Monday, February 08, 2010

Why only men have the priesthood

In Mormonism, the men often (and sometimes the women) attempt to justify a patriarchal priesthood by asserting that women are inherently more spiritual/faithful/strong/etc and that men are given the priesthood to elevate us to their level.


This logic, however, is misdirected. In reality men are given the priesthood to make up for women's inherent incompetence. 

Discuss.

8 comments:

  1. Wait, I thought that priesthood was simply the male equivalent of motherhood. (Since fatherhood obviously is not.)

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  2. No Steve. According to Aristotle, the male equivalent to motherhood is clearly intelligence.

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  3. Now that you're married, you don't get to say things like this. If the fallacy of this statement hasn't already been made clear to you, it will shortly.

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  4. Ohhhh, so THAT'S why...everything is so clear now.

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  5. I still haven't figured this one out. It bothers some women. Most people think I'm the type of girl that would be bothered by the fact that only men have the priesthood...but actually, I'm kind of glad we don't have that responsibility. I mean, it's a great blessing, but I feel okay about the men having sole possession of the priesthood. Someday I'll decide why it is how it is. If you think of anything else besides this silly reason you have presented, let me know!

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  6. hahahaha. Well, if women can do everything then what are the poor men going to do. We wouldn't want them to become glorified bottle openers.

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  7. Maren - funny thing is, women do have the same responsibility as men in regards to the priesthood. Going through the temple really made me realize that.

    I think we in the church would benefit greatly from rethinking the way we understand and talk about "having" priesthood.

    I hope Loyd won't mind me telling this - but the most spiritual times in our short little marriage are when we act with priesthood together. For example, when Loyd consecrated some oil, i knelt and prayed with him. I never knew something so small could have such great spiritual power, and honestly - WE consecrated the oil.

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  8. Yawn, this is such a boring topic. Besides, I give my kids blessings all the time. If I didn't, nothing would get done. All you really need is some faith anyways.

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