What is the doctrine of the Priesthood? Why are women not ordained to offices in the Priesthood organization?
I think I’ve
finally sorted out all the particulars in this “Ordain Women” issue. The underlying problem, I think, is that
many, many members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, (Mormons) don’t
understand the priesthood. They don’t
know what it is or how it operates. In my observation, this problem is equally
likely in males as females and is why the people involved in the Ordain Women
movement won’t accept Elder Dallin H. Oaks’ talk on the subject as an answer to
their anguish.
First, I’ve
considered where these women, who are demanding that the Apostles pray for new
inspiration, are coming from. (Do they know the story of Martin Harris and the lost manuscript? He wouldn't take no for an answer until the Lord was wearied and said, Okay, have it your way...and take the consequences.) I would expect them to report that they have been
ignored, belittled or undervalued by local priesthood leaders. They’re hurt and/
or they’re mad.
I have had the sensation when I’ve been offended by what I
perceived as the misbehavior of leaders, that I’d like to retaliate. “Bust that
ninny “down” to a scout leader.” I doubt that there are any people in the
world that have not run across a
domineering, selfish person. BUT then I prayed about it. I complained mightily in no uncertain terms
and was astonished by the answer I received:
“Don’t you think
I am grieved when people use their position of authority to dominate instead of
to bless? Don’t you think I am MOST offended by acting badly in my name? BUT…I
still love him. I still want him to learn and do better. If I can love him,(who really is misbehaving) how much
easier is it to love you, who are trying hard to do right?”
I felt an
outpouring of love for my Heavenly Father, from my Heavenly Father and also for the man/men who had
offended me. I caught a glimpse of how the Lord saw him and considered for a
moment what insecurities caused him to respond to me in the way that he had.
As Ben Hur says, “I felt his words take the
sword out of my hand.” The answer, like it always is, was love.
Back to the
point. There will always be chauvinists. Changing the methods of leadership in
the Church will not cause one male or female to repent or humble themselves enough to
see how they have offended others. Only the chauvinist can decide to make one
less of those in the world.
The priesthood,
as defined in Church doctrine, is the ability and authorization to act in behalf
of Jesus Christ. This is his Church and he has delegated that ability or
authorized the righteous to act as he would act were he physically present. He honors those righteous acts and ordinances both in heaven and on earth as though he performed them himself. The promises inherent in a covenant are binding on Him when done by the authority of the Priesthood. But a covenant is only useful or relevant if the person making the covenant, (as in covenanting to be a disciple of Christ through the ordinance of baptism) lives by it. It matters nothing who performed the ceremony if the person receiving it doesn't make the covenant with God.
So the question
is: How would Jesus act? What is it that he charges us, as disciples of Christ, to do? If
you answered “Read the scriptures and say your prayers,” you’d be wrong. We are
constantly instructed to pray and to study the scriptures every day, not as an
end, but as a MEANS to an end. When we
do those things, we feel his Holy Spirit. When we feel inspired, (another word
for feeling the Holy Ghost/Spirit) we act on those promptings. Those promptings will instruct us on how to
minister to others. We’ll see whom we need to forgive. The needy, naked,
lonely, hurting, will become noticeable to us. We’ll recognize how to best use
our time, how to influence others for good. We’ll be motivated to work hard at our responsibilities. The Sermon
on the Mount, (as recorded in Matt. 5-7) will become our daily instruction for
what to DO, not what to know. We will come unto Christ by degrees as we step
toward him. This mighty change is the
WAY we apply his atoning blood to our lives. We accept the Savior by accepting
his direction and instruction and then following it.
In Matthew 7:21
Jesus instructs us, “Not everyone that saith unto me “lord, lord” shall enter
into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in
heaven.” That’s what EVERYTHING in the Church is about: Learning to communicate
with God so that he can direct us in doing His work. Only by becoming his disciple, by acting as he
would act, do we have part in Christ’s atoning sacrifice.
Do women have
less access to inspiration or promptings from the Holy Ghost than men? Of
course not. Do we have less responsibility to respond to those promptings when
they direct us to bless some persons’
life? Of course not. Do we have less ability or right to help others understand
and feel the indescribable love our Heavenly Father has for EACH of His
children? Of course not. Do women have less liability in regard to the charge “Feed
my sheep!”? Not by a long shot.
Each month,
Mormon women are assigned to visit a few other women in their congregation,
(called a ward). We call it “visiting teaching” We are expected to look after
their needs and minister to them spiritually and temporally. We build friendships and share our
testimonies of Jesus Christ as we learn to help others. This program is in
place, just in case a woman doesn’t have enough opportunity, or notice her
responsibility to feed his sheep.When we're in leadership roles, sometimes we don't get down to the service element in our callings. So we have our assigned visits to keep "the rubber on the road." It’s designed to soften our hearts and help
us feel gratitude for our blessings. It’s a way of ensuring that each of us can
be actively ‘coming to Christ.’
Every active
Mormon woman and Mormon man is given an (unpaid) job or calling in the Church.
Some of my more demanding “callings” have regularly taken more than 20 hours
per week. I’ve learned to minister
wisely to the poor through the welfare program of the Church. I’ve learned to
conduct a meeting in a timely way. I’ve learned to delegate and to lead by a
leading example. I’ve learned to speak in public without getting nervous. I’ve
taught adults and little children and every age in between. As a seminary teacher, teaching a roomful of
teenagers at 6:00 a.m. every school day, I’ve learned diligence and honed my
ability to prepare and present meaningful lessons that will interest a tough
crowd. (When they were awake enough to engage!) I’ve learned to council and to
receive council. I’ve also had my hurts
soothed and my heart softened as I worked with the tiny children in the nursery.
I’ve made hundreds of friends. I’ve even
had hundreds of opportunities to use my writing talents through responding to a
simple request from a priesthood leader.
All of these
callings and many others have pushed me outside my comfort zone. They’ve forced
me to stretch, to become, to grow and develop. They have given me confidence.
All of these are “priesthood assignments.” All of them have been given through
men who held the responsibility of directing the work.
So what is it
that the Ordain Women group want?
Ostensibly, they want to be allowed to hold new keys in the organization
of the Church. Perhaps they want the right to perform ordinances. They feel slighted by the restriction on
which keys they are allowed to hold.
But women in the
Church may hold some keys. The presidents
of the Relief Society, Young Women’s or Primary organizations, are given the
keys to her priesthood calling (would ministry be a more precise word?). Men
are not allowed to serve in the directing positions in any of those
organizations. Women do not hold the "master" key over all priesthood assignments. Those demanding and extremely time-consuming responsibilities are relegated to men. There is order and design in the Church to
prevent inefficient chaos.
So the “Ordain
Women” group feel they will have more respect and or honor if they are also allowed to hold
the “master keys.”
But nobody is
paid for the work they do in the Church.
All this foment is that these women think they want to donate a larger
share of their weekly time to doing the Lord’s work. No, that can’t be it. There is already PLENTY
for everyone to do. If ever I am a little
bored, I can call up the women I visit teach and ask them what they need to
have done or would like to do. I can minister to the needy or lonely. I can
volunteer in a local food bank or . . .or. . . .or. . . There are always plenty of sheep that
need feeding.
So perhaps these
ladies want to perform ordinances. We
know that it isn’t gender that prohibits women from administering ordinances
like baptism because some of the ordinances in the temple are performed by
women.
I have often pondered the possibility that the
act of gestating and giving birth through the blood and water from a woman to
give mortal life is an ordinance very closely parallel to other saving
ordinances. It is in a woman’s body to
perform the “ordinance” that brings a spirit into a mortal body. It is
absolutely necessary to be born in order to return to our Father in Heaven. An understanding of the holiness of this process,
so essential to the children of our Father in Heaven, explains why our bodies
are sacred and why sexual behavior is so closely guarded by the laws of God.
Bringing forth a child into mortality is a holy sacrament…not a plaything. The other saving ordinances are left for the
men to perform so that they have an equal opportunity in blessing other’s
through the power of godliness.
So what is the
doctrine that dictates that women cannot be given the “master keys?”
It is the
doctrine of the family. It has nothing
to do with whether women are capable of being bishops and stake presidents. Of
course we could. We are presidents of
stake and ward Relief Societies. We know how to run an organization. We know
how to delegate. We work hard. We love to serve others because we love the
Lord.
But who is going to care for the children? Who
is going to nurture the family? Who is going to take care of the physical work
involved in caring for a home? Who is going to comfort the hurting child,
council the searching teen, advise the young adult and demonstrate Christian
behavior, if the mother AND father are
off doing “administrative Church Work?”
One parent at
least needs to be devoting their time to ministering to their family. Why does
it need to be the woman in the home instead of the man? Because God has
physically, spiritually and emotionally equipped women uniquely for that work.
It’s the difference between the effects of estrogen and testosterone. Men
naturally protect, defend, and provide, and women naturally nurture, nest, and grow
nice, cushiony fat!
My father was the bishop of our ward through
most of my growing up years. Coupling that with lots of hobbies and interests
and a willingness to avoid the stress of a large family’s interactions, he was
rarely actually in the house with the family. While my mother often also held
demanding callings in the Church, hers were mostly callings that didn’t require
the privacy of an office or time away
from home. I’m not excusing my dad for
absenting himself. But I recognize that men in demanding leadership callings in
the Church need to MAKE time for their families. It has to be a conscious, diligent effort.
When David O McKay said that “No other success can compensate for failure in
the home,” he did NOT exclude success in Church service. An absent parent is an
absent parent, regardless of the cause.
Ordaining women
to additional leadership roles in the Church would diminish the time spent with their
families. The family is under “heavy fire” from a wicked world. The last thing in the world that the Lord is
likely to do, is to lower yet another shield and pull women away from the home
where they are most needed.
The home is the
workshop for heaven. In the home,
mothers and fathers, husbands and wives, brothers and sisters learn to resolve
conflict, love, serve, and work hard. In families we learn about Jesus Christ
and we learn to love him and to serve him. My role as a woman, wife, mother and
now grandmother is not diminished one iota by what it is not. I can feel my
Father in Heaven’s love and do His work and incorporate His will into my daily
walk, regardless of the nature of my current calling or the high-ness or low-ness
of it.
Jesus said, “But
he that is greatest among you shall be your servant. And whosoever shall exalt
himself shall be abased; and he that shall humble himself shall be exalted.”
(Matt 23:11-12)
“But Jesus called them unto him and said, Ye
know that the princes of the Gentiles exercise dominion over them and they that
are great exercise authority upon them. But it shall not be so among you; But
whosever will be great among you let him be your minister; And whosoever will
be chief among you, let him be your servant: Even as the Son of Man came not to
be ministered unto, but minister, and to give his life a ransom for many.” Matt
20: 25-28. Ironically, the phrase “give his life for the ransom of many” is
most relevant to this issue. As women, we give our lives (what is our daily
time if not the stuff of our lives?) to benefit others. Like the Savior, we
sometimes must sacrifice heavily for the sake of love. Is there a more
Christlike behavior than sacrificing our time for the love of our children? The
very nature of a mother’s life engenders Christ like attributes. For men, it
must be assigned and developed. The Lord has provided myriad ties and links to
help men bind themselves to their families, if they desire righteousness.
Women play an
essential role in our Father in Heaven’s plan. Without women caring for and
nurturing the foundation of society, progress individually and socially grinds
to a stop. Being “essential” is not a
lesser role, any more than the foundation, which is underneath a skyscraper, is
less important than the visible part.
To suggest that
women’s work nurturing the family, homemaking and building society through positive
interactions that promote love of God and love of neighbors is less important
than administering ordinances and governing the Church, is to teach false
doctrine. It contradicts the doctrine the Savior taught. It employs another
ramrod against the structure of the family. And it demeans and belittles the
importance and significance of roles of women. The seriousness of the threat
this type of thinking poses cannot be overstated.
The doctrine of the priesthood, (Come, follow me) was revealed by
the Savior himself and it available freely to everyone who desires to come unto
Christ.