Category Archives: Priesthood

Priesthood and the Primary boy

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When I was a little boy, I had a hard time in school. Not because I wasn’t smart, but because I was bored. I would finish my work before most everyone else and then start cutting up in class. I was good at getting the other kids in trouble but eventually I got caught.

After a while the teacher would get tired of telling me to behave so she would send me to see the Principal. This went on every year until I got older. I remember the Vice Principal gave swats. Of course, you can’t do that any more in our politically correct world.

My mother was a teacher. When she got called in for yet another parent-teacher conference about my behavior, there was a lot of peer pressure placed on her. I didn’t recognize it at the time but I do remember after every one of these little disciplinary episodes I spent the next week in my mother’s classroom.

This worked fine until I got above the fourth grade. That’s the class that my mother taught. She then decided to send me to the local Christian school, thinking that I needed something religious in my education. It shocked me. Although we were recent converts, we were Mormons and I felt betrayed. I could not believe she would send me to a school that had daily chapel sessions.

Bible stories in school

I think the reason I cut up in school was because I loved my mother and wanted to be with her. I was the youngest of six children and did not get the attention I wanted. I probably got more than the rest of the kids but I didn’t think so at the time. I remember mother was very busy after school grading papers. I knew how time-consuming that could be but didn’t appreciate it.

So when I got kicked out of my school once again and spent the week with my mother, I was just as happy and as well behaved as you please. I learned more about the history of California in those wonderful weeks with mother than I ever learned in my regular school. But the best part of being in my mother’s class was the Bible stories. Bible stories in public school? Indeed.

About two o’clock in the afternoon, mother would say, “Gather around children, it’s story time.” Everyone loved to hear my mother tell Bible stories, especially me. She could tell the best David and Goliath, Daniel in the lion’s Den and Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego stories I ever heard. I never tired of Joshua fighting the battle of Jericho or hearing about the flood one more time.

Religious education

You can’t tell Bible stories in school any more. The only place you might find the Bible in the school system today is perhaps in a Bible as history class. Even that is going by the wayside. That’s why it is so important that we have our gospel study in the home. Where else can our families receive the kind of help and strength that comes from hearing the word of the Lord?

When I was sent to that private Christian school in the fifth grade, I experienced something I had never felt before. You see, I attended Primary and Sunday School each week in our ward so I knew what the truth was. I recognized it. I was baptized and I had the gift of the Holy Ghost. I also knew what the priesthood was and knew that it was needed to pronounce doctrine.

No, you don’t need the priesthood to teach doctrine but even I recognized at that young age the need for some sort of authority from God in order to preside or officiate in a worship service. I just felt that there was something wrong when we went to our daily chapel service and the pastor got up to preach to the children. There was something missing and I felt it distinctly.

Preparation for the priesthood

I think that experience in the West Covina Christian School in the Fall of 1967 was the beginning of my testimony of the need for priesthood authority. Can Heavenly Father speak to a ten year old boy like me (I was a year ahead in school) and tell me how important it is to have authority to speak in the name of the Lord? Yes. Absolutely yes. My primary teacher also told me so.

Do you see the picture of my Primary bandelo I have included with this post? They don’t use the bandelo anymore in Primary. How about the numbers around the hatchet, the wagon wheel and the arrow; do you know what those represent? Yes, that’s right – the Articles of Faith. We got one each time we memorized another article of faith. Ah, those were happy and fun days.

When I graduated from Primary, I felt prepared to receive the Aaronic priesthood. I looked forward to being ordained a deacon and passing the sacrament like my older brother. My father ordained me. I have a picture of dad with his arm around me taken later that day. He sure looked pleased. I didn’t appreciate it then but I knew there was something to this priesthood.

Foundations of responsibility

My dad ordained me each time I advanced in the priesthood over the years until he ordained me an Elder just before I left on my mission to Central America in 1976. By that time I had come to realize there was a lot more to the priesthood than just passing the sacrament, collecting fast offerings or helping my dad do home teaching by preparing a lesson. I began to feel different.

The interview with the Stake President was a little bit scary. Although I had never talked to him before, I felt prepared. My Bishop had given me a form that had all kinds of scriptures on the back that I was expected to read. I took it seriously and studied them all very carefully. I thought for sure the Stake President would grill me on the oath and covenant in section 84.

He didn’t, but the act of studying those many scripture references made a deep and lasting impression on me. To this day, sections 20, 84 and 121 are associated with wonderful memories of those days spent preparing for my mission. I learned to honor the priesthood because my primary teachers taught me about it and my father showed me that priesthood means service.

Using the priesthood today

Today I am a High Priest and have been for many years. I was ordained the first time I was called into a bishopric. All the time I was serving in various bishoprics and on the High Council I always said, “When I’m released from leadership positions, I hope they call me to the Primary.” Guess what? They did! I was so ecstatic. It has absolutely been my most favorite calling.

I was sad when I was released as a Primary teacher so I could serve as a ward clerk to the local singles ward. As much as I love the young people in our stake, I miss teaching the gospel each Sunday. I would rather teach than sit in leadership meetings any time. You don’t need the priesthood to teach Primary but that influence in reaching the 11-year old boys can be powerful.

I exercise the priesthood every day in my home as I kneel in prayer with my wife each morning and night. She often calls on me for priesthood blessings which are always a sanctifying and sacred occasion in our lives. Each time we go to the temple and participate in the ordinances there, I feel so grateful to bear the priesthood and exercise it on behalf of someone else.

Summary and conclusion

If you are not a member of the LDS faith, I have probably used many words and phrases that may be confusing. I invite you to click on some of the links I have included in the essay that will take you to web pages that have more information. If you are a recent convert, please don’t feel that you have missed out on anything because you did not have the priesthood growing up.

If you are a woman who feels left out of having the priesthood, please don’t. My mother and my primary teachers, who were all women, did more for me as a young boy because they loved me and taught me about the priesthood. Well, mother didn’t teach me much about it because she didn’t understand it much herself, being a recent convert. But she taught me to love the temple.

I know the priesthood is a real power. I have felt it most strongly when giving priesthood blessings and when ordaining or setting members apart for callings. Some of the sweetest blessings were setting apart young women as class leaders when I served in Bishoprics. It is on those occasions that I can feel how much the Lord loves his daughters and wants to bless them.

Authority to act in the name of God

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In point four from my anonymous objector, the issue of authority was raised as a reason why he feels that Mormons aren’t Christian. He wrote that Mormons believe “…[other churches] don’t have the authority to act in His name.” I previously wrote about the importance of authority to act in the name of Christ, but perhaps it deserves another visit to make the response complete.

He pretty much nailed this one. I confess, we do believe that there was an apostasy and that the keys of the priesthood were taken from the earth with the death of the early Apostles. Maybe it’s the naive Mormon in me coming out, but I find it hard to believe that this isn’t an important issue to other Christians. I would hope that this is important to anyone who believes in baptism or priesthood ordination.

When our missionaries teach the doctrine of the apostasy to those who are investigating our church, they use dialog that is carefully crafted to not offend. I am going to be blunt. This is the most important difference between the LDS Church and other churches that claim to follow Jesus Christ. It is this authority that gives power and vitality to the Mormon Church. A major focus of the message of the restoration is that angelic messengers ordained Joseph Smith.

Authority from Christ is important

We proclaim that The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is the only church with the authority to administer the ordinances of salvation. That is a strong statement and a bold claim. We are not hesitant in teaching to the world that we are the only source where you can receive baptism and other ordinances that are recognized by the Savior as being valid, authorized and efficacious in the world to come.

The Latter-day Saint view of authority as the divine right to preach, act in the name of God and direct the Lord’s church is distinctive from other Christian churches. We do not believe in a continuous or unbroken line of authority from the early apostles. We also do not believe that authority can be found in the inerrancy of the Bible. Nor do we believe that one receives authority simply because of a sense of “calling” to the ministry.

While there is much truth in other churches, there is something missing. We have that missing piece, which is the authority of the Priesthood. We offer that same authority to all followers of Christ. It is true that we do not confer the authority upon women. We do not ordain women to be ministers in our church. This is by direction and revelation from God and will not change. With that authority we are confident that the ordinances we perform are recognized by God.

Validity of religious experiences of others

The issue of authority has come up so many times in stories and articles about the Church that the Public Affairs department has dedicated an entire Newsroom article to the subject. The piece focuses on acknowledging many good things about other Christian religions. We do not dismiss or diminish the validity of other people’s religious experiences. For example, you will find these statements there:

“Members of other churches who accept Jesus Christ and try to live by the principles he taught are entitled to divine guidance and inspiration in their lives. Faithful Christians who are not Latter-day Saints still go to heaven, and those who live according to all the truth and light they have will open themselves to further light in the hereafter.”

“Informed Latter-day Saints do not argue that historic Christianity lost all truth or became completely corrupt. The orthodox churches may have lost the ‘fullness’ of the gospel, but they did not lose all of it nor even most of it. Many Evangelicals caricature or overstate the actual LDS view, which is that the orthodox churches are incomplete rather than corrupt.”

Summary and conclusion

I think it is our confidence in our position of authority that unnerves some of our Christian friends. This confidence is often misunderstood as arrogance. We do not mean to be offensive. We do not mean to imply that others can not or do not have valid religious experiences. But authority to act in the name of Jesus Christ is something about which I would want to be very sure. Without that confidence, it is easy to dismiss the claims of others in speaking for God.

I was baptized by an ordained priest when I was eight years old. I was ordained to the Aaronic priesthood when I was but twelve years of age. I had the Melchizedek priesthood conferred upon me when I was nineteen, ordained an Elder and set apart as a missionary. I was later ordained a High Priest and set apart in various priesthood leadership capacities in the Church. I know from personal experience that there is something to this priesthood. It is real.

Holding the priesthood and acting in the name of the Lord has blessed my life in so many ways. It is a privilege for which I am deeply grateful. Bearing the priesthood has shaped who I am. Serving in the priesthood has taught me how important it is to be very careful how I act because I am a representative of Jesus Christ. That is an awesome responsibility. It is a marvelous blessing to be part of the large army of the priesthood spread throughout the earth today.

Mothers Who Know and What Women Know

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I am just a little behind on this issue. In fact I didn’t even know it was an issue until Carol mentioned it the other day. She belongs to a Relief Society email newsgroup where the subject was being discussed. Apparently, a number of sisters took offense at the wonderful recent general conference address by Sister Julie B Beck, General President of the Relief Society.

I had to go back and read it again to see what all the fuss was about. The address is entitled ‘Mothers Who Know.” I suppose the main thing that some women took offense at is they felt excluded because they weren’t mothers. I don’t think Sister Beck intended to exclude women who weren’t mothers from her conference address.

In fact, just the week before she gave an equally wonderful address at the women’s broadcast. The subject there was “What Latter-day Saint Women Do Best: Stand Strong and Immovable.” Nobody complained about that talk with her three-part focus on faith, families and relief. I guess it was just that her General Conference talk focused so much on mothering.

Some sisters felt so strongly about what she said that they have actually written a dissenting document and posted it on the Internet. I won’t link to it. You can find it if you want. It is entitled, “What Women Know.” They apparently took offense to Sister Beck starting her talk with a reference to the 2,000 stripling warriors by pointing out how bad war is.

Update: I am so glad to see that enough sisters feel so strongly about this subject that they created their own website entitled, “Mothers Who Know.” I am happy to link to it here.

If you have found and read the opposing statement you may appreciate that the introduction points out that Sister Beck’s talk “conflicts with their inspiration and experience.” When I read that 2 Ne 9:28 came to my mind. I won’t comment on all the other parts of their dissertation but I will comment on two phrases that speak volumes.

One phrase is that too many of these women fear that they “are just one fully-employed male away from poverty.” Huh? Where did that come from and what does it have to do with Sister Beck’s talk? These women seem to be coming from a fear-based and not a faith-based point of view. The church has never taught that women should not excel in education or employability.

The other phrase I find disturbing is that they claim that many of their men “also struggle within a system that equates leadership with hierarchy and domination.” True, the priesthood organization of the Church is hierarchical, but that is from revealed doctrine. Domination is a different story and has forever been preached against as long as I can remember.

I wonder what my mother would have thought of this talk if she were still alive. My mother raised four daughters and two sons. She was an extremely well-read and educated woman. Would she have taken offense at Sister Beck’s reminder to bring children to church “in clean and ironed dresses with hair brushed to perfection?” I’ll have to ask my sisters.

What did you think of Sister Beck’s talk in General Conference? Was it demeaning or offensive or did you find it uplifting and encouraging?