It’s been some time since we’ve discussed gay marriage on M*, so in the interest of increasing traffic, we are about to rectify that problem.

I want to draw your attention to a very well-written series at “Real Intent” on gay marriage.

Let me excerpt a few key portions.

1) Gay and straight isn’t an on/off switch. A few people may be exclusively attracted to members of the same gender regardless of culture and context. A few people may be exclusively attracted to members of the opposite gender regardless of culture and context. But the vast majority of us are somewhere on a spectrum in-between, at least theoretically capable of feeling a variety of levels of attraction, admiration, and emotional investment in members of the same sex. It is historically strange, to say the least, that we view so many manifestations of male connection and affection as signaling membership in a separate gay minority group. We stigmatize feelings and ways of relating today that are probably normal components of human nature for almost everyone.

2) The 1960s and ’70s gay rights movement used language of sexual liberation and personal freedom from social accountability, which created a common public association between homosexuality and casual sex or promiscuity — but that’s not necessarily representative of same-sex relationships now or throughout history. There have been and are many same-sex couples who are deeply committed and faithful to one another. And I think we do ourselves a collective disservice if we treat the emotional reality of those bonds lightly as we decide which legal framework to use for same-sex relationships in a democratic society where subjective experience should carry weight.

As somebody who grew up in the San Francisco Bay Area and had a gay roommate in college, I find the way this issue is discussed among Mormons (especially left-wing activist Mormons) to be very unfortunate. The above quotations show a much better understanding of the spectrum of sexual attraction. I cannot tell you how many times commenters on this blog have implied that all people must be divided into categories of either “totally gay” or “totally straight,” and this attempt to group people is artificial and incorrect. The implications for prophetic guidance (same-sex attraction is NOT a sin but same-sex sexual activity IS a sin) make much more sense if we understand the truth, ie that there is no on/off switch and people are responsible for their actions.

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I wanted to give a shout out to the “History of the Saints” podcasts, which I started listening to about a month ago.

The podcasts that appear to be available on iTunes are all the post-martyrdom period. I have listened to about a half-dozen so far, and they are pretty good. I especially enjoyed a recent podcast discussing different dissident groups and how they formed. The production quality is excellent.

In any case, check it out.

To download the podcasts, go here.

For more information on the series, go here.

All of the talk in Washington lately is regarding the “draconian” cuts to the budget from the sequester. The word “sequester” seems strange to most normal people, but the bottom line is that these were cuts made as part of the 2011 deal to raise the debt ceiling. The idea of a sequester came from the White House and was approved by Congress in case the feds couldn’t come up with a long-term debt deal.

For anybody with a historical perspective, the talk of “draconian” cuts is just crazy.

The U.S. federal government is spending more than it ever has. Check out this chart, which shows federal government debt:

Why is there so much debt? It is true that tax collections are down because of the overall down economy, but for anybody with eyes to see “it’s the spending, stupid.”

Looked at another way, here is the growth of government spending over time and the proposed cut.

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A friend of mine on Facebook put up several quotations on Sunday (Super Bowl Sunday) from prophets reminding us what prophets have said about keeping the Sabbath Day holy. Among the quotations he cited were:

“Now I understand that my behavior on the Sabbath is my sign to the Lord of my regard for him and for the covenant under which I was born. If, on the one hand, my interests on the Sabbath were turned to pro football games or worldly movies, the sign from me to him would clearly be that my devotion would not favor the Lord. If, on the other hand, my Sabbath interests were focused on the Lord and his teachings, my family, or the sick, or the poor, and the needy, that sign would likewise be visible to God. Our activities on the Sabbath will be appropriate as we consider them to be our personal sign to him of our commitment to the Lord.” —Russell M. Nelson

It turns out that I watched part of the Super Bowl on Sunday. In fact, a family that I home teach invited me to come over, and my wife and I went and we had a nice time. I’m not that interested in professional football anymore, and we could only stay for an hour because we had to get the kids to bed, but the point is that we did indeed watch part of the Super Bowl on Sunday.

I do not feel guilty about it. I am pretty sure if I were to stand in front of the Lord tomorrow He would be OK with me watching the Super Bowl. I could always be a better person, but for the most part I feel like I am OK with the Lord. I have repented and changed my life for the better in many important ways, and I am taking steps to continue to improve myself. So, as I say, I don’t feel like watching the Super Bowl is a sign that I am on the wrong path.

I also have no problem with my friend quoting the prophets say we shouldn’t watch football on Sundays. I had never seen that quotation before, so I enjoyed reading it.

But my friend got a fair number of negative comments from people who did not like him quoting the prophets on this subject. That I do not understand.

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President Monson has been the Prophet now for five years, and he wrote a nice message in the Church News that was released on Friday. I have not seen it distributed very widely, and I feel it is definitely worth reading.