Mormon Women and Priesthood
People often ask why Mormons don’t have female priesthood leaders. Today, there are still many churches, including The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, that do not have women in the priesthood, having noted from their study of the Bible that this was not the way it was done. Jesus had many women who followed Him, and whom He pointed out as outstanding examples of gospel living, but He didn’t select any of them to be His apostles. It was not that He considered them unable to do the work, or unworthy of the role; it was simply not the role assigned to women by God.
Tags: Mormon Women, Mormon Women and priesthood, Mormons, priesthood, Relief Socity
This entry was posted on Monday, June 15th, 2009 at 10:13 am and is filed under Array. You can follow any responses to this entry through the /feed feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
October 18th, 2009 at 4:24 pm
The argument that women shouldn’t want the priesthood because they can’t bless themselves with it misses the whole point of the priesthood! The priesthood is, as this writer points out, “to bless others through responsible use of God’s gifts”. What righteous believer would NOT want this blessing and responsibility? Yes, the priesthood frequently comes with responsibilities to lead, but surely the fact that women can lead in some areas shows that the Lord values their leadership, that it is not contrary to their callings as mothers and wives, and that there is no inherent inability or ineptitude which would disqualify them from leadership roles. As a Mormon woman earnestly endeavoring to be righteous and upright, I agree that women have “no particular need to hold it”. Nor do men, as is seen historically. However, the idea that we should have “no desire to hold the priesthood” is silly. The priesthood is the power to bless and serve in the Lord’s name, and we should all aspire to do this!
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terrie Reply:
October 27th, 2009 at 9:05 am
Margaret, I appreciate your thoughts on this subject. Perhaps I should have added the following scirpture and some discussion:
In the Doctrine and Covenants, we’re taught: “For all have not every agift given unto them; for there are many gifts, and to every man is given a gift by the Spirit of God.
12 To some is given one, and to some is given another, that all may be profited thereby.” (Doctrine and Covenants 46:11.)
The point of this scripture is to show all types of gifts are valued, none more than others. They are all given to allow us, if used wisely, to serve others. However, God gave us different gifts and different ways to serve.
There are many good and wonderful gifts and opportunities. For instance, giving birth is a wonderful gift, but God didn’t choose to give that gift to men. He could have, I presume, but He didn’t. It doesn’t demean men in any way that they are not able to give birth. It simply doesn’t happen to be the way God chose for them to serve.
Singing with a beautiful voice is also a glorious way to serve, but I wasn’t given that gift. I was, however, given other gifts. For instance, I can serve in the nursery and even be sorry when the day ends.
The point I wanted to make is that God is not demeaning anyone by not giving them every possible gift. While we can’t hold the priesthood, we can bless lives in other ways. While men can’t have babies, they can nurture children in other ways. A man can’t be the Relief Society president, but he can be the Elder’s Quorum president.
Gifts are chosen for us by God, and it’s critical that we accept the divine roles of gender in order to honor and respect the person God created us to be.
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