To Young Men Only

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Packer's sermon was criticized as inciting violence against homosexuals.

To Young Men Only is a sermon given on October 2, 1976 by the apostle Boyd K. Packer . The sermon was delivered during the 146th biannual general conference and covers the topics of human sexuality, puberty, and morals. The sermon is addressed to young men who hold the Aaronic Priesthood and are approximately twelve to eighteen years old. From 1980 to 2016 the sermon was distributed as a booklet of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints . One of the reasons the sermon was criticized was that it encouraged violence against homosexuals. In 2016, the LDS Church stopped distributing the sermon.

content

Packer described his utterances as about something "fathers should discuss with their sons." The sermon compares the male sex organ with a "small factory". Packer teaches that masturbation , pornography, and homosexuality are immoral and forbidden by God. The sermon encourages young Mormon men to "rigorously" resist homosexual advances, even by force if necessary. Packer teaches that pollution is natural and comes from God. Men should therefore "not feel guilty". The sermon also provides suggestions on how to control your thoughts and resist temptation.

publication

Unlike most general conference sermons , the sermon was not published in the church magazine The Ensign , but was published separately in 1980 as a 14-page booklet and given to church leaders to distribute to members. In 2016, the distribution of the booklet ceased and it was removed from the website of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints . The video of the sermon will remain available on the Church website.

criticism

A controversial part of the sermon speaks of men asking other men to participate in sexual activities. Packer tells the example of a Mormon missionary who is harassed by his fellow missionary and then beats him. Packer says: “Somebody had to do it.” The viewers laugh at this in the video of the original recording. In 2001, homosexual Mormon historian D. Michael Quinn described the sermon as "the lowest point in the Church's hierarchy on homophobia since the 1950s." Quinn argued that the publication of the sermon represented an acceptance of the church to condemn homosexuals. In 2000 and 2001, lawyer David E. Hardy criticized the sermon as "demonizing" homosexuals and criticized the portrayal of alleged "homosexual choices". In 2014, the sermon was criticized by Samantha Allen, a columnist for The Daily Beast magazine . She wrote that the sermon showed "the typical approach of organized religion to male masturbation" and was "deeply paternalistic ".

See also

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Brent Corcoran, Rocky O'Donovan, Multiply and Replenish: Mormon Essays on Sex and Family . Signature Books. 1994. Retrieved November 29, 2016.
  2. ↑ Hilary Groutage Smith: Mormon pamphlet on Gays Criticized . The Salt Lake Tribune , Aug 6, 2000, p. B2
  3. ^ A b D. Michael Quinn : Same-sex Dynamics Among Nineteenth-century Americans: A Mormon Example (Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 2001), p. 382.
  4. ↑ David E. Hardy: BYU's Dismissal of Gay Students Continues Confusion for Gays, Parents [opinion]. The Salt Lake Tribune , pp. AA3.
  5. ↑ General Conference: October 1976 . LDS Church. Retrieved June 11, 2017.
  6. ↑ a b Peggy Fletcher Stack : LDS Church 'retires' Mormon apostle's 'little factory' pamphlet . The Salt Lake Tribune , November 14, 2016.
  7. ↑ a b c d e Boyd Packer: To Young Men Only . LDS Church. Archived from the original on October 21, 2015.
  8. ↑ Boyd Packer: To Young Men Only . LDS Church. Archived from the original on October 21, 2015 .: “There are some men who entice young men to join them in these immoral acts. If you are ever approached to participate in anything like that, it is time to vigorously resist. While I was in a mission on one occasion, a missionary said he had something to confess. I was very worried because he just couldn't get himself to tell me what he had done. After patient encouragement he finally blurted out, 'I hit my companion.' 'Oh, is that all,' I said in great relief. 'But I floored him,' he said. After learning a little more, my response was' Well, thanks. Somebody had to do it, and it wouldn't be well for a General Authority to solve the problem that way. ' I am not recommending that course to you, but I am not omitting it. You must protect yourself. "
  9. ^ D. Michael Quinn: Prelude to the National 'Defense of Marriage' Campaign: Civil Discrimination Against Feared or Despised Minorities . Dialogue: A Journal of Mormon Thought , Volume 33, No. 3 (Fall 2000), pp. 1-52.
  10. ↑ Hilary Groutage Smith: Mormon pamphlet on Gays Criticized . The Salt Lake Tribune , Aug 6, 2000, p. B2.
  11. ↑ David E. Hardy: BYU's Dismissal of Gay Students Continues Confusion for Gays, Parents [opinion] . The Salt Lake Tribune , pp. AA3.
  12. ↑ Boyd Packer: To Young Men Only . LDS Church. Archived from the original on October 21, 2015 .: "There is a falsehood that some are born with an attraction to their own kind, with nothing they can do about it. They are just 'that way' and can only yield to those desires. That is a malicious and destructive lie. While it is a convincing idea to some, it is of the devil. No one is locked into that kind of life. From our premortal life we ​​were directed into a physical body. There is no mismatching of bodies and spirits. Boys are to become men — masculine, manly men — ultimately to become husbands and fathers. No one is predestined to a perverted use of these powers. "
  13. ↑ Samantha Allen: Tim Ferriss Is Bro Culture's Anti-Masturbation Crusader . The Daily Beast , Aug. 1, 2014.

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