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.

The End.

So, No Spend Month is finally over!!!!  Wooo hoo!  Overall it was a success, although the last week we did spend some money because school was started and we needed a few supplies.  We spent about $300 less than we usually do.  We lived off of sandwiches and pasta for the last week or two of the month, but we did it!
There is one thing I feel I should warn anyone who wants to embark on this adventure about, however. Make sure you are completely stocked up on your food/emergency preparedness storage before you start.  We had decent food storage, but we were pretty low on toiletries by the time the month was over.  We ended up going out and spending $100 just to replenish our toiletries the first day of the month.

I hope we continue doing this every year.  August was hard because it included our anniversary and the beginning of school, so it will probably be September next year.  September we will have our garden producing in full force and we shouldn't have to spend money for textbooks and the like since that will be taken care of in August.  We'll see if we remember to do it, but I think it was really good for us and taught us a lot about what we can do with what we have.

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)

9 days left...

Not spending money is getting harder and harder... but with just over a week left it makes me want to finish it more than ever.  The best thing about this month so far has definitely been the lack of food waste.  I just read an article that said Americans waste 40% of their food on average, including leftovers that never get eaten and veggies that sit in the fridge and rot before they are used.  I know my husband and I are guilty of a lot of food waste and I hope this month helps us to be more careful in the future. Because we haven't bought any food (besides milk) we have been much more careful about using our veggies before they go bad and eating leftovers the next day.  Our chickens get whatever veggies we don't eat, so it does get to us eventually too.

We ran out of bread toward the beginning of the month, so I decided to try my hand at baking some.  In the past I have tried to use the bread machine that my mom got rid of and it just doesn't want to work for me.  I can't figure out why... maybe it's the flour I use?  Anyway, I took this opportunity to really bake break.  I made this recipe last week and it was delicious, but not good for toast or grilled sandwiches.  Because of the way you roll it into a log it tends to fall apart in swirls when crispy.  I do think it will make an amazing cinnamon swirl bread, though.  Can't wait to try that!  Yesterday I tried a new bread recipe.  Today I used this bread to make me a grilled cheese sandwich using provolone cheese and a fresh roma tomato from my garden.  It was delicious!  The crust seemed a tiny bit thick, but it tasted oh so good!  I think next time I will just slice the bread a little thinner and that problem will be fixed.

Does anybody out there have a bread recipe that they just love???

Zucchini Lasagna

As you know, our family is doing a No Spend Month right now (we are over half way done, wahooo!).  We also are overloaded with zucchini from our garden, so I have been spending a lot of time on Pinterest finding recipes to use our zucchini in.  A few weeks ago I came across this pin for Zucchini Lasagna and had to try it.  We didn't have any ravioli on hand, but I did have a few bags of tortellini in our freezer so just used those.  After I had it all ready to go in the oven I realized that we were actually supposed to be at a dinner party in 10 minutes, so I tossed it in the fridge (my brain seems to have disappeared this week...).  After realized that we wouldn't be able to eat it for a few more days because of other commitments I left in in the freezer for a few days.

Finally, Wednesday came and we were able to eat our lasagna!  Because it was frozen I ended up cooking it for about 80 minutes instead of 20 (I just checked the internal temperature about every 20 minutes).  It was delicious though!  The zucchini added something slightly sweet to the pasta.  Everybody loved it, even my daughter!  Nothing ended up on the floor that night, although she did take a bite of zucchini and spat it right back out.  That piece must have been too soggy for her).  I did find that reheating it a few days later did not do the zucchini well.  It did get mushy after a while, but that first night was delish!

Tonight's dinner: Turkey Parmegiana!  Turkey steaks are about the only meat we have left so I'll be finding creative ways to use that the rest of the month.  As a side we'll have zucchini fries and perhaps some nice bruschetta with the simple homemade bread I made today!

Boiled Peanuts!

As you may know, my DH is from the South.  Georgia to be specific.  I don't know how many of you have ever visited the South, but it is like an entirely different world down there (much like Utah is entirely different from any where else in the US).  From their etiquette to their hospitality to their accents you find warm acceptance (however, they do expect you to show the same etiquette and hospitality... which can be scary!) that you would be hard pressed to find other places.  And then, you can't forget, their cuisine.  From Fried Chicken to Grits to Fried... anything.  You wonder how people come up with these things!  One thing in particular that got me saying, "What the....?!" was Boiled Peanuts.

I read somewhere that Boiled Peanuts were 'invented' during the Civil War.  The war was rough on the Confederates.  They didn't have near the supplies that the North was able to gather, and they ran out of food frequently.  One thing that there always seemed to be an abundance of was peanuts (which are grown down there if you didn't know...) so the starving soldiers decided to boil some up.  Low and behold there were delicious and are now a Southern specialty!

It wasn't until my third or fourth visit to Georgia that the hubby introduced me to them, and I admit I was hesitant to try them.  We pulled up to a roadside stand on our way to his grandmother's house and he came back with a styrofoam cup full of steaming Boiled Peanuts.  I watched DH eat one before I tried.  He sucked on the shell then slurped the nuts out, so I attempted to do the same.  It took a while to get used to the process but boy were they good!  It's like a potato chip.  Once you start eating them, you can't eat just one.

I got to thinking, "Hmmmmm, peanuts that are boiled.  That can't be too hard to make!  I'm gonna try!" I googled it and found a variety of different recipes.  I found a Paula Deen recipe and decided to try it. It didn't quite work.... It said the peanuts should only take 2 hours to cook.... They weren't ready 6 hours later.... so we let them cook overnight.  By morning they were done, but waaaay too salty (I added one cup of salt... for one pound of peanuts).

For my second attempt I started them much earlier so I could keep an eye on them.  They started around noon, and I only added 1/4 cup of salt this time.  At 5 we had to leave for a few hours and they weren't done, so we lowered the heat and left them.  We got back at midnight and they were perfect (although I think they could have used a tad more salt... maybe 1/2 cup?)!  Unfortunately by then we couldn't just sit and snack on them, so we strained them and put them in the fridge until morning.  When we got them out we boiled them for 10 more minutes to heat them up and have been snacking on them ever since!  Delicous!

Proving Pinterest: Magic Eraser for the Toilet

Today's Proving Pinterest is a bummer... The advice I tried was that if you put a piece of Magic Eraser in the toilet and leave it over night it will get rid of the ring.  I only had a small, faded ring, but I have been scrubbing for a year and that thing won't go away!  Unfortunately, this did nothing for it either.  It may work for rings that are less stained, but not for mine.  I did find another toilet cleaning remedy that requires a bit more elbow grease that I will try soon and get back to you on...

On a happier note!  I woke up today and it was a gorgeous day!  This summer has been hot and miserable so far, which has made it hard to get motivated to get anything done.  Today was cloudy, with a little bit of rain and a nice breeze.  It was perfect!  I got up and had breakfast, then my daughter was wonderful and entertained her self while I cleaned the dining room, kitchen, and bathroom.  Then I made some zucchini bread and muffins and began my second attempt at Boiled Peanuts (have you tried them.... yum!) while she ate lunch.  All of this was before nap time!  I was astonished at what I could get done if I just did it instead of sitting there telling myself to be productive.  There is a lot more I want to get done, but It is all organizational stuff that I am still trying to figure out.  Some of this will probably have to wait until No Spend Month is over.

I have all sorts of ideas for what I want to do with my yard and house, and all sorts of things I need to buy in order to make those things happen.  So I am taking this opportunity of not spending money to shop anyway!  I am pricing all the things I would like to buy for the yard or the house so I can know if I see a good sale price and so I can budget appropriately for my projects.  This No Spend Month has been hard... and we are only 10 days in.... but It is already so worth it.

We just refinanced our house.  We thought we were going to have to bring about $800 to closing... well because of all sorts of reasons we ended up having to bring $1350.  That completely cleaned out our bank accounts and cash on hand (I think we have about $40 left), so the fact that we hadn't spent any money this month really saved us.  Next week we'll have money again, thank goodness, and we'll have a refund from our Escrow account coming soon so we'll be okay, but right now I am so thankful we decided to not spend any money this month!

Yesterday, as a throw together meal I made a stir-fry like my mom used to, and it was surprisingly good!  I just threw some vegetables that were left over from dinner the other night, and some hamburger, into some cooked beef flavored Top Ramen, then added the flavoring to all of it and it was delicious!