In the wake of the cry from a few LDS women to ordain women to the priesthood, many people have laid their cards on the table and expressed their thoughts and feelings. I have had several epiphanies on the subject, some of which were so intertwined with my understanding of the Temple that I do not feel comfortable sharing them. My cousin wrote about the roles of men and women on her blog, and summed up one of the ideas that has distilled upon my mind: women are gatekeepers who bring us from the presence of God into the world; men administer the ordinances that take us from this world back into God’s presence. There are many other details and parallels, but that is the nutshell of my understanding of men’s and women’s respective, distinct roles.
The Larger Picture
Though I feel I grasp the underlying principles well enough to explain why there is no degradation in women not being given the priesthood, I feel that even the most blatant revelation describing the symmetry of the system God has created would be insufficient to touch some of the underlying roots of the outcry.
I read much of the literature published online by the movement to ordain women to the priesthood; nowhere in any of it did I read about personal revelation. Religion without revelation is a farce. Either God is there, and revelation is given from Him, or not. In other words, the clamor reflected priorities and personal lives that revolved around something other than God, or obedience to His will.
Jesus told the befuddled crowd, “…My meat is to do the will of him that sent me, and to finish his work” (John 4:34). Difficult, unsavory, and dirty work, Jesus could have added. “My soul is exceedingly sorrowful unto death…Abba, Father, all things are possible unto thee; take away this cup from me: nevertheless not what I will, but what thou wilt” (Mark 14:34-36). He did not assert any claim that His status absolved Him from carrying the responsibility to atone for our sins; there was no privileged easy path, even for Him. His world revolved around doing His Father’s will, not around a self-image of prominence or sense of entitlement. Can we be happy with following that example?
Jesus knew the burden He would have to shoulder, and talks aloud to Himself about it: “Now is my soul troubled; and what shall I say? Father save me from this hour: but for this cause came I unto this hour” (John 12:27). We cannot bear His burden, and He saved us from our own burdens, including the price of justice if we will repent. But as He reminds Joseph Smith in Liberty Jail when he begins to complain about his deep anguish and misery at being unjustly imprisoned and separated from his family: “…know thou, my son, that all these things shall give thee experience, and shall be for thy good. The Son of Man hath descended below all things. Art thou greater than he? Therefore, hold on thy way…” (D&C 122:7-9). We all have our own assigned burdens; He is our exemplar here, as in all else.
Are we here on earth to have our pride polished? Is the ultimate source of our happiness intended by the Lord to be self-esteem? It brings happiness of a temporary sort to feel our greatness, to get what feels like deserved praise for a job well-done. But this kind of happiness has a short shelf life. It is like makeup that can smear easily, to borrow an image from Elder Maxwell.
There will always be someone with something we lack, who has superiority of some kind or another. Does that truth disqualify us from happiness? It can, if we rely on self-esteem for strength, hope, and fulfillment.
Our assignment in this life is to demonstrate how low we can bow, not how amazing we can seem in public. If we are denied the privilege of preening, where are all the peace, love, and joy supposed to come from? These good feelings come from an increased portion of the Spirit instead.
THAT is the main ingredient missing from the aforementioned movement; the hand of God, direct interaction with the divine.
If we are not careful to keep our hearts orbiting around the will of God, and choose some other object or objective as the target of our affections, we will find ourselves off balance and threatening to fly off into apostasy.
One of Several Red Herrings
Lehi’s dream recorded in the Book of Mormon is instructive. It tells us about the forces that are meant to keep us from coming to Christ, and drive us away from Him after entering the fold. In his dream, he sees a great and spacious building filled with people dressed in beautiful and expensive clothes, and all of them are pointing fingers at and mocking the people at the Tree of Life. The delicious, sweet fruit of the tree represents the love of God. The people eating the fruit have to sacrifice one of two things: either they must sacrifice the fruit, or they must sacrifice the praise or approval of the well-dressed mockers in the building.
This metaphor is a vivid illustration of one of four temptations aimed at Jesus: the lusts of the flesh, popularity, wealth, and power. If our hearts revolve around any of these, we are liable to fall, even to destroy ourselves. Popularity, or the concern for others’ good opinion and praise, is the temptation that dragged some of the people in Lehi’s dream away from the Tree of Life.
Not ordaining women because they are female is anathema, a flagrant violation of current cultural norms and bylaws. As in Lehi’s dream, a gulf separates the righteous from the norms of the world. The gulf between the world and the gospel expectations and standards will only widen with the passage of time. If we worry about the criticism that comes from living within the priesthood hierarchy of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, or any other tenant of the gospel that does not meet the world’s approval, we will find ourselves like someone holding onto the wharf and the bow of a departing ship: eventually we will have to make up our mind and hold onto one or the other. We cannot have both.
Clinging Versus Holding Fast
The group in Lehi’s dream who fell away after arriving at the Tree of Life and eating the fruit got there by merely “clinging” to the iron rod, or the word of God. It is not enough to casually cling; we must hold fast. None of the group who held fast to the iron rod fell away after reaching the Tree and eating the fruit. In fact, they ignored the mockers and scoffers with their fine apparel and massive architecture: “…we heeded them not…For as many as heeded them, had fallen away” (1Ne. 8:33-34).
Many members of the Church are actively receiving revelation, studying the scriptures, and generally trying to obey the original commandment they heard when they were confirmed to “receive the Holy Ghost.” They have had similar epiphanies to mine about women and the priesthood, and many other potentially difficult questions that come to earnest seekers of truth as they explore the scriptures and the Church.
For one who does not have or keep the Spirit, who does not pray and actively listen to and follow personal revelation, no amount of explanation, however accurate and detailed of why certain things are or must be, will adequately satisfy him or her. (Trying to explain difficult questions to someone offended and teetering on the edge of apostasy is like trying to plug every leak in a rapidly-crumbling dam with one’s fingers; even an octopus could not do it.) To one who thinks that happiness is meant to flow from praise or a sense of entitlement instead of the added portion of the Spirit given to those who are humble, the scriptures will remain a confusing series of contradictions.
Undignified Recipe
How are we to be happy? The prescription is unbearable to most: “…if ye have known of his (God’s) goodness and have tasted of his love (remember the Tree of Life?), and have received a remission of your sins, which causeth such exceedingly great joy in your souls (what a relief, forgiveness), even so I would that ye should remember, and always retain in remembrance, (here it comes!) the greatness of God, and your own nothingness (ouch! My pride!), and his goodness and long-suffering towards you (how condescending!), unworthy creatures (that’s just plain rude!), and humble yourselves even in the depths of humility (what about my positive self-image? Isn’t that the key to happiness?), calling on the name of the Lord daily (like I’m going to do that after such an insulting rant against my feelings and self worth!), and standing steadfastly in the faith of that which is to come, which was spoken of by the mouth of the angel (Jesus Christ).” What do we get in exchange for all this self-abuse?
“And behold, I say unto you that if ye do this ye shall always rejoice, and be filled with the love of God (the fruit of the Tree of Life!), and always retain a remission of your sins; and ye shall grow in the knowledge of the glory of him that created you, or in the knowledge of that which is just and true” (Mosiah 4:11-12). I read that passage for years, but I got so hung up on the “unworthy creatures” bit that I did not recognize a promise of perpetual rejoicing.
Wallowing in self-abusive language is not the key to rejoicing; deferring to the truth, even when it is ugly or inconvenient, allows us to receive a large portion of the Spirit, and THAT fills us with joy. That’s what true humility consists of; deference to the truth (willing obedience to God, acknowledging our helpless dependence on Him, exhibiting faith in Christ as trust through action, etc.) is the main ingredient.
Happiness is not about having an exalted opinion of one’s self, and I believe that great misconception, that conflation of the gospel with the current popular philosophies of the world, lies at the root of all sorts of misdirection and irritation with the Church, its authorities, and the gospel. When we expect happiness to arise out of pleasant internal cognitive processes, all we can swallow is flattery. When we involve a Third Party, the Godhead, suddenly there is potential to break all sorts of ironclad rules, and cheat our way to happiness without letting go of the ugly truths in the mirror (or missing some of the pleasant ones, also part of the truth. Despite our current condition, we are children of God, destined for His presence and becoming like Him.). We can plug into a source of joy not dependent on feeling better than others, or even at least as good as others.
A Decoy of Fulfillment
Even if women were to be ordained just as they requested, those who had requested it would soon find that someone somewhere else had something else they did not possess, and the process of discontent and demanding would begin again. Plugging into a heavenly source of joy means circumventing all that self-entitlement, retiring from the rat race, letting the Joneses keep their yachts and mansions without jealousy, and feasting on the pure source, the sweetest thing of all, the love of God imparted by the Holy Ghost. The greater our humility, faith, and submission, the greater the portion of this Spirit we get; the greater the portion of our joy.
There is not enough prestige and position and authority and praise in all the world to fill the emptiness that comes without the Spirit; with receiving a sufficient portion comes a sense of satisfaction and peace that leaves the people in the great and spacious building baffled, sweating on their treadmills of worldly achievement that ultimately lead nowhere. How can you just sit there when there is so much to do before we can be happy? Easily; I am eating the sweetest of all fruit, the love of God.
(It is worth noting that the love of God is depicted as fruit. Unlike grains and other crops that require plowing, planting, fertilizing, irrigation, harvesting, winnowing, milling, baking, etc., fruit is simply picked and eaten off the vine for free. It is not part of the world's economic structure. All we have to do is get to the point where it is served. Do we earn it or deserve it? No, not really. Is it given away freely? YES, very freely to anyone who can find his or her humble.)
The movement calling for the ordination of women is symptomatic of larger misunderstandings. “And they did murmur because they knew not the dealings of that God who had created them” (1Ne. 2:12). A bogus interpretation of the gospel, mingled with the self-esteem philosophies of the world, divorced from personal revelation, is bound to have worse consequences in the end than a fairly dignified and erudite cry to rearrange the plan of salvation. It takes the humility demonstrated by Jesus in submitting to the will of our Father in heaven to swallow all the bitterness we may be assigned and expected to endure in mortality, even if it means being embarrassed about doctrines and practices of the Church in front of our friends, members of the Church or not.
In short, unless we are in constant contact with God via the Holy Ghost we will fall. That is the difference between the five wise and five foolish virgins; the oil in the lamps represents the Spirit (see D&C 45:56-57); those who are wise will be the ones who have done what it takes to receive and keep an added measure.
