What did it really mean when Joseph Smith turned the key to the women in the Relief Society?\u00a0 It was quite a profound statement when you think of the period of time they lived in.<\/p>\n
In the 1850\u2019s, married women had even fewer rights than single women.\u00a0 In some states \u201cmarried women, insane persons, and idiots were ranked together as not fit to make a will\u201d.\u00a0 The husband had complete control over money, property, and inheritance.<\/p>\n
In 1876, while two women were speaking on temperance, a clergyman declared \u201cthat their appearance was an indecency in the sight of Jehovah\u201d.\u00a0 Another clergyman preached that a wife owed the duty of unqualified obedience to her husband.\u00a0 \u201cIf he be a bad or wicked man, she may gently remonstrate with him, but refuse him, never.\u201d (RS Magazine, Mar 1936)<\/p>\n
It is no easy pill to swallow as we contemplate the centuries of bad treatment toward women.\u00a0 Satan has done an excellent job corrupting the value of a husband and wife team, and the true worth of a woman.\u00a0 The devil, a master of counterfeit, continues in our day to demean women through societal labels such as feminism.\u00a0 Yes, you heard me; this is just another ploy of Satan\u2019s that too many women have gotten caught up in.<\/p>\n
Only in the temple do we learn the true importance of a woman\u2019s place.\u00a0 It is to the temple every woman should aspire, and seek her divine role.\u00a0 A role that declares her a queen, a priestess, and a prophetess as she gains full understanding of her position as eternal wife and mother in Zion.<\/p>\n
Two years ago, when I began learning about the Relief Society, and its origins, I was clueless about my responsibility, and opportunity, as a woman of God.\u00a0 As I have studied, prayed, and evidenced for myself, I now know that Joseph Smith was unlocking a holy key, a vision of life with our Heavenly Father where women stood vital to the plans and purposes of the destiny of salvation.<\/p>\n
Joseph Smith spoke to the women of doctrinal truths that have been recorded in the Nauvoo Relief Society Minute Book, a document that is unknown to most members of this organization.\u00a0 In that book, we learn, as our early sisters learned, that all the rights and blessings of the temple would be available to us, alongside our righteous husbands.\u00a0 We learn that righteousness, not gender, is judged; that love, not envy, is acceptable behavior; that opportunities, not restrictions, are available to all.<\/p>\n
It is Satan who has blinded us to our potential.\u00a0 Heavenly Father wants us to know who we are as women, but we need to command Satan to \u201cget thee hence\u201d before we can open our minds and our hearts.\u00a0 We cannot serve two masters.<\/p>\n
It is recorded in the Minute Book that Joseph told the women they would one day \u201chave the power to command queens in their midst\u201d.\u00a0 It has been interpreted as worldly queens being in awe of us.\u00a0 Okay, that could happen, but my interpretation is that our sister-leader-queens will lead the rest of us (also queens) and we will stand together as a holy people.<\/p>\n
One difficulty that effects us today is the large number of single sisters in the church.\u00a0 Also, the fact that there are less righteous men than women.\u00a0 This has always been the case.\u00a0 How do women enjoy the full blessing of the Priesthood in this unequal setting?\u00a0 We can only rely on the words of our prophets.\u00a0 Spencer W. Kimball said, \u201cBe assured, too, that all faithful sisters, who, through no fault of their own, do not have the privilege during their second estate of being sealed to a worthy man, will have that blessing in eternity. On occasions when you ache for that acceptance and affection which belong to family life on earth, please know that our Father in Heaven is aware of your anguish, and that one day he will bless you beyond your capacity to express.\u201d\u00a0 (Ensign, Nov. 1979, The Role of Righteous Women)<\/p>\n
When Joseph first called the women together, he explained to them that they too would be able to receive the saving ordinances within the walls of the temple, as the men would.\u00a0 This was news that the women never anticipated.\u00a0 This was something society had decided women would never have part in\u2014entering into a \u201cman\u2019s world\u201d. \u00a0\u00a0Heavenly Father\u2019s Plan has always included the women.\u00a0 \u00a0In calling the women \u201cElect Ladies\u201d, Joseph eluded to Paul\u2019s day when women were called \u201cpriestesses\u201d.\u00a0 Joseph Smith was teaching the women that they have always been more than society perceived them.\u00a0 Eliza, Zina, Bathsheba, and others spent all day, every day serving in the temple, saving souls.<\/p>\n
This mind opening doctrine was something the women immediately accepted and adopted.\u00a0 This new attitude freed the women and allowed them to accomplish all that they accomplished in the SL Valley, in the name of the Lord; His work of saving souls.<\/p>\n
Relief Society is so much more than a once a month (or so) activity, a Sunday lesson, visiting teaching, and other annoying guilt trips.\u00a0 This organization offers us commandments and responsibilities toward one another to \u201csave souls\u201d, to participate in the building of the kingdom doing His mighty work; to stand alongside the men, with their Priesthood, which we help magnify, preparing us to return to our Heavenly Parents.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
What did it really mean when Joseph Smith turned the key to the women in the Relief Society?\u00a0 It was quite a profound statement when you think of the period of time they lived in. In the 1850\u2019s, married women had even fewer rights than single women.\u00a0 In some states \u201cmarried women, insane persons, and […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[472,373,12],"tags":[294],"class_list":["post-1557","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-blog","category-history","category-priesthood","tag-rs-souls"],"yoast_head":"\n