Alright, it's been like 6 1/2 months since I've written, however, I've felt inclined to write about this topic for some time and I am finally doing it. It's really quite simple, but let's start a ways back, just for basic background to those who may not know basic church history/doctrine.
*** If you are a member that knows the basic doctrine of the restoration, then you can skip down to where it turns blue.
When Christ was on the earth like 2000 years ago, He didn't come down here to just hang out and make people feel nice, He had a lot of missions to accomplish in a very short amount of time. One of those being, to establish and build up His church, The Church of Jesus Christ, the one and only true church. Now as we know, a lot of people didn't agree with Him, His teachings, or the men that He called and ordained to be His apostles. Why did he even call apostles? Well, to give them authority (priesthood) to act in His name and help Him run His church and teach the people pure doctrine! It's all through the Bible, God calls prophets and apostles to teach and guide the people back to Him.
Anyways, as we know, Christ, His teachings, and His apostles were constantly rejected by the majority of the world. Even before Christ died, in His church, people didn't always agree, but Christ and the apostles were there to lay it down straight and the people could accept it or leave. Well, Christ was killed to atone for the sins of the people. So what happened to His church? Well, our Savior had planned ahead when He had called and ordained His apostles to run His church. He had given them the priesthood authority, or the authority to act in His name. (Luke 9:1-6).
Unfortunately, there is a pattern where God calls a prophet (or apostles) and the people reject them and usually kill them. Then the world is in the dark for awhile (also called apostasy), but because God is merciful and loves us, He calls another prophet to bring light and lead and guide the people of the world in Godly truth. Well the people rejected, imprisoned, and killed the apostles of God. Without the priesthood keys that the apostles held, the church fell into a state of apostasy, because there was no one with authority there receiving direct revelation from God on how to lead the church or people of the world. This literally brought the people into the "Dark Ages."
As the pattern continues, God being ever merciful, He called another prophet to the Earth in the year 1823, his name being Joseph Smith Jr. (If you have questions about this, ask the missionaries or go to lds.org or mormon.org). Jesus Christ and God the Father appeared to Joseph Smith and Joseph Smith was given the priesthood keys and was called to restore the true church of Jesus Christ. The church of Jesus Christ is now known as The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. It was revealed that this would be the last dispensation, or in other words, the last time period in which we have a prophet and priesthood keys on the Earth until Christ comes again. The authority will not be taken again and the church will not fall again before the Savior comes! Hence the latter-days.
History constantly repeats itself. Here we are in 2014, a time where the people think they know everything, regardless of what history says or what the Bible or Book of Mormon say. People disagree with a piece of doctrine and try to change it. They either end up leaving the church (and maybe starting their own church) or they realize they aren't in control of Christ's church and that the church of Christ will not and cannot be peer pressured to change its doctrine to please every Tom, Dick, and Harry. For those of you who would like a church that mixes true doctrine with the philosophies of men, there are plenty of those, but the LDS church isn't it.
Now the point of this whole blog post is that Christ gave his keys to His prophet Joseph Smith Jr., Joseph then passed it to the apostles and it was passed to the succeeding prophet and apostles until now. Today President Thomas S. Monson holds the priesthood keys. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is here claiming to have the priesthood keys and to be the church of Jesus Christ. So dear women (and men that are in agreement with the ordination of women), if you believe all that was mentioned above and that President Monson holds the priesthood keys, then don't you think a true prophet of God would give women the priesthood if God told him to? If he is a true prophet, then I'm sure that, if commanded to do so, he would... or he'd probably be struck down.
Now, if you think that President Monson is just hogging the priesthood all to the men and himself, then deep down you probably don't believe him to be true prophet of God. Therefore, you are arguing to have something that doesn't exist, you are arguing to gain priesthood keys from a false prophet. False prophet = False priesthood keys.
So which is it? I mean the whole argument is invalid and either of the above answers won't get you the priesthood just because you think and say that you want it and "should" have it. I think that the definition of "should" is defined by Christ, since it is His church. The Lord's church isn't run as a democracy. The prophet is here acting as Christ's mouthpiece and has to guide the world in these latter-days. If you believe that, then trust that the prophet and apostles would give the priesthood to women if the Lord commanded them.
This a church of questions, it's how this church came about. The problem happening right now is not that things are being questioned, it's that people aren't accepting the answer God is giving through His prophet. Picketing and peer pressure do not change the answers and at this point these women and men for ordain women are not asking questions, they are demanding and publicly defying and mocking The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and its ordained leaders.
I hope that these people will come back to their basic beliefs and not let pride become between them and the blessings that await them as faithful saints of Jesus Christ. Having love between members, regardless of opinions, is so critical. Let us not forget that poor choices don't equal a bad person. If members and non-members alike can remember to exemplify Jesus Christ and treat each other with respect and love, then all will be made right.
By: Natasha C.
