This is mother’s response to our son’s request. (Read here to read a father’s response.)

Dear Son,

So many women don’t understand the Plan of Heavenly Father. Isn’t it silly that they think they can call the shots and change doctrine? The order of the priesthood is not a guideline from the Handbook, it is the very basis of our doctrine, which has always existed.

I have a whole list of quotes from the Brethren and Sisters, over the years, about how the priesthood works, and how the Lord simply asks us to obey in order to receive all of the ordinances that will give us power unto salvation. By doing so, we can all tap into the power that is available to every son or daughter of our Heavenly Father.

You are welcome to look on my site (and direct others there as well:)) and find my many posts of the Relief Society and the Priesthood. (There’s a tab under Relief Society History.) But here is a quote from J. Reuben Clark, Jr. that I think is pretty direct:

“Eve came to build, to organize through the power of the Father, the bodies of mortal men, to be a creator of bodies under the faculties given her by the Priesthood of God, so that God’s design and the Great Plan might meet fruition.

This was her calling; this was her blessing, bestowed by the priesthood. This is the place of our wives and of our mothers in the Eternal Plan. They are not bearers of the priesthood; they are not charged with carrying out the duties and functions of the priesthood; nor are they laden with its responsibilities; they are builders and organizers under its power, and partakers of its blessings, possessing the complement of the priesthood powers and possessing a function as divinely called, as eternally important in its place as the Priesthood itself.”  (J. Reuben Clark, Jr., “Our Wives and Our Mothers in the Eternal Plan,” Relief Society Magazine, 33:795-804, (Dec. 1946)

You know how I have made a point to gather all of the Relief Society accomplishments together so women can see just how much we have done since the beginning of the Restoration of the Church. It really is impressive. But I knock their socks off when I tell them that the only way these early sisters were able to do any of it was because the Relief Society was formed and organized under the power of the priesthood. This is something that has never occurred to them.

Throughout all of time, women have been oppressed. Even in the 19^th Century, women in America still didn’t have any rights, any power, or opportunity to do anything of greatness. But under priesthood power, our early Relief Society sisters were given power and authority to gather wheat, train nurses and doctors, start hospitals, run for Senate, be teachers, start industry, bring public health and sanitation to every household, and most importantly serve and bring relief to humankind. Did the men take over and do this work? No! But they supported the women and helped wherever they could. And yes, they allowed the women to do this work of saving souls because this is part of Heavenly Father’s Plan. Men and women are both needed to roll up their sleeves and do their part in the saving of souls.

I feel sorry for women who think that adding their name to a list will make the men squirm and give in. This is not power. True power lies within the order of the gospel where a man marries a woman and together they raise their children in obedience, and together they serve their fellowman.

Love you,

Mom