Women in the LDS Church
Lately, there has been some discussion in certain forums about how women in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints are oppressed because they can't hold the priesthood. There have been protests staged: wear pants to sacrament meeting; try to attend the Priesthood session of General Conference. These protests have always seemed silly to me. Why would we need the priesthood? We have everything else. Do we really need one more way to serve, when we already do so much?
No, we don't have the priesthood, but we do much of the same things a priest in another church might do: we speak and teach publicly in church. We pray. We organize church functions and activities. We help clean the church buildings. We pay visits to check on the well being of fellow church members. We offer shoulders to cry on. We serve where we are needed. We hold leadership positions in organizations to teach the children and young women, and in the biggest society of women in the world.
What can't we do? Bless or pass the sacrament. (But we can take the sacrament if we are worthy.) Baptize others. (But we can be baptized ourselves.) Give Priesthood blessings. (But we can receive those blessings whenever we need or desire them.) The list goes on, but my point is that although we may not have the priesthood ourselves, we do have full access to the blessings of the priesthood.
My sister-in-law, Kendra, shared this video on Facebook, where Sheri Dew, a former counselor in the General Relief Society Presidency, talks about this issue: What do LDS women get? I felt that she expresses a lot of my thoughts and ideas very well.
We get everything we need. We aren't held back. We aren't less than any man because of our lack of priesthood, and no man is better than us because he has it. Do I want to hold the priesthood? Not really. My husband has it and I reap the benefits of having it in my home. If he were gone, I have a home teacher and other priesthood holders nearby who would be prepared and willing to provide me with whatever I might need. Even if I did have the priesthood myself, I couldn't use it to give myself a blessing anyway.
In my mind, the priesthood is a qualification to be able to serve in certain capacities, kind of like someone 7 feet tall who can pull kites out of trees without a ladder. Am I depressed that I'm not 7 feet tall? Not really. Do I feel oppressed because I have to get a chair to reach the top shelves in my kitchen? Not really. How hard is it to pull over a chair? And I am tall enough to reach the lower shelves and help my children to reach things they are not yet tall enough to reach. Is someone better than me simply because they have been blessed by God with greater height than me? No!
Do I feel oppressed because I don't have the priesthood myself? Not a bit. I do what I can do, and I trust that I can still receive every blessing God has to offer.
No, we don't have the priesthood, but we do much of the same things a priest in another church might do: we speak and teach publicly in church. We pray. We organize church functions and activities. We help clean the church buildings. We pay visits to check on the well being of fellow church members. We offer shoulders to cry on. We serve where we are needed. We hold leadership positions in organizations to teach the children and young women, and in the biggest society of women in the world.
What can't we do? Bless or pass the sacrament. (But we can take the sacrament if we are worthy.) Baptize others. (But we can be baptized ourselves.) Give Priesthood blessings. (But we can receive those blessings whenever we need or desire them.) The list goes on, but my point is that although we may not have the priesthood ourselves, we do have full access to the blessings of the priesthood.
My sister-in-law, Kendra, shared this video on Facebook, where Sheri Dew, a former counselor in the General Relief Society Presidency, talks about this issue: What do LDS women get? I felt that she expresses a lot of my thoughts and ideas very well.
We get everything we need. We aren't held back. We aren't less than any man because of our lack of priesthood, and no man is better than us because he has it. Do I want to hold the priesthood? Not really. My husband has it and I reap the benefits of having it in my home. If he were gone, I have a home teacher and other priesthood holders nearby who would be prepared and willing to provide me with whatever I might need. Even if I did have the priesthood myself, I couldn't use it to give myself a blessing anyway.
In my mind, the priesthood is a qualification to be able to serve in certain capacities, kind of like someone 7 feet tall who can pull kites out of trees without a ladder. Am I depressed that I'm not 7 feet tall? Not really. Do I feel oppressed because I have to get a chair to reach the top shelves in my kitchen? Not really. How hard is it to pull over a chair? And I am tall enough to reach the lower shelves and help my children to reach things they are not yet tall enough to reach. Is someone better than me simply because they have been blessed by God with greater height than me? No!
Do I feel oppressed because I don't have the priesthood myself? Not a bit. I do what I can do, and I trust that I can still receive every blessing God has to offer.
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