In the resurrection and in heaven, will gay people still be gay?

Question

 

Gramps,

In the resurrection and in heaven, will gay people still be gay?

Dave

 

Answer

 

Dave,

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has not revealed a specific answer to that question. The Church teaches quite a bit about resurrection, eternal identity, marriage, and same-sex attraction, but it does not teach that a person’s sexual orientation will automatically disappear at death or that it will necessarily remain exactly as it is in mortality.

That distinction is important.

The Church’s current teachings are actually quite clear that experiencing same-sex attraction is not itself a sin. The Church’s General Handbook (38.6.15) states that the Church does not take a position on the causes of same-sex attraction and that experiencing same-sex attraction is not a sin. Members who experience those feelings and do not act contrary to the law of chastity can participate fully in Church life, subject to the same standards as other members.

The Church’s current resource on same-sex attraction similarly explains that experiencing same-sex attraction or identifying as gay or bisexual is not a sin. President M. Russell Ballard also taught that “the attraction itself is not a sin.” The Church distinguishes between experiencing an attraction and choosing how to respond to it.

President M. Russell Ballard’s statement can be found here:

So, when we ask what happens after death, we shouldn’t begin with the assumption that being gay is something that must be “fixed” by the resurrection. The Church does not teach that simply experiencing same-sex attraction makes a person spiritually defective.

At the same time, the Church does teach that sexual relationships are governed by God’s law and that eternal marriage is between a man and a woman. The Church’s teachings on marriage describe it as a union between a man and a woman, part of God’s plan for the eternal destiny of His children.

The Family: A Proclamation to the World states that marriage between a man and a woman is ordained of God and that the family is central to God’s plan.

This is where the question becomes more complicated.

The scriptures teach that the resurrection is a real restoration of the person. Alma taught that “the spirit and the body shall be reunited again in its perfect form” and that “everything shall be restored to its perfect frame.” (Alma 11:43–44)

Elder Dallin H. Oaks explained the LDS understanding of resurrection in his April 2000 General Conference address, “Resurrection.” He taught that “the resurrection is much more than merely reuniting a spirit to a body.” He discussed the Resurrection as a restoration and explained that the spirit and body would be reunited.

That gives us an important principle: the resurrection doesn’t turn us into completely different people.

We don’t suddenly lose our memories, personalities, or individual identity. Alma teaches that the Resurrection involves restoration, and the teachings of the Church emphasize that our individual identity continues beyond death. But does that mean sexual orientation necessarily continues unchanged? We don’t know.

This is probably the most important point to make when answering this question according to LDS doctrine. The Church has not revealed whether sexual orientation is something that continues eternally in exactly the same way it is experienced during mortality. It has also not taught that the resurrection itself changes someone’s sexual orientation. In other words, we should be careful about making a claim that goes beyond what has actually been revealed.

Some people have suggested that because the resurrection restores us, everything about us—including sexual orientation—must remain exactly the same. Others have suggested that everything considered a consequence of mortality will disappear in the next life. Neither conclusion has been established as official LDS doctrine concerning sexual orientation.

The Church does make an important distinction between gender and sexual orientation.

The Family: A Proclamation to the World teaches:

“Gender is an essential characteristic of individual premortal, mortal, and eternal identity and purpose.”

Notice that the statement specifically speaks about gender, not sexual orientation.

That means we shouldn’t take the Church’s teaching that gender is eternal and automatically conclude that sexual orientation is also eternal. Those are two different subjects. At the same time, we shouldn’t go to the opposite extreme and say that gay people will definitely become heterosexual in heaven. There is no revealed doctrine establishing that either.

There is another important piece to consider. The Church teaches that eternal life involves receiving the blessings God has prepared for His children. But it also recognizes that not every person will experience every promised blessing during mortality.

The General Handbook explains that faithful members will receive the promised blessings in eternity, even when their circumstances prevent them from receiving certain blessings in this life.

That is an important principle because it reminds us that mortality does not tell us everything about a person’s eternal circumstances.

Ultimately, LDS doctrine teaches that Jesus Christ’s Atonement and Resurrection overcome death and make eternal life possible for God’s children. The central question isn’t simply whether someone experienced same-sex attraction during mortality. The gospel focuses on our relationship with Jesus Christ, our faith, repentance, covenants, and our efforts to follow Him.

The Church’s teachings also emphasize that every person has divine worth. The Family: A Proclamation to the World says that every person is “a beloved spirit son or daughter of heavenly parents” and possesses a “divine nature and destiny.”

So if someone asks, “Will I still be gay in the resurrection?”, the most accurate LDS answer is that we simply don’t know.

We know that the resurrection restores the body and reunites it with the spirit. We know that gender is described as an eternal characteristic. We know that experiencing same-sex attraction is not itself considered a sin by the Church. We know that God’s promises extend beyond mortality. But the Church has not revealed whether a person’s sexual orientation will remain unchanged, change, or no longer be experienced in the same way after the resurrection.

That last point is important enough to repeat: there is currently no official LDS doctrine that answers the question of what happens specifically to sexual orientation after death. For that reason, it would be inappropriate to tell a gay Latter-day Saint, with certainty, “You will still be gay in heaven,” just as it would be inappropriate to say, “God will make you straight in the resurrection.” Neither statement is something the Church has revealed.

What we can say with confidence is that God knows His children perfectly, Jesus Christ knows exactly what each of us experiences, and the Resurrection is ultimately a restoration to immortal life—not the erasure of our individual worth. There are things about the next life that God has revealed, and there are things He has not. On this particular question, sexual orientation falls into the second category. And sometimes the most faithful answer to a difficult doctrinal question is simply: We don’t know yet.

What we do know is that Jesus Christ is the Savior of all of God’s children, that the Resurrection is real, and that God has promised blessings beyond what we can fully understand in mortality.

The things God has not revealed, we can safely leave in His hands.

 

Gramps