, there is no rush”. And then we got divorced. 5 years later, I am working on becoming active again and find myself wondering if God has it planned for me to have more children as I see members having babies and continue to feel that void.
I truly am sorry for your loss, but know that there are MANY children out there who need the love and nurturing it seems you and your wife have to offer. Thoughts and Prayers for the both of you.
I’m glad to hear this article’s satire. I’m an active, single Sister who will never be able to have children because I have a seizure condition. Also, every woman in my family’s had trouble giving birth. Mom almost died having me, and I was born prematurely with a brain lesion on the right side of my brain because of it. But my one dream’s been to be a mom. I hope one of these days I can adopt.
I knew what the article was getting at very early on and i agree the argument about homosexual marriage being wrong just because they can’t have children naturally is flawed, but i would NEVER use this comparison in a satirical way! You want to know why? Because i am infertile and i cannot imagine that there are many things in life more painful and upsetting than going through the repeated process of hoping for children, then having your dreams shattered, then repeat over and over and over, if u can will yourself past the grief and despair so as to not give up completely. How completely insensitive and naiive people can br sometimes! I don’t care if the author is gay, that is not licence to think that you can compare your hurt in a satirical way with that of others and t
at their expense!
You're not being seirous are you?
Hopefully not because if this is seirous than you people are very hateful, uneducated, and major bullies. Being infertile is not a sin. If anything Its a challenge from god to test your faith and marriage. I personally am not strongly religious but am very in tune with my spiritual side. If anything its a "sin" to judge others that are equally made "in the image of god". Infertile couples should not judged. And fertile people have no right nor place to tell them that "god hates you because you're infertile" or "you must be a bad person" or "youre being punished for _______" and the worst of all is "just go adopt" Please dont tell any ine struggling with infertility to just go adopt. They most likely are very aware of all their options already and telling them this feels like a insult. Adoption isnt right for everyone. Theres the costs of travel, you may have to stay in a hotel for a few months if adoptin out of country, theres the major likely hood that the child suffers from physical or mental disabilities like extreme trauma and may require a lot of medical or psychiatric care which can be very costly. And some couples are not capable of dealing with such medical and or mental disabilities as they are not trained professionals.
My point in writting this is if this post is for real just stop making infertile couples inferior. They already face alot of hardships and discrimination from friends and family. You dont know what "Gods" plan is for infertile couples. Not like you have a direct line to God to gossip about how an infertile couple deserves it. Youre not God, its not your place to judge. 1 in 8 couples suffer from infertility. Theres a very good chance you know someone who has been quitely suffering from infertility.