Wednesday, May 20, 2009

Daughters of Zion


We are told that we are special, that we are beloved daughters of our Heavenly Father. We are put on pedestals and told of our superior spirituality. We are kept protected from the outside world to protect us from the filth that threatens to tarnish our pure and innocent souls. Above everything we are Daughters of our Heavenly Father who loves us and we love him, and we will stand as witnesses of God at all times, in all things and in all places. We spend our childhoods preparing for our role as a wife and mother. We learn to cook, clean, sew and take care of children. We are taught subservience and modesty but most importantly we are warned of the evils of feminism and intellectualism and to never to question the will of Heavenly Father.

The will of Heavenly Father is an interesting thing. How is this will made known? Well it is made know through the mouth of the prophets, the apostles and the leaders of the church. It is made known through the Book of Mormon, a book translated by Joseph Smith. As a child it is made known through your father and after marriage it is made known through your husband who you swear to hearken unto (blindly follow). It is made known through your patriarchal blessing and priesthood blessings. In short it is manifest through the power of the priesthood.

What is the priesthood? We are told that it is the authority to use the power of God to act in God’s name. We are told that it has the power to move mountains, to heal the sick and the afflicted, to bring angels from heaven to administer to men, even to raise the dead. Who does one receive this marvelous power? It is passed down by those who are in authority to righteous members of the church, in this manner it has been passed down from the apostles of Jesus Christ, who received it by His own hands. Then who can receive the priesthood? Well, to be eligible for this honor a person must first be judged worthy to receive it. Well first of they must be keeping the commandments and receive the blessing of their bishop, but secondly and most importantly, they must be a man.

As a woman in the church you will spend your entire life seeking out the will of the Lord through men. You will turn to them for answers, for blessings, for guidance and most importantly you will turn to them when the time comes to have your worthiness judged. You will be dependent on them to baptize you, give you the gift of the Holy Ghost, pull you through the veil in the temple and even in death you must wait for them to take you from the grave. We, who are beloved of the lord, who are cherished and protected from the world, will spend our entire life communicating with our Father in Heaven circuitously. We will receive his word from the prophet; we will have his gospel explained to us by our priesthood leaders. We will be told that His will regarding our bodies supersedes our own. In essence our course in life will be set by the Father, through fallible men. Our opinions are ignored and invalidated. If our free will runs contrary to what we are told, by the brethren, is God’s design then our agency itself is to be questioned and ostracized – for we must have lost our faith if we do not see the world through the lenses that have been handed down to us. We receive our blessings in life dependent upon this faith and upon our worthiness, worthiness that is determined by the grace of our Prophet, apostles, bishop, councilors, fathers, husbands, brothers and sons.

2 comments:

The Sammons Family said...

I am sorry girl but you are so misled!!! You don't NEED a man to know God's will for you in your life!! What about all the single women in the church (Sheri Dew, all the widows to name a few) that are leading strong fulfilled lives with careers, goals, passions. They are successful and happy! The Priesthood is a divine authority passed down from Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ to men on earth to act in "Their names. It is not discriminatory. There are things in life that men are called to so and some that women are called to do. I dont' see men whining about the fact that they can't give birth and nurse their babies, or have teh special intuition that is unique to women. I think it is kind of selfish that you think that because you don't get to be or do EVERYTHING that God is discriminating against you. I am offened that you claim as a women in the church that I will spen my entire life seeking out eh Lord through men. Do you want ot know who I turn to for answers? My Heavenly Father! I don't ake the Priesthood power lightly and frankly I am glad that God has put that responsibily on men because I get all the blessings that come from the Priesthood without the huge responsibility. As for prophets, from the beginning of time God has called MEN as prophets and revealed His word to them and then they teach us. God has never asked us to "just believe" men. That is the whole purpose of prayer...pray to find the truthfulness of all things and through the Spirit we will know.

I am so suprised by all of this. I think it is one thing to not believe but another to say thigns that are not truthful. This is your blog and you have the right to say what you want but maybe you could clarify next time that this is YOUR opinion.

I am only speaking my mind and being honest with my opionion as you have been.

Love ya
Shayleen

Dawson said...

I dunno, growing up as a young man in the church I never got the impression that there was anything inferior or wrong about me. I think you may be off on this one ;-)

Seriously though, thank you for writing this. Far to many young women grow up in the LDS faith, and many other patriarchal based religions as well, being treated like second class citizens and believing that this is the way that God intended them to be.

Honestly we should try to find a way to get this post into the hands of the tens of thousands of young ladies growing up in the church. Not to pull them away from the church, necessarily, but to open their eyes to the reality of their existence and the intellectual fallacies that they are so vulnerable to in their situation. Thank you for your words, they have truly opened my eyes in countless ways over the last decade.

--=Dawson=--