Tag: Relief Society

  • Shrill

    Shrill

    Excerpt from 2019 BYU Women’s Conference, ‘Sister-to-Sister’: 1

    Sheri L. Dew:
    Let’s move to a new question. “I hear talks about how important women are in the church but honestly that has not been my experience. What suggestions do you have about working more effectively and in greater unity with priesthood leaders. Especially when from time to time some leaders can seem a little dismissive”

    Jean B. Bingham:
    When I read this question I really related, because I’ve had some experiences with somewhat dismissive priesthood leaders.

    …

    I talked the other day to a Relief Society President who had a similar situation and as we counseled together we decided that was the way. And she reported to me after several weeks of praying for him by name and seeking to understand why he was the way he was and learning to love him.

    We as women tend to be sometimes shrill or demanding or stubborn [audience laughter] we have the best idea ever and if they don’t see it our way then clearly there’s a problem here. So all I want to say is sisters when we ask that question that the apostles asked of the savior, “Is it I?” That’s a really good place to start.

    Excerpt from an address by M. Russell Ballard in an Europe Area Sisters’ Meeting, September 9 2014:2

    “That you will let your voices be heard, we cannot, we cannot meet our destiny as the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in preparing this world for the 2nd coming of the Savior of the world without the support and the faith and the strength of the women of this church. We need you. We need your voices. They need to be heard. They need to be heard in your community, in your neighborhoods, they need to be heard within the ward council or the branch council. Now don’t talk too much in those council meetings, just straighten the brethren out quickly and move the work on. We are building the kingdom of God.”

    Excerpt from a September 2014 Ensign article by M. Russell Ballard, ‘Men and Women and Priesthood Power’:3

    “Now, sisters, while your input is significant and welcome in effective councils, you need to be careful not to assume a role that is not yours. The most successful ward and stake councils are those in which priesthood leaders trust their sister leaders and encourage them to contribute to the discussions and in which sister leaders fully respect and sustain the decisions of the council made under the direction of priesthood leaders who hold keys.”

    References

    References
    1 2019 BYU Women’s Conference, ‘Sister-to-Sister’ – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8xGA6KpBk5I
    2 Europe Area Sisters’ Meeting – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WSWPrzICnlQ
    3 Men and Women and Priesthood Power, September 2014 Ensign – https://www.lds.org/ensign/2014/09/men-and-women-and-priesthood-power?lang=eng
  • We Don’t Have That

    We Don’t Have That

    Excerpt from a 2017 YSA Face to Face with Russell Ballard and Dallin Oaks:1

    MALE HOST:
    “…we have a lot of questions in the YSA about their friends dealing with doubts. A question from Utah asks what advice/guidance would you give for answering tough questions about church history when we are asked about them by someone who is struggling with their faith?”

    OAKS:
    “I think the first thing is to distinguish between questions and doubts. Some people merge those as if they were the same. A question asked with a sincere desire to increase one’s knowledge and understanding is the way to increase knowledge. We encourage questions. On the other hand, a doubt is an ambiguous word. Sometimes a doubt is a synonym for a question—you just want to know the truth about something. One dictionary definition of doubt is “accompanied by distrust, a rejection of something.” That’s the kind of thing that the scriptures have condemned. The savior, for instance, said “oh, thou of little faith wherefore didst thou doubt?” He said that to his apostles when they were in the midst of the storm. And, “doubt not but be believing,” comes out of Moroni, chapter 9. And “look unto me in every thought, doubt not, fear not,” that’s Doctrine and Covenants section 6.
    So, doubt is a confusing word. In some aspects we don’t encourage doubt and the scriptures condemn it. On the other hand, questions—sincere desire to know that aren’t accompanied by a presumption of rejection—are something that we wish to encourage.”

    BALLARD:
    “And some are saying that the Church has been hiding the fact that there’s more than one version of the first vision, which is just not true. The facts are we don’t study; we don’t go back and search what has been said on the subject. For example, Dr. James B. Allen of BYU, in 1970 he produced an article for the church magazines explaining all about the different versions of the first vision.”

    OAKS: “How long ago was that article?”

    BALLARD: “1970, that was back in 1970.”

    OAKS: “We’ve been hiding that for a long time…”
    [Audience laughter] [Oaks laughter]

    BALLARD continues:
    “It’s this idea that the Church is hiding something, which we would have to say as two apostles that have covered the world and know the history of the Church and know the integrity of the First Presidency and the Quorum of the Twelve from the beginning of time. There has been no attempt on the part, in any way, of the Church leaders trying to hide anything from anybody. Now we’ve had the Joseph smith papers. We didn’t have those where they are in our hands now. And so we’re learning more about the Prophet Joseph. It’s wonderful we are. There’s volumes of it. There’s so much in those books now on my book shelf. Maybe you’ve read them all [gestures toward Oaks], but I haven’t got there. I’m a slow reader. So, just trust us wherever you are in the world, and you share this message with anyone else who raises the question about the Church not being transparent. We’re as transparent as we know how to be in telling the truth. We have to do that. That’s the Lord’s way.”

    Excerpt from a 1978 interview with Apostle Legrand Richards: 2

    WALTERS: “Well I thought somebody said that Joseph Fielding had had Joseph Smith’s seer stone.”
    RICHARDS:”No. We don’t have that.“
    WALTERS:”You don’t have that?”
    RICHARDS:”No.”
    WALTERS:”Oh.”
    RICHARDS::”We have got some of the early writings of the Prophet Joseph and things of that kind, and testimony of when Joseph Smith performed a plural marriage for them, but – things of that kind in the Historian’s office. But we have [unintelligible] church.”
    VLACHOS:”Is the seer stone in the historical department?”
    RICHARDS: “We don’t have a seer stone. That went back with the plates when [unintelligible]”
    WALTERS:”Oh! Okay, I hadn’t heard that. I see. I thought that somebody said that it was still out there somewhere.”
    VLACHOS:”Do you know what it looked like?”
    RICHARDS:”What?”
    VLACHOS:”Do you know what the stone looked like?”
    RICHARDS:”No. I’ve never seen it. And I don’t think there is any living man who has seen it.”

    Excerpt from the October 2015 Ensign, Joseph the Seer: 3

    “After Brigham Young died, one of his wives, Zina D. H. Young, who later became the third Relief Society general president, obtained a chocolate-colored seer stone from his estate that matched descriptions of the stone Joseph used to translate the Book of Mormon, and donated it to the Church.  Since that time, subsequent Church leaders have acknowledged the Church’s ownership of the seer stone.”

    See also:

    Church as transparent as it knows how to be – wasmormon.org
    Joseph Smith and “The” “First” “Vision” – wasmormon.org

    Church as transparent as it knows how to be

    References

    References
    1 Apostle M. Russell Ballard, November 2017, YSA Face to Face – https://www.lds.org/broadcasts/face-to-face/oaks-ballard?cid=HP_SU_19-11-2017_dPFD_fBCAST_xLIDyL1-B_&lang=eng
    2 Apostle Legrand Richards, August 1978, Interview with Wesley Walters – http://thoughtsonthingsandstuff.com/the-legrand-richards-interview/
    3 Joseph the Seer, October 2015 Ensign – https://www.lds.org/ensign/2015/10/joseph-the-seer?lang=eng
  • Large Family

    Large Family

    Excerpts from the July 1916, Relief Society Magazine, ‘Birth Control’: 1

    Apostle Rudgar Clawson

    “In my opinion the practice of restricting the number of children in the family, as advocated by many people, is sinful. It is contrary to the first great commandment given to Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden, when the Lord said to them, “Be fruitful, multiply, and replenish the earth,”

    Woman is so constituted that, ordinarily, she is capable of bearing, during the years of her greatest strength and physical vigor, from eight to ten children, and in exceptional cases a larger number than that. “

     

    Apostle George F. Richards

    “The efforts on the part of Eastern magazine writers to edu cate the people of the United States, particularly parents, to the doctrine that they should limit the number of their offspring to three or four children, and how this can be accomplished, is both pernicious and an abomination in the sight of the Lord;”

    “My wife has borne to me fifteen children. Anything short of this would have been less than her duty and privilege.”

    “As to the danger and hardship of child-bearing to the mothers, I have to say that from my observations. I conclude that the answering of nature’s laws which are God’s laws is far less injurious and dangerous than the efforts made to defeat these laws.”

     

    Apostle David O. McKay

    “Any effort or desire on the part of a married couple to shirk the responsibility of parenthood reflects a condition of mind antagonistic to the best interests of the home, the state, and the nation. No doubt there are some worldly people who honestly limit the number of children and the family to two or three because of insufficient means to clothe and educate a large family as the parents would desire to do, but in nearly all such cases, the two or three children are no better provided for than two or three times that number would be. Such parents may be sincere, even if misguided; but in most cases the desire not to have children has its birth in vanity, passion, and selfishness. Such feelings are the seeds sown in early married life that produce a harvest of discord, suspicion, estrangement, and divorce. All such efforts, too, often tend to put the marriage relationship on a level with the panderer and the courtesan. They befoul the pure fountains of life with the slime of indulgence and sensuality. Such misguided couples are ever seeking but never finding the reality for which the heart is yearning.”

     

    Apostle O. F. Whitney

    “The only legitimate “birth control” is that which springs naturally from the observance of divine laws, and the use of the procreative powers, not for pleasure primarily, but for race perpetuation and improvement. During certain periods—those of gestation and lactation—the wife and mother should be comparatively free to give her strength to her offspring ; and if this involves some self-denial on the part of the husband and father, so much the better for all concerned. “Birth control,” under God’s law, is a problem that solves itself.”

     

    Apostle Joseph F. Smith Jr.

    “The first great commandment given both to man and beast by the Creator was to “be fruitful and multiply and replenish the earth ;” and I have not learned that this commandment was ever repealed. Those who attempt to pervert the ways of the Lord, and to prevent their offspring from coming into the world in obedience to this great command, are guilty of one of the most heinous crimes in the category. There is no promise of eternal salvation and exaltation for such as they, for by their acts they prove their unworthiness for exaltation and unfitness for a kingdom where the crowning glory is the continuation of the family union and eternal increase which have been promised to all those who obey the law of the Lord. It is just as much murder to destroy life before as it is after birth, although man-made laws may not so consider it ; but there is One who does take notice and his justice and judgment is sure.”

     

    References

  • 15 Children

    15 Children

    Excerpts from the July 1916, Relief Society Magazine, ‘Birth Control’: 1

    Apostle Rudgar Clawson

    “In my opinion the practice of restricting the number of children in the family, as advocated by many people, is sinful. It is contrary to the first great commandment given to Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden, when the Lord said to them, “Be fruitful, multiply, and replenish the earth,”

    Woman is so constituted that, ordinarily, she is capable of bearing, during the years of her greatest strength and physical vigor, from eight to ten children, and in exceptional cases a larger number than that. “

     

    Apostle George F. Richards

    “The efforts on the part of Eastern magazine writers to edu cate the people of the United States, particularly parents, to the doctrine that they should limit the number of their offspring to three or four children, and how this can be accomplished, is both pernicious and an abomination in the sight of the Lord;”

    “My wife has borne to me fifteen children. Anything short of this would have been less than her duty and privilege.”

    “As to the danger and hardship of child-bearing to the mothers, I have to say that from my observations. I conclude that the answering of nature’s laws which are God’s laws is far less injurious and dangerous than the efforts made to defeat these laws.”

     

    Apostle David O. McKay

    “Any effort or desire on the part of a married couple to shirk the responsibility of parenthood reflects a condition of mind antagonistic to the best interests of the home, the state, and the nation. No doubt there are some worldly people who honestly limit the number of children and the family to two or three because of insufficient means to clothe and educate a large family as the parents would desire to do, but in nearly all such cases, the two or three children are no better provided for than two or three times that number would be. Such parents may be sincere, even if misguided; but in most cases the desire not to have children has its birth in vanity, passion, and selfishness. Such feelings are the seeds sown in early married life that produce a harvest of discord, suspicion, estrangement, and divorce. All such efforts, too, often tend to put the marriage relationship on a level with the panderer and the courtesan. They befoul the pure fountains of life with the slime of indulgence and sensuality. Such misguided couples are ever seeking but never finding the reality for which the heart is yearning.”

     

    Apostle O. F. Whitney

    “The only legitimate “birth control” is that which springs naturally from the observance of divine laws, and the use of the procreative powers, not for pleasure primarily, but for race perpetuation and improvement. During certain periods—those of gestation and lactation—the wife and mother should be comparatively free to give her strength to her offspring ; and if this involves some self-denial on the part of the husband and father, so much the better for all concerned. “Birth control,” under God’s law, is a problem that solves itself.”

     

    Apostle Joseph F. Smith Jr.

    “The first great commandment given both to man and beast by the Creator was to “be fruitful and multiply and replenish the earth ;” and I have not learned that this commandment was ever repealed. Those who attempt to pervert the ways of the Lord, and to prevent their offspring from coming into the world in obedience to this great command, are guilty of one of the most heinous crimes in the category. There is no promise of eternal salvation and exaltation for such as they, for by their acts they prove their unworthiness for exaltation and unfitness for a kingdom where the crowning glory is the continuation of the family union and eternal increase which have been promised to all those who obey the law of the Lord. It is just as much murder to destroy life before as it is after birth, although man-made laws may not so consider it ; but there is One who does take notice and his justice and judgment is sure.”

     

    References

  • The Relief Society

    The Relief Society

    Image: Artists portrayal of Joseph Smith Jr. addressing the Relief Society

    The LDS Relief Society is lauded as one of the oldest and largest women’s organizations in the world. Yet it is an organization that is presided over, budgeted and organized by men.[footnote]The Relief Society – WikiPedia[/footnote]

     

    Crash Course:
    The Relief Society – WikiPedia
    Nauvoo Women: An Overlooked History of the Mormon Relief Society
    Joseph Smith’s Teachings about Priesthood, Temple, and Women  – LDS Gospel Topic Essay
    Psychologist’s Response to Women and Priesthood essay – Mormon Transitions
    How the temple is sexist (and the church is, too) – Young Mormon Feminist
    First prayer by woman offered at Mormon conference (video) – Salt Lake Tribune