If a female tried to get into the priesthood session of GC...

[myboynoah]

Really? You guys are hilarious. A young man has the Priesthood and has the opportunity to serve in and lead the ward in ways that his mother cannot. That's a fact.

Say an LDS Ward met for a meeting and there were no High Priests, Elders, Priests, or Teachers present. Would the Relief Society President preside or would a Deacon preside? Can somebody ask DHO? I'm pretty sure I know what his answer would be.

Even the Relief Society President in a ward is just an appendage to the Priesthood. Her 12-year old son IS the Priesthood. You must have the Priesthood to preside over any Church meeting. Correct me if I'm wrong.

lol.

In such a case we all know the deacon would do whatever his mother tells him to do.

Mormon power dynamics, especially at the ward and stake level, are much more nuanced than you represent. I'm not telling you anything that you don't already know.

[CardiacCoug]

lol.

In such a case we all know the deacon would do whatever his mother tells him to do.

Mormon power dynamics, especially at the ward and stake level, are much more nuanced than you represent. I'm not telling you anything that you don't already know.

Sure, women only have informal power in the Church. I agree. Formally, a Deacon certainly has more power in the Church than his mother. See D&C 20 if you don't believe me.

Why shouldn't women have formal power? Is there any remotely justifiable reason for the total exclusion of women from the organizational/governance chart of the Church?

[Non Sequitur]

lol.

In such a case we all know the deacon would do whatever his mother tells him to do.

Unless, of course, the mother tells the deacon to let her help pass the sacrament.

[CardiacCoug]

Also, the tone deaf and insensitive nature of this chart always cracks me up, just for the record. Who under the age of 60 thinks publishing and distributing this picture of all men is a good idea? Good grief.

lds-general-authority-chart-oct-20131.jpg

[Surfah]

Also, the tone deaf and insensitive nature of this chart always cracks me up, just for the record. Who under the age of 60 thinks publishing and distributing this picture of all men is a good idea? Good grief.

I put one up in each of my girls' bedrooms.

[LiveCoug]

I put one up in each of my girls' bedrooms.

[Surfah]

They need to know their place. I married an uppity woman. Don't need to raise three more.

[CardiacCoug]

Also, just to finish my rant I think the composition of the General and Ward Sunday School Presidencies is a great illustration of what the LDS Church leadership really thinks of women: women are only fit to preside over other women or over children. If LDS Church leaders really considered women equal to men (but also that they are powerless to give women the Priesthood) then certainly long ago they would have said, "Hey there's no reason you need to have the Priesthood to be a Sunday School leader. Let's put some women in those roles."

Speaks volumes.

[All-American]

Really? You guys are hilarious. A young man has the Priesthood and has the opportunity to serve in and lead the ward in ways that his mother cannot. That's a fact.

Say an LDS Ward met for a meeting and there were no High Priests, Elders, Priests, or Teachers present. Would the Relief Society President preside or would a Deacon preside? Can somebody ask DHO? I'm pretty sure I know what his answer would be.

Even the Relief Society President in a ward is just an appendage to the Priesthood. Her 12-year old son IS the Priesthood. You must have the Priesthood to preside over any Church meeting. Correct me if I'm wrong.

You're wrong.

Yes, the twelve year-old has ways to serve that his mother does not. But the mother has ways to serve and lead that the son does not. The priesthood absolutely does not subordinate a mother to her deacon son. And even DHO specifically repudiated the idea that the son, or men, ARE the priesthood.

I would much appreciate removing a good number of the emblems of inferiority from the church. But anybody who believes that even a newly-ordained deacon is by virtue of his ordination on a higher plane than any woman in the church plainly doesn't understand the priesthood.

[All-American]

Also, just to finish my rant I think the composition of the General and Ward Sunday School Presidencies is a great illustration of what the LDS Church leadership really thinks of women: women are only fit to preside over other women or over children. If LDS Church leaders really considered women equal to men (but also that they are powerless to give women the Priesthood) then certainly long ago they would have said, "Hey there's no reason you need to have the Priesthood to be a Sunday School leader. Let's put some women in those roles."

Speaks volumes.

I'm with you there. For that matter, I'm unaware of what priesthood authority is necessary to schedule the bishop's appointments or count incoming tithing. There's no reason women couldn't perform those functions so far as I can tell.

[All-American]

In terms of priesthood, a Mormon women is absolutely subordinate. If a Mormon woman can have a prominent role in Mormon society without holding the priesthood, doesn't that diminish the importance of the priesthood in Mormon society?

No. Why would it?

[Bruiserstone]

Also, the tone deaf and insensitive nature of this chart always cracks me up, just for the record. Who under the age of 60 thinks publishing and distributing this picture of all men is a good idea? Good grief.

[ATTACH=CONFIG]4023[/ATTACH]

Not only does it show no women representation in the leadership in the church, it blatantly shows the racial makeup of the leadership of the church.

[CardiacCoug]

Not only does it show no women representation in the leadership in the church, it blatantly shows the racial makeup of the leadership of the church.

Yep, good point.

[CardiacCoug]

You're wrong.

Yes, the twelve year-old has ways to serve that his mother does not. But the mother has ways to serve and lead that the son does not.

Is this you pointing out that only a woman can have babies and breastfeed them, etc?

We're talking about leading and serving in the Church in the formal ways that only Priesthood holders currently can do: conducting meetings, preparing, blessing, and passing the Sacrament, blessing and baptizing others, dedicating homes and graves, blessing others through dispensing fast offering funds, making big financial decisions in the Church (presiding Bishopric stuff).

Only men can lead and serve in those ways and that fact really is unconscionable and immoral. Sounds hyperbolic I know, but I really believe that.

[All-American]

Is this you pointing out that only a woman can have babies and breastfeed them, etc?

Of course not.