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This is a really touchy subject. Women and the priesthood.
A little background: I'm Mormon. Mormons believe that during the restoration of the church by God through Joseph Smith the first prophet of the latter days (modern times) the priesthood (or power of God ) was also restored to the earth. side note- this isn't to say that Mormons believe that God didn't have power on earth between the time that Christ died and the time Joseph Smith received the priesthood- we just believe that men just didn't have the proper authority from God to work in his name. It has been passed down through worthy men and is now given to young men (boys 12 and up) if they are worthy and continue to live righteously.
Women are not ordained to the priesthood.
This is the current "issue". I put issue in quotation marks because I think the situation lies in the eyes of the beholder. I know a lot of women see this as a full on issue. I know a lot of women don't see this as an issue at all. All believe what they believe for different reasons. This is especially a hot topic right now because of Conference. An event that occurs twice a year where members of the church gather (literally and metaphorically) to listen to the words of the living Prophets and Apostles give counsel and tell us what God would have us know. It is a special event because we believe that we are receiving counsel from our loving and gracious Father in Heaven through his chosen and ordained messengers. There are 6 sessions every conference. Four sessions for every member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints- and actually for every person on the earth. And two sessions: one in which the Women of the church (18+) or the young women of the church (12-18) (it switches each time) are invited to hear special messages from their leaders and prophets directed to their own special needs; and one in which all the men (12+) are invited to do the same. The problem right now is that a lot of women feel as though they are missing out on important counsel by not being invited to this "Priesthood Meeting" (that's what it's called they weren't ironic or sarcastic quotation marks). The truth is though that all of these meetings have been posted on the internet, printed in the church magazine the Ensign, and now all are broadcasted via satellite, television, radio, etc. to the entire world. (this is the first conference in which the priesthood session is broadcasted live time via radio or television) There is no person in the world that is completely barred from receiving any knowledge or revelation that the Lord would give to us. God, or my god, is not a respecter of persons for He loves all of his children equally with a pure and infallible love.
Women want tickets to the Priesthood session of conference. These tickets are not sold for a price- it is essentially a drawing- but as far as I am aware women will not be let into the conference center where the Prophet and the apostles will be speaking. I have no issues with this. As far as I am aware men are also not let into the Relief Society or Young Women broadcasts. The reason I am okay with this is because these messages that Prophet Thomas S. Monson, Dieter F. Uchtdorf, Henry B. Eyring, and who ever else might be speaking will be giving at this conference have been directly revealed to them for the men of the Church. The men of the Mormon church are the main recipients of these revelations. Women have had their turn at the Relief Society session of conference- we received those revelations which are directed to us.
I will listen to the Priesthood session. I am excited to. I will benefit just as much by listening to it on the radio or the television as I would if I were at the conference center. I would benefit just as much by reading it in a magazine or on the internet if I were at the conference center. God has not taken anything away from me because I have not been allowed to go to the Priesthood session of conference. God has not taken anything away from me, ever, because I am a woman.
There is so much more to be said on the topic of Women and the Priesthood in the Mormon church. There have been so many broken hearts over this issue. The issue of the haves and have nots. I can't comment on everything that this issue encompasses. In this little essay I have only addressed the issue of the Priesthood session of conference. I took down this little shelf "issue", dusted it off, and now I'm putting it back on the shelf for now. I will say one thing that I think encompasses the whole issue. We as women, as people, as children of God, need to overcome this big issue of "haves and have nots". This is not a proletariat or bourgeois issue. Men have the priesthood, women don't have the priesthood. When we think of it this way we get ourselves in trouble- we start thinking for God. We start telling God that he things that women are of less importance than men because they don't have the priesthood. God has not and will not take anything away from anyone because of his race, gender, sexual orientation, socioeconomic status, or anything else that makes us different from one another. For God sees us as equals. He loves his Prophet just as much as he loves the most awful sinner. God loves his sons as much as he loves his daughters. He loves those who love him just as much as He loves those who hate him. God is not a distinguisher of haves and have nots because he has given us everything. He has given us a beautiful world, He has given all of us a way to overcome our sins and live with him for eternity in Heaven no matter our path on earth.
God does not distinguish between haves and have nots because God has made us all haves.
This is a really touchy subject. Women and the priesthood.
A little background: I'm Mormon. Mormons believe that during the restoration of the church by God through Joseph Smith the first prophet of the latter days (modern times) the priesthood (or power of God ) was also restored to the earth. side note- this isn't to say that Mormons believe that God didn't have power on earth between the time that Christ died and the time Joseph Smith received the priesthood- we just believe that men just didn't have the proper authority from God to work in his name. It has been passed down through worthy men and is now given to young men (boys 12 and up) if they are worthy and continue to live righteously.
Women are not ordained to the priesthood.
This is the current "issue". I put issue in quotation marks because I think the situation lies in the eyes of the beholder. I know a lot of women see this as a full on issue. I know a lot of women don't see this as an issue at all. All believe what they believe for different reasons. This is especially a hot topic right now because of Conference. An event that occurs twice a year where members of the church gather (literally and metaphorically) to listen to the words of the living Prophets and Apostles give counsel and tell us what God would have us know. It is a special event because we believe that we are receiving counsel from our loving and gracious Father in Heaven through his chosen and ordained messengers. There are 6 sessions every conference. Four sessions for every member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints- and actually for every person on the earth. And two sessions: one in which the Women of the church (18+) or the young women of the church (12-18) (it switches each time) are invited to hear special messages from their leaders and prophets directed to their own special needs; and one in which all the men (12+) are invited to do the same. The problem right now is that a lot of women feel as though they are missing out on important counsel by not being invited to this "Priesthood Meeting" (that's what it's called they weren't ironic or sarcastic quotation marks). The truth is though that all of these meetings have been posted on the internet, printed in the church magazine the Ensign, and now all are broadcasted via satellite, television, radio, etc. to the entire world. (this is the first conference in which the priesthood session is broadcasted live time via radio or television) There is no person in the world that is completely barred from receiving any knowledge or revelation that the Lord would give to us. God, or my god, is not a respecter of persons for He loves all of his children equally with a pure and infallible love.
Women want tickets to the Priesthood session of conference. These tickets are not sold for a price- it is essentially a drawing- but as far as I am aware women will not be let into the conference center where the Prophet and the apostles will be speaking. I have no issues with this. As far as I am aware men are also not let into the Relief Society or Young Women broadcasts. The reason I am okay with this is because these messages that Prophet Thomas S. Monson, Dieter F. Uchtdorf, Henry B. Eyring, and who ever else might be speaking will be giving at this conference have been directly revealed to them for the men of the Church. The men of the Mormon church are the main recipients of these revelations. Women have had their turn at the Relief Society session of conference- we received those revelations which are directed to us.
I will listen to the Priesthood session. I am excited to. I will benefit just as much by listening to it on the radio or the television as I would if I were at the conference center. I would benefit just as much by reading it in a magazine or on the internet if I were at the conference center. God has not taken anything away from me because I have not been allowed to go to the Priesthood session of conference. God has not taken anything away from me, ever, because I am a woman.
There is so much more to be said on the topic of Women and the Priesthood in the Mormon church. There have been so many broken hearts over this issue. The issue of the haves and have nots. I can't comment on everything that this issue encompasses. In this little essay I have only addressed the issue of the Priesthood session of conference. I took down this little shelf "issue", dusted it off, and now I'm putting it back on the shelf for now. I will say one thing that I think encompasses the whole issue. We as women, as people, as children of God, need to overcome this big issue of "haves and have nots". This is not a proletariat or bourgeois issue. Men have the priesthood, women don't have the priesthood. When we think of it this way we get ourselves in trouble- we start thinking for God. We start telling God that he things that women are of less importance than men because they don't have the priesthood. God has not and will not take anything away from anyone because of his race, gender, sexual orientation, socioeconomic status, or anything else that makes us different from one another. For God sees us as equals. He loves his Prophet just as much as he loves the most awful sinner. God loves his sons as much as he loves his daughters. He loves those who love him just as much as He loves those who hate him. God is not a distinguisher of haves and have nots because he has given us everything. He has given us a beautiful world, He has given all of us a way to overcome our sins and live with him for eternity in Heaven no matter our path on earth.
God does not distinguish between haves and have nots because God has made us all haves.
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