Relief Society--5/16

"What is a prophet?" the teacher asked, as we groaned at the hackneyed question. She reached over and began putting up papers onto the boards, each one with its own magnet on the blackboard. "Speaks For God" the first one read, and we all nodded. She pointed to the example, and explained "If the prophet says something, and someone else claims something different, you know that you can always trust the prophet's words and know that the other person is a liar". She followed this up with the oft-used Wilford Woodruff quote that says

"The Lord will never permit me or any other man who stands as President of this Church to lead you astray".

So where does that leave personal revaluation? Where does that leave opinions (not doctrine) of the prophets? After all,
"Not every statement made by a Church leader, past or present, necessarily constitutes doctrine. A single statement made by a single leader on a single occasion often represents a personal, though well-considered, opinion, but is not meant to be officially binding for the whole Church. With divine inspiration, the First Presidency (the prophet and his two counselors) and the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles (the second-highest governing body of the Church) counsel together to establish doctrine that is consistently proclaimed in official Church publications. This doctrine resides in the four "standard works" of scripture (the Holy Bible, the Book of Mormon, the Doctrine and Covenants and the Pearl of Great Price), official declarations and proclamations, and the Articles of Faith."

I still feel like it is unfair to say that anyone who disagrees with a prophet is a liar. A prophet said that people live on the sun--which is pretty obviously not true. I disagree--and yet I'm not a liar. So much of what the prophet says is influenced by his generation.

She continued saying "And, when we get new commandments from the prophets, sometimes they can be hard to accept, but 15 wise men of God agreed to them, so we need to harken and obey". I don't disagree with that... it just kind of makes me sad that women aren't involved at all.

"Have you all read the messages from the priesthood session of conference? Remember, they're not Just for men, they have valuable counsel for us too". I don't disagree with that either. But I do ask why I'm not allowed to go to it.


On the same line, I was thinking about it, and my question was why, in the mission field, can't women be APs or hold leadership positions? It is my understanding that all of the leadership roles are given to male missionaries. Because they have the priesthood? Really? The majority of the leadership positions take organization, nurturing, and understanding. You have to work with the missionaries to help them stay on track. So it totally makes sense that this calling is required to be given to a 20 year old man, and cannot be given to a 23 year old woman. Because women can't do any of those tasks, obviously. Someone give me a call when that makes sense -.-