#How does the LDS Church explain the restoration of priesthood authority?

[mindfulldsliving]

Responding to Michelle Grimes: A Brief Look at the Melchizedek Priesthood for Latter-day Saints

Understanding the Melchizedek Priesthood is essential for members of the Latter-day Saint faith, especially in light of recent critiques from figures like Michelle Grimes. This article aims to shed light on the historical and scriptural foundations of this priesthood and how it continues to hold relevance today. Many may question how Latter-day Saints can hold the Melchizedek Priesthood amidst…

[nerdygaymormon]

(1/2) hi david! ok i have a quick thing abt women and the priesthood: its so frustrating to me, and it used to be 1/12 months we would study the priesthood and honestly they don't teach us anything really other than what kind of stuff they do (vaguely). i always try to bring up the talks about womens priesthood power (only if endowed lol) but they always get brushed off. when i said how unfair it was when i turned 12 that i couldn't get the priesthood my mom took me aside and talked to me about

(2/2) she said to think of it like a wheelchair for men, to help them to be able to do good and help others and give them motivation because if women had the priesthood they would want to help everyone (i cant even with that metaphor its so wrong) and honestly, why can't women hold the priesthood? has that ever been said? why? because we live in a man/father led society? im just really tired of all the barely hidden sexism in lessons + calling the guys 'the priesthood' i hate it so much. thanks!

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Yes, I remember those lessons. I thought for the young women and Relief Society the focus should be on how they can access the priesthood, why it matters there is priesthood and so on, not learning the young men can pass the sacrament (which btw, preparing or passing the sacrament doesn’t require the priesthood and we used to allow females to do this). 

And how come the people in priesthood quorums didn’t need to spend a month learning about women’s contributions, or motherhood, or a way to provide some equity for women having to put up with learning of the men’s roles for a month

Yes, I’ve heard the excuse that men need priesthood in order to train them to be as good as the women naturally are. I don’t buy it. If priesthood service boosts a person’s goodness, why would we not want women to participate?

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I feel like our Church doesn’t do a good job explaining it’s priesthood restrictions. That’s probably because there isn’t a good justification for them.

We had the disastrous ban of people of African descent not being eligible to hold the priesthood and also not allowed to receive temple blessings. Fortunately, in 1978 the temple blessings and allowing men of African descent to be part of the priesthood was restored. Now no one is banned based on race, ethnicity or national origin. 

In early church history, the revelations mention men and the priesthood. I think that’s the basis for the current ban on women. 

Was this absence of women intentional? 

Could this be a case of the word “man” being used to mean “mankind” and wasn’t supposed to exclude women? 

Maybe “men” is all the culture was able to accept at the time. Women didn’t have constitutional rights and weren’t allowed to vote, and were thought of as people who remain in the house while their husbands dealt with things in the broader world.

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For a long time, our church taught that women can “receive all the blessings of the priesthood” even if they don’t hold it themselves.

Today, President Nelson has indicated that something unique happens in the LDS temple ceremony — something that imparts priesthood power to women. In the temple, there are certain ordinances that women perform for other women, which indicates they have the priesthood even though they haven’t been formally ordained to the priesthood. 

Unfortunately, this isn’t very well defined. 

Do women who’ve been through the endowment ceremony hold priesthood power, even though they aren’t ordained, and are only authorized to use this priesthood in the temple? 

Could they be authorized to use this priesthood outside of the temple? 

Why are they only authorized to use their priesthood for other women and not men? 

Is this the Aaronic or Melchizedek priesthood, or is it some other branch of the priesthood? 

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I think it’s clear women can hold priesthood and wield its authority. There’s many examples from the Bible and early Church history. 

Judges 4-5 - Deborah was a judge of Israel, acting as a prophet and military leader at a time when women were treated like property and valued by the number of children they could bear.​ She didn’t follow the gender role expected of her, and showed God is willing to have women as leaders, women as prophetesses. Perhaps patriarchy isn’t God’s will but a cultural trait of the ancient Israelites which we now read in the Bible and think is of God.

Acts 2:17 - “And it shall come to pass in the last days, saith God, I will pour out my spirit upon all flesh: and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, and your young men shall see visions, and your old men shall dream dreams”

Is priesthood required to prophesy?

Romans 16 - powerful scripture for equality and inclusion--so many names of women in positions of authority and influence listed. There’s not enough details to know the exact roles of the women. Is a “fellow servant” an apostle? Is a woman who travels & teaches as Paul does, an apostle? What about the women who are leaders together with their husband? Some women sound like heads of the congregation, are they equivalent to bishops and pastors?

There’s an address from Joseph Smith to the Relief Society on March 30, 1842 that many believe indicates he intended for women to hold the priesthood. “the Society should move according to the ancient Priesthood, hence there should be a select Society separate from all the evils of the world, choice, virtuou[s] and holy— Said he was going to make of this Society a kingdom of priests an in Enoch’s day— as in Paul’s day”

Healing by the laying on of hands was a practice that was common for Mormon women in the 19th century, although it was said to be done by faith, not priesthood. There’s even a famous example of Mary Fielding Smith blessing an ox to health on the trek west to Utah. This practice was stopped because it was too similar to the priesthood.

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What our church has allowed women to do has varied, and needing priesthood authority was often the excuse for why women couldn’t do these things.

Women were barred from praying in Sacrament meeting from 1967 until 1978. 

In 1984, a woman spoke in general conference for the first time since 1930. Since then, women have spoken in every general conference.

Women were once permitted to join in or stand as an observer at the blessing of her baby, but today it’s priesthood only

In 2013, the first time a woman prays at General Conference.

In 2013, the "sister training leader" position is created, a leadership position for women who are missionaries. 

In 2015, the church appointed women to its executive councils for the first time.

2021, positions for women were created at the Area level of leadership in Europe, they’ll participate in leadership councils, and train Relief Society, Young Women and Primary Leaders.

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Can women hold the priesthood? I think the evidence points to yes. I believe we’re in the same situation as the priesthood ban of Black men where it’s now our tradition and belief and will take a revelation to undo. The question is, are the apostles and prophet seeking such a revelation?

If we extended the priesthood to all worthy members regardless of gender, that would solve several issues. For example, we have areas with many more women as active members, and the men in those congregations must shoulder several callings that require the priesthood. Their burden would be much lighter if women could share in the responsibilities

The disparity that women see in their everyday lives would be eliminated. They may be in a position of authority at work, but then on Sundays, for the most part they’re limited to working with women & children, and excluded from top leadership positions. I wrote a thing where I switched gender roles at church and I think it makes clear the messages we are sending to our members, particularly our impressionable children and teensagers. 

Then there’s the case of trans & intersex people. Is priesthood for men given according to their spirit or to their body? How do we know what gender is the spirit of an intersex person? If everyone were eligible for the priesthood, it would save us from having to answer what is perhaps an unanswerable question about whether the body & spirit of trans people got mismatched.

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We currently are not accessing the talents and capabilities of 1/2 the population. You’d think a church that has Heavenly Mother as part of its theology would be anxious to recognize the contributions that women can make and let them have leadership roles at all levels of the Church. 

[sistercalder]

February 26, 2018

Hey y'all,   Its been a really fun week! We started off the week by going to a historic mansion and then the art museum with Sister Heaps.  The paintings were amazing! I was wishing dad could've been there to tell me all about the art.  I felt like I was in Europe.  We taught English class on Tuesday.  Last week was my first week teaching because my companion has a thick accent and so it’s better if I’m up front teaching.  Last week we had 18 people show up to one of our classes!  This week was back down to 12.  Another good reason to learn some Spanish. We went out to Sunnyside on Wednesday and we haven't been able to get ahold of one of our investigators named Cinthia.  She is from Honduras but has lived here for a long time.  The sisters before me taught her a few times but since Ive been here she stopped responding to us so we decided to just show up at her house.  We found her at home and chatted a bit with her.  She had some basic questions about the book of mormon that the sisters had given her.  She started to say " I just don't know that God would add to His word and this is just really confusing.  I think I just want to stick to my bible."  My companion responded by saying " Remember how we told you that Jesus talked about His other sheep.  Can you read 2 Nephi 29:8?"  So she opens up the BOM and started to just read it to herself and my comp says.  "Can you read it out loud?" She says "No, I can't!  The words are too strong!"  She was shocked and then she started tearing up and then she says, "I'd like to come to church with you this Sunday"  Wahoo!! We were so amazed! Its crazy how that scripture just spoke to her heart.   So then on Sunday we had asked her to come 30 minutes early so we could show her around and the minutes just ticked by and pretty soon it was 10 till and no Cinthia.  So my comp and I were losing hope and then she just walked through the door with her 12 yr old son, Darwin.  Our 2nd counselor had found her and was really saying super great things about church so that she would stay for all three hours.  She loved it!  Her son made some friends in Sunday School and Young Mens and she asked if he could come to Wednesday night activities.  Sister Warner served her mission in Honduras in the area where Cinthia is from and so she invited her to lunch on Saturday with us.  Our ward is really awesome.  

Ok so now rewind back to Thursday and we went to go teach Leola.  She is blind because of cataracts and so she can’t read the Book of Mormon. So we call her almost everyday to read to her.  Her sister was just baptized into the LDS church a few weeks ago and so thats how Leola initially found the missionaries.  Thursday was the first time I met with her face to face.  We sat down to teach the plan of salvation but she couldn't remember anything the sisters taught about the Restoration so we retaught it to her.  The hardest thing about teaching the Restoration is having people understand the priesthood.  So we went really slow and Sister Jansen had this great analogy about how the great apostasy was like walking about blind and only being able to see shadows and when Joseph Smith was given the priesthood it was like a light went on and we can see things clearly again.  Then i had to explain that although she has been baptized already, most churches get their authority from men and we get our authority from God.  Then I asked her to be baptized and she said YES!  The worst is when peeps say "but I've already been baptized".  That means they don't get it.  So she is planning on being baptized on March 31st because she has cataract surgery the beginning of March. 

After Leola, we went to Otis's house.  Otis is a recent convert.  He has had a rough life and may not be all the way there but is the nicest old man!!  We go and read the book of mormon with him and he usually brings us sodas or some kind of packaged food.  This past time, Otis says, Come hungry because Ill make you dinner!  He always has two chairs out side of his house for us since we cant go in with just him there.  So we were sitting on the chairs and he comes out with microwaved TV dinners, bag of chips, a packaged roll, and a soda.  I looked down at my dinner of peas and pasta and it was covered with white dog hairs.  YUM! He also brings us soda at church every Sunday.  He is very very kind.  

Our ward does a fundraiser for youth camps every year and so we helped out with their project on Saturday.  Our ward went to 95 yards and mulched!  It was pretty fun. I got to wear sweats and be in the sunshine:)  That's about all the excitement for the week! I’ll send some pics too.   Love ya,Courtney