JSM lesson about Relief Society

[wuapinmon]

Today's lesson in priesthood, aside from the usual placing of women on pedestals rhetoric, was interesting. The EQP had his wife come teach the class. The lesson is largely taken from JSmith's journals and Eliza Snow's. The lesson focused on the creation of the RS and why it was necessary for it to be brought under the direction of the priesthood. Even though it originally had a constitution and by-laws, and Joseph Smith called it the "best he had ever seen," he still felt that the Lord had something bigger in store for the organization. A few thoughts I had during the lesson.

1. I wonder if the RS would've survived Nauvoo and the Trek West if it hadn't been incorporated into the Church proper.

2. Utah was Mexico in 1847.

3. Doesn't the double admonition to control "the tongue" seem a little belittling? I know I'm reacting to this from a different place in culture and history, but it's inclusion in a lesson today seems almost anachronistic to the present.

[Danimal]

I hate this annual type of lesson because the guys inevitably end up talking about how horrible men are and how much more spiritual women are and how we'd all be lost without our perfect and amazing wives. Give me a break. We don't need to honor women by making the comparison group embarrassingly bad or by making women into perfection.

LIke you say, it probably wouldn't have been a long-term organization without it joining more formally with the church.

[All-American]

Today's lesson in priesthood, aside from the usual placing of women on pedestals rhetoric, was interesting. The EQP had his wife come teach the class. The lesson is largely taken from JSmith's journals and Eliza Snow's. The lesson focused on the creation of the RS and why it was necessary for it to be brought under the direction of the priesthood. Even though it originally had a constitution and by-laws, and Joseph Smith called it the "best he had ever seen," he still felt that the Lord had something bigger in store for the organization. A few thoughts I had during the lesson.

1. I wonder if the RS would've survived Nauvoo and the Trek West if it hadn't been incorporated into the Church proper.

2. Utah was Mexico in 1847.

3. Doesn't the double admonition to control "the tongue" seem a little belittling? I know I'm reacting to this from a different place in culture and history, but it's inclusion in a lesson today seems almost anachronistic to the present.

As it is, it nearly did not survive the trek west. There is a substantial gap between the presidencies of Emma Smith and Eliza R. Snow. When the Church arrived in Utah, members formed independent relief societies in their respective homes and wards, though most of these died off when Johnson's army marched through Utah. The Relief Society as a church-wide institution didn't really exist until twenty or so years after Nauvoo.

[Viking]

I hate this annual type of lesson because the guys inevitably end up talking about how horrible men are and how much more spiritual women are and how we'd all be lost without our perfect and amazing wives. Give me a break. We don't need to honor women by making the comparison group embarrassingly bad or by making women into perfection.

LIke you say, it probably wouldn't have been a long-term organization without it joining more formally with the church.

Women can't hold the priesthood. The Church needs to make them feel special in other ways, I suspect, and that may lead to this dynamic. I say, give 'em the priesthood. Why not?

[wuapinmon]

Women can't hold the priesthood. The Church needs to make them feel special in other ways, I suspect, and that may lead to this dynamic. I say, give 'em the priesthood. Why not?

Do the scriptures say, anywhere, that women cannot hold the priesthood? Also, do the women doing washings and anointings in the temple consist of exercising the priesthood since it's an ordinance?

[Danimal]

Do the scriptures say, anywhere, that women cannot hold the priesthood? Also, do the women doing washings and anointings in the temple consist of exercising the priesthood since it's an ordinance?

I think it's very interesting that women gave healing annointings and blessings very commonly in IL and UT in the early years. And apparently they did just as well as men did.

[Viking]

Do the scriptures say, anywhere, that women cannot hold the priesthood? Also, do the women doing washings and anointings in the temple consist of exercising the priesthood since it's an ordinance?

Nope. And women act de facto with the priesthood in the temple. In my mind, it would be far more consistent with current practice to give women the priesthood.

[byu71]

Nope. And women act de facto with the priesthood in the temple. In my mind, it would be far more consistent with current practice to give women the priesthood.

Before they give women the Priesthood, I think they ought to make the WOW on the same level sin wise as not holding Family Home Evening.

[Drunk Tank]

Before they give women the Priesthood, I think they ought to make the WOW on the same level sin wise as not holding Family Home Evening.

That would be awesome.

[myboynoah]

Before they give women the Priesthood, I think they ought to make the WOW on the same level sin wise as not holding Family Home Evening.

Be careful there, the end product might not be what you are seeking.

[byu71]

Be careful there, the end product might not be what you are seeking.

My only purpose is to maybe save some football players from getting penalized.

[Jarid in Cedar]

My only purpose is to maybe save some football players from getting penalized.

Anything for the cause eh?

[pellegrino]

Do the scriptures say, anywhere, that women cannot hold the priesthood? Also, do the women doing washings and anointings in the temple consist of exercising the priesthood since it's an ordinance?

When you look at the language from the endowment it becomes clear that in the eternities there will be no prohibition on women holding the priesthood. The fact that they perform washings annointings and the giving of the new name, further proves this point. I like to think that if J.S. were alive today he would have given it to them.

[TripletDaddy]

I hate this annual type of lesson because the guys inevitably end up talking about how horrible men are and how much more spiritual women are and how we'd all be lost without our perfect and amazing wives. Give me a break. We don't need to honor women by making the comparison group embarrassingly bad or by making women into perfection.

LIke you say, it probably wouldn't have been a long-term organization without it joining more formally with the church.

If it is any consolation, I skipped the lesson entirely because I couldn't care less how the RS was formed, nor what its bylaws looked like at the time.

[Fiyero]

I like to think that if J.S. were alive today he would have given it to them.

Which again raises the issue that it's the President of the church who decides what to give to whom, what to do and when, and what to change and when, while God quietly sits back and goes along with anything. ("Whatever you ask, shall be given you.")