Ordination of Women

Some say The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is run by men.  

In truth, it is run by Jesus Christ, under the direction of God the Father, via the Holy Ghost.  

It is not headed by Thomas Monson, nor by any preceding prophet.  Prophets serve as God's mouthpiece to his church and to the world.  (Amos 3:7)  The power by which this church runs is called the priesthood, which is the same power through which God operates.  Men receive the right, or the authority, to use this power, or in other words, act in God's name, in graduating stages beginning at age 12.  Historically, God has given this right only to limited groups and currently it is not given to women. 

But it's important to remember that it does not come from, nor belong to, mortal men.  It is not the power of men.  They can only use it upon strict conditions of worthiness.  If they lose this worthiness, including through unrighteous dominion, they lose their authority.  (D&C 121:37)

This priesthood power is used to administer necessary ordinances for salvation, such as baptism.  It allows that which happens in mortality, to be valid in immortality.  It is also used to give blessings of comfort and healing, available to us through the Lord's Atonement.  (Alma 7: 11-12)   It is not the only access to God's power.  Any and all of us can call upon God through prayer.  He hears ALL sincere prayers and especially, in my opinion, those of a mother.

Gender is part of our eternal identity and God has given each similar and differing roles.   The highest and most far-reaching role was given to .... women.  We can bear children.  This most important function in all of God's infinite realm must be protected and preserved.  Everything else revolves around it!  This world, mortal and immortal, was created through the priesthood to provide for the bearing of children, both spiritually, and physically.  It is the premier ... the highest form of creation that exists.  And God gave that profoundly important assignment to women.  In other words, exalted male deity create worlds, but exalted female deity create the bodies for the souls who rule those worlds.  Therefore, IF a hierarchy exists, women occupy the top.  

God shares his power with men to use as a divine tool to protect and support the creative power given to women.   And as is everything God does, or ever has done, it is all a form of serving us.  Through women, God creates mankind and through men, God serves mankind.  And we all must in turn, assist and support each other in our respective roles of serving, honoring, and obeying the Lord to further his great plan.  

Marriage and family are the God-given avenues in which women are to create.  Families must be protected, preserved, and assisted, and again, this responsibility falls heavily upon men.  Both husband and wife, father and mother, support each other and lead the family equally, but in their different roles.  And I do not mean laundry or lawn-mowing.  

Some people think it's time that women are ordained to receive the priesthood just as men are, and until this becomes part of our doctrine, women are short-changed or under-valued.  I disagree.  And since I am an LDS woman, I also claim the right to express my opinion.  Only if and when God wants this to happen, will it happen.  And if so, God will reveal it to his prophet.  It is our responsibility to remain humble, worthy, and open, for whatever God has planned for us.  And I suspect that he has much more in store for us than we realize.

Something to consider:  It could be that women are not currently ordained with priesthood power so to strengthen marriages and in turn, families.  If men and women were given identical roles, then they no longer need each other to become one, because they would be so ... in and of themselves.  (Matthew 19:5)  It is not God's plan to be alone.  Just as we are each given different spiritual strengths and gifts to edify and share with others to complete the body of Christ (1 Cor. 12: 7-14), a husband and wife are given different roles so that they can compliment and cleave to each other to then become one whole perfect unit. "... neither is the man without the woman, neither the women without the man, in the Lord."  (1 Cor. 11:11)  ....... Therefore, his priesthood is her priesthood.  

For women who cannot bear children, remember Abraham's wife Sarah who gave birth long after her "child-bearing years" and long after she, herself, thought possible.  This mortal life is just a sliver of all eternity, and every worthy woman will eventually experience her divine creative privilege.  If not in this life, then in the next.  And how this will be done, I don't know.  We also ALL have the same promise regarding marriage.  No blessings will be denied to anyone who faithfully does his/her best to obey God's commandments which exist for our benefit.  Anything we ultimately lose, will only be that which we willfully reject.  

Satan's influence has cheapened the sacred creative process through disregard for chastity, absent fathers, tampering with God's definition of marriage, and anything that weakens families.  And the claim that women are "second class" in this great church of God, is wrong.  In my opinion, these are also Satan's whisperings to lessen the value of the pinnacle creative power entrusted to women, and to pridefully place one's own wisdom above God's.     

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The LDS Church's Proclamation to the Family:    https://www.lds.org/topics/family-proclamation