“Thy Mind, O Man,” photograph of original manuscript. The Joseph Smith Papers.

Friends, many of you have been wondering where I’ve been over the last few years, and what I’ve been up to. I’ve been involved with a variety of projects, and I’ve also been studying. Over the past five years or so I have studied many different subjects, and I’ve studied them deeply. I feel I have learned much, and grown in many ways, and I would like to begin to share what I’ve learned, with you. Although what I have to share has everything to do with the temple, it approaches the subject matter differently. John Welch notes that after Joseph Smith Jr. had been incarcerated in the hellhole of Liberty Jail for almost five months, “the Prophet burst beyond the walls of his surroundings with these expansive words”: ((Welch, John W. (2011) “”Thy Mind, O Man, Must Stretch”,” BYU Studies Quarterly: Vol. 50 : Iss. 3 , Article 4. Available at: http://scholarsarchive.byu.edu/byusq/vol50/iss3/4 or at https://speeches.byu.edu/talks/john-w-welch_thy-mind-o-man-must-stretch/. Welch gave this address as the recipient of the 2010-2011 Karl G. Maeser Distinguished Faculty Lecturer Award on May 17, 2011, at Brigham Young University in Provo, Utah.))

The things of God are of deep import, and time and experience and careful and ponderous and solemn thoughts can only find them out. Thy mind, O Man, if thou wilt lead a soul unto salvation, must stretch as high as the utmost Heavens, and search into and contemplate the lowest considerations of the darkest abyss, and expand upon the broad considerations of eternal expanse; he must commune with God. ((“Letter to the Church and Edward Partridge, 20 March 1839,” p. 12, The Joseph Smith Papers, accessed April 6, 2017, http://www.josephsmithpapers.org/paper-summary/letter-to-the-church-and-edward-partridge-20-march-1839/12. Spelling, grammar, and punctuation standardized. A photograph of the original manuscript can be seen at the top of this post.))

So I thought that I would start a new website at ThyMindOMan.com to better capture this new approach to the subject—exploring the mind’s relationship to God. I will explore how we might be able to use our mind and consciousness to explore those heights and depths that Joseph referred to, and to commune with and ultimately become one with God, something Joseph said we must do. And I want to share my thoughts with you.

Thank you for your dear friendship and conversations that we’ve had on TempleStudy.com. It’s been a truly remarkable decade.

Donald W. Parry’s Introduction to the 2014 Temple on Mount Zion Conference

Jeffrey M. Bradshaw: “What Did Joseph Smith Know about Temple Ordinances by 1836?”

Dan Belnap: “‘Let the Beauty of the Lord our God be Upon Us’: The Role of Visual Aesthetics in Ancient Israel’s Temple Worship”

Carli Anderson: “Enthroning the Daughter of Zion: The Coronation Motif of Isaiah 60-62”

Stephen D. Ricks: “Prayer with Uplifted Hands”

David Calabro: “Joseph Smith and the Architecture of Genesis”

Stephen Smoot: “The Book of the Dead as a Temple Text and Its Implications for the Book of Abraham”

David Larsen: “Psalm 24 and the Two Yahwehs at the Gate of the Temple”

Ann Madsen: “Temples in the Margins: The Temple in Isaiah”

(Donald W. Parry asked that this presentation not be filmed: “Temple Themes in Cities of Refuge Texts”)

Matthew L. Bowen: “‘I Have Done According to My Will’: Reading Jacob 5 as a Temple Text”

John W. Welch: “Leviticus as an Archetypal Temple Template”

John S. Thompson: “How John’s Gospel Portrays Jesus as the Way of the Temple”

Shon D. Hopkin: “The Day of Atonement, the Mosaic Temple, and the Christian Sacrament of Communion: Links and Symbols”

Daniel C. Peterson: “The Cosmic Mountain in Canaan and the Qur’an”

Orderville Utah, circa 1890 (click to enlarge)

Note: My wife and I were asked to give talks today in our ward’s sacrament meeting on the topic of thanksgiving and gratitude. The following is the text of my talk.

One of the greatest blessings promised in the scriptures, and one which has always captivated me in its power and truth, is found in the last book of the Old Testament. In Malachi chapter 3 the Lord says through his prophet:

Will a man rob God? Yet ye have robbed me. But ye say, Wherein have we robbed thee? In tithes and offerings…

Bring ye all the tithes into the storehouse, that there may be meat in mine house, and prove me now herewith, saith the Lord of hosts, if I will not open you the windows of heaven, and pour you out a blessing, that there shall not be room enough to receive it. (Malachi 3:8, 10)

The commandment to live the law of tithing is perhaps unique in that it comes with an explicit test of its truth – “prove me now,” says our Heavenly Father. Do this and see. Prove me, if I will not open the windows of heaven, and pour out blessings so great that you won’t even have room enough to receive them into your life. What greater blessings could there be? My wife and I have been witnesses to these blessings in our lives.

I have always thought this promise was special in the extent and abundance of blessings promised by faithful obedience to a single law. But I recently came across another similar promise in the scriptures, based upon obedience to another single commandment. On March 1, 1832, while the Prophet Joseph was in Kirtland Ohio, this revelation was given:

And he who receiveth all things with thankfulness shall be made glorious; and the things of this earth shall be added unto him, even an hundred fold, yea, more. (D&C 78:19)

The commandment is to be thankful for all things in your life, all things that you receive, the good and the bad. And if we do this we are promised by God that we will be made glorious and that the things of the earth shall be added to us, even an hundred fold and more! You can see the similarity to the promise made in Malachi regarding tithing. If we are grateful for what we have, even through the struggles and trials of life, we will have many more things given to us, even hundreds of times that which the earth has to offer, which can be mind boggling to think about.

It is interesting that this same law of thanksgiving and the abundant blessings which follow can be found in a number of ancient societies and other religious texts, which is yet another witness of the divine calling of the Prophet Joseph Smith, and that truth has been revealed in other times and places. Muhammad is quoted as saying, “Gratitude for the abundance you have received is the best insurance that the abundance will continue.” In ancient times there was a sort of spiritual law that the more you have and are grateful for, the more will be given you. In Islamic scripture, the Quran, it says:

If you are grateful, I shall most certainly give you more and more. (Ibrahim 14:7)

But is thanksgiving and being grateful really a commandment? In a revelation given to the Prophet in 1831 the Lord reiterated the greatest commandments to the Saints of this dispensation. After recalling the first commandment to love the Lord thy God, and the second, to love thy neighbor as thyself (and its related commandments), in the very next verse the Lord declared the following:

Thou shalt thank the Lord thy God in all things. (D&C 59:7)

So great is the Lord’s concern for this commandment of gratitude, that he has even expressed his offence when it is not followed:

And in nothing doth man offend God, or against none is his wrath kindled, save those who confess not his hand in all things, and obey not his commandments. (D&C 59:21)

In our world today where consumerism and materialism reign supreme unfortunately we seem to rarely see acts of regular thanksgiving, of sincere gratitude for what we have. It seems to be more important to people to express their wants and desires, their wish lists, and do everything in their power to secure them through their daily work. How ironic is that we have the holiday of Thanksgiving on one day, wherein we celebrate everything that we have in our lives and how richly blessed we’ve been, and the very next day, even within a few hours, we primarily concern ourselves with getting as many material things as possible which we don’t yet have? How often do we “buy things we don’t need, with money we don’t have, to impress people we don’t like” (Clive Hamilton, Growth Fetish)? As the temple teaches us, having sufficient for our needs is enough. Having more than that can lead to pride and ingratitude.

President Joseph F. Smith once said this about ingratitude:

I believe that one of the greatest sins of which the inhabitants of the earth are guilty today is the sin of ingratitude, the want of acknowledgment, on their part, of God and his right to govern and control. We see a man raised up with extraordinary gifts, or with great intelligence, and he is instrumental in developing some great principle. He and the world ascribe this great genius and wisdom to himself. He attributes his success to his own energies, labor and mental capacity. He does not acknowledge the hand of God in anything connected with his success, but ignores him altogether and takes the honor to himself; this will apply to almost all the world. In all great modern discoveries in science, in the arts, in mechanics, and in all the material advancement of our age, the world says, ‘We have done it.’ The individual says, ‘I have done it,’ and he gives no honor and credit to God. Now, I read in the revelations through Joseph Smith, the prophet, that because of this, God is not pleased with the inhabitants of the earth but is angry with them because they will not acknowledge his hand in all things. (Gospel Doctrine, 5th ed., Salt Lake City: Deseret Book Co., 1939, pp. 270–71.)

The ancient Greek philosopher Socrates once wisely taught,

He who is not contented with what he has, would not be contented with what he would like to have.

In other words, satisfaction for those things that come into our lives is dependent first upon our gratitude for that which we already have. Put still another way, if you’re not happy with what you’ve got, you won’t be happy with what you get. My mother used to like to repeat the old adage, “Fix it up, wear it out, make it do or do without.” How much do we waste when we believe what we have is not good enough?

In a talk on gratitude given by President Henry B. Eyring in 1989, when he was a counselor in the Presiding Bishopric, he quoted a poem which highlights “how different” our perspectives can be:

Some murmur when the sky is clear
And wholly bright to view,
If one small speck of dark appear
In their great heaven of blue:
And some with thankful love are filled,
If but one streak of light,
One ray of God’s good mercy, gild
The darkness of their night.

The greed and pride which accompanies those who are not grateful for what they have is quite clear in contrast with those who acknowledge the tender mercies of the Lord in the smallest of things.

Controlling our wants and increasing our gratitude and generosity are changes we need to make, said President Eyring. “Someday,” he said, “in our families and as a people, we will live as one, seeking each other’s good.” Of course, President Eyring is referring to a Zion people, such as the city of Enoch, where “they were of one heart and one mind, and dwelt in righteousness; and there was no poor among them” (Moses 7:18).

We too are striving to become a Zion people, to become even as the city of Enoch, something which we sometimes might forget. President Eyring recalled:

Not long ago a man asked me, “Does your church still believe that when Christ comes you will be living as one, the way they did in the city of Enoch?” He put a spin on the word still, as if we might not believe such a thing anymore. I said, “Yes, we do.” And then he said, “You are the people who could do it.”

I do not know why he thought that, but I know why he was right. He was right because this is the kingdom of God.

If you remember Church history, you will note how Zion was to be built in Jackson County, Missouri. There was to be a massive temple complex built there, in Independence, and that is where we were to build the New Jerusalem, to receive Christ when he comes again. But it didn’t happen. The Saints were driven out of that place. Why? Revelation given in Doctrine & Covenants section 105 tells us that the Saints were not obedient to the law which God had given them, specifically the law of consecration, they were not humble and grateful for that which they had, imparting of their substance to the poor and needy, and therefore they were not united as one people. Consequently the Lord said that the Saints needed to be chastened until we could learn to obey God’s law, become more faithful, prayerful, and humble, and that we would need to wait for the redemption of Zion.

President Lorenzo Snow taught that the Saints were “not justified in anticipating the privilege of returning to build up the center stake of Zion, until we shall have shown obedience to the law of consecration.”  Furthermore, the Saints are not “permitted to enter the land from whence we were expelled, till our hearts are prepared to honor this law, and we become sanctified through the practice of the truth” (Lorenzo Snow, Journal of Discourses, 16:276). And so we are like the ancient Israelites, wandering in the wilderness, until we can enter the promised land.

Until we are grateful for that which we have, and with thanksgiving acknowledge everything that the Lord has blessed us with, how will we be able to impart of what we have to those around us, to the poor and needy, so that we may be united as required by the law of consecration? As President Eyring noted in his talk, we still “are going to need that change.” We are still learning obedience to God’s commandments, specifically how to be full of gratitude for the things which we have, which all come from God, and to be content with what is sufficient for our needs, so that we may give of our surplus to others who are in need. Only this will bring us to the unity of being of one heart and one mind, even a Zion people.

President Eyring relates a story about Orderville, a town established in 1870 in southern Utah, which attempted to live the law of consecration, sometimes called the united firm or united order. They did pretty well, at first. They were completely self-sufficient, producing everything they needed, and more, which they sold as surplus to neighboring towns to purchase more land and equipment. One key factor that aided them in living the law was the fact that many of the families came from the mission called Muddy River, where they had nearly starved. They were essentially destitute. President Eyring notes their gratitude when they established Orderville:

Their having almost nothing provided a basis for future comparison that might have guaranteed gratitude: any food or clothing or housing that came to them in Orderville would be treasure compared to their privation on the Muddy mission.

Unfortunately, over time they forgot their previous condition, as life became more comfortable and they were prosperous. They began to covet the things that people had in neighboring towns, and instead of feeling a great sense of gratitude for what they already had, they began to feel deprived and old-fashioned, and began to change the way they lived so they could have the latest and greatest, even when they didn’t need them.

President Eyring noted that ingratitude resulted from not remembering:

You know that isn’t a happy ending. There were many challenges Orderville faced in the ten years they lived the order there. One of them they never really conquered. It was the problem of not remembering. That is a problem we must solve, too.

Just as they forgot poverty on the Muddy, we so easily forget that we came into life with nothing. Whatever we get soon seems our natural right, not a gift. And we forget the giver. Then our gaze shifts from what we have been given to what we don’t have yet.

Forgetting who has given us all things can lead us to ingratitude for what we have, and that leads us away from Zion.

Abraham Lincoln also noted the challenges that spring from forgetting:

We have been the recipients of the choicest bounties of heaven; we have been preserved these many years in peace and prosperity; we have grown in number, wealth, and power as no other Nation has ever grown. But we have forgotten God. We have forgotten the gracious hand which preserved us in peace and multiplied and enriched and strengthened us, and we have vainly imagined, in the deceitfulness of our hearts, that all these blessings were produced by some superior wisdom and virtue of our own. Intoxicated with unbroken success we have become too self-sufficient to feel the necessity of redeeming and preserving grace, too proud to pray to the God who made us.

It behooves us, then, to humble ourselves before the offended power, to confess our … sins, and to pray for clemency and forgiveness. (John Wesley Hill, Abraham Lincoln, Man of God, 4th ed., New York: G. P. Putnam’s Sons, p. 391.)

How do we find gratitude? President Eyring taught that it can come through prayer:

You could have an experience with the gift of the Holy Ghost today. You could begin a private prayer with thanks. You could start to count your blessings, and then pause for a moment. If you exercise faith, and with the gift of the Holy Ghost, you will find that memories of other blessings will flood into your mind. If you begin to express gratitude for each of them, your prayer may take a little longer than usual. Remembrance will come. And so will gratitude.

President Eyring also taught that keeping a journal, also called a book of remembrance, leads to gratitude:

As you start to write, you could ask yourself, “How did God bless me today?” If you do that long enough and with faith, you will find yourself remembering blessings. And sometimes, you will have gifts brought to your mind which you failed to notice during the day, but which you will then know were a touch of God’s hand in your life.

President Eyring also noted that the sacrament helps us to remember what we’ve been given, especially and most importantly, that we will “always remember him,” our Savior Jesus Christ, and the atonement which he has given us, the opportunity to repent and be better.

Remembrance is the seed of gratitude which is the seed of generosity. Gratitude for the remission of sins is the seed of charity, the pure love of Christ.

I pray that this Thanksgiving we will remember all that we have in our lives is a gift from God. This gratitude will be a seed of giving of our substance to others who are in need, which will help bring us closer to Zion.

The Church has released a new video explaining the temple garment, and the temple robes.  This is also the first time that the Church has publicly displayed what the clothing looks like.  See the video above, or click through to the Church’s newsroom.

[via Millennial Star]

LDS woman being set apart for a calling in the Church.

“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?” —Elder Dallin H. Oaks, “The Keys and Authority of the Priesthood,” April 2014 General Conference. Emphasis added.

I’m a Sunday School teacher in my ward, and today I taught about women and the priesthood. I thought I’d share a few thoughts from that lesson, especially in light of current events.

“Simple” Questions

I started my lesson by asking a few “simple” questions about the priesthood:

• Do women have responsibilities in their callings in the Church?
• Do women have authority in their callings in the Church?
• Do women have priesthood authority in their callings?
• Do women exercise priesthood authority?
• Do women hold priesthood authority?

The questions start out relatively easy, and most in the class knew the answers, and were ready and willing to respond. But I knew as I progressed through the questions that there was some confusion. Perhaps many of us are likewise stumped when it comes to these questions, or we may think we know the answers when we don’t.

The answer to all of these questions is yes.

One of the best talks I’ve ever heard on the subject was given by Elder Dallin H. Oaks in the Priesthood Session of this last April 2014 General Conference entitled “The Keys and Authority of the Priesthood.”  Another excellent discourse on the topic was given by Elder Neil L. Andersen, “Power in the Priesthood,” in the October 2013 General Conference, which, incidentally, we also listened to in full in our combined Elders and High Priest quorums today. I will focus on the talk by Elder Oaks, as I think it greatly helps to reiterate a lot of what we know about the priesthood and how it functions in the Church, but also clarifies how the priesthood relates to women, which is profound.

What is the Priesthood?

Elder Oaks begins by discussing how we do not “step down” or “step up” when we are called into callings in the Church. There is only “forward or backward,” as he illustrated by a former stake president and his wife being called as nursery leaders in their wards. How true is that. We do not aspire to “higher” callings in the Church (or “lower” for that matter), because there are none. We serve where we are called, wherever that may be, and this helps the work of the Lord move forward.

He continues by quoting Relief Society general president Linda K. Burton who said that we all need a greater desire to understand the priesthood. Indeed we do. Sometimes there are things we think we know, but we really don’t. There are certain aspects of the priesthood that I think few of us truly understand, but we receive line upon line. Elder Oaks leads us from one point to the next, starting with the priesthood keys and then to the authority, to teach us some great truths about the priesthood, and particularly as it relates to women.

Elder Oaks said:

Priesthood power blesses all of us. Priesthood keys direct women as well as men, and priesthood ordinances and priesthood authority pertain to women as well as men.

This is true, on several levels. It is true that the priesthood blesses all of us, whether man or woman. The keys, in particular, direct women and men. But I thought his last statement, that the ordinances and authority pertain to women as well as men, was particularly insightful. On a more subtle level it introduces us to the topic that he has prepared.

Pertaining

The word choice of pertain is important. Pertain has several meanings, most commonly to “be appropriate, related, or applicable.” But I think it’s interesting that Elder Oaks comes from a law background, which helps to shape his words in a certain way. Formerly a law professor, justice of the Utah Supreme Court, and even considered a prospect for a seat on the U.S. Supreme Court, he is well acquainted with law, and it often comes through his speech and writings. Even the talks he gives, such as this one, are organized into sections with roman numerals, as articles or sections of a bill of law. When trying to understand his words, it might be helpful to view them in terms of how they are considered in the world of law.

Pertain, in a law sense, means “belong to something as a part, appendage, or accessory,” as in the assets pertaining to a business, or belonging to that business. Synonyms include “belong to,” “be a part of,” or “be included in.” It is in this sense that I think Elder Oaks meant when he used the word. Priesthood ordinances and authority belong to women as well as men.  Both men and women take a part in the ordinances and authority of the priesthood. This was spelled out more clearly as Elder Oaks continued.

Priesthood Defined

He defines the authority as we have commonly heard it, quoting President Joseph F. Smith:

The power of God delegated to man by which man can act in the earth for the salvation of the human family.

Of course, often when the word man is used, it is meant to mean mankind, or those in the human family, male and female, and is not gender specific. This quote might be more helpfully understood in this context.

The priesthood is also the ultimate power upon the earth, even the power by which it was made. It is the power that enables the resurrection.

Keys

What are priesthood keys? Elder Oaks notes, from Handbook 2:

Priesthood keys are the authority God has given to priesthood [holders] to direct, control, and govern the use of His priesthood on earth.

It’s interesting that he removed the term “leaders” from the original sentence in the Handbook, instead replacing it with “holders.” It seems he wanted to emphasize that the keys are given only to those who hold offices in the priesthood (often called priesthood holders), with declared Aaronic or Melchizedek priesthood office, such as deacon, teacher, priest, bishop, elder, high priest, patriarch, seventy, and apostle. And, as Elder Oaks notes:

The Lord has directed that only men [males] will be ordained to offices in the priesthood.

The keys are so given to men in these offices to direct, control, and govern the use of the priesthood.

Every act or ordinance performed in the Church is done under the direct or indirect authorization of one holding the keys for that function.

A priesthood “holder,” or any other member for that matter, could not do anything within this church without the authorization of those who hold the keys, no matter if they have the priesthood, hold an office, or otherwise. The keys designate how the priesthood is allowed to function on the earth. Without the keys, any church function would not be possible, or at least invalid.

the function of priesthood keys… limits by directing who will be given the authority of the priesthood, who will hold its offices, and how its rights and powers will be conferred. For example, a person who holds the priesthood is not able to confer his office or authority on another unless authorized by one who holds the keys… This explains why a priesthood holder—regardless of office—cannot ordain a member of his family or administer the sacrament in his own home without authorization from the one who holds the appropriate keys.

Priesthood authority is exercised only under the direction of those who hold keys, and those who hold the keys are ordained to a priesthood office. Not all priesthood offices hold keys, however. Those who hold priesthood keys are:

• Prophet
• Apostles
• Temple Presidents
• Branch Presidents
• District Presidents
• Stake Presidents
• Mission Presidents
• Bishops
• Elders Quorum Presidents
• Teachers Quorum Presidents
• Deacons Quorum Presidents
• Seven Presidents of the Seventy

The High Priest Group Leader does not hold keys, as the Stake President is the president of the high priests quorum in a stake. Neither do the first and second assistants in the priests quorum have keys, as the bishop is the president of that quorum. Members of the quorums of the seventy do not hold keys either. Counselors do not hold keys. Other auxiliary presidents and presidencies do not hold keys.

Officiating in Priesthood Ordinances

Who can officiate in priesthood ordinances?  Officiate means the one who is in charge of the ordinance, or who acts or performs the ordinance. An ordinance is a sacred, formal act performed by the authority of the priesthood. Returning to the theme we began with, Elder Oaks remarks:

With the exception of the sacred work that sisters do in the temple under the keys held by the temple president, which I will describe hereafter, only one who holds a priesthood office can officiate in a priesthood ordinance.

This is notable. In general, only those who hold a priesthood office can officiate in a priesthood ordinance, such as baptism, confirmation, giving a blessing, ordaining others, etc. But there is an exception. As those members who have been endowed in the temple will recognize, women within the temple officiate in priesthood ordinances. Full stop. Think about that. As we will see shortly, women do so with priesthood authority, acting under the direction of the keys held by the temple president. But that is not the only place where women exercise priesthood authority.

Whose Priesthood?

The priesthood ultimately belongs to Jesus Christ, whose priesthood it is, and who holds all the keys of that priesthood. He determines which keys are given to men on the earth, and how they are used. But, as Elder Oaks notes, not all the keys are present on the earth today, but only those of this dispensation. There are other keys that are not on the earth, namely keys of creation and resurrection.

Only the prophet and apostles hold all the keys of this dispensation on the earth today, but the prophet is the only one authorized to exercise all the keys. The prophet delegates these keys to the other leaders who hold the keys necessary to preside in their responsibilities.

Elder Oaks notes a fundamental limitation of those that hold the keys of the priesthood:

The First Presidency and the Council of the First Presidency and Quorum of the Twelve, who preside over the Church, are empowered to make many decisions affecting Church policies and procedures—matters such as the location of Church buildings and the ages for missionary service. But even though these presiding authorities hold and exercise all of the keys delegated to men in this dispensation, they are not free to alter the divinely decreed pattern that only men will hold offices in the priesthood. (Emphasis added.)

This is important to recognize. President Thomas S. Monson, his counselors, and the Quorum of the Twelve can decide on many matters of Church administration, but they cannot change the pattern of the priesthood. There is only One who can change the priesthood, and that is the Lord Jesus Christ, whose priesthood it is. Any change to the priesthood pattern the Lord has given the leaders of the Church, namely male-only ordination to priesthood offices, would need to come by revelation.

Priesthood Authority and Women

One of the notable things Elder Oaks says about priesthood authority is this:

…since the scriptures state that “all other authorities [and] offices in the church are appendages to this [Melchizedek] priesthood” (D&C 107:5), all that is done under the direction of those priesthood keys is done with priesthood authority.

Yes. All that is done under the direction of those who have the keys is done with priesthood authority.  All.

Elder Oaks goes on to note in quoting President Joseph Fielding Smith that women receive authority in the Church, even authority to do binding ordinances essential to our salvation, “such as the work that our sisters do in the House of the Lord.” These ordinances are just as binding and sacred as those done by men.

But this authority extends outside the temple to all other areas of the Church. Elder Oaks notes:

…the Church work done by women or men, whether in the temple or in the wards or branches, is done under the direction of those who hold priesthood keys… [the] Relief Society is not just a class for women but something they belong to—a divinely established appendage to the priesthood.

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? When a woman—young or old—is set apart to preach the gospel as a full-time missionary, she is given priesthood authority to perform a priesthood function. The same is true when a woman is set apart to function as an officer or teacher in a Church organization under the direction of one who holds the keys of the priesthood. Whoever functions in an office or calling received from one who holds priesthood keys exercises priesthood authority in performing her or his assigned duties.

This is profound. Indeed, what other authority would it be that these women are acting with in the Church, if not priesthood authority? There is no other authority in the Church; it is all priesthood authority. Any woman who receives any calling within the Church and is set apart by an ordained priesthood holder who has been authorized by those who hold the keys, receives priesthood authority to act in that function in the Church. Priesthood authority is given to her to do her work. The woman then holds priesthood authority in that function, and can exercise that priesthood authority in the duties and responsibilities of that calling. A woman who is set apart as a ward choir director has been given priesthood authority to carry out that responsibility within the ward. A sister who has been called as a Young Women President receives priesthood authority to perform her calling and responsibilities for the young women. A woman called as a primary teacher has priesthood authority given her to fulfill the duties pertaining to that calling. And so on.

Rights vs. Responsibilities

Sometimes some who have the right to exercise this priesthood power can think too much about their rights without regard to their responsibilities. Elder Oaks notes:

Whoever exercises priesthood authority should forget about their rights and concentrate on their responsibilities. That is a principle needed in society at large. The famous Russian writer Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn is quoted as saying, “It is time … to defend not so much human rights as human obligations.” Latter-day Saints surely recognize that qualifying for exaltation is not a matter of asserting rights but a matter of fulfilling responsibilities.

Having been a Utah Supreme Court justice, Elder Oaks is well qualified to speak about about human rights. We can focus so much on what we perceive as our rights that we can lose our ability to fulfill the ends of those rights.

Men & Women

As Elder Oaks emphasizes, “men are not ‘the priesthood.'” They never have been. “Men hold the priesthood, with a sacred duty to use it for the blessing of all of the children of God.” Women too hold and exercise priesthood authority in their callings within the Church.

So what is the difference between men and women? As we noted earlier, it is divinely decreed that only men are ordained to offices in the priesthood, and in those offices they have certain roles, duties, and obligations to perform with priesthood authority as directed by those who hold the keys. Women too have priesthood authority given to them to fulfill their roles, duties, and obligations within the Church, as directed by those who hold the keys. There is not much difference. There is a difference in roles and responsibilities between men and women, just as the genders themselves have different roles and responsibilities. Men, for example, cannot birth children, but women can. That is a role that men will never have, but they do have a correlated role. Elder Oaks notes:

The greatest power God has given to His sons cannot be exercised without the companionship of one of His daughters, because only to His daughters has God given the power “to be a creator of bodies … so that God’s design and the Great Plan might meet fruition.”

We have different roles, but we depend on one another in the performance of those roles. As The Family: A Proclamation to the World notes:

Gender is an essential characteristic of individual premortal, mortal, and eternal identity and purpose… By divine design, fathers are to preside over their families in love and righteousness and are responsible to provide the necessities of life and protection for their families. Mothers are primarily responsible for the nurture of their children. In these sacred responsibilities, fathers and mothers are obligated to help one another as equal partners.

President J. Reuben Clark noted that women “are builders and organizers under [priesthood] power.” These are some of the important roles that women have within the Church, responsibilities that they are entrusted with by the Lord Jesus Christ.

The Temple Blessings

Elder Oaks concludes:

Unlike priesthood keys and priesthood ordinations, the blessings of the priesthood are available to women and to men on the same terms. The gift of the Holy Ghost and the blessings of the temple are familiar illustrations of this truth.

As I’ve noted elsewhere, men and women, as husband and wife, may also receive priesthood power together within the temple. This has sometimes been called the patriarchal order of the priesthood, or the fullness of the priesthood. It is available to those who are faithful to the Lord in all things.

Andrew C. Skinner, a professor of ancient scripture at BYU, provides some insight into these temple blessings in his book Temple Worship:

Another aspect of the sealing power of the priesthood is the ability of the Lord’s authorized servant to seal men and women unto eternal life, to perform an ordinance granting them eternal life once they pass beyond mortality, “to place a seal on them so that no matter what happens in the world, no matter what desolation sweeps the earth, yet they shall be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus. (D&C 88:84–85; D&C 109:38, 46; D&C 124:124; D&C 131:5; D&C 132:19, 46, 49).” Elder Bruce R. McConkie added this significant insight: “Since these sealing blessings are conferred by the laying on of hands of those who hold the keys of this power, it follows that John’s description of placing a seal in the forehead is not just apocalyptic imagery but a literal description of what takes place. As with other sacred things, however, the devil has a substitute seal to place; he puts a mark in the ‘foreheads’ of his followers also. (Rev. 13:16–18)”…

The sealing of men and women (couples) to eternal life is predicated upon continued faithfulness in mortality over time, after their temple marriage, and is not automatic or inherent in the marriage ceremony when a couple is first married in the temple, as temple instruction makes clear. Said President Joseph Fielding Smith, “Blessings pronounced upon couples in connection with celestial marriage are conditioned upon the subsequent faithfulness of the participating parties.” In fact, exaltation comes as a result of proven loyalty to the Lord and his kingdom “at all hazards.” The Prophet Joseph Smith not only described the kind of complete devotion to righteousness that is required to receive this ultimate blessing but showed us the way. In 1843, after years of serving the Lord at all hazards, Joseph heard the Lord say: “For I am the Lord thy God, and will be with thee even unto the end of the world, and through all eternity; for verily I seal upon you your exaltation, and prepare a throne for you in the kingdom of my Father, with Abraham your father” (D&C 132:49). (Skinner, Temple Worship, 2007, 74-75.)

It is this priesthood authority that Heavenly Father and Heavenly Mother exercise in bringing to pass the immortality and eternal life of man.

Conclusion

So do women have authority in their Church callings? Do they exercise priesthood authority in the Church? Do they hold priesthood authority to do their work in the Church and kingdom of God on the earth? Yes. Yes. Yes. Elder Oaks helped to make this clear.

I’m grateful for prophets and apostles in these latter-days who lead and guide us, and teach us the truths of the restored gospel of Jesus Christ.

The Vatican’s 360 degree photographic virtual reality simulation of the Sistine Chapel.

Several years ago I build a computer generated three-dimensional model and virtual reality walk-through of the Sistine Chapel for a class at BYU. I wrote about this on TempleStudy here.

It appears that the Vatican has commissioned an official virtual reality simulation of the Sistine Chapel that I just stumbled upon, which you can see at this link (http://www.vatican.va/various/cappelle/sistina_vr/index.html).  This is a bit different than a true 3D walk-through, however. It is a stationary 360 degree photograph that you can pan/rotate and zoom with your mouse.  Still incredible though, far more accurate than my reconstruction, complete with choir music.

The Sistine Chapel remains one of the most spectacular artistic masterpieces in the world.

One interesting detail of the chapel is the screen or partition in the middle of the room, also known as a transenna. Wikipedia describes how this screen creates separate and distinct areas:

A screen or transenna in marble by Mino da Fiesole, Andrea Bregno, and Giovanni Dalmata divides the chapel into two parts. Originally these made equal space for the members of the Papal Chapel within the sanctuary near the altar and the pilgrims and townsfolk without. However, with growth in the number of those attending the Pope, the screen was moved giving a reduced area for the faithful laity. The transenna is surmounted by a row of ornate candlesticks, once gilt, and has a wooden door, where once there was an ornate door of gilded wrought iron.

A new website has been created exclusively for this at mormon.org/becauseofhim, which redirects to easter.mormon.org. A video has also been produced, which is embedded here below:

Using the Internet and social media networks like Facebook, Twitter, Google+, Instagram, and Pinterest, the Church “will extend the invitation for people to consider all that is possible in their lives because of Jesus Christ.” The Church invites its members to get involved, sharing the link to the website on their social networks, as well as the video, using the #becauseofhim hashtag.

The Church will be showing ads on YouTube’s homepage on Easter Sunday, which they hope will reach 100 million people. The ad will likely link to the new video (as seen above). Elder David F. Evans, Executive Director of the Missionary Department, notes the value of the ad and the initiative in general:

When you think about how long it would take for missionaries to contact this many people, it becomes clear how important technology is in the work of our Heavenly Father. The Easter holiday is the ideal time for us to help people remember all that is possible because of Jesus Christ…

One of the examples of the Lord hastening His work is the marvelous technology available to us to share His gospel.

The Church notes that there are several things that members can do to get involved to help share and promote this initiative:

1. Look for daily postings on mormon.org/becauseofhim, and the Church’s other social media pages.
2. Go to the mormon.org Facebook page and “like” the page. This will allow the initiative’s daily postings to appear in your Facebook newsfeed. Each day, a new, sharable graphic will be posted focusing on something made possible “because of Him.” The same thing can be done for those using Google+ or Twitter.
3. Share the gospel of Jesus Christ with others using the initiative’s various offerings. When making social media posts, include the hashtag #becauseofhim. While using social media, members may share personal thoughts and feelings about those things made possible using #becauseofhim. On the mormon.org/becauseofhim web page, members are encouraged to read and share the written Easter story as well as the “Because of Him” video with friends and acquaintances.

Additionally, each day this week the Church will be posting a new graphic on their social media accounts which you can re-share on your own social network profiles. These messages will focus on what has been made possible because of Him. Here is the first:

I encourage all to take part in this initiative from the Church this week, to help share the message of the gospel using technology, and help others realize what has been made possible because of Him, our Savior Jesus Christ.

Anna and Elsa embrace at the end of Frozen.

This is a guest post by Raven Haymond, my dear wife.

This life, we are taught, is all about choices. Ultimately, this existence can be framed by the choices made in three gardens. It almost reads like a fairy tale.

Once upon a time, there was a garden, blooming with all the beauty this world could hold. In this garden lived a prince and a princess who spent their days in the light of the sun, in the shade of the tree, and in the company of Gods. One day, a jealous serpent whispered into the princess’s ear, hissing truths encased in mischief. After listening to the serpent’s words, and after considering the beauty of her present life, the princess made the choice to disobey one of the rules of life in this garden and eat the fruit that would cause her and her children to know the bad with the good, the sorrow with the joy, the toil with the happiness. When her prince found out what she had done, he, too, ate that heavy fruit, for he knew that a life without her was not really a life at all. When their choice was found out, the prince and the princess were cast out of their beautiful garden, into a world of isolation and strife. However, this choice to leave perfect beauty allowed them to know the miracles of family, faith, and repentance.

Many many years pass until, one day, a babe is born. This child has been sent by the One who cast the prince and princess out of their kingdom of peace. You see, this child is their Hero. He lives his life teaching people around Him how to choose the good over the evil, how to spread the gift of love that He offers. One night, in a garden, this Hero makes the choice to perform the ultimate sacrifice. He offers up His perfect life and allows Himself to be wracked by the deepest of pain, grief, and sorrow, by all of the heaviness of this world. The Hero does this because He knows that it is the only way the prince and the princess and all of their family can have their happily ever afters. Days later, he faces death at the hands of those He has just saved. By whip and nail, He is slain and raised upon a cross.

And now, let us turn to the last page of our tale. Three days after His cruel death, this Hero chooses to rise again and show Himself to a worthy princess, in a garden in the spring. He has made it possible for every heir to the kingdom to live again, to once again know perfect beauty.

Any student of literature can tell you that the stories we create trace their lines back to certain universal themes. We call these archetypes. We craft tales that speak of journeys and heroes, death and rebirth. From Odysseus and his cyclops to Alice and her Cheshire Cat, we read, write, and experience stories in order to reinforce certain themes in human thought. A prisoner in this life marked with a number on my skin, who am I? How do I find my way home, through all of the obstacles that line my yellow brick road? How am I to treat the other people, no matter how small, that walk this path with me? We turn to these stories to show us how we can be redeemed from our shackles and be a force for good in this world. How we can surprise ourselves with our own bravery and strength and drown out the evil around us. How we can recognize the divinity in each person that journeys with us.

Disney knows archetypes. Their films are brimming with the big themes—choice, accountability, heroes, villains, bravery, and triumph. Though surrounded by the cloudy issues of profits and business, Disney must be acknowledged as one of the most powerful bards in current culture.

So, what does this bard sing to us? Disney’s latest offering, Frozen, has received a lot of attention. Most people are drawn to this film by its catchy songs and story of sacrifice. Some, however, have chosen to imprint ugly words all over this tale. Words like “hidden agenda,” “immoral,” “indoctrination,” and “false doctrine.” They warn all good parents to stay away from such filth and turn their children’s heads away from the subliminal messages being pelted at them. Since this life is all about choices, writers of such thoughts do have that choice. They can choose to watch this film and see black sin oozing from its pages.

However, I, for one, do not see it that way. Let me tell you what I do see.

I see a child who realizes that she is powerful.

And she ponders the fruit in her hands.

I see a child who crumbles under the weight of the realization that power can sometimes hurt those she loves.

For she knows that though her power can create beauty, it can also create pain.

I see a child who struggles to make the right choices.

Day to day, minute by minute.

I see a child who chooses to lock herself away rather than risk hurting another person.

For she sees no other way.

I see a child who, even though she tries and tries and tries, experiences a moment where she cannot control this power.

And in that moment, it is all just too much.

I see a child who runs, who breaks away from her self-imposed prison sentence.

Her mind coursing between right and wrong, destiny and tragedy, truth and falsehood.

And I am that child.

I see her sister.

A sister that begs to be let in, to share her sister’s solitary burdens.

An offering of grace.

A sister that sees the darkness in the power, but chooses to have faith in the beauty of the heart.

A gift of forgiveness.

A sister that climbs the tallest tower to prove her love.

A whisper of hope.

I see a child who decides that the only way to save, to truly love, is to sacrifice herself.

For her sight has been darkened, and she does not remember who she is.

I see a sister who dies by the blow of a cruel sword because she knows the truth.

That in order to save, she must die.

I see two hearts united as the ice of all that is dark, in the world and in the whispered hisses in our ears, is shattered by the conquering power of love.

And they rise together, to light and to love and to joy.

And I am redeemed.

That is what I choose to see. Is there evil in this world? Yes. Are there plots in motion to capture our hearts and our minds and lead us blindly into eternal chains? Yes. Is Frozen a tool in the arsenal of the ultimate villain, the one who would claim us for his own. No. I don’t think it is.

In this case, I choose to see the echoes of the fairy tale that started so very long ago. In a garden.

Daniel C. Peterson introductory remarks at Science & Mormonism Conference

Scott Gordon’s introductory remarks at Science & Mormonism Conference

David H. Bailey on “Science vs. Religion: Can This Marriage Be Saved?”

Richard N. Williams on “Science, Religion, and Agency”

John S. Lewis on “The Scale of Creation in Space and Time”

Ron Hellings on “Joseph Smith and Modern Cosmology”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L1o4vnDLEvw

Jani Radebaugh on “The Outer Solar System: A Window to the Creative Breadth of Divinity”

Bart J. Kowallis on “From All Eternity to All Eternity: Deep Time and the Gospel”

Amy L. Williams on “Answering New Atheism and Seeking a Sure Knowledge of God”

Jeffrey M. Bradshaw on “Science and Genesis: A Personal View”

Steven L. Peck on “Why Evolution and LDS Thought are Fully Compatible”

Life Sciences Panel Discussion