Why Are We Upset That Some Women Want The Priesthood?

[Freedom]

If women get the priesthood, can I stop wearing a tie to church? Who would be trained to be mothers? Who would preside in the home? Would priesthood commemoration camps become co-ed? Will the young womens program be abandoned and will all girls join scouts since it is the activity arm of the priesthood? Will women have to purchase all white dresses to perform ordinances? Will bishoprics become co-ed? Hmmm, I wonder how many excommunication this will lead to...

I put neutral. I just don't care. I don't know why anybody cares. Why are we not having poles on what is causing our youth to leave the church, or what can be done to stop the plague of pornography Do these social advocates believe that allowing women to receive the priesthood will change the world? If so, how?

[wenglund]

For me, it depends upon whether the announcement is made on April 1st of not.

Thanks, -Wade Englund-

[Buckeye]

If women get the priesthood, can I stop wearing a tie to church?

You don't have to wear one now.

Who would be trained to be mothers?

Um .... women.

Who would preside in the home?

Moms and Dads

Would priesthood commemoration camps become co-ed?

Why not? Lots of units still have ward campouts.

Will the young womens program be abandoned and will all girls join scouts since it is the activity arm of the priesthood?

Probably more of the reverse. Scouting is the activity arm of YM. It has no real ties to priesthood.

Will women have to purchase all white dresses to perform ordinances?

No, they can wear suits like the boys.

Will bishoprics become co-ed? Hmmm, I wonder how many excommunication this will lead to...

Statistically speaking, it will lead to "some". Same as any practice that requires interaction between men and women. If you want to avoid male-female interation, move to Saudi Arabia. FWIW, some of the sharpest criticism of Savior derived from his breaking of traditional boundaries between men and women.

I put neutral. I just don't care. I don't know why anybody cares. Why are we not having poles on what is causing our youth to leave the church, or what can be done to stop the plague of pornography Do these social advocates believe that allowing women to receive the priesthood will change the world? If so, how?

Well, you have a golden opportunity to find out why some people care. Read their profiles on ordainwomen.org. I have yet to meet a "social advocate" who is trying to address all problems in the church or the world. Just because these men and women are not addressing all concerns, does not mean they cannot do great good in addressing this concern.

[Bikeemikey]

This is a repost of a comment I made in a different thread. I thought it applied here also.

People sharing their experiences (even negative) with the church leadership and broader church community, and at the same time proposing some solutions that they feel would help mitigate these negative experiences, is not a bad thing.

I think we should communicate with our Church in the same way we communicate with the Lord. We have the model for prayer from our BOM study manual...

From the lesson on Ether 1:43. “This Long Time Ye Have Cried unto Me”

•The Lord explained to the brother of Jared that blessings had come to his people as a result of prayers offered over a long time. Enduring obedience coupled with frequent and persistent prayers is powerful. In an 1839 discourse in Commerce, Illinois, the Prophet Joseph Smith taught: “God is not a respecter of persons, we all have the same privilege. Come to God weary him until he blesses you &c we are entitled to the same blessings” ([recorded in Willard Richards Pocket Companion, 78–79] cited in The Words of Joseph Smith: The Contemporary Accounts of the Nauvoo Discourses of the Prophet Joseph, comp. Andrew F. Ehat and Lyndon W. Cook [1980], 15).

•President Spencer W. Kimball (1895–1985) similarly taught that we must put great effort into our prayers and that we must pray frequently:

“Do you get answers to your prayers? If not, perhaps you did not pay the price. Do you offer a few trite words and worn-out phrases, or do you talk intimately to the Lord? Do you pray occasionally when you should be praying regularly, often, constantly? Do you offer pennies to pay heavy debts when you should give dollars to erase that obligation?

“When you pray, do you just speak, or do you also listen? Your Savior said, ‘Behold, I stand at the door, and knock: if any man hear my voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with me.’ (Rev. 3:20.)

“... Should we ever fail to get an answer to our prayers, we must look into our lives for a reason” (“Prayer,” New Era, Mar. 1978, 17).

We do not communicate with our church leaders through prayer, we communicate with them through other methods... however, using the same level of effort in these communications is not a bad thing. Weary them. If they say yes great. If they don't no harm done.

This kind of disent can not harm the Church as it has no direct impact on the real mechanisms of change (revelation from God). That said, this kind of disent can frame the questions that leaders seek answers to... this seems to have been part of our history already... OD1 & OD2 bear this out.

Edited March 27, 2013 by Bikeemikey

[Mola Ram Suda Ram]

"

Why Are We Upset That Some Women Want The Priesthood?"

I am sure there are many reason. One of them is because it appears to be based on envy. To the genral idea, I am not upset.

It is the same old activist liberal way of doing things that is getting me upset. "Lets organize for change". I am sorry but that just is not how things are done in the church.

Edited March 27, 2013 by Mola Ram Suda Ram

[Bikeemikey]

"

Why Are We Upset That Some Women Want The Priesthood?"

I am sure there are many reason. One of them is because it appears to be based on envy. To the genral idea, I am not upset.

It is the same old activist liberal way of doing things that is getting me upset. "Lets organize for change". I am sorry but that just is not how things are done in the church.

Seems to have been an integral part of historical change with blacks and the priesthood for example.

I even know of a ward that got merged with another ward and the merged ward decided to have a "sit-out", that is they stopped coming until the ward was reestablished... only took 3 weeks.

[Saints Alive]

SO if women are given the PH does that mean we would have to go back and give it to all of our female ancestors? That seems like a lot of temple work.

[Buckeye]

SO if women are given the PH does that mean we would have to go back and give it to all of our female ancestors? That seems like a lot of temple work.

I think it would be awesome. All temple work is "a lot of work" but that's true of anything of value. Simply conferring the priesthood would only take about 10 seconds per person - same as we do now for men. Time wise, its pretty small potatoes compared to endownments. We could get caught up in 2-3 months.

[Calm]

Do they confer the priesthood by proxy in the temple?

add-on: never mind, found the answer for myself, can't believe I have forgotten that...actually I can believe it, my brain is half holes these days it seems.

Edited March 27, 2013 by calmoriah

[Buckeye]

Do they confer the priesthood by proxy in the temple?

Yes, for men, receiving the MP is a necessary prerequisite for receiving washings, endownment, and sealing. Living men who decline the priesthood are damned as to receiving temple ordinances. So too for the deceased.

[klakak]

Pointless topic, pointless poll. It's not going to happen. Men have a certain roll established since the beginning of time, same with women. Enough of the 'I want what he has' stuff. This and the whole gay marriage thing are the same: people think they can change God's mind, and it will never happen. I think some of the 'Thou shalt not covet' stuff is being crossed here. I think some people confuse progress and equality with signs of the times.

Man and woman, in marriage, become One. There, they are able to have children, and the priesthood in the home. The woman, by way of the husband (or male children, her father/uncle, ect), has the priesthood, and the man, by way of the wife, is able to have children.

[CV75]

I would approve/be happy about it*, but I am not unapproving/unhappy about the way things stand today.

*In many ways I think women already have the priesthood--exactly what do you mean by "get the priesthood"?

[Saints Alive]

I think it would be awesome. All temple work is "a lot of work" but that's true of anything of value. Simply conferring the priesthood would only take about 10 seconds per person - same as we do now for men. Time wise, its pretty small potatoes compared to endownments. We could get caught up in 2-3 months.

The amount of work issue is a side point, would women who have died up to this point need the priesthood? Presumably women don't need to be ordained in this life to be exalted, so why would we do the work for the dead?

[Pahoran]

Sorry, how do you know that it is semi-active women agitating for ordination?

I strongly suspect that the agitators are semi-active (or less.) I say this because, in my experience, only real conviction is sufficient to motivate people to remain fully active; and real conviction is not compatible with the view that the Priesthood is a merely social construct designed to "empower" people, or something.

I can see myself agitating for social change in several organisations to which I belong; such agitation would be based upon the assumption that all decision-making power is located entirely within the group, which answers to no higher authority outside of itself. There are people who hold such views about the Church of Jesus Christ; but in holding such views, they are rather explicitly rejecting some of the Church's most important claims about itself. They are therefore not, to put it bluntly, believing Latter-day Saints.

And if they're not believing, they're not likely to sustain any serious level of activity for very long.

Regards,

Pahoran

[Pahoran]

The amount of work issue is a side point, would women who have died up to this point need the priesthood? Presumably women don't need to be ordained in this life to be exalted, so why would we do the work for the dead?

If we accept (and I suppose we do) that women don't need to be ordained to be exalted, then exactly what is the issue here?

Regards,

Pahoran

[omni]

It's funny how if someone here were to suggest that women shouldn't be able to hold public office, or serve in a corporate position at large company they would be roundly criticized, but when it comes to religion this pre-20th century thinking is suddenly en vogue. Remember, the OP didn't say "if the brethren took a poll", it said "if God revealed in the upcoming conference session that women were to have the priesthood". We talk constantly about what a blessing and privilege it is to hold the priesthood, but if God revealed that all worthy members were able to hold this incredible gift you would feel neutral or negative about it? Please help me understand this line of reasoning.

[mercyngrace]

So, after pondering this today, I finally voted. The wording of the question is what ultimately swayed me. If we suppose that such an announcement were made in conference, I would approve.

Isn't that part of sustaining the brethren?

ETA: Omni, we were posting simultaneously and apparently thinking the same thing.

Edited March 28, 2013 by mercyngrace

[Yep]

It's funny how if someone here were to suggest that women shouldn't be able to hold public office, or serve in a corporate position at large company they would be roundly criticized, but when it comes to religion this pre-20th century thinking is suddenly en vogue. Remember, the OP didn't say "if the brethren took a poll", it said "if God revealed in the upcoming conference session that women were to have the priesthood". We talk constantly about what a blessing and privilege it is to hold the priesthood, but if God revealed that all worthy members were able to hold this incredible gift you would feel neutral or negative about it? Please help me understand this line of reasoning.

It is the problem I believe the Jews of the NT had. You have one specific idea set in your mind, and to accept that that idea is wrong is a difficult thing for most. I put neutral because I believe that if this happened it would probably be one of the first times I feel I might struggle accepting something. It goes against what I feel has been taught. I would accept it, but it would be difficult, and initially I believe I would feel neutral until I received a personal testimony of the revelation.

[Hamba Tuhan]

We talk constantly about what a blessing and privilege it is to hold the priesthood, but if God revealed that all worthy members were able to hold this incredible gift you would feel neutral or negative about it? Please help me understand this line of reasoning.

I haven't voted because I wouldn't feel positive, negative, or neutral at all. I'm a practical man. I'd be busy wondering about the 'logistics' and how we would manage to implement what the Lord had asked us to do. That's all.

[Shanky82]

I voted disapproval /upset not because I would be against it. I voted disapproval because it would mean that women in the Church would have twice as many responsiblities as we men. Extending the priesthood to women wouldn't make us equal; it would make us unequal by creating an uneven burden on the women in the Church. The commandment to get married and have children would still be in force and I highly doubt that the Lord would give a revelation telling us me to stop working. The role cannot be inter changeable for obvious biological reasons.

[Shanky82]

My above post should read I"I highly doubt the Lord would give a revelation telling us men to stop working..."

[Shanky82]

Dang it I can type. I know how to use a key board...

[Calm]

Dang it I can type. I know how to use a key board...

20 more posts and you can edit...

[CASteinman]

I voted disapproval /upset not because I would be against it. I voted disapproval because it would mean that women in the Church would have twice as many responsiblities as we men. Extending the priesthood to women wouldn't make us equal; it would make us unequal by creating an uneven burden on the women in the Church. The commandment to get married and have children would still be in force and I highly doubt that the Lord would give a revelation telling us me to stop working. The role cannot be inter changeable for obvious biological reasons.

There is a way that I agree with you.

[CASteinman]

Remember, the OP didn't say "if the brethren took a poll", it said "if God revealed in the upcoming conference session that women were to have the priesthood".

But that is not how the poll is written up. I answered the Poll Question for the poll.