An Additional Thought (Lessons 13 & 14 Post)

As the title of this post indicates, I have an additional thought about my lesson post from chapters 13 & 14, but first, some context.

During the last two conferences I have become aware of a group who is advocating priesthood ordination for women.  According to what I've read (this article being just one),  at this last conference the group marched to the Tabernacle on Temple Square, despite being asked not to by church officials, asked to be seated in the priesthood session, and staged a protest when denied.  Also, once turned away, it appears they immediately run to the news media to bring more attention to their "plight" (whatever they perceive it to be).

 

Social media seems to have become the court of quick and definitive opinion.  Once something (a quote, a video, a blog post) goes "viral" people seem to immediately go from 0 to 60 in a matter of seconds to make their opinion known on the said subject (the Deseret News article I linked to has 151 comments).  Since I'm not social media savvy and read a limited amount of other blogs, I've only come across one post reacting to this group.  I found it quite compelling.  As for myself, I pound out this little blog of mine in basic anonymity (which is just fine with me) and don't purport to have any "earth shattering" remarks to add to what is probably a feeding frenzy on the Internet somewhere.  As I stated in an earlier post, I'm "just a guy trying to live the commandments of Christ to the best of my knowledge and ability."

Having said the above as an introductory backdrop, as I wrote the previous post, I found myself interested in two statements made in General Conference in October 2013 and April 2014, and two made at earlier times (25 and 13 years ago respectively).  They didn't seem to work with the basic information I discussed, but I couldn't stop thinking about them, so I am writing this addendum.  First, from Elder Neil L. Anderson:

"We sometimes overly associate the power of the priesthood with men in the Church. The priesthood is the power and authority of God given for the salvation and blessing of all—men, women, and children.

 "A man may open the drapes so the warm sunlight comes into the room, but the man does not own the sun or the light or the warmth it brings. The blessings of the priesthood are infinitely greater than the one who is asked to administer the gift" (Ensign, Nov. 2013, 92, emphasis added).

The next quote was spoken by Elder Dallin H. Oaks in the priesthood session of this most recent conference:

"We are not accustomed to speaking of women having the authority of the priesthood in their Church callings, but what other authority can it be? When a woman—young or old—is set apart to preach the gospel as a full-time missionary, she is given priesthood authority to perform a priesthood function. The same is true when a woman is set apart to function as an officer or teacher in a Church organization under the direction of one who holds the keys of the priesthood. Whoever functions in an office or calling received from one who holds priesthood keys exercises priesthood authority in performing her or his assigned duties.

"Whoever exercises priesthood authority should forget about their rights and concentrate on their responsibilities. That is a principle needed in society at large. The famous Russian writer Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn is quoted as saying, 'It is time … to defend not so much human rights as human obligations.'  Latter-day Saints surely recognize that qualifying for exaltation is not a matter of asserting rights but a matter of fulfilling responsibilities" (Ensign, May 2014, 51, emphasis added).

Both of these quotes shed greater light on the power and authority Father in Heaven has granted to His sons.  In terms of precedence, the priesthood "was confirmed to be handed down from father to son, and rightly belongs to the literal descendants of the chosen seed, to whom the promises were made" (D&C 107:40).  Even so, according to these two Apostles, the blessings of the priesthood are far greater than the one administering those blessings and anyone, regardless of gender, exercises priesthood authority when performing their assigned callings.

 

Based on this understanding, what am I to make of this group?  Their leader is quoted in the Deseret News article I linked to above as stating: "I have no right to remain silent because I love this church" in response to the plea from the church to not take her group's protest to Temple Square.  In fact, two other women quoted in the article seem to go out of their way to make sure they are on the record about the fact that they "love" the church.  Honestly, I find this quote to be disingenuous.  They say they "love the church" (as if that somehow mitigates what they are doing), but feel compelled to speak out on a perceived "equality problem" where none exists (speaking of the church and its doctrine as a whole).  Fomenting contention and dissension is made to appear noble when it is not.

While no one has said it specifically (although it appears to be implied), one criticism of the brethren I have heard more than once is that they are "out of touch" with the world around them.  Because they are 60 to 90 years of age, the "logic" goes, we can't expect them to be "in sync" with the worldly trends.  I find this view to be myopic.  The Lord does not call these brothers (or the sisters of the auxiliaries) because they have lived their lives in a box.  When I think about the professional things they accomplished previous to their calls and the people they have met and the places they have traveled and the opportunities to learn the workings of the Spirit over their years of service, "out of touch" is the last thing they could be accused of.  As I read or listen to their talks and learn about the things they are doing, my feeling is that they have a very good idea of what is happening in the world today with its trends and opinions.  I would do myself to terrible disservice to believe that the age of these brethren and sisters somehow disqualifies them from holding the offices they've been called to perform.  Nevertheless, their words are parsed, criticized and haggled over constantly and the work they do is shrugged off by some as meaningless.

Criticism, dissension, protests, none of this is new, unfortunately.  In doing some research for another lesson, I came across this quote given in October of 1989 from then Elder Boyd K. Packer which fits with the current situation:

"There are those within the Church who are disturbed when changes are made with which they disagree or when changes they propose are not made. They point to these as evidence that the leaders are not inspired.

"They write and speak to convince others that the doctrines and decisions of the Brethren are not given through inspiration.

"Two things characterize them: they are always irritated by the word obedience, and always they question revelation. It has always been so. Helaman described those who 'began to disbelieve in the spirit of prophecy and in the spirit of revelation; and the judgments of God did stare them in the face' (Hel. 4:23) 'They were left in their own strength' (Hel. 4:13), and 'the Spirit of the Lord did no more preserve them; yea, it had withdrawn from them' (Hel. 4:24)"   (Ensign, Nov. 1989, 33 , emphasis added).

Each six months during conference I am given the opportunity to sustain President Monson and his counselors and the members of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles as "prophets, seers, and revelators."  This is not a perfunctory matter, at least, it isn't supposed to be.  When I raise my right arm to the square, I am stating that I support them in their callings as the mouthpieces of the Lord and will do all that I can to follow their teachings (not out of a blind obedience, but with a full exercising of moral agency) because I believe the Savior when He said "whether by mine own voice or by the voice of my servants, it is the same" (D&C 1:38).  If I am going to sustain these brethren (or, at least declare that I "love" the church they have been called by God to lead), how can I then turn around and claim that my dissenting voice is somehow more inspired than they?

My final quote was spoken thirteen years ago in a conference address given by Sheri L. Dew, who at the time (October 2001) was the Second Counselor in the Relief Society General Presidency.  In light of this group and their demands, I find it to be a very prescient statement:

"My young sisters, some will try to persuade you that because you are not ordained to the priesthood you have been shortchanged. They are simply wrong, and they do not understand the gospel of Jesus Christ. The blessings of the priesthood are available to every righteous man and woman. We may all receive the Holy Ghost, obtain personal revelation, and be endowed in the temple, from which we emerge 'armed' with power.  The power of the priesthood heals, protects, and inoculates all of the righteous against the powers of darkness. Most significantly, the fulness of the priesthood contained in the highest ordinances of the house of the Lord can only be received by a man and woman together" (Ensign, Nov. 2001, 13, emphasis added).

I've become convinced that the greatest tool in Satan's bag for this day and age is distraction.  If he can distract us from a proper understanding of the priesthood by fomenting dissension, he will do it.  If he can distract us by arguing moot points on social media sites, he will do it.  If he can distract us by entrenching ourselves in pro or con foxholes and lobbing verbal mustard gas at each other in a spirit of contention, he will do it.  My wife is not diminished because she doesn't have the priesthood conferred upon her, but when I am able to use it in her behalf, we are both strengthened.  At a time when we need to be more unified, it is unfortunate that some decide to become quarrelsome, but as we hurtle toward the Second Coming, this is part of what the Lord meant when He declared that "all things shall be in commotion" (D&C 88:91).  The strait and narrow path is rigorous enough with all its peaks and valleys, switch-backs and straight-aways, uneven, rocky areas and smooth, easy stretches without me building mountains where none existed.