Blessings of Healing



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Attaining, Accessing, Using Priesthood Power

THIS TALK   was given by David Clare at the last BYU Women' Conference. Interesting topic for an address given to women, right? Well, he sort of expands upon Elder Oaks' recent GC statement that actually, women DO have priesthood power and authority. I think it is so interesting how leaders are now talking about the ways that women do have access to the priesthood. Elder Ballard's recent quote, "When men and women go to the temple, they are both endowed with the same power, which is by definition priesthood power," and Elder Oaks talk are some remarkable examples. What I don't understand is how the argument that men are supposed to preside over women by divine mandate then holds up. I thought the argument used to go like this, "Men preside in their homes and in the church because they are priesthood holders." But now we're saying that women have the priesthood too... sorta. So it must be something else... keys! Men hold priesthood keys. That...
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Changes Worth Waiting For

I hate generalizations. I feel that they're the result of intellectual laziness. When you're too lazy to make the effort to be accurate to reality, when that reality is nuanced and complex, oversimplification and stereotypes help you feel like you "understand." I hate that generalizations make people feel left out, or somehow wrong. I feel like they're about 60% accurate. All of that being said, I have a few generalizations I'd like to make about feminists, using the feminist I know best as a template - that feminist being myself. Feminists are highly logical. - Many feminists that I know tend to be "left brained." We have a lot of respect for reasoning. This also might be why we're so very angered by some unflattering stereotypes regarding "women and their hysterics." Feminists like to be in charge. - And we're good at it too. We are used to being respected in our social groups, looked up to and trusted. We can coordinate l...
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Grievances

I recently had a really interesting experience in a worthiness interview with a priesthood leader. We began to discuss some of my gender issues with the church and he began to share some totally non-doctrinal opinions as an attempt to explain the sexism in the church. One of the morsels he offered up was that God is a polygamist. I stated unequivocally that I did not believe that and it was amazing to me how empowering and comforting it was to do that.  My feminist issues probably began at birth but I got around them in one way or another until I was endowed and then I just hit a road block that has seemed insurmountable at times. But within just the past few months, I have gotten to a point that is a huge landmark for me: I no longer doubt God.  The temple broke my heart because it literally made me feel that God loved me less than His sons or placed me in a lower importance or worth than them. It made me doubt my own worth in a way that nothing else ever has. But ...
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