Why Women Do Not Have the Priesthood

Over the Christmas break, the Bensons in true geek fashion, undertook a marathon of watching the entire Star Wars movies, including the cartoons. We did this in part,  because Tex, Piano Man, and Flash are big Star Wars Fans; also as a fun way to remember Mike, who was a Star Wars geek. Hong Mei loves to watch movies  or TV and she  identifies with either the villain or the dominant male hero.  Jie Jie and I hoped she would instead want to be  Princess Leia or Padme Amidala. Instead, in typical Hong Mei fashion, she became a big fan of  Darth Vader.

Hong Mei as Darth Vader and Flash as Unfortunate Rebel

At one point engrossed in the power of Darth Vader,

she asked me, “When do I get the force?”

“I guess when women get the Priesthood”

“Good, cause I want to do this ( demonstrates with her hand) to Flash”.

And that  is why, dear reader, women do not have the Priesthood.

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About JA Benson

Joanna entered the world as a BYU baby. Continuing family tradition, she graduated BYU with a degree in Elementary Education and taught for several years. Growing up in Salt Lake County, her favorite childhood hobbies were visiting cemeteries and eavesdropping on adult conversations. Her ancestral DNA is multi-ethnic and she is Mormon pioneer stock on every familial line. Joanna resides in the Southeastern USA with her five children ranging in age from 8 to 24. Her husband passed away in 2009. She is an avid reader and a student of history. Her current intellectual obsession is Sephardic Jewish history, influence and genealogy. She served as a board member for her local chapter of Families with Children from China. She is the author of “DNA Mormons?” Summer Sunstone 2007 http://www.bycommonconsent.com/2007/04/dna-mormons/ and “Becoming Hong Mei`s Mother” in the Winter Sunstone 2009 http://theredbrickstore.com/sunstone/becoming-hong-meis-mother/.

14 thoughts on “Why Women Do Not Have the Priesthood

  1. Pay attention in the temple and you will learn that women will receive the priesthood.

    However, that said, I do not know if that includes the ability to make lightning shoot out of their fingers.

  2. Well, that solves that conundrum! Thanks, I always wanted to know the answer to that question, and this does it.

  3. If they get the priesthood, will they still have to get a man’s approval for what they do in Relief Society?

  4. Yeah I know Floyd. For some, that is not enough. I sympathize with their position. I have two very strong-minded daughters. I can see them as feminists as adults. I am happy with the status quo, not as I do not want anymore responsibility than I already have, which is quite enough. Lightning bolts would be very good though.

  5. Floyd, women are far more powerful than you realize. Men might be the “head” of the home, but women are the “neck” of the home. The neck that turns the head. 😉

    Joanna, you have such cute kids! Hong Mei reminds me of my Emma.

  6. Please don’t misunderstand me. I’ve raised 5 strong, well-educated women. I trot out that previous statement when someone says women will never receive the priesthood.

  7. Hi Floyd,
    You are one of my favorite people so I know we are are not quarreling, but having a conversation. I never said never, just “do not” which I implies the present; not past or future. As an aside, it is a bit humbling to have to call some guy and take him away from his family to give your sick kid a blessing. It would be easier ( and self reliant) to do it yourself. That is the only time I really need the Priesthood, I have no aspirations to be in charge of anything/anyone except what I am currently in charge of. Then again, I have become a convert to “mother’s blessings”.

  8. In the early LDS Church many women did give blessings,based upon their husband’s priesthood and/or their own faith as the authority required. My great-great grandmother as she make the rounds in conferences, wrote in her journal of giving such blessings, and she was married to Brigham Young, Zina Diantha Huntington Jacobs Smith Young ( to name the men she was married to).

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