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Dear
Gramps, Found your web site from Mormon town site and love the idea. Since
both of my grandpas are dead, I hope you might help. |
Dear
Russ,
Perhaps
there are many sisters within the Church as well that ask the same question.
There are some who think that women are second class citizens because they
don’t hold the priesthood. Nothing could be further from the truth. The
family is the basic unit in the Church, and it is organized, as are the other
units, along the lines of priesthood authority.
The
husband and wife form an equal partnership, although, by the very nature of
their beings, their responsibilities are not the same. To the mother God has
given the responsibility for the physical birth and for the training and
upbringing of the children; to the father God has given the responsibility for
the spiritual birth and for the training and upbringing of the children. No
more could a woman baptize a child than could a man bear a child. In this
relationship, the father, by virtue of his priesthood presides over the home;
but the authority given to the father in the home is not related to the
concept of authority in the world; and perhaps this is the source of much of
the misunderstanding and discontent about this concept of authority.
The
principles of priesthood authority and influence as announced in D&C
121:41-42 are persuasion, long-suffering, gentleness, meekness, love unfeigned
and kindness. These are the principles that the husband and father is
authorized to use by virtue of his priesthood. As you consider, for instance,
a mother with a new born child, it becomes immediately apparent that these
qualities are the natural characteristics of our sisters. It might be
suggested that they do not need to be ordained to the qualities that they
already inherently possess.
Since
the greatest degree of learning and the greatest character set takes place in
children at their very earliest age, the mother, who bears the children, is
also primarily responsible for their nurturing. So to the man is given
responsibility to conduct the affairs of the church outside the home
In
the Celestial Kingdom, exaltation is proffered only to husbands and wives
together. In this exalted state the priesthood is shared equally by both
partners. Yet here, preserving the order of heaven, the husband presides, and
I would assume that the wife would continue to provide the greatest influence.
Paul tells us that--