Three Ways Everyone is Missing the Mark With Elder Holland’s Talk at BYU

I keep having people ask what I thought of Elder Holland’s talk at BYU. The talking heads have exploded over this address by Elder Holland. If I got a dollar for every time I saw someone on Social Media bashing Elder Holland I would be able to retire. But I guess there would be no need to covenant to refrain from evil speaking of the Lord’s anointed unless we were going to be tempted to do so! But, I noticed a common theme with most of the people complaining. They only had read Op-Ed’s and not the actual talk! So I decided to listen to the whole talk to get context. From listing to this talk, referencing Emily’s (my wife) experience at BYU, and that of my friends, I think people are missing the mark in three massive ways.

1st Love, not hate, was the repeated theme

A lot of the Op-Eds totally mischaracterize the talk as anti-LGBTQ+ but when you read the talk you notice that those characterizations are false. I saw many friends lamenting “I thought Holland was an ally!!!” I was shocked at these statements, having personally met Holland before and in a moment of need being ministered to by him, I knew there was more than these Op-Ed’s and social media posts were letting on to. So here are some of the direct quotes from what Elder Holland actually said,

“let me go no farther before declaring unequivocally my love and that of my Brethren for those who live with this same-sex challenge and so much complexity that goes with it. Too often the world has been unkind—in many instances crushingly cruel—to these, our ­brothers and sisters. Like many of you, we have spent hours with them, and we have wept and prayed and wept again in an effort to offer love and hope while keeping the gospel strong and the ­obedience to commandments evident in every individual life.”

He also said, “I and many of my Brethren have spent more time and shed more tears on this (same-sex attraction) subject than we could ever adequately convey to you this morning or any morning. We have spent hours discussing what the doctrine of the Church can and cannot provide the individuals and families struggling over this difficult issue. So it is with a little scar tissue of our own that we are trying to avoid—and hope all will try to avoid—language, symbols, and situations that are more divisive than unifying at the very time we want to show love for all of God’s children.”

Are these the words of hate? No. These are words of an ally. An ally who loves the Lord. An ally who loves the gospel! And an ally that loves our brothers and sisters with same-sex attraction. An ally in the true biblical sense of loving God and loving one’s neighbor. Now, I know what many of you are thinking, “What about calling out Matt Easton and referring to those with same-sex attraction as suffering!?!?” I will be addressing those items in points #2 and #3.

2nd. A Rebuke of Apostates and Priestcrafts at BYU

When my wife was in the School of Family Life at BYU, she had professors openly tell her they did not agree with the Family proclamation so it would not be used in class. One taught that it was 100% ok with the law of chastity to masturbate, as long as you are just ‘self-exploring’ to improve sex with your spouse. Another taught the need to ‘adjust’ the Family proclamation to fix outdated parts or parts that were mistakes (like gender not being a spectrum). And others taught my wife that she was oppressed by the Patriarchy, was a victim of microaggressions, and that she was privileged for being white. These are just a few examples of my wife’s experience at BYU.

Sadly, Emily’s experiences are not isolated! There are many professors who cross the line repeatedly teaching the philosophies of men mingled with scripture at BYU. (For more examples see this article I wrote just last year, “How a New Instagram Page is Exposing Apostate BYU Professors.”).

If one actually listens to Elder Holland’s talk with this context, they will quickly realize it was not a rebuke of members with same-sex attraction, but it was actually a rebuke of the apostasy and the priestcrafts of the faculty and staff at BYU. It was a rebuke of those creating experiences like my wife had and like those in the article above. And it is these same faculty and staff who are irate that he has exposed their craft. This is one of the reasons so many people have been so upset by his remarks. Holland was demanding that the faculty and staff at BYU uphold the gospel, not their interpretation of the gospel, but the actual gospel.

Within that context that Elder Holland was in the middle of a rebuking session, now we can address his comments regarding Matt Easton. Elder Holland said, “If a student commandeers a graduation podium intended to represent everyone getting diplomas that day in order to announce his personal sexual orientation, what might another speaker feel free to announce the next year, until eventually anything goes?” For context, Matt Easton was a BYU student in 2019 that Elder Holland referenced. It is VITAL to understand Matt asked permission and got it from the faculty at BYU to use his valedictorian speech to announce his same-sex attraction, and that this example was brought up as part of the rebuking to faculty and staff at BYU, not a rebuking of Matt, or anyone who experiences same-sex attraction. His call for musket fire was not to incite a mob to attack those with same-sex attraction, but a call to faithfulness in defending the gospel and to avoid friendly fire casualties.

So many people miss those two key facts. In fact, just last night I had a friend of Matt Easton over for dinner, and Elder Holland’s talk was brought up. They mentioned they knew the guy that Elder Holland rebuked in his talk. I asked if they had listened to the talk and both said they had not, but they had read a lot of Op-Ed’s that were critical of it. I then said you realize Elder Holland was not rebuking Matt right? If Elder Holland was in General Conference and called Matt out, then it would be a rebuke of him, and I would agree it would be inappropriate, but he did not. I then explained that it is important to recognize the setting for any teaching. Elder Holland was addressing the faculty and staff at BYU that authorized the speech, calling THEM to repentance and rebuking THEM for authorizing it, not Matt.

3rd. It exposed idolatry

Of all three points, I am making today, this is THE MOST IMPORTANT ONE. But it is also going to be the most misunderstood. So PLEASE understand what I am about to say and read it carefully. When I reference “the LGBTQ+ Agenda” I am not talking about your friends and family who experience same-sex attraction. I am talking about the movement. Those individuals are often some of the most amazing people, but I need to address the movement.

Elder Holland’s talk exposed something that I had never thought of before. What are the first two commandments that God gave to Moses? That He was our God, and NOTHING should come before Him. What have our prophets and apostles repeatedly taught regarding our identity? That we are Children of God. Yet the LGBTQ+ Agenda teaches that we are our sexual orientation. The LGBTQ+ Agenda replaces God and our relationship with him with our sexual orientation. Read that again. They replace God and our relationship with him and place something before it! No wonder when the apostles preach that we are all Children of God and to be ‘true to our authentic self’ we must put off the natural man regardless of our attraction, those pushing this agenda become irate. We are preaching against their god. Our doctrine is fundamentally incompatible with the LGBTQ+ Agenda that seeks to identify us as anything other than our true and authentic selves. Of this topic Elder David A. Bednar said, “There are no homosexual members of the Church. We are not defined by sexual attraction. We are not defined by sexual behavior. We are sons and daughters of God”

Furthermore, this has been Satan’s tactic from the beginning! In the Pearl of Great Price, we learn that God revealed Himself to Moses and outlined that Moses was His son. And What did Satan do? The very first thing he attempted to do was replace God with something else. In Moses 1:12-13, we read that “Satan came tempting him, saying: Moses, son of man, worship me. And it came to pass that Moses looked upon Satan and said: Who art thou? For behold, I am a son of God,” (See Moses 1:12-13) This same tactic is used today, just with different labels. When the LGBTQ+ Agenda tries to label everyone as gay, lesbian, transgender, cisgender, etc, they are trying to put that first before God.

Satan seeks to destroy the lines of communication with God by replacing Him as our father with anything else. He does this by getting us to identify as anything other than as Children of God. How is prayer and being a child of God connected? The Bible Dictionary has the following entry about prayer: “As soon as we learn the true relationship in which we stand toward God (namely, God is our Father, and we are His children), then at once prayer becomes natural and instinctive on our part (Matt. 7:7–11). Many of the so-called difficulties about prayer arise from forgetting this relationship.”

Satan’s goal is to get us to forget or forsake our relationship with God. This breaks the lines of communication, and God’s heart. It literally causes God to weep. In Moses 7:28-31, Enoch details seeing God weeping. Enoch is shocked and he asks God how and why is He weeping??? In verses 32-33 God replies: “The Lord said unto Enoch: Behold these thy brethren; they are the workmanship of mine own hands… And unto thy brethren have I said, and also given commandment, that they should love one another, and that they should choose me, their Father; but behold, they are without affection, and they hate their own blood;” How can we reject our Father, His gospel, and the Atonement of Christ and not make God and the heavens weep? And if God and the heavens weep, then surely the earthly mouthpieces of God will issue a call to repentance.

Therefore what?

Elder Holland’s talk was a call to love, a call to truth, and a call to repentance! Repentance from priestcrafts, repentance from mingling doctrine with the philosophies of men, and repentance from idolatry! We must learn to love God and our neighbor in the truest sense of the commandment. In the words of Elder Holland: “we have to be careful that love and empathy do not get interpreted as condoning and advocacy or that orthodoxy and loyalty to principle not be interpreted as unkindness or disloyalty to people. As near as I can tell, Christ never once withheld His love from anyone, but He also never once said to anyone, “Because I love you, you are exempt from keeping my commandments.” We are tasked with trying to strike that same sensitive, demanding balance in our lives.”

To listen, watch, or read the full text of Elder Hollands address click HERE (I recommend watching)

If you enjoyed this article, you will love this analysis of William Barber II’s address, “If William Barber II was a Shock Test, BYU’s Faculty and Students Failed it!“.

If William Barber II was a Shock Test, BYU’s Faculty and Students Failed it!

And you will also enjoy this article about the real sin of Brad Wilcox, “Brad Wilcox’s Real Sin Was Not Being Insensitive, It Was Not Echoing Woke Criticism of Brigham Young“

Brad Wilcox’s Real Sin Was Not Being Insensitive, It Was Not Echoing Woke Criticism of Brigham Young