Not once in my life have I ever felt powerless because of a man--of course, I've never been raped or sexually abused, my father was and is loving and supportive as well as my husband, I grew up knowing because of my mother that I was just as good as any man and how to stand up to any man in any situation. I learned how to interact with boys and then men in a way that makes them trust me as an equal and not a whiner. I've ALWAYS liked men way more than I like women. They don't pull punches, they don't play games, they're straightforward, they don't gossip like women do, etc. I have few women friends that I totally trust. I know that at any minute a woman will betray me. It's happened too many times in my life and I have had many different friends from different backgrounds and cultures---they're all the same.
Maybe if I had been abused or had been brought up by an "abusive" man or a man that lorded his priesthood over our family I would feel more powerless. Maybe if my mother hadn't have had a strong personality and didn't go head to head with a few bishops and bosses over her lifetime I would feel more powerless.
I remember a few times my mother got a little (read a lot) pissed off with some misogynistic priesthood holders in her lifetime and they got to feel her wrath. Once we had this bishop--this is back in the early 70's--and he got up in Sunday School on Mother's Day and told the assembly that he had been able to get a general authority to admit that men were just a little bit better than women in the Church and in the realms of heaven. This is back when we would go to Sunday School in the morning then go back in the evening for two hours of Sacrament Meeting (brutal). Also, at the time my dad was in this guy's Bishopric. Well, she had some time to ruminate on this before we went back for our evening meetings and she said, I remember her saying this, "I'm going to get that guy. He's going to know that I am just as good as him if not better." She waited until my dad left to go back to the church then went in and put on her polyester blue and white striped pants. I remember thinking that we were all going to go to hell because you just didn't wear pants to church! We went to our building and she waited out in the foyer until the Bishop got up to the pulpit to start the meeting and then she marched me and my sister to the front row, right in front of the Bishop so he could see who exactly wore the pants in the family. He was so pissed. I lay across my mother's lap during church trying to hide her shame.
Another time a couple of years before she died she was at church in sacrament meeting when a high councilman (who sometimes get a little full of themselves as do some women in stewardship roles) got up to speak and went on and on about what was and wasn't proper Sunday activity and dress. He said that people should stay in their Sunday clothes all day long and stated that "I would like to come to some of your houses and see how YOU observe the Sabbath," of course, in an accusatory way. Well! She had some time to ruminate on this and as soon as the closing prayer was over she put her Jazzy in high gear and Jazzied her way up to the front of the chapel, right in this guy's way and said, "If you ever came to my house on a Sunday I'd throw you off of my porch!" Then she turned around and Jazzied her way out. She then called the Stake President and told on him and that guy got released. I kid you not.
My mother was a Relief Society President, a Young Women's President, in a Stake Relief Society Presidency. She was the Ward Activities Chairperson, a dynamic gospel doctrine teacher, the Stake Girl's Camp cook for over 20 years, and a bishop's wife. She and my dad served two missions to Zimbabwe and then India. She always had leadership positions because she was known to stand up for what she believed in, get what she wanted and get the job done in an efficient and well-done manner. And about the time I turned 10 she went back to work full time. She had several chronic and weird medical conditions during this time that never held her back. The doctor told her she'd live no more than 5 years with her terminal disease. She lived 10. She was a woman and you should have heard her roar. This is where I come from.
If a person feels defeated, put upon, unjustly dealt with, powerless--those are THEIR feelings. Those are Satan's way of making a person question what is right. Remember: the fruits of the Spirit are love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith. Meekness (which means spiritual strength, not weakness), and temperance (Galatians 5:22-23). Satan doesn't help us have these feelings. He wants us to have counterfeit feelings: pride, ego, jealousy, impatience, striving, powerless, being better than others, or being worse than others, insecurity, doubt, etc.
So, I don't get Ordain Women. I just don't. The word these women keep using to describes themselves is powerless. "Powerless". If they feel powerless then they have put themselves into that position. Not the Church. Not the Brethren. Not the Priesthood. They have. They have bought into some of society's views on women and then projected it onto the Church. There is nowhere in my reading, studying, and living the gospel that has ever led me to believe that I am powerless.
Some of the things Ordain Women want changed are ludicrous to me: the temple blessings. Uh, hello!! Women actually have the better part in the blessings of the temple they just don't know it. They need to study up on that a bit more. Go sit down with a member of a Temple Presidency and ask them the differences between men and women in the blessings of the temple. You will be astounded. Ladies, you want to have harder work? Be my guest. I prefer to skate along.
They want the Priesthood. Why?! Because they think they can do a better job? So they can boss everyone around and then lord it over us because you know that's what they would do. Plus, Jesus is a man. Not a woMAN. And when you use the Priesthood to bless someone you are standing in for the Savior. In the realms of the spirit world male spirits only administer to male spirits and female spirits only administer to female spirits. This is why it states in the Proclamation on the Family, "All human beings—male and female—are created in the image of God. Each is a beloved spirit son or daughter of heavenly parents, and, as such, each has a divine nature and destiny. Gender is an essential characteristic of individual premortal, mortal, and eternal identity and purpose." Here, we administer to each other in different ways but only a male (mortal) spirit can stand in for another male (Jesus' immortal) spirit.
And this supposed interview with President Gordon B Hinckley wherein he "admitted" that women should have the Priesthood but they hadn't "agitated" for it? Taken entirely out of context. Come on!
I could go on and on.....I really could. I really, really could. But then I would just start swearing and bringing the Spirit down....so I will end with this:
I was reading in 2 Timothy 4:3-4 which states:
3. For the time will come when they will not aendure sound bdoctrine; but after their own clusts shall they heap to themselves dteachers, having itching ears;
This is what is happening now. These women have turned their ears from the truth, they have itching ears that want to hear only what they want to hear, heaping to themselves false teachers and false teachings.
Also in 2 Timothy 3:5-7:
6 For of this sort are they which creep into houses, and lead captive silly awomen laden with sins, led away with divers blusts,
Ever learning (the philosophies of man mingled with scripture?) but never able to come to the knowledge of the truth because they deny the message and the messenger.
What will happen if, as these women have asked, the Prophet prays about it and has the answer given to him and he publishes it in a letter for all to read as has been asked and the answer is, "No." Will this pacify them? Will they stop? No. They won't. They won't be satisfied.
I urge you sisters (and brothers) to really be careful what you allow yourselves to believe, what you allow yourselves to feel. If you allow yourself to feel a certain way then you will eventually buy into the entire purchase part and parcel and you will be on the outside looking in.
Be like the Apostle Paul when he states in his letter to Timothy:
Keep the faith, my friends. Keep the faith.
(Below are some articles and other sources you may want to read regarding this blogpost.)
Look into their claim about Joseph Smith a little more. The original quote states that he “said he wanted to make of them a kingdom of Priests as in Enoch’s day – as in Paul’s day” (josephsmithpapers.org). I don’t know a whole lot about Enoch’s organization of the city of Zion, but I DO know that Paul taught that women should not rule in church (1 Corinthians 14:38 JST). He also presented Sister Phebe as a great woman who was a servant of God, a director over many, and that she was working with authority under him. Paul was not a mysoginist in any sense of the word, yet he still stated that women should not direct the affairs of the church with priesthood keys as he had. Why, then, would Joseph Smith wish to emulate Paul’s day (and presumably Paul’s administration of priesthood keys) if he’d intended to give the sisters of the Nauvoo Relief Society the priesthood? It is also important to note that the 1828 Webster dictionary defines “ordain” as “to set apart”, so as time went on we began to associate ordination with the priesthood and less with setting apart for authority in callings. We can not use our modern definition/connotation when reading early church history texts regarding the sisters and ordinations.
This was found on Mormon.org.
Gordon B. Hinckley, prior President of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, said:
“Women do not hold the priesthood because the Lord has put it that way. It is part of His program. Women have a very prominent place in this Church. Men hold the priesthood offices of the Church. But women have a tremendous place in this Church. They have their own organization. It was started in 1842 by the Prophet Joseph Smith, called the Relief Society, because its initial purpose was to administer help to those in need. It has grown to be, I think, the largest women’s organization in the world... They have their own offices, their own presidency, their own board. That reaches down to the smallest unit of the Church everywhere in the world...
“The men hold the priesthood, yes. But my wife is my companion. In this Church the man neither walks ahead of his wife nor behind his wife but at her side. They are co-equals in this life in a great enterprise.”
Gender Is an Essential Characteristic of Eternal Identity and Purpose. Check out this link for more information .
David a Bednar stated:
“By divine design, men and women are intended to progress together toward perfection and a fulness of glory. Because of their distinctive temperaments and capacities, males and females each bring to a marriage relationship unique perspectives and experiences. The man and the woman contribute differently but equally to a oneness and a unity that can be achieved in no other way. The man completes and perfects the woman and the woman completes and perfects the man as they learn from and mutually strengthen and bless each other. … (“Marriage Is Essential to His Eternal Plan,” Ensign, June 2006, 83–84; or Liahona, June 2006, 51–52).
Dallin H Oaks Priesthood talk April 2014
I think it is interesting to note that the brethren have been very vocal about making sure the women who attend the Preisthood Executive Council or PEC are heard and respected. I remember being asked personally by the Stake President and hearing it during a World Wide training. My personal experience has been that I have been heard and respected as a member of that council. If this is not someone elses experience then the priesthood holders involved are not following the council of the prophets. I have never felt second best and say amen to your comments, Kara.
ReplyDelete