I, together with others, ordained the first woman to the Melchizedek Priesthood in this dispensation with the possible exception that Joseph Smith ordained Emma and other women of the Relief Society in Nauvoo. So, I know a little bit of which I am speaking.
Prople on the Internet are asking God for guidance. Sometimes, when those who should be listening close their ears and refuse to listen, God resorts to speaking through a jackass, or a little child, or through a “renegade” rabbi who is not part of the Jewish hierarchy. If God can speak through Balaam’s ass, through Samuel, or through Jesus the son of a poor carpenter, or Amos who was not a prophet, nor a prophet’s son, or through Nephi, whose father Lehi was the authority, he can probably speak through a FB friend.
The lack of ordaining women is not the problem. No, the problem is much larger, and it starts with the lack of understanding of what the Priesthood really is. We all hold the Priesthood – men and women – LDS and non-LDS. The Priesthood is simply the power to act in the name of God. We are all Gods in embryo. We are as God was and are in the process of fully becoming what God is. There is no attribute that God can give us that we don’t already have. (If you don’t believe this, just look at a new-born baby. You helped create the body, but the mind and spirit were already there. Neither you nor God created it. Now, God is entrusting you to develop it.)
What we don’t have is the knowledge and experience to use what we are already have. This is the purpose of mortality. The purpose of the church is to teach us how to properly develop what we have. The reason there are so many churches and religions is because we are all a different places in our development. We have different cultures and understandings. Each of us perceives God according to our own understanding and culture. But, God is greater than all of this because he is too big to fit in any one church or any one culture.
To ordain somebody to the Priesthood is simply to acknowledge that they posses the power and authority of God. And, to allow them to act, using that authority, in some capacity in the church. That is all.
When seen from this angle, there is no reason why some women can’t be ordained, and, this is the point everybody misses, why all men MUST be ordained. To exercise the priesthood in the church, a person must be called of God. He or she must not demand it, but they can feel a sense of calling and seek it out. Nobody takes this honor (not really the word I would use) unto themselves. Some men just do not feel this calling, while some women may feel such a calling.
The prophet of the RLDS church a number of years ago received a revelation wherein the Lord effectively said don’t be surprised if you see a number of women being called to positions within the church that required that they be ordained to the Priesthood. As I said, Joseph was instructed to ordain Emma in D&C 25. Early writings of church history indicate that Joseph ordained women in the Relief Society.
In the RLDS church (now Community of Christ), husbands and wives who both hold the priesthood, can exercise it together, by going to the hospital and jointly anointing the sick. I could see a father and mother, thus, blessing their children in the home.
Once, in the LDS church, I had to do my home teaching, but couldn’t find a male to go with me. I was recently married, and I asked my new bride to go with me. It was a wonderful, spiritual experience for all. She enjoyed it and appreciated the opportunity, and God didn’t fall off his throne in the process.
Church authorities need to revisit this whole issue of the meaning of Priesthood and its role in the church. They need to start using inspiration to call both men and women to these callings. They should not be automatic at a certain age. They should also prepare people to accept and understand these callings. We didn’t prepare our women properly and the results of their ordinations were not as smooth as they should have been.
Church authorities also need to look at the roles of the partners in marriage. If same-sex marriage has anything to teach society and the church is that there is greater strength and power in a marriage when the partners are equal. The church already recognizes this in their change the the Endowment in the 90’s. We need to be less focused on gender, and more focused on role.
I won’t tell you this is the word of God and threaten you with excommunication or damnation if you don’t believe it. That is your choice and your choice, alone.
But, if it touches your emotions, believe it.
If if makes logical sense to you, teach it.
If it touches you in the innermost being, testify of it.
When are people going to learn? You can’t pour new wine in old bottles. When are you going to recognize that this church has apostatized. The Restoration did not begin with Joseph Smith, and it will not end with Joseph Smith. If true Apostles and Prophets with the revelation and direction from God for us today are not coming forth from the LDS church, then, they must then come from somewhere else.
If all you are looking for is political change, and a voice for your activism, and if you want to continue to play Mouse to the church’s Cat, then by all means, continue to do so, but please stop mourning and thinking your lot is hard.
If, on the other way, you are truly interested in furthering the cause of Christ and the Restoration and bringing about a true Zion, where everyone is welcome and everyone wants to live peaceably with their neighbors, then pray with all the energy of your soul that God will send you true Apostles and Prophets, who understand their callings and fulfill those callings. But, don’t expect these true leaders to do your thinking for you. Zion will only come about because of the shared vision of all, not imposed by the few.
John144 