Women and the Priesthood

 The following is a talk that I gave in Sacrament meeting today:

I’m going to do something a little backwards and start my talk with sharing a part of my testimony.  Through the preparation of this talk, I have gained insight about something I haven’t fully understood in the gospel of Jesus Christ.  Knowledge has been gained because I asked others about my topic and then studied.  After doing that for a few days, I went to the Lord.  It’s interesting to me that this week in Come Follow Me we are talking about the same type of action that Joseph Smith took.  It all started with a question, right?  So I went to the Lord to help me understand the Priesthood and how woman play a role in it.  I want to testify to you that if you go to the Lord with a question or need guidance, He will provide.  For me it took some time.  This is a very confusing topic for me.  But the Lord did answer my question by guiding me to ask women in this ward, my Mom, my sister-in-law, and some of my college friends about their feelings on the subject. 

To get to the topic of the Women and the Priesthood, I feel that you have to understand the Priesthood first.  The Priesthood is the authority and power of God.  It is through this power and authority that Heavenly Father accomplishes what He said in Moses 1:39, “For behold, this is my work and my glory - to bring to pass the immortality and eternal life of man.”  The holders of the Priesthood are worthy males of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints.  This is where some people outside the Church and even in the Church, get a little squirmy.  But I hope that for those of you who are confused about the topic or do not know as much as you’d like to, would really listen to this next part.  It is only the ordination of the Priesthood that woman do not hold.  That is it!  Men are not the Priesthood.  President Dallin H. Oaks said, “Priesthood is not those who have been ordained to a priesthood office or those who exercise its authority. Men who hold the priesthood are not the priesthood. While we should not refer to ordained men as the priesthood, it is appropriate to refer to them as holders of the priesthood.”  And President M. Russell Ballard said, “In our Heavenly Father’s great Priesthood-endowed plan, men have the unique responsibility to administer the Priesthood, but they are not the Priesthood.”   

I will be quoting a lot of people in this talk and I hope that you do not mind that I also quote a member of our ward.  She is one of the people I came to, to help me better understand not only this subject but also how other members view it.  I asked Sister VanderWerff, “What is the first thing that comes to your mind when it comes to Women and the Priesthood?”  She said, “Women have a divine role in the Priesthood but it’s not to be misunderstood with the (worthy) man’s role in the Priesthood.  Women can do certain things that men can’t and vice versa.  I consider my role as a woman and the Priesthood to be sacred and not taken lightly.”  So while a Woman may not be able to administer Priesthood ordinances, give blessings, or be the Bishop neither can a Priesthood holder be a Primary President, a temple ordinance worker for women, and lets not forget that they can’t have babies!  President Hugh B. Brown spoke of the divine partnership with God as women create babies in the womb and continue to create a masterpiece as she guides and directs her children throughout their life.  He said, “You women exert the first and most lasting influence on your child when you co-operate with God in building its body.  As you cradle it in your arms, nourish and nurtures it by your love and sacrifice, as you stimulate its intellect, its ambition, strengthen its spiritual and moral fiber, you are intimately co-operating with your Heavenly Father.”  Brothers and Sisters, I have a testimony that both women and men have a divine place, different from each other, that furthers our Father’s work and glory.  Sister Sheri Dew said, “The responsibilities, roles, and divinely endowed gifts of men and women differ in nature but not in quality, significance, or degree of importance, impact, or influence.  Latter-Day Saint doctrine places women equal to, and yet distinct and different from, men.” 

If anyone is still bothered that Women in the church is not eligible for Priesthood ordination, maybe the following idea will help.  Women and the Priesthood is not the only thing that members outside of our Church have a problem with.  And I’d be lying to you if I said that I never questioned all that has been taught to me concerning the Church or the Gospel of Jesus Christ.  My advice to you when you come across things like this is to approach the Lord about it and study.  If you still do not feel you have a solid answer after that, what I turn to is the pre-existence.  I like to think that if I stood up for Plan of Salvation in our Pre-Mortal life, it must be assumed that I stood up and believed in the way the Priesthood would be performed and by whom while here on Earth.  And if I can take that idea and spin it in a way to promote the idea that women have always been involved in the workings of God’s plan, I’d like to share with you a quote from Elder Bruce R. McConkie.  Speaking of women being a part of the “noble and great ones” that Abraham spoke of when the Lord showed him part of the creation of Earth he said, “This we know: Christ, under the Father, is the Creator, Michael, his companion and associate, presided over much of the creative work: and with them, as Abraham saw, were many of the noble and great ones.  Can we do other than conclude that Mary and Eve, and Sarah and myriads of our faithful sisters were numbered among them?  Certainly, these sisters labored as diligently then and fought as valiantly in the War in Heaven as did the brethren, even as they in like manner stand firm today…”

Worthy men have direct access to the blessings of the Priesthood…but so do covenant keeping women.  We all can be led by the Holy Ghost, we all can gain eternal life, we all can receive personal revelation, we all can be sealed forever with our families, we all can have direct council from our Lord through Priesthood blessings, and so much more!  Yet Satan would have us believe that is not enough.  That our divine identity, that men and women are different, is a bad thing.  If he can get women to believe that Christ’s Church does not love or care for them - if he can convince women that they are not enough - he knows that he is successfully leading the noble and great ones away.  Thankfully, our Father in Heaven has more faith in women.  I like how Sherri Dew put it.  She said, “(Satan) hates women of the noble birthright.  He hates them because he is almost out of time.  He hates them because of the influence (Women) have on husbands and children and boyfriends, grandchildren and nieces and nephews, family and friends, the Church and even the world.  It is no secret to him that covenant-keeping women are one of the Lord’s most effective weapons against his sinful, sinister strategies.” 

There is one other part of this subject on Women and the Priesthood that I want to make sure that I address and that is for Women who feel they “don’t have the Priesthood in their homes.”

  SISTER REYNA I. ABURTO said, “I always feel sad when I hear a woman say: “I don’t have the priesthood in my home.”  She generally means there is no one holding a priesthood office living in her home. Be assured that a single woman or a woman whose husband does not hold a priesthood office doesn’t need to feel she is cut off from priesthood power and blessings.  These sisters have access to power through their covenants, and the faithfulness with which they keep those covenants can bless every member of their household.  And while they will call on brothers who hold a Melchizedek priesthood office for blessings of health or comfort, they are nevertheless themselves a source of priesthood power for their own homes.”

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