the priesthood

I think there are many things about the church or how it is run that can be issues we don’t agree with or we don’t prefer. This is definitely one for you. While I haven’t experienced this to know how to deal specifically with this issue, I have had my share of other issues.

I find that there is learning and benefit by going through the exercise of deciding how you will deal with it so you can be at peace, despite whether you decide to stay in the church or you decide the pain is too great and you look elsewhere for spiritual guidance.

I think the items that become problematic for us are often the symptoms of some deeper issue…and we need to get down to the root of the issue to really address it there, but there is growth and meaning found there (and also pain and effort sometimes), and that makes it worthwhile to work out these issues for ourselves.

CS Lewis aptly wrote:

If our religion is something objective, then we must never avert our eyes from those elements in it which seem puzzling or repellant; for it will be precisely the puzzling or the repellant which conceals what we do not yet know and need to know….the truth we need most is hidden precisely in the doctrines you least like and least understand. Scientists make progress because scientists instead of running away from such troublesome phenomena or hushing them up, are constantly seeking them out. In the same way, there will be progress in Christian knowledge only as long as we accept the challenge of the difficult or repellant doctrines. A ‘liberal’ Christianity which considers itself free to alter the Faith whenever the Faith looks perplexing or repellent MUST be completely stagnant. Progress is made only into a resisting material.

I really love that idea too, Ray! It gets to the heart of some feelings we’ve all encountered: resentment.

Cake, I just posted on your intro too, but to expand a little here, I have felt the exact same feelings as you have now. There’s a bitterness and resentment towards those that we perceive could not or would not accept us as we are in this current place on our journey.

The biggest trick of all is letting go of those perceptions. If we concern ourselves with how others may perceive us, we’ll always be left with resentment.

Well … I haven’t had the same exact problem personally because I grew up as a male in the church. I believe your observation is correct though, that you are unjustly denied priesthood as a woman, at least within an orthodox LDS perspective. Just because they say it, doesn’t mean it is correct. What if they are wrong?

I would say that many men in the Church were ordained, but few have priesthood power or authority. That might even be something that gets me “burned at the stake” for saying it. I have also met women that have more priesthood in their little finger than many men have in their whole body, even if they had hands laid upon them by “authorized” servants with the “proper” keys

The anger part though … that is inside of us. I think you should really explore that anger, like it is an object in your hands. Why does the idea of men holding the priesthood and having some “power” over you make you angry? Why do you feel “sinful” at the thought of blessing someone you love? I don’t know the answer. I really don’t. I bet you have really good reasons though, and the liahona-like object of anger will tell you the answer.

I think the priesthood is the sum of its parts.

Please Mr. Yeti, expound on this further for me 💡

I blessed both of my sons outside of the traditional church setting primarily for logistical reasons. We blessed our oldest son at my parents’ house. We were poor college students living far from home, and we figured it’d be easier for us to travel to where most of our relatives live rather than the other way around and force them into our cramped apartment afterward. We blessed our other son in a chapel, but not during sacrament meeting. It was my in-laws’ 50th wedding anniversary and all of my wife’s relatives were in town from all over. In the first case, the atmosphere felt more celebratory and festive than the traditional blessing during sacrament meeting. We waited nearly a year to bless our second son due to all of his health problems and it was a far more solemn occasion, but several relatives commented afterward that it felt way more spiritual than other blessings they’d attended.

Our daughter wound up being the only one blessed in sacrament meeting, and I thought it was the worst experience of the three. My wife almost didn’t make it because our second son was sick and we thought we might need to keep him home. Also, because we were essentially blessing our daughter in front of strangers rather than close family members, I felt really tense and anxious because I felt the need to “perform.” Whereas I was a lot more loose when it was just close family members attending.

Your mileage may vary, but if I had to do it all over again, I’d bless all my kids at home. And I’d have my wife stand in the circle with us if she wanted to (‘m pretty sure she wouldn’t feel comfortable, however).

i really like the idea of giving a mothers blessing. i’ve never really liked all the fanfare surrounding baby blessings in general, so maybe we’ll do something small at home for both my DH baby blessing, and mine. it will disappoint both my parents and his to not have all of our families at church, taking up 5 rows! but they’ll have to just get over it! what would be really great is if I could get my sisters or mother to participate with me, but i don’t think that will be possible. in fact, they might tell me afterward how wrong i am to do such a thing.

I bet that would be a special, wonderful and memorable experience. Seriously. If you want to take into account some potential conflict with the church (not because they are right, just because they are what they are, and you might not want the conflict), then you can dodge a lot of stuff, like Ray said, by avoiding the use of similar authority language — like saying you are doing it by the authority of the Melchizedek Priesthood or something like that (massive run on sentence, lol). I am not saying you can’t do that, or that you shouldn’t, or that it will piss off God, or anything like that. You should follow “the Spirit” as we always say. That was just a practical suggestion that can dodge the legalism of the pharisees

Besides, I have in my mind that it would be double empowering to claim your own authority as the child’s mother.

Every member who is baptized and takes the sacrament thereafter commits to “take His name upon (her)” – so it’s perfectly fine to bless someone in the name of Jesus Christ – or as a disciple of Jesus Christ – or anything else like that.