Priesthood, Leadership, and Service

https://www.lds.org/media-library/images/category/new-testament-gospel-art-book?lang=eng

I have often wondered why people seem so upset that women do not "hold" the Priesthood. They seem to view the men's Priesthood responsibilities as the men having all power and dictating their will to submissive women. (I think it is rather funny to think women would go along with that!) What must be remembered is that God's power can only be used if a person is righteous, and His power can only be used to serve others.  

This is one of the last lessons that the Savior taught his disciples. Listen to the Savior's response when the mother of James and John, two of his disciples, came to him and asked if her sons could sit on the Savior's right and left in His kingdom (have positions of honor). 

Do Men Have a "Right" from God to Subjugate Women?

https://www.lds.org/media-library/images/category/teachings-bible-images?lang=eng&start=1&end=40&order= love this picture of Christ leading by serving

A Jewish friend commented on my last post about the place of women in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. 

"As far as the place of women in religious life, I know of no religion that doesn't have a bunch of excuses about why women are not allowed into the priesthood, etc.  Religion has an age old history of being male dominated."  She also explains how women are kept out of important positions in their Jewish Temple. 

This is my reply to her.

It truly is scary some of the things people do and then try and excuse their behavior by saying it is "religious". Men have often claimed a "right" from God to subjugate women. I believe that they will be held accountable for their unrighteous actions.

What Place Does the new Prophet Think Women Should Have?

People often wonder if the new Prophet of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, President Russell M. Nelson, will give the women in the Church more power. By that, I assume they want to know if the women will have the same responsibilities as the men have. The flip side of that thought is that the men would have the same responsibilities as the women. The premise is that men and women are both equally capable leaders, which is true, but aren't there some things that we each naturally do better? 

I think a lot of the concern is that the Church is organized in a Patriarchal order with men being called by God to assume general administrative responsibilities. This does not mean that they have some "divine right" to tell women what to do and women are to merely meekly obey the men's orders. No, men are given by God responsibilities in keeping with their most noble desires to love, protect, serve, and bless their families and those around them. Women, think about that; men who are encouraged to really be there instead of dumping all the responsibility for the family and everything else on your shoulders.

Am I a Suppressed Woman?

 General Relief Society Presidency. Left to right: Sharon Eubank, 
Jean B. Bingham, and Reyna I. Aburto.

Yes, I'm a wife and a member of The Church of Jesus Christ o Latter-day Saints , but am I suppressed? Hardly! I think most women members would find that funny. We are often overwhelmed by the load of leadership responsibility we carry.

I think where most people get confused and think that women in The Church are dominated by the men because they have heard that women are "not allowed to hold the Priesthood". Actually, the women are given the same priesthood power when we make covenants in the temple. When we promise to keep the Lord's commandments, He blesses us, both men and women, with some of His power to enable us to grow and to accomplish the things He wants us to do.  Priesthood power is what enables women to guide their family, teach, and lead the children, young women, and women of the Church.

But you might say that the women are not allowed to hold leadership positions. It is true that men and women have been given different responsibilities. Men have the responsibility for general administration. Women have responsibility lead the children, young women, and the women of The Church under Priesthood guidance.

Spiritual Rattlesnakes

I wrote this in 2001 for a local newspaper of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Media is far worse now.

“Pornography, though billed by Satan as entertainment, is a deeply poisonous, deceptive snake that lies coiled up in magazines, the Internet, and the television.” warned Elder David E. Sorensen of the Presidency of the Seventy of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints during last April’s General Conference. He further explained that it is more deadly to the spirit than a live rattlesnake since “pornography destroys self-esteem and weakens self-discipline.” Elder Sorensen urges us all to set up “fortifications” in the form of personal ground rules to protect our families.

We interviewed several families and found that they considered their major “fortification” against the evils in the world to be the Gospel. They felt that it was essential to begin teaching good values to your children at a very young age. Some use Family Home Evening as an opportunity to set family media rules, discuss things their child has seen and heard, and role play how to handle difficult situations their child may encounter such an inappropriate video at a friend’s home.

Monitoring Media

REASONS FOR MONITORING MEDIA
(TV, Videos, Magazines, Music) -- I wrote this in 1992 when we had children at home. There is far more need to monitor media now than there was then. There are more ways you can use technology to help you be in control of what you and your family see and hear.

1. Whatever we experience becomes a part of us- we must use our agency to choose the good and avoid the evil and harmful

2. Each choice we make affects other choices- we must use our time wisely; when we watch TV all evening we may have just eliminated the time we could have helped children with homework, talked with teens, played games, studies scriptures together, read good books together and individually, served others and time to build our relationship as husband and wife- building relationships within a family takes a great deal of time - doing things together and talking

3. By not making conscious choices, we steadily loose the ability to choose- few people can turn on a TV "just to see what is on" and not stand there watching for at least a few minutes even something they don't want to see or that they wouldn't choose to turn the TV on for;  we expose ourselves to sights, songs, messages that we wouldn't purposely choose just because it is there before us

Reading Scriptures As a Family

As our youngest asks, "Can we have The Reading now?",  we realize that he really enjoys our family scripture reading. We also look forward to reading the scriptures with our children because it gives us a great opportunity to teach them the gospel and assist them in building their testimonies.  There are several things which help us to create this atmosphere for learning and closeness.

One thing we attempt to do is set a casual atmosphere where our children feel our love for them.  So we try to not push them beyond their attention span, expect them to hold perfectly still, automatically understand Old English, or grasp new concepts on their own.  As we relax, our children ask more questions and everyone feels more at ease in sharing personal experiences.  One question frequently asked by our youngest is, "What does that mean in other language?"  The "other" language is words he knows.  As our younger children draw, do a craft, or some other quiet activity, we use questions directed just to them to bring them into the discussion.  We gradually increase their involvement as they mature.  We begin with simple plot questions of "and then what did Ammon do?" and ease into questions which help them discover basic principles in the stories - such as courage and honesty.    Another way we keep our reading time more relaxed and enjoyable is by following our scripture reading with reading from other good books. We are careful, though, to clearly distinguish the "real" scriptures from the "pretend" stories.  This gives us more time together as a family, replaces most TV watching, encourages a love of good literature, and gives the children an extra incentive to remind us to have "The Reading", so we are more consistent.

Can Members Express Dissatisfaction with Church Leadership?

After reading some of the comments from this small dissident group who would not sustain the leadership of The Church of Jesus Christ at General Conference last weekend, I felt I should write more. If you have heard anything about them, you probably have some questions. If you have been around a bit you are probably wondering if more is really going on here, and you would be right. 

Can Members Disagree with Leaders of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints?

Some people think that members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints are controlled by their leaders; that we are kept in "lock step" and denied the opportunity to express our individual opinions. If this were true, I'd sure be in trouble since I have lots and lots of opinions on about everything!  But what about the people who where shouting their dissenting vote yesterday in General Conference?

A Friend - Arabian Proverb

A Friend is one to whom one may pour out
 all the contents of one's heart,
chaff and grain together,
knowing that the gentlest of hands
 will take and sift it,
keep what is worth keeping,
and with the breath of kindness
 blow the rest away.

(Me at 19 with my good friend)

Here are some more of my favorite sayings.

Are Women in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints Dominated by the Men?

This video is the reflections of President Gordon B. Hinckley, our last prophet, after his wife, and partner of many years, had died a few months before. I met Margaret Pay Hinckley. She was an incredible woman. I can understand why he would miss her so much.


One woman informed me that married women in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints "main responsibility is to procreate and be a companion to her husband." Isn't that also man's main responsibility to have a family and be a good husband?  She also stated that though women in The Church "can contribute to decisions, men still make the decisions".

I'm glad she told me this because after 45 years as a woman in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, I would have never guessed that I was a second class citizen dominated by my husband. What I have seen is