Conference: Priesthood and Women

I don't have a ton of time to post (the life of a college student), but this morning I read this article: LDS Church responds to priesthood meeting request by activists and I tried to explain my thoughts to Andrew and he asked me to write it down so he'd have time to talk about it when he wasn't working. When I went to write my thoughts down, I decided this blog could use an update. I'd love to hear your comments below, but please be nice. I'm just trying to have an open mind.

So I got to this article because the church announced that it would be broadcasting the Priesthood Session live for the first time this conference. That is super exciting for me! Here's why. In the past, I've had a huge problem with how I was not allowed to attend Priesthood Session. (Any of my guy friends from high school will attest that I always requested detailed notes from them. And my husband and father have always been under the same obligation.) Some women will say, "What's the big deal? We get Relief Society Conference and they get Priesthood. Why can't you just be happy with the equality?" Thus let me explain where my ruffled feathers came from.

First, as a kid, I was always crazy dedicated to conference. I take notes like no other and I LOVE the stories. Be honest. There are WAY more and WAY better stories during the Priesthood Session. Always. Maybe because they know they'll get their point across better to guys with stories than with touching emotions. We're different. And we get different conferences because of it. That's fine and I love it.

BUT Relief Society is broadcast live. (Probably because of all the single mothers who cannot always get a babysitter.) But nevertheless, it is broadcast live and Priesthood is not. Priesthood is all hush hush men only women not invited. I never wanted to go to Priesthood live. I just wanted to be able to watch it broadcast from home. Why? Not just because I love the stories. And not just because I felt slighted by not being included. I wanted to know what the boys were being taught at Priesthood so I could support and remind during the year. I had a lot of guy friends that were struggling with the gospel and I wanted to be able to use conference to have meaningful conversations about their duties and responsibilities. But NOOOOO, women aren't invited. Well, aka-scuse me. Yes, I know I could read them weeks after. But really? If I can read them after, why can't I watch it live?

So, now women can watch Priesthood at home. Maybe you don't care and don't want to. Or maybe you'll feel similar to me and want to watch so you can have meaningful conversations with sons and husbands and friends about the Prophet's counsel. Whatever floats your boat.

Now that that's out, there's actually something different about this article. The LDS Church released their statement (through a woman spokesperson . . . which was anything but coincidental) about Priesthood being broadcast because there are a group of women who formally requested to have tickets to the live Priesthood session. They were denied because:


"It is the hope of the church that the priesthood session will strengthen the men and young men including fathers and sons, and give them the opportunity to gather and receive instruction related to priesthood duties and responsibilities much the same way parallel meetings are held for sisters, such as the general Relief Society meeting. It’s for these reasons that tickets for the priesthood session are reserved for men and young men and we are unable to honor your request for tickets or admission."

Ok. I don't feel strong enough about going to conference live to care about that, but that does rub me the wrong way. Just because the counsel is for men . . . . why does that require women to go away? Especially if those women are wives and mothers. Whatever, that's an unrelated point.

Basically these women who requested tickets to the live session are still planning to meet at Cedar Creek Park before hand, sing a hymn, and walk over together to request to be let in without tickets. I have no doubt they'll be denied, but I feel bad for both those women and the ushers who are going to have to deal with it. My point is, these women are not trying to go to Priesthood for the same reasons I wanted to go to Priesthood. In one of the founder's words:


"This isn't really just about going to priesthood meeting. This is about the ordination of women to the priesthood. We consider ourselves to be prospective priesthood holders, and we want to go to priesthood meeting so we can show our leaders that we are ready for both the benefits and responsibilities of the priesthood. That is our focus."

Now. Please stop for a moment and don't hate. Listen to this next quote. They aren't "protesting" or "rioting" or anything. In their own words, they are "demonstrating our faith by standing at the door and knocking."

Now I know many of you, will shake your head and tell me, "Kenzie, you and these women are missing the point. We have equal but different responsibilities in the church and just because women don't have the Priesthood doesn't mean that they aren't equal members of the church." And I'll tell you. . . . maybe. I want you to take a thought experiment with me. I don't necessarily believe what I'm going to say and I don't necessarily think what I'm about to say is wrong. I just want you to think outside of the Mormon culture in which you were raised and think about the future.

So I'm sure you all remember the situation with Blacks and the Priesthood. Yes? That's a totally unrelated history point that I refuse to engage anyone in right now, but I want you to keep in mind that history while I spew my thought experiment out. I also want you to keep in mind the women in the early days of the church who performed Priesthood ordinances and blessings.

Also, please keep in mind that women perform Priesthood ordinances in the temple. I don't think I'm saying anything wrong by sharing that information. My family members have ALWAYS brought this up to me as if that would settle all my equality issues. It doesn't. But that's another unrelated point.

I have often had the "inequality" of men and women in the church described to me this way. "Before the Fall, men and women shared their responsibilities completely. But after the Fall, something had to be done to make it easier on men and women to complete their responsibilities and return to the Celestial Kingdom. Thus the duties were split and men have certain duties and women have other duties. (Insert joke about "dead guy dooties" here. If you don't get it, just move on.)

In the church, men have the Priesthood and thus provide a spiritual component of salvation by providing ordinances needed to return to the Celestial Kingdom. Women through the miraculous event of birth, provide a temporal component by providing a body. We cannot return to the Celestial Kingdom without the help of a woman and a man. A woman to get a body and a man to get the needed ordinances. Then in the home, the roles are kind of swapped. Men provide temporal needs by providing and protecting their family and women provide spiritual needs by nurturing the children.

Awesome explanation, right? That last paragraph I came up with on my own a while back to help calm my troubled soul. And I like it a lot. Not church doctrine, but I still like it and it does relate to the Family Proclamation pretty well.

Now, here's the thought experiment. If the duties were split . . . then maybe, just maybe, as we get closer to the millennium or maybe not until the millennium, the duties will be brought back together. Imagine this: sometime in the future, women are given the priesthood as well. Leading up to it, women slowly band together like the women above and they never protest. They only have faith that if they show they are ready for the benefits and responsibilities of the priesthood, the leaders of the church will realize that it's time to bring the duties back together. When the Priesthood is given to both men and women, maybe the duties won't be exactly the same. Perhaps there will be different quorums for the women. And like the deacons, teachers, and priests have different duties, these female quorums will have different duties. But they will have access to the Priesthood by their own faithfulness and not just through their husbands or their bishop.

I'm just saying . . . can't you maybe imagine this? I have no doubt that this will not happen this year . . . or in the next five years . . . or maybe not even in my lifetime . . . or really maybe, not even at all. Because it is just a thought experiment and not grounded in any doctrine that I know of. But is it possible that the true order of things includes women? And maybe we're just not there yet because the leaders and the people are not ready for such a big change? (Happened before . . . just saying.)

I've always wondered what Heavenly Mother's job is up there . . . surely her usefulness didn't just end when all the spirit bodies of her children were created and once Christ had a body . . . right? I like to think of Heavenly Mother and Heavenly Father as equal and as working together in each part of this grand plan to get each individual child back.

But like I said. It's not doctrine and thus I'm not going to set all my hopes and testimony on it. I'll keep plugging along working to understand the doctrine I do have and slowly add components to my little testimony. But I am very interested to see how this plays out in my lifetime.

I also very stressed about General Conference now. On one hand, I desperately want someone to talk about this topic and give me the true doctrine. On the other hand, I'm scared that the "true doctrine" will either be held back because of prejudices of church leaders (please know that I am not trying to disparage the prophet but he is only a man and man/woman does have bias as I have learned too well in my church life) OR will hurt so much that my tiny testimony will be shattered and I'll have to start all over again.

I have more thoughts swirling around my head that I'd love to get out to you, but I've actually been picked to be the keynote speaker at my Relief Society's Super Saturday and I'm going to talk on "Finding the Divine Nature of Women". I'll let you know how it goes and what I say. I haven't even figured it all out myself yet. So I'll save some of my thoughts till then.

In the meantime, what are your thoughts? Has this ever been a question for you? Has this never bothered you even once? < --- If that last one's the case, please tell me why because I'd love to get more insight. Did I misunderstand something you've told me before? Or am I missing something you've figured out for yourself?

Basically. Just post below.

Love you all! Enjoy conference!

Kenzie