You Cannot Utilize What You Do Not Understand
What has been your past experience or attitude when you have listened to or taught a lesson on the priesthood? Be honest. Was your first reaction something like, “This doesn’t apply to me. This is for the men and boys over 12.” Or when you have read your scriptures and come to a part that mentions priesthood, have you thought to yourself, “I’ll just skip this part. I don’t need to know this”? In the recent 2013 Worldwide Leadership Training, Elder Oaks emphatically stated: “Men are not the priesthood!” To me, that is a wake-up call as well as an invitation to all of us to study, ponder, and come to better understand the priesthood. Sisters, we cannot stand up and teach those things we do not understand and know for ourselves.
Linda K. Burton, General Relief Society President, BYU Womens' Conference 2013
Linda K. Burton, General Relief Society President, BYU Womens' Conference 2013
The
Call to Seek, Learn and Understand in a Holy Way
We
rejoice that we are privileged to live in this season of the history
of the Church when questions are being
asked about the priesthood. There is great interest and desire to
know and understand more about the
authority, power, and blessings associated with the priesthood of
God.
We
hope to instill within each of us a greater desire to better
understand the priesthood. I testify
that
the Lord is hastening His work, and it is imperative for us to
understand how the Lord accomplishes His
work so that we may receive the power that comes from being aligned with
His plan and purposes
I
would invite you to ponder Doctrine and Covenants 121:34–46. Look
for the principles in
these
verses that govern the righteous exercise of priesthood power. Look
for warnings and promises from the
Lord, and apply them to yourself. In order to qualify for the
blessings of priesthood power, we would do
well to ponder these verses and ask ourselves questions such as:
• Is
my heart set upon the things of this world?
• Do
I aspire to the honors of men or women?
• Do
I try to cover my sins?
• Am
I prideful?
• Do
I exercise control or dominion or compulsion upon my children, my
husband, or others?
• Am
I earnestly striving to practice righteous principles such as:
o
Persuasion
o
Long-suffering
o
Gentleness
o
Meekness
o
Unfeigned love (meaning genuine, sincere, or heartfelt love)
o
Kindness
• Does
virtue garnish my thoughts unceasingly?
• Do
I long for the Holy Ghost to be my constant companion?
Linda
K. Burton, General Relief Society President, BYU Womens' Conference
2013
Appendages
29
And again, the offices of elder and bishop are necessary appendages
belonging unto the high priesthood.
30
And again, the offices of teacher and deacon are necessary appendages
belonging to the lesser priesthood, which priesthood was confirmed
upon Aaron and his sons.
~Doctrine
and Covenants Section 84
It
is truly said that Relief Society is not just a class for women but
something they belong to—a divinely established appendage to the
priesthood.
~ Dallin Oaks, April 2014 Gen. Conf.
Keys, Authority
and Power
“This [the Relief Society] is an organization that cannot exist without the priesthood, from the
fact that it derives all its authority and influence from that
source. When the Priesthood was taken from the earth, this
institution as well as every other appendage to the true order of the
Church of Jesus Christ on the earth, became extinct.” Eliza R. Snow
Deseret News April 22, 1868
We are not accustomed to speaking of women having the authority of the priesthood in their Church callings, but what other authority can it be?
~ Dallin Oaks, April 2014 Gen. Conf.
Those
who have priesthood keys—whether that be ... a bishop who has keys
for his ward or the President of the Church, who holds all priesthood
keys—literally make it possible for all who serve faithfully under
their direction to exercise priesthood authority and have access to
priesthood power.
~M
Russell Ballard, BYU address, August 20, 2013
“There
is no office growing out of this priesthood that is or can be greater
than the priesthood itself. It is from the priesthood that the office
derives its authority and power. No office gives authority to the
priesthood. No office adds to the power of the priesthood. But all
offices in the Church derive their power, their virtue, their
authority, from the
priesthood.”
~Joseph F. Smith
"When men and women go to the temple, they are both endowed with the same power, which is priesthood power"
~M. Russell Ballard, Liahona, April 2014
No, It's Not "Motherhood-Priesthood"
Just
as a woman cannot conceive a child without a man, so a man cannot
fully exercise the power of the priesthood to establish an eternal
family without a woman. … In the eternal perspective, both the
procreative power and the priesthood power are shared by husband and
wife.”
~M. Russell Ballard, ibid.
Temple
Moses
was commanded to place holy garments and priestly vestments upon
Aaron and others, thus preparing them to officiate in the tabernacle.
~Carlos Assay, Ensign, August 1997
12 And
thou shalt bring Aaron and his sons unto the door of the tabernacle of
the congregation, and wash them with water.
13 And
thou shalt put upon Aaron the holy garments, and anoint him, and
sanctify him; that he may minister unto me in the priest’s office.
15 And
thou shalt anoint them, as thou didst anoint their father,
that they may minister unto me in the priest’s office:
for their anointing shall surely be an everlasting priesthood throughout
their generations.
~Exodus 40
