Brigham Young University biblical scholar Eric D. Huntsman always asks his students what Jesus’ disciples meant when they called some of the Master’s words “hard sayings.”
In the past, students at the LDS Church-owned school said “hard sayings” — any doctrine or practice that is difficult to understand, accept or follow — referred to questions about Mormon history or theology.
These days, though, young Latter-day Saints tell Huntsman the expression includes “gender disparities, sexual and other identities, and racial and ethnic discrimination.”
And the professor of ancient scripture has been deeply troubled by reports of escalating numbers of youth suicides by members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.