Women in the Mormon Church

Another problem people seem to have with the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is that women are treated "unequal."  Women within the church have said this, including a very public blogger and author, Joanna Brooks.  Most of these women believe in most of the doctrine of the Church, but not all of it, and are not completely active members.  From what I have noticed the people who claim this have not been to the Temple either.  I think for most of them a trip to the temple will help to ease their minds on this subject.

The reason people don't think women are equal in the Church is because they cannot hold the Priesthood (Same reason people think Blacks were discriminated against).  In my last post about Blacks and the Church I stated I believe the reason it took so long to give them the Priesthood was because white men weren't ready for it.  I am going to give a very similar explanation for the Woman problem, except slightly different.  This is something I remember being told when I was a teenager by my Seminary teacher.  This is not doctrine, but an explanation a single person came up with that I happen to think might be accurate.  Men NEED the priesthood more than women do.

Ask anybody in any religion; I think most of them will agree that women are more spiritual beings than men.  They are just more in tune to the spiritual side of things; whether that is because they can show emotion more easily or the fact that they create and care for life somehow brings them closer to their own Creator, that just seems to be how it is.  Because of that women are constantly connected to their spirituality.  Men function differently, they are very physical beings, in tune to the physical world of sports and work and providing for their families.  Women provide spiritual/emotional nurturing, men provide food and shelter (traditionally.  I know there are plenty of exceptions to this rule, especially today, but traditionally this is how it works).

Because of the different way men and women function, men need a little something extra to connect them to the spiritual side of things.  That is what the Priesthood is for.  It helps them to stay on the right path and stay connected to their spirituality.

Except there is a secret.  All those people who say women don't hold the priesthood are wrong.  Watching Rock Center: Mormon in America interview the Hunstman daughter who left the Church (Did you know the Huntsmans are Mormon Royalty?  I had no idea.... In fact the only Huntsman I really care for is Jon Huntsman Sr.... hmmmm.... weird.) she said she hoped one day women would hold the priesthood.  If she had visited the temple she would know THEY ALREADY DO!!!!

What happens inside the temple is a sacred thing, not secret.  We don't talk about it for that reason, but there really is nothing that extravagant that goes on in there that we need to tell the world about.  There are ceremonies and learning that happen.  Women actually use the Priesthood in the Temple during these ceremonies.  The women and men do their own separate things for most things, therefore it is the women performing the ordinances for the women.  The women doing the blessings and everything.  The women DO actively use the Priesthood inside the Temple.

In fact, outside the Temple women can use it too.  Sure they may not be ordained to the office of a Priest, but in the absence of a Priesthood holder women can call upon the name of Christ in their need and effectively use the Priesthood.

Women are in the clergy of the Church too.  The Relief Society and Primary Presidencies are both made up of women.  There are Branch, Ward, Stake, and General Relief Society and Primary Presidencies all over the world.

You may think, "well then what's the point in giving the Priesthood to the men if everyone can really use it anyway?"

It's kind of like the Holy Ghost.  We  believe that when we are confirmed members of the Church we are given the Gift of the Holy Ghost.  This means he will always be there to lead us and help us make decisions.  Everybody has the Holy Ghost already; most people call it your conscience.  The difference between having the Holy Ghost with you and the Gift of the Holy Ghost is the sensitivity and responsibility that comes with it.  Having the Gift of the Holy Ghost just means that he will be an active presence in everything you do if you want him to, but you have to be responsible to keep him there.  If you fall away you won't be able to hear what he is saying as well.

The same goes for the Priesthood.  When a man is given the Priesthood he is ordained into certain "offices" in the church and given certain responsibilities. In order to exercise his Priesthood he has to live worthily and fulfill the duties he has in his office of the church, otherwise the full extent of his Priesthood is inaccessible to him.

Long story short: Men and Women are equal in the eyes of God.  They are equal in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.  We are all children of God and He loves us all.

Mormonism Unravelled: Blacks and the Priesthood

So last night I watched Brian Williams Rock Center: Mormon in America on NBC.  After watching that I decided I need to take it upon myself to clarify the many misunderstandings about my religion.  While I definitely don't have all of the answers, I can at least find answers to most questions I believe.  Right now I want to talk about a problem a lot of people have: that Blacks were denied the priesthood until 1978.

Many people say the Church is racist because of this, which I think is ridiculous.  No on really knows where the Priesthood Ban started, oddly enough.  This tells me one thing: It was not necessarily a commandment from God.

Let's go back in history for a minute to the time of Joseph Smith.  He was a very caring man who believed all men were created equal and that slaves should be free.  He actually ran for President on an Anti-Slavery agenda and told the Abolitionists that their extremist ways of getting things done were not helping the slaves at all.  He said everyone was to be allowed in the Kirtland Temple regardless of gender or race and many blacks were expected to work inside the Nauvoo Temple.  In 1836 Joseph Smith, himself, ordained a black man to be an Elder, meaning he received the Priesthood.

Later this black man, Elijah Abel, was to receive his washings and anointings (a temple ceremony) in the Kirtland temple and he did Baptisms for the Dead as well.  He was also ordained a Seventy, which is a General Authority of the Church.  However, when he made the request to receive his Endowment in the Temple, Brigham Young denied him.  He was later denied a second time by the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles.

Abel is not the only black man to have been baptized and receive the Priesthood in the early church, but he seems to have had the most 'authority.'

Many people speculated for the reasons blacks could not receive the Priesthood (although a few actually did through out the 1900's).  One reason that was perpetuated, but never accepted as doctrine, was that they were decedents of Cain, so they were denied the Priesthood as punishment.

In 1900 President Lorenzo Snow stated that he wasn't sure if the explanations for the Ban were revelation or just personal opinion.

Keep in mind, while all of this is going on African Americans are unable to get fair treatment ANYWHERE in the country, it is not just the LDS Church.  Remember in Arkansas the National Guard was sent to prevent black students from entering the high school.  Rosa Parks refused to give up her seat on a bus.  And who can forget Dr. Martin Luther King Jr leading the march on Washington and giving up his life for civil rights?  This all happened a short time before the revelation came in 1978 to allow blacks to have the priesthood.

I do believe the Priesthood Ban had a reason, but I do not believe it was because Blacks needed to be punished for who their millionth great grandfather was.  I do not believe it was because Blacks are unequal to whites.  (Joseph Smith also said that the only reason Blacks were inferior was because the racist environment made them that way.  He said that if they had been allowed a level playing field, they would be on exactly the same plain as whites.)

Are you ready for my explanation?

 ****DISCLAIMER*****  

This is completely my opinion and could be completely wrong.

I believe the Priesthood Ban came into play because certain white men had personal opinions that blacks were inferior.  The Gospel is perfect, the Church is perfect, but the people who are running the church are only human.  They make mistakes just like the rest of us.  Okay, so why did it take so long for this to be undone?  One reason, I think, was that it was a test of faith.  Another reason was that the people in the Church were not ready to allow blacks the Priesthood.  We are taught that we receive revelation 'line upon line, precept upon precept.'  This means that we only receive additional revelation, or information about certain things when we are ready to hear it.  The people in the Church were not ready for it, and those black members who stayed faithful even though their white peers were imperfect were obviously much stronger in their faith than all of those who weren't ready for equality.

Moral of the Story:  The Gospel is Perfect; the people in the Gospel are not.


(The facts in this blog were taken from this website, or they are stuck in my head from past studies)