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Continued from the quote above, sorry it is - Page 6 - Mormon Doctrine Studies - Posted: 10th May, 2014 - 4:12pm
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Mother's Blessings & Sisters As Priesthood Holders - Page 6
There is no need to ask Heavenly Father because women never hold the Priesthood and even though we don't know the reason I believe he has more important things to do than dealing with this issue at the present moment. Seriously sisters?
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Holders Priesthood Sisters and Blessings Mothers
I personally do not seek for ordination, but I don't see anything wrong with those women who do. Quinn's paper about women holding the Priesthood since 1843 is compelling but I must say that such information can also present other theories.
Mother's Blessings & Sisters As Priesthood Holders Studies Doctrine Mormon
Chica why can't the Brethren ask heavenly father? If he hears the answers of a small young child who might lose a toy, why can't he listens to the prayers for something of this magnitude?
Post Date: 30th Mar, 2014 - 4:03am / Post ID: #
NOTE: News [?]
Page 6 Holders Priesthood Sisters and Blessings Mothers
Women and the priesthood in Mormon theology
But there is one problem that pervades the feminism culture and that is actually working against the ultimate and worthy goal of total equality. It is the notion that equality means sameness. In actuality, striving for sameness will never produce equality, because there will always be small variants and no two people will ever be the same. Ref. Source 7
Holders Priesthood Sisters and Blessings Mothers
In the early days, women in the Church used to give blessings to each other and to their own kids. They also used oil to anoint just like the men do. What do you think about this practice? Can a woman in the Church give a blessing to her child without saying they hold the Priesthood?
Post Date: 8th May, 2014 - 2:59am / Post ID: #
Mother's Blessings & Sisters As Priesthood Holders
I have never heard of that, but would like to learn more. But I do believe that women play some role in the priesthood. The worthy men of course are the ones given authority to administer the priesthood, and who hold the priesthood in the home.
Mother's Blessings & Sisters Priesthood Holders - Page 6
I can quote some extracts, [although long it contains valuable information about this topic of women's participation in blessings::
QUOTE Kirtland was where blessing meetings were instituted. These were evening gatherings where Joseph Smith's father as patriarch to the church pronounced prophecies and blessings on the heads of the faithful. Caroline Barnes Crosby wrote of her and her husband Jonathan receiving their patriarchal blessings: These blessings cheered and rejoiced our hearts exceedingly.. .. Mother [Lucy Mack] Smith was in the room. She added her blessing or confirmed what we had already received.4
Sarah Studevant Leavitt remembered a spiritual blessing of another sort during this period. Praying to the Lord for her seriously ill daughter Louisa, she saw an angel who told her to get the girl out of bed, lay hands upon her head in the name of Jesus Christ and administers to her and she should recover. Sarah awakened her husband and told him to prepare Louisa for the blessing. After her mother blessed her, Louisa was soon up and about.5
Sarah's experience may be the first recorded instance in the church of a healing blessing by a woman, but Joseph Smith, Sr., church patriarch, gave Eda Rogers a blessing in 1837 that clearly endorsed such powers: In the absence of thy husband thou must pray with thy family. When they are sick thou shalt lay hands on them, and they shall recover. Sickness shall stand back.6
When Joseph Smith organized the Nauvoo Relief Society on 17 March 1842, he gave women an autonomy currently unknown in the church. There is ample evidence that Joseph envisioned the Relief Society as an organization for women parallel to priesthood hierarchy for men. He instructed sisters to elect their own president who would then select her counselors. Then he would ordain them to preside over the society. .. Just as the Presidency preside over the church.. .. If any officers are wanted to carry out the designs of the Institution, let them be appointed and act apart, as Deacons, Teachers &c., are among us.7 p.25
Elizabeth Ann Whitney moved that Emma Smith be made president. Sophia Packard seconded it. Emma chose Elizabeth Ann Whitney and Sarah M. Cleveland as counselors. Joseph then read the Revelation to Emma Smith, from the. .. Doctrine and Covenants; and stated that she was ordain'd at the time the revelation was given [in July 1830], to expound the scriptures to all; and to teach the female part of the community. He continued by saying that she was designated an Elect Lady because she was elected to preside. John Taylor then laid his hands on the head of Mrs. Cleveland and ordain'd her to be a Counsellor to. .. Emma Smith. He followed the same procedure in ordaining Elizabeth Whitney. Susa Young Gates later emphasized that these women were not only set apart, but ordained.
The use of ordain seems to link these accounts to priesthood powers, although I have found no records of the women claiming this. Still at the third meeting, 30 March 1842, Joseph addressed the women and told them that the Society should move according to the ancient Priesthood. .. He was going to make of this Society a kingdom of Priests as in Enoch's day as in Paul's day.
On 17 May Newell K. Whitney accompanied Joseph Smith and told the Relief Society women: In the beginning, God created man, male and female, and bestow'd upon man certain blessings peculiar to a man of God, of which woman partook, so that without the female all things cannot be restor'd to the earth it takes all to restore the Priesthood. Although Whitney had recently been initiated into the endowment and his remarks reflect his awareness of women's forthcoming role in that ordinance, his words also reflect an anticipation that many held in that era: women's role within the church including priesthood powers at least in some form. On 28 April 1842 Joseph told the women: I now turn the key to you in the name of God and this Society shall rejoice and knowledge and intelligence shall flow down from this time. It is important to remember that keys were associated with priesthood and that Joseph turned the key to women rather than in their behalf as the History of the Church (4:607) would later report. It is clear that at its inception the Relief Society was not considered an auxiliary in the church as the Primary for children, Sunday School, and Mutual Improvement Association for adolescents would later be.
The wording change which transformed the organization into an auxiliary can be traced to George A. Smith who in 1851 was assigned to complete Joseph Smith's history. In working on the manuscript from 1 April 1840 to 1 March 1842, he revised and corrected the already compiled history, using reports of sermons of Joseph Smith and others from minutes or sketches taken at the time in long hand. He mentioned using Eliza R. Snow's writings as well and said he had taken the greatest care. . .
Mother's Blessings & Sisters Priesthood Holders Mormon Doctrine Studies - Page 6
Continued from the quote above, sorry it is long.
QUOTE to convey the ideas in the prophet's style as near as possible; and in no case has the sentiment been varied that I know of.8 He did not comment on this particular passage from the minutes or explain his reasons for changing I turn the key to you to read I now turn the key in your behalf.
By the time the Relief Society was organized, women had already exercised such spiritual gifts as speaking in tongues and blessing the sick. After the close of the fourth meeting, 19 April 1842, Emma Smith, Sarah Cleveland, and Elizabeth Whitney administered to a Sister Durfee. The following week, she testified that she had been healed and thought the sisters had more faith than the brethren. After that meeting, Sarah and Elizabeth blessed another Relief Society member, Abigail Leonard, for the restoration of health.
In the next meeting Joseph Smith specifically addressed the propriety of women giving blessings: If God gave his sanction by healing. .. There could be no more sin in any female laying hands on the sick than in wetting the face with water. There were women ordained to heal the sick and it was their privilege to do so. If the sisters should have faith to heal the sick, he said, let all hold their tongues.9
After the death of Joseph Smith in June 1844, the Relief Society did not meet. The following spring several women must have approached Brigham Young about resuming regular meetings, for in a meeting of the Seventies Young declared that
Sister[s]. .. Have no right to meddle in the affairs of the kingdom of God. .. [they] never can hold the Priesthood apart from their husbands. When I want Sisters or the Wives of the members of the church to get up Relief Society I will summon them to my aid but until that time let them stay at home & if you see females huddling together veto the concern. .. And if they say Joseph started it tell them its a damned lie for I know he never encouraged it.10
Blessing meetings continued notwithstanding, and in them women combined the laying on of hands for health blessings, tongues, and prophecy. Eliza R. Snow's diary contains numerous references to these occasions. For example, on 1 January 1847, she wrote of receiving a blessing thro' our belov'd mother chase and sis[ter] Clarissa [Decker] by the gift of tongues, adding: To describe the scene. .. Would be beyond my power.11 This group of women would teach the next several generations of Mormon women about spiritual gifts.
Another practice grew out of the ordinances introduced in the Nauvoo temple. Washing and anointing the sick became a common practice among church members, particularly women. It was customary for the person administering to anoint with oil the part of the body in need for example, a sore shoulder or perhaps a crushed leg. For instance, in 1849 Eliza Jane Merrick, an English convert, reported healing her sister: I anointed her chest with the oil you consecrated, and also gave her some inwardly. .. She continued very ill all the evening: her breath very short, and the fever very high. I again anointed her chest in the name of the Lord, and asked his blessing; he was graciously pleased to hear me, and in the course of twenty-four hours, she was as well as if nothing had been the matter.12 One can easily see the inappropriateness of men anointing women in such cases.
Mary Ellen Able Kimball's journal records a visit on 2 March 1857 to wash and anoint a sick woman who immediately felt better. But after returning home,
I thought of the instructions I had received from time to time that the priesthood was not bestowed upon woman. I accordingly asked Mr [Heber C.] Kimball [her husband] if woman had a right to wash and anoint the sick for the recovery of their health or is it a mockery in them to do so. He replied inasmuch as they are obedient to their husbands they have a right to administer in that way in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ but not by authority of the priesthood invested in them for that authority is not given to woman.
Mary Ellen concluded with the kind of argument that would calm women's apprehensions for the next four decades: He also said they might administer by the authority given to their husbands in as much as they were one with their husband.13
On other occasions the concept of women holding priesthood was reinforced when husbands and wives joined together in blessing their children. Wilford Woodruff's namesake son, just ordained a priest, was about to begin his duties. The future church president summoned his family on 3 February 1854 and recorded in his journal: His father and mother [Phoebe Carter Woodruff] laid hands upon him and blessed him and dedicated him unto the Lord.14 On 8 September 1875 George Goddard recorded a similar incident about his sixteen-year-old son, Brigham H. On his birthday, his Mother and Myself, put our hands upon his head and pronounced a parents blessing upon him.15
By the time the Relief Society was organized, women had already exercised such spiritual gifts as speaking in tongues and blessing the sick. After the close of the fourth meeting, 19 April 1842, Emma Smith, Sarah Cleveland, and Elizabeth Whitney administered to a Sister Durfee. The following week, she testified that she had been healed and thought the sisters had more faith than the brethren. After that meeting, Sarah and Elizabeth blessed another Relief Society member, Abigail Leonard, for the restoration of health.
In the next meeting Joseph Smith specifically addressed the propriety of women giving blessings: If God gave his sanction by healing. .. There could be no more sin in any female laying hands on the sick than in wetting the face with water. There were women ordained to heal the sick and it was their privilege to do so. If the sisters should have faith to heal the sick, he said, let all hold their tongues.9
After the death of Joseph Smith in June 1844, the Relief Society did not meet. The following spring several women must have approached Brigham Young about resuming regular meetings, for in a meeting of the Seventies Young declared that
Sister[s]. .. Have no right to meddle in the affairs of the kingdom of God. .. [they] never can hold the Priesthood apart from their husbands. When I want Sisters or the Wives of the members of the church to get up Relief Society I will summon them to my aid but until that time let them stay at home & if you see females huddling together veto the concern. .. And if they say Joseph started it tell them its a damned lie for I know he never encouraged it.10
Blessing meetings continued notwithstanding, and in them women combined the laying on of hands for health blessings, tongues, and prophecy. Eliza R. Snow's diary contains numerous references to these occasions. For example, on 1 January 1847, she wrote of receiving a blessing thro' our belov'd mother chase and sis[ter] Clarissa [Decker] by the gift of tongues, adding: To describe the scene. .. Would be beyond my power.11 This group of women would teach the next several generations of Mormon women about spiritual gifts.
Another practice grew out of the ordinances introduced in the Nauvoo temple. Washing and anointing the sick became a common practice among church members, particularly women. It was customary for the person administering to anoint with oil the part of the body in need for example, a sore shoulder or perhaps a crushed leg. For instance, in 1849 Eliza Jane Merrick, an English convert, reported healing her sister: I anointed her chest with the oil you consecrated, and also gave her some inwardly. .. She continued very ill all the evening: her breath very short, and the fever very high. I again anointed her chest in the name of the Lord, and asked his blessing; he was graciously pleased to hear me, and in the course of twenty-four hours, she was as well as if nothing had been the matter.12 One can easily see the inappropriateness of men anointing women in such cases.
Mary Ellen Able Kimball's journal records a visit on 2 March 1857 to wash and anoint a sick woman who immediately felt better. But after returning home,
I thought of the instructions I had received from time to time that the priesthood was not bestowed upon woman. I accordingly asked Mr [Heber C.] Kimball [her husband] if woman had a right to wash and anoint the sick for the recovery of their health or is it a mockery in them to do so. He replied inasmuch as they are obedient to their husbands they have a right to administer in that way in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ but not by authority of the priesthood invested in them for that authority is not given to woman.
Mary Ellen concluded with the kind of argument that would calm women's apprehensions for the next four decades: He also said they might administer by the authority given to their husbands in as much as they were one with their husband.13
On other occasions the concept of women holding priesthood was reinforced when husbands and wives joined together in blessing their children. Wilford Woodruff's namesake son, just ordained a priest, was about to begin his duties. The future church president summoned his family on 3 February 1854 and recorded in his journal: His father and mother [Phoebe Carter Woodruff] laid hands upon him and blessed him and dedicated him unto the Lord.14 On 8 September 1875 George Goddard recorded a similar incident about his sixteen-year-old son, Brigham H. On his birthday, his Mother and Myself, put our hands upon his head and pronounced a parents blessing upon him.15
Source 8
Check the part entitled "The Historical Relationship of Mormon Women and Priesthood" where you will find more on this.
TOPIC: Mother's Blessings & Sisters As Priesthood Holders