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Soooooooo, I can't believe I'm going to write this, but I only have 8 followers so hopefully I won't offend too many people...but I'm going to write my opinion on women and the Priesthood in the LDS Church. [update: It has been brought to my attention that I only have 7 followers. Thank you.]
For those who are not familiar with LDS doctrine or practice, the Priesthood is God's authority and power to act in His name on Earth. All Church leadership is directed by the Priesthood. Currently, only worthy males hold this power and authority. Although women are extremely present and play a vital role in Church leadership, they always serve under Priesthood leadership.
This is a very difficult practice for most members to understand, especially in modern society. But most members support the practice because they have faith that God directs the Church. However, a growing number of women's groups have been speaking out and challenging the practice. Most recently, a small group of women wore pants to Church in oppostition to the status quo (most women wear dresses or skirts, although the Church doesn't require it) and last October a small group of women asked to be admitted to a meeting specifically held for Priesthood holders only.
Yesterday I read a blog post that sought to explain and defend the Church's position. It is an excellent post and I reccomend reading it and all the comments that follow because it provides a lot of well thought out arguments regarding the subject on both sides of the aisle.
However, I thought that all of the arguments lacked a certain perspective and I added my own two cents...and yes, I'm a whimp and I gave myself the name "An average active LDS Women" - but I've never spoken out like this before! I think this is an appropriate subject for this family history blog because I want my children to understand my position...so without further ado:
This is very beautiful…but honestly, it is just speculation. I agree there are three movements in the church: people who speculate why God does not allow women to exercise the Priesthood, people who are trying to convince leaders of the church that women should exercise the Priesthood, and then those who are doing nothing. Personally, I think everyone in these categories is misguided.
I believe the reason why women don’t hold or exercise the Priesthood is because God set it up like that in 1830. End of story. But 1830 was a long time ago. And there’s no official document explaining why women can’t hold and exercise the Priesthood.
As interesting as all of this discussion is (and it is very interesting, I mean no disrespect), I don’t care what any of you have to say as much as I care to know what God has to say on the subject. And I don’t care what you all think God thinks. I want to know for myself what He thinks. If I can’t hold the Priesthood, I at least want to know why. I’m not a bad person for wanting that. I’m an intelligent, humble child of God. The answer might be: I’m not going to tell you right now…but currently, I don’t even know if the Church has formally brought up the issue with the Lord. I’m almost positive that the Brethren have been praying about it, but I don’t know that for sure, and it’s something I would like to know.
In my opinion, it seems perfectly reasonable for the women of the Church to join together and ask the First Presidency to ask God why women can’t hold the Priesthood.
To those who want the status quo changed, and women who are okay with the status quo remaining as is (which I don’t really believe is the majority of women in the Church. Yes, no one wants to be a bishop, but we’d all do it if the Lord asked us to, and we’d all shout for joy if a revelation was given stating that women could now hold the Priesthood), I suggest we stop speculating about what God would say, and start asking for His direction.
I have faith in the Lord’s living Church. I believe revelation exists today and we can have access to it. Not just personal revelation, but Church-wide revelation as well. Our Church is built on sincere questions from the faithful. That’s how the Priesthood was first established: by a question.
That’s what happened with blacks and the Priesthood. Social pressure didn’t change Church policy. Social pressure pressured the Brethren to formally ask God for an answer and He gave it.
Regarding the Church’s stance on same-gender marriage, the Proclamation on the Family is pretty clear, so good luck on that one to those who disagree. I’m not saying give up, but the Proclamation is enough for me to put that issue at rest.
But women and the Priesthood? We don’t have any formal revelation or document directing this issue or offering an explanation.
Let us appeal to the First Presidency and request an answer from God. And appealing doesn’t mean trying to get into the Conference Center during Priesthood meeting or wearing pants to church. Although these gestures are not wrong in and of themselves, and I probably wouldn’t be so interested in the subject if these gestures had not occurred, I believe that this is the wrong way to go about it. But more importantly, I also believe this is the long way to go about it. And sitting around speculating why things are the way they are without any formal doctrine to back it up is also not very effective.
Let’s go to our bishops and tell them we want some formal guidance on the issue and we want it from the First Presidency. Let’s write Linda Burton and ask. If all the women of the Church ask for this, then I think the First Presidency will respond. They love us. They want to connect us with the Lord. This is their purpose. And yes, there is personal revelation, but this issue is so worldwide, I believe it deserves a worldwide response.
The First Presidency might respond, “We have asked and what we’ve said in Conference is all we’ve got right now.” But at least we’d know. They might also respond stating, “The Lord has heard the appeal of the women of the Church and this is His response…”. And wouldn’t it be wonderful to have that knowledge?
Stop speculating, stop strong-arming Church leaders, stop doing nothing. This worldwide discussion has revealed that a lot of women in the Church are thinking about the issue. Now let’s ask God to join the discussion.
