8 Resources for Answers and Peace Concerning Women and the Priesthood

Andy Proctor at thereturnedmissionary.com shares a blog post with 8 resources (plus a bonus one!) to better understand the relationship between men and women and the priesthood. 

The purpose of this post is to point those who are peacemakers to a few resources to help clarify the confusion that has been created in the recent dust storm of media about LDS women and priesthood. These are not to be used as weapons in debates, but as personal resources for you if there is a debate inside your heart.

These resources have helped me to find that peace. I hope they help you too.

1. Elder M. Russell Ballard’s Speech at Education Week on the Essential Role of Women in the Church.

Skip to the 5th point he makes if you don’t want to watch the whole speech (though it is very powerful and you should some time):

(You can read the full text here)

2. “The Women of God” by Elder Neal A. Maxwell

Please click here to read the whole talk. It’s powerful. With Elder Maxwell, I am in awe of the divine role of women in God’s plan. To echo the testimony of Elder Maxwell, I share this quote that has changed my perspective about motherhood amidst my love of the heroes of history:

“[In the year 1809]. . . men were following, with bated breath, the march of Napoleon, and waiting with feverish impatience for the latest news of the wars. And all the while, in their own homes, babies were being born. But who could think about babies? Everybody was thinking about battles. . . .

“. . . in one year. . . between Trafalgar and Waterloo, there stole into the world a host of heroes! . . . in 1809 . . . Gladstone was born at Liverpool; Alfred Tennyson was born at the Somersby rectory . . . Oliver Wendell Holmes made his first appearance at Massachusett . . . and Abraham Lincoln drew his first breath at Old Kentucky. Music was enriched by the advent of Frederic Chopin at Warsaw, and of Felix Mendelssohn at Hamburg. . . Elizabeth Barrett Browning [was born] at Durham. . . But nobody thought of babies. Everybody was thinking of battles. Yet. . .which of the battles of 1809 mattered more than the babies of 1809?

“We fancy that God can only manage His world by big battalions . . . when all the while He is doing it by beautiful babies. . . . When a wrong wants righting, or a work wants doing, or a truth wants preaching, or a continent wants opening, God sends a baby into the world to do it. That is why, long, long ago, a babe was born at Bethlehem.”

3. Elder Dallin H. Oaks: “The Keys and Authority of the Priesthood”

Elder Oaks helps to clarify that “Priesthood keys direct women as well as men, and priesthood ordinances and priesthood authority pertain to women as well as men.” Click here to read the full text and watch the video. 

Read the rest of this article by Andy Proctor at thereturnedmissionary.com