When we talk about the Priesthood, we tend to emphasize that it is a “Phenomenal Cosmic Power”. In this life however, the priesthood power is very limited, a fact we can confirm by comparing our abilities with those of Jesus Christ while He was on earth. The Priesthood, in the most basic of terms, is a list of tasks and responsibilities. A good comparison to the Priesthood on Earth is like learning how to practice gun safety by learning to handle and shoot a BB gun. When we have learned to use the BB gun safely, after this earth life is over, we will be trusted to handle the 30-ought-6 and larger guns. So, now I come to the question, “Why do Women want the Priesthood?” From all evidence, I believe women will be able to hold a form of the priesthood in the next life – and I think that priesthood will contain more power than it does here on earth. Right now, we brethren are just practicing with BB guns…
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Episode #22 – “Why Do Women want the Priesthood?”
This is the podcast “Science and Scriptures, Season 1, episode #22 – “Why Do Women want the Priesthood?”
Hello everyone. This is Scott Frazer and welcome to another episode of the podcast Science and Scriptures. Today, I wish to talk about the Priesthood Power and Authority. There has been much discussion over the years about what the Priesthood is and why women are not allowed to hold it. The latter topic has always confused me a bit and I wonder if it just due to confusion about what the Priesthood really is.
Gordon B. Hinckley served as the prophet of the church between March 1995 until his death in January 2008. This was back in the days when General Conference included a Priesthood meeting on Saturday night, and only brethren generally attended. I went to those Priesthood meetings with high hopes the prophet would discuss “meat of the Gospel” topics. But for years, the prophet used these Priesthood meetings to tell the brethren to NOT mistreat their wives and daughters – either physically or emotionally. I got so frustrated.
I would return home from the Priesthood session and my wife Cheri would ask me what was taught. I would tell her that I was taught to treat her with more love and respect.“Ah-hah”, she would respond and then add… “I love President Hinckley.”
I remember pleading with my own Priesthood quorum at one point.“Brethren”, I said, “Please treat your wives with love and tenderness so that the Prophet can move on to another subject. He could be teaching us about Kolob or something, but instead he has to remind us to treat our wives with respect.” I felt like we were receiving instruction from the Book “Priesthood for Dummies”.
It appears we brethren are slow learners. The next Priesthood meeting, President Hinckley again told us about sisters visiting his office to tell him about abuses at the hands of their husbands. You could tell these stories were breaking the prophet’s heart. I thought, “Have these brethren never read in Jacob 2, where it says,
"And I will not suffer, saith the Lord of Hosts, that the cries of the fair daughters of this people, which I have led out of the land of Jerusalem, shall come up unto me against the men of my people, saith the Lord of Hosts.
For they shall not lead away captive the daughters of my people because of their tenderness, save I shall visit them with a sore curse, even unto destruction…"
It made no sense to me. I love my daughters and I’m very protective of them. If I saw someone mistreat one of my daughters, I would most assuredly resort to violence. If I had the power of God and someone mistreated my daughter, I would… wow, the mind just reals with the possibilities for punishment. Do you really want to be on the receiving end of that kind of God’s anger?
There have been innumerable talks and lessons about the authority of the priesthood. It’s not really that complicated, but the scope of the principle of Priesthood and God’s authority on earth can be overwhelming. We have been taught that the priesthood “is the consummate power on this earth. It is the power by which the earth was created.”
President Joseph F. Smith described the priesthood as “the power of God delegated to man by which man can act in the earth for the salvation of the human family.” Every act or ordinance performed in the Church is done under the authorization of one holding the keys for that function. The delegation of the priesthood allows blessings, ordinations, and church meetings take place.
But the power of the priesthood is not a constant. Boyd K. Packer gave one condition for increased power when he said, “The priesthood does not have the strength that it should have and will not have until the power of the priesthood is firmly fixed in the families as it should be.”
Another loss of priesthood power comes when its holders use their authority to justify being chauvinistic about governing their homes, as President Hinckley lamented in every General Conference for years. The Lord gets very specific about His Priesthood holders NOT using the Priesthood to exert power over someone. We read in Doctrine & Covenants section 121, speaking of the rights of the priesthood,
37 “That they may be conferred upon us, it is true; but when we undertake to cover our sins, or to gratify our pride, our vain ambition, or to exercise control or dominion or compulsion upon the souls of the children of men, in any degree of unrighteousness, behold, the heavens withdraw themselves; the Spirit of the Lord is grieved; and when it is withdrawn, Amen to the priesthood or the authority of that man.” [D&C 121:37]
Ouch. The Lord is pulling no punches in this verse. But He is not done. Just two verses later, He continues His conclusions about how brethren tend to handle the authority of the Priesthood.
We have learned by sad experience that it is the nature and disposition of almost all men, as soon as they get a little authority, as they suppose, they will immediately begin to exercise unrighteous dominion.
Hence many are called, but few are chosen.
No power or influence can or ought to be maintained by virtue of the priesthood, only by persuasion, by long-suffering, by gentleness and meekness, and by love unfeigned;
By kindness, and pure knowledge, which shall greatly enlarge the soul without hypocrisy, and without guile
Though section 121 is my favorite scripture, these verses are… sad. Really.
If a brother exerts power over someone because he has the priesthood or because he has a calling that gives him authority, he does not understand the priesthood at all. The priesthood delegates power to a man to accomplish tasks in exactly the way that the Lord would do that task, if He were here. If a man can’t stay within the guidelines of accomplishing priesthood tasks the way the Savior would accomplish them, he shouldn’t accept the task.
The Aaronic Priesthood has its tasks, such as blessing, or preparing, or passing the Sacrament. They care for the physical needs of church members. The Melchizedek Priesthood has its tasks, including helping members to meet their spiritual needs, Gospel learning and temple worship. Bishops and stake presidents need the priesthood to organize wards, make callings and preside over sacrament meetings. That is really all there is to it. The Priesthood, in the most basic of terms, is a list of tasks. I don’t mean to belittle the Priesthood, but it is clear that on Earth at least, its power is limited.
As the Genie in the Disney movie Aladdin came out of the lamp, he described the good parts and bad parts of a Genie’s life. He bellowed, “Phenomenal Cosmic Powers” and then in a high squeaky voice, “Itty Bitty Living Space." The point the Genie made in this statement was that all power comes with limitations. If you remember the movie, the undoing of the bad guy Jafar was that he did not understand that principle. When we talk about the Priesthood, we tend to emphasize that it is a “Phenomenal Cosmic Power”. In this life however, the priesthood power is very limited, a fact we can confirm by comparing our abilities with those of Jesus Christ while He was on earth. Thus, the Savior could touch a cripple, which healed him immediately and allowed him to “take up his bed and walk”. I can give a blessing to a cripple and realistically only hope the Lord gives him some comfort. Though church members often swap stories of miraculous healings about which they’ve heard, I have never seen one myself.
In the book of Mark, Chapter 3, we learn that the apostles of Jerusalem were given priesthood power to heal sickness and cast out devils. They obviously had a more advanced, higher power than we do today. But later, in Matthew 17, they bring a lunatic to Jesus who was beset with an evil spirit that they could not heal. They were confused.
“And Jesus rebuked the devil; and he departed out of him: and the child was cured from that very hour.
Then came the disciples to Jesus apart, and said, Why could not we cast him out?
And Jesus said unto them, Because of your unbelief for verily I say unto you, If ye have faith as a grain of mustard seed, ye shall say unto this mountain, Remove hence to yonder place; and it shall remove; and nothing shall be impossible unto you.
Howbeit this kind goeth not out but by prayer and fasting.”
Note the difference.Jesus rebuked the devil that possessed this child and it left immediately. But then Jesus admits, “Howbeit this kind goeth not out but by prayer and fasting.” Apparently, that was a requirement for the apostles, not the Savior. The power that they possessed needed to be augmented by prayer and fasting to get rid of that particular devil.
We see here a difference in priesthood power. Power to heal seems to be a combination of authority, faith, prayer, and fasting. Jesus had the most power, followed by His apostles who had some success in healing. Their Priesthood authority remained with them after Jesus resurrection. Peter heals a lame man as early as Acts chapter 3.
Even the laying on of hands to confirm a new member and give them the Holy Ghost was probably a more powerful event than we see today. In Acts 8, a new convert named Simon was so impressed by the conferance of the Holy Ghost, that he offers to buy the power from Peter. Simon had been a sorcerer before joining the church and, one might guess, he knew power when he saw it. We read,
“And when Simon saw that through laying on of the apostles’ hands the Holy Ghost was given, he offered them money,
Saying, Give me also this power, that on whomsoever I lay hands, he may receive the Holy Ghost.”
In the end, Peter chastens this Simon and he repents. Apparently, you can’t buy the Priesthood.
So, compared with the Savior and the apostles, or the prophets of the Old Testament, our Priesthood is limited. It is obvious why. As a full church membership of millions, we can’t be trusted with the full power of the Priesthood. Remember, the Lord has already decreed that,
“almost all men, as soon as they get a little authority, as they suppose, they will immediately begin to exercise unrighteous dominion”.
Also remember that President Hinckley had to call holders of the Priesthood to repentance every six months for several years.
A good comparison to the Priesthood on Earth is like learning how to practice gun safety by learning to handle and shoot a BB gun. When you have learned to use the BB gun safely, after this earth life is over, you can be trusted to handle the 30-ought-6 and larger guns. Until men learn how to hold a little authority without exercising unrighteousdominion, we won’t be trusted with more than a little authority.
Until we can understand that we can only exert power or influence over a person by persuasion, long-suffering, gentleness, meekness, and by love unfeigned, I don’t see our situation changing. Obtaining the power of the Savior and the apostles would make us… dangerous. As the saying goes, “Power Corrupts” and “Absolute Power Corrupts Absolutely”.
The Greek philosopher Plutarch stated,
“There is no stronger test of a man’s real character than power and authority, exciting every passion, and discovering every latent vice.”
If we can’t handle the meager powers we are given during our earthly probation without “exercising unrighteous dominion”, how can we expect to be entrusted with more power in the afterlife?
Speaking of Disney movies, my youngest daughter works for Marvel Studios.So, to support her and because I like the movies, I watch all superhero movies that come out. These movies are always Good vs. Evil of course.Sometimes the hero attains vast power and it turns him into another person. This happened to Spiderman. It happened to Darth Vader in the Star Wars saga.Power brings Pride and Pride brings Expectations that your wishes be honored, even when you aren’t being honorable.
Imagine what would happen if men were given all the power contained in the priesthood. From the Gospel Principles handbook, we read,
“The priesthood is the eternal power and authority of God. Through the priesthood He created and governs the heavens and the earth. By this power the universe is kept in perfect order. Through this power He accomplishes His work and glory…”
Understanding that men who obtain power “will immediately begin to exercise unrighteous dominion, we are given some authority of the priesthood – BUT we are not give the power of the priesthood described here. Not even close. As much as we may dislike hearing it, we are given a much weaker, watered-down priesthood power. I know priesthood power was used to create the universe, but I’ve never seen a Priesthood bearer able to move even a small pebble. I know the priesthood can heal a cripple with a touch, but I have never been able to do anything close to that.
So, here we are on Earth, trying to understand how to use Priesthood power, but given very limited power as we do so. I have never seen a blessing where the lame or sick person immediately jumped out of bed, fully healed. I have faith that my priesthood power will increase in the next life, assuming I have proved myself worthy and capable of handling that power. But in this life, I must be happy with the severely limited power I possess.
To give us some perspective, if I have a sick daughter, I can give her a priesthood blessing, with the hope that the blessing will help convince God to heal her. I can also fast for her to encourage God to heal her. I can have other people pray and fast for her. I can submit her name to the temple so prayers will be offered for her from there. I have a lot of options. But if Priesthood blessings worked all the time, we wouldn’t need fasting, or ward prayer, or temple prayer rolls. Earth life, to remain a place of faith, limits miracles. Documentable miracles can’t be allowed to occur, which may be another reason that we have limited Priesthood power. Another way to look at it is that, simply put, we can’t be trusted yet to restrain ourselves from performing miracles just to show off.
So, now I come to the question asked in the title of this podcast episode, “Why do Women want the Priesthood?” As I mentioned, the Priesthood is basically a list of tasks and responsibilities. It is not yet a “Phenomenal Cosmic Power” as possessed by a Genie in a lamp. Not for me at least.
Holding the priesthood does allow you to become a bishop or stake president. However, I have always believed that, if you want such a calling, you are not mentally stable enough to receive it.Yes, great things can be done as a leader in the church – but seeking such responsibilities and challenges is not recommended. And it’s a bit crazy. If a woman wants to a leadership position in the church, there are plenty of such roles for women.
If you are a woman and you want the Priesthood, just be patient. I think you will get it in the next life. We hear in the temple about priestesses. Parley P. Pratt stated,
“It was from him [Joseph Smith] that I learned that the highest dignity of womanhood was to stand as a queen and priestess to her husband, and to reign for ever and ever as the queen mother of her numerous and still increasing offspring.”
Consequently I believe women will be able to hold a form of the priesthood in the next life – and I think that priesthood will contain more power than it does here on earth. Right now, we brethren are just practicing with BB guns…
These are the points I hope you take away from this podcast.
First, brethren, treat your wives, daughters, and other women in your life with love and respect. President Gordon B. Hinckley will haunt you forever if you don’t.
Secondly, we need to understand that the Priesthood on Earth is presently a very, very limited power. I hope my listeners who hold the priesthood do not take offense at this conclusion.Power is something that can be proven.If a quorum could go into a hospital and cure all the patients, that power would be demonstrated. Jesus did not minimize the potential power that we can have. In Mark chapter 11, we read,
“For verily I say unto you, That whosoever shall say unto this mountain, Be thou removed, and be thou cast into the sea; and shall not doubt in his heart, but shall believe that those things which he saith shall come to pass; he shall have whatsoever he saith.”
That is power, power which can be proven. There is no doubt that I do not have this much faith, so I won’t be moving mountains anytime soon. But the power exists out there somewhere.
Lastly, sisters, if you really desire the Priesthood, you might try to think of it as simply a list of tasks and responsibilities. Though you may have grown up thinking the Priesthood was a cosmic power – it’s not. Not yet at least. There is every indication that women will have the opportunity to be priestesses in the next life. We have so little information. But I think that, in the next life, when we can demonstrate that we can be trusted with power, we shall receive it so we can carry out our callings and responsibilities.By that time, the priesthood may be a real power that can heal a sick person with a touch, as Jesus Christ was able to do. Then it will be a power of consequence. But, as I said, we must be patient and proves ourselves worthy.
So, that is all I have for you this week. If you like this episode and think it would be good for friends to hear, please share it with them. This is Scott Frazer from the podcast Science and Scriptures. Have a good week and take care.