Mormon women?

Question

Do you not realize how oppressed you are? Your leaders say "the man and the women are equal partners" but they treat you the opposite of that. Actions speak louder than words. They can say you're equal to the men, but do you feel that way when there are only men up there on the stand during sacrament meeting, when only the men have the priesthood, when the man presides OVER the family, including the wife. How can you remain in a church that puts you down like that??? Why???

I was raised mormon, so dont say i dont know what i'm talking about.

Open your eyes and see what your church REALLY teaches.

Slkrchck- so if women should be in submission to the lord, shouldnt men also be? So shouldnt we both be in EQUAL submission? And in relation to one spouse submitting to the other, why should the women be the ones to submit? Why not the men? In my opinion making one submit to the other puts them lower, and i think neither should have to.

I agree that we as humans should submit to the lord, but we both should.

Danielle P- I know what polygamy is and that the main stream mormons have denounced it, but polygamy is NOT what i was referring to. Read the question again.

Answer 1

As the beloved prophet and folk hero Gordon Hinckley stated in the last General Conference, "Husbands, love and treasure your wives. They are your most precious 'possessions'".

That sums things up pretty well, until this, of course, is deemed an "Opinion".

Answer 2

Actions DO speak louder than words, lady, you are right. And I'm not oppressed. I'm empowered. I can speak in public at a moment's notice, take care of a sick person, feed my own family without help from the welfare state, thank you. I have a university education from BYU, a nationally accredited school. I have lived in FOUR countries and speak three languages. I am encouraged to develop my talents and find new things that I am good at.

There is no Mormon man who has EVER put me down.

And the fact that you are griping about the priesthood tells me (and every other Mormon woman on here) that you have no idea what it is or what it's about. It's a responsibility NOT A RIGHT.

So how can I remain in a church that teaches me to be self-sufficient, how to be a great wife and mother, how to be an effective leader? I don't know. Maybe because I'm much more with the Gospel than I could ever be without it.

Open your OWN eyes...and take out the beam.

Answer 3

The Priesthood is service to others. No one can use it on himself. Men "need' the Priesthood to learn service to others. This is a natural inheritance of women. Compare Home Teaching and Visiting Teaching stats. Nothing gets done in the Church without the sisters. We have our own organization. We have our own leadership in it.

Paul taught long ago that when women are given authority over men, the men stay away, they don't participate. Those churches that ordain women today will dwindle away. We support the Priesthood because it makes better husbands, fathers and sons.

Answer 4

It's great that you don't want to feel oppressed anymore, however you had to know that this question would spark a debate that has no winner right? Many people interpret the bible in many ways and no matter what you say on here you are not going to change their beliefs. If you don't like the religion great, as an American you have that choice to get out of it and choose another. Just thank god that you live in a country that gives you that option and save questions like this for Sundays in church discussion.

Answer 5

Don't EVEN tell me what I do not and never did see! I AM Mormon, and have been for all of my adult life, almost 30 years. I have NEVER seen any woman put down, and I have heard our leaders over and over and over again, say that NO man should EVER put down women! Just because women do not hold the priesthood does NOT mean we are put down. We are NOT equal. Men are men and women are women. How many men can bear children? Raising my family is much more important to me than having priesthood responsibility. I don't WANT it! I have enough on my plate!

I was not raised LDS, and you know, I have never seen a church that works so hard to put women on a pedestal! The LDS church celebrates women! We nurture, and NOTHING is more important than that! NOTHING! Perhaps a MAN, or another woman, could have raised my children as well as I did, but NO ONE, especially no MAN, could ahve raised them BETTER than I did! They are not perfect, but I THANK GOD every day for my beautiful children! No priesthood could have ever compensated for that.

Has my marriage been perfect? Is my husband a perfect priesthood holder? No, but we ae both learning. He has the priesthood, my sons have the priesthood, and that's all we need. My daughter and I don't need any more priesthood.

What do YOU think, honestly, that the church could do more?

edit: Paul said that men should love their wives AS CHRIST LOVES THE CHURCH.
God told Joseph Smith that if ANY man mis-uses his priesthood and weilds undue influence, that man's priesthood is taken from him.

Answer 6

I think you are greatly mistaken, unless I was a bad mormon when I was LDS I was never opressed and never felt opressed, I have left the church and my life is exactly the same (except for Sundays of course) and my relatioship is exactly the same. I don't know where you live, what ward you went to, how you were treated, but I was never treated unequally. When I was LDS I did not want the priesthood, my job (I never consider it a job) is to take care of my baby! I don't know about your family, but my husband does not have breasts, and he did not carry our baby around for 9 months building a bond with her, he just does not have the mommy sense, the 6th sense. Now if I were LDS taking care of my daughter, and I had the priesthood, then I would be opressed, that is toooooo much work!

Answer 7

I think you're getting fundamental Mormonism confused with Traditional Mormonism. The Church of Latter-day Saints, {ie Mormon church) as well as the state Utah and others outlawed the practice of Polygamy(the act of having more than one wife) more than a century ago. In the 1850's. The fundmentalist sect of the church which the trad church doesn't recognize practices polygamy. I see your point that women who are in the fundamentalist sect are subgegated to a life of oppression and abuse of every kind. But seeing it from their point of view, they truly believe living a life that they do is exactly what they're supposed to do. It is what they've been shown from birth and it's all they know. Though we think it's a life of degregation and oppression, they see it as the life God planned for them as they understand it from the scriptures and it's right for them to follow the plan God set for them.

Answer 8

because i don't need to have the preisthood and sit up on the stand to know that i have a true testimony fo truthfulness of the gospel. I didn't go to church for 4 years and it was the worst time of my life. I truly was not happy and went back to church. I tried to deny it and blow it off, but i could not turn my back on what i know to be the truth and live a happy and fulfilled life. Besides, do you really want the responsibilty of the priesthood? Do want the responsibilty of a bishop or stake president? I am not barefoot, pregnant and in the kitchen. I have a job, i have a beautiful boy that both my husband and i equally care for. we make decisions together. I hold an influental and important calling. we both make it a point to have intresest and hobbies that we participate together and apart in. If anything, others that i had dated before i was married were degradding to women, i had one boyfriend in particular that made it a point to degrade me in front of his friends, he hit me, cursed at me, told me i was fat and that no other guy would ever want me (im a size 4!) the list goes on and on. Never have a felt like i hold more importance or self worth until i went back to church. Shortly after i returned i met my husband and i finally was showm how a woman was supposed to be treated. With respect and dignity and love. I finally saw how a marriage was supposed to be, team work and respect and understanding and communication. The gospel has changed my life...and i have faith that the Lord has the bigger picture. The structure of the church has been that way since biblical times. who are we to question it now? just because our social acceptance changes doens't mean that God's gospel changes with it.

*starsha, i am sorry to hear that your parents treated you this way, but that was not the teachings of the Gospel. That was your parents own thing and my opinion selfishness and bad judgement. Your parents are not perfect as none of us are, and i don't agree with their form of discipline, but it was there own strive for power over you, not by the direction of the church. The gospel is our guide, and we all have the free agency to choose after that. Unfortuanltely your parents made some bad choices. I'm sorry that they treated you that way.

Answer 9

I have NEVER felt oppressed for one day in my life. And I am a life-long member of the LDS Church. You choose to look at the priesthood as an authoritarian, all-knowing set of handcuffs created to "oppress" the women of the Church. I look at the priesthood as a way for my husband to be compassionate and to learn how to serve others. The priesthood is not designed to hold reign over those who don't possess it. It was designed to give direction and to serve as a guide for our lives. The fact that I do not possess the priesthood has never concerned me. My husband would have a hard time exercising it, if he didn't have me or our children. I am not a kept woman. Quite the opposite really. Please don't feel sorry for me.

Answer 10

22 Let wives be in subjection to their husbands as to the Lord, 23 because a husband is head of his wife as the Christ also is head of the congregation, he being a savior of [this] body. 24 In fact, as the congregation is in subjection to the Christ, so let wives also be to their husbands in everything. 25 Husbands, continue loving YOUR wives, just as the Christ also loved the congregation and delivered up himself for it, 26 that he might sanctify it, cleansing it with the bath of water by means of the word, 27 that he might present the congregation to himself in its splendor, not having a spot or a wrinkle or any of such things, but that it should be holy and without blemish.

28 In this way husbands ought to be loving their wives as their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself, 29 for no man ever hated his own flesh; but he feeds and cherishes it, as the Christ also does the congregation, 30 because we are members of his body. 31 “For this reason a man will leave [his] father and [his] mother and he will stick to his wife, and the two will become one flesh.” 32 This sacred secret is great. Now I am speaking with respect to Christ and the congregation. 33 Nevertheless, also, let each one of YOU individually so love his wife as he does himself; on the other hand, the wife should have deep respect for her husband.



A husband ought to be treating his wife as Jesus treated the congregation. With love and respect. Is it unloving to be in subjection to your husband? Spouses are a team, not rivals. When both mates try to "lord it over" each other, you get a divorce. Just realize that it isn't a biblical teaching to bully your wives. Maybe it's just a mormon thing.

yes both should be insubmission to the Lord. and i've never felt lower than my husband. he has always treated me with honor and respect. in the first century, wives were not treated as slaves. they had many important responsibilities including buying and selling property. those aren't tasks delegated to those considered lower. the bible calls women a mighty army. i've never read that men and women would be equal, that's a 20th century term. i realize what you're saying, though. women should have the same opportunities as men. i think god's arrangement is divine and he probably knows better than anyone else how we are created and how the marital arrangement should be. the elders are in a sheparding position but they are called our servants. they are there to care for the sheep, thus they are working for us. i wonder how sheparding the congregation got to be a status position. maybe when elders began to minister for a fee. jesus said to take life's water free and those that are charging for it are no different than those buying and selling in the temple, in my opinion.