God’s Diversity of Gifts
Filed under: Doctrine & Covenants, Finding joy within the gospel, Gospel Principles, Practices & Precepts, LDS Practices, Men & Priesthood, Priesthood, Priesthood, Self-Worth, Service, Uncategorized, Women
Mormon scriptures teach that every person God creates is given gifts, talents, traits, and experiences from Him, to be used to help others, as well as to bless our own lives. They are His gifts to us. What we choose to do with them is our 
gift to God. It does no good, for instance, to be given a gift to teach powerful spiritual messages if we refuse to learn about Jesus or turn down an opportunity to teach Sunday School.
11 For all have not every gift given unto them; for there are many gifts, and to every man is given a gift by the Spirit of God.
12 To some is given one, and to some is given another, that all may be profited thereby. (See Doctrine and Covenants 46: 11-12.)
Everyone, male and female, can receive spiritual gifts. The scriptures list many of these gifts, and it can be interesting, as we read, to highlight each gift mentioned. The gifts bless the holder of the gifts if he uses them wisely, but they can also be used to bless others. A person who has the gift of faith can use it to find the truth among conflicting and confusing choices. This gift can be used to help that person become a member of the Savior’s church. It comes to her through the Spirit of Christ. After receiving the Gift of the Holy Ghost, her faith grows even more. She might then choose to use that gift to pray for others or to share her faith with those who were not given as strong a gift as she received.
We’re taught that it is appropriate to pray for certain gifts, if we are prepared to use them wisely in the service of others, rather than to glorify ourselves. A person who is invited to teach a class, but lacks the gift to teach can begin to pray for it. While praying, of course, she must do what she can to improve her teaching skills, but God will step in and honor righteous requests if they are part of His plan for us. A prayer to become the greatest teacher in the world is not likely to be honored, because this is a prideful request, but a prayer to have the ability to teach the class one has agreed to teach will be honored.
The diversity of the human race is one of God’s best ideas. If we all had the same talents, gifts, and assignments, most things wouldn’t get done. The world needs writers, but it doesn’t need everyone to be a writer. It needs gardeners, but everyone doesn’t need a talent for gardening. Because each of us has different talents and passions, everything that needs doing gets done. If we each had all the talents possible in equal proportion, we might find ourselves spread too thin, and most things wouldn’t get accomplished. We’d all be doing whatever was easiest or created the most wealth, given human nature.
In the same way, God divided up certain tasks and assigned them to specific genders. Only women were given the ability to give birth. This doesn’t mean God loves men less; it only means that doesn’t happen to be one of the tasks assigned to them. Only men hold the priesthood, but that does not say women aren’t worthy or capable of holding it. Priesthood is an office, not a gender, but assigning it to men keeps it focused, just as assigning childbirth only to women keeps that aspect of life focused.
Within the Mormon Church, there are a great many tasks to be completed, because we have a lay religion and very complex programs. Everyone is asked to take on his or her share of the work. Tasks are assigned in various ways that make the church run more smoothly. Some are assigned by age: Only a twelve or thirteen year old girl may serve as a youth leader in the Beehive Program. (Beehives are girls of that age in the Young Women’s program for teenagers.) Others are assigned by gender: Only women can serve as Primary or Relief Society Presidents. (These are, respectively, the organizations for children and women.) Some tasks are open to anyone who is an adult: Anyone may teach the children or the literacy classes, even though only women can lead those programs. Some tasks are assigned by office: Only a person who holds the office of a high priest can serve as a bishop (the leader of a congregation.) It might appear that the rule is that only men can be bishops, but actually, the rule is that only high priests can be bishops. A good and worthy man who does not hold the office of high priest in the priesthood cannot be a bishop, no matter how qualified he is otherwise.
While it’s true that only men are to hold the Mormon priesthood (as we see from even a casual study of the Bible), this does not limit a woman from serving God, anymore than not being able to be the Primary president limits a man’s ability to serve God. There are many ways to serve, and God does not love the priesthood holders more than the Primary president—or the door greeter. We don’t get bonus points for serving in certain kinds of positions. God asks us to serve wherever He needs us, and if we do this well, we are blessed for our attitude and willingness to serve, not for the specific task accomplished.
Men holding the priesthood receive no special blessings over the women. It isn’t about power or blessings, or God’s love. It is, rather, about our trust in God and His plan. If we have a testimony that the Savior is at the head of the church, and that He sees with a vision greater than our own, we won’t waste valuable mortality hours fretting over what gifts or offices we don’t have. Instead, we’ll work hard to develop those God has asked us to take on. As with every other aspect of the gospel, it really comes down to a testimony. How much do you trust God?
When I was first investigating the church, the priesthood issue concerned me. As a teenager raised in the 1970s, I thought women’s lib was what I was supposed to be living, even though I was known for my love of taking care of children. In other words, my nature was fairly traditional, if you leave out housework. The missionaries, when asked about priesthood at the first lesson, told me they’d be happy to discuss it with me, but I needed more background and training in prayer first. They asked me to learn to pray, and to continue to study, and then we’d discuss it. By the time I was able to understand the answers, I no longer needed to ask the question. I had learned to get my own answers through prayer and I had come to see how much God valued the woman’s place in His kingdom. I understood that being told I had to turn into a man was degrading to women and insulting to God, who created gender. It was no longer a problem for me. I had become proud of the person God created in me.
Over the years, I’ve longed for certain gifts. Some I’ve been able to receive, such as an improved ability to teach. Others were not my calling, such as a desire to sing. Over the years, as I’ve grown and matured, I’ve stopped wasting time fretting over what I don’t have, and have begun to be thankful for what I do have. God gave me a most interesting gift box of traits, talents, and experiences. I would be ungrateful and unworthy of those gifts if I wasted my life whining they weren’t good enough.
Why Don’t Mormon Women Want the Priesthood?
Mormon women are regularly asked why they don’t demand to hold the priesthood, which is given only to worthy boys and men. This is sometimes seen as proof that Mormon women are not considered equal in the church.
The truth is that faithful Mormon women devote very little time to contemplating this subject, and don’t consider themselves mistreated in any way over it. There are several things an outside observer must understand in order to see why this is so.
Let’s begin with an explanation of what the priesthood is. The priesthood is the power and authority of God. It is the tool God used to create the earth and administer the work of the gospel. He delegates keys to worthy men to assist in this work.
The priesthood is given to young men beginning at age twelve and they receive increasing levels of responsibility as they advance through the offices. The first priesthood they receive is the Aaronic Priesthood. In the Old Testament, we see the Aaronic Priesthood was given only to men, under direction from God. The first office of this priesthood is the office of a deacon. Deacons are twelve or thirteen years old, or older if they’ve joined the church later. At fourteen, they become Teachers, and at sixteen, Priests. Priests are not the equivalent of a Catholic priest.
When they are adults, they can receive the Melchizedek Priesthood. Priesthood holders are specifically called to watch over the church and to serve. They bless and pass the Sacrament (similar to the communion), heal the sick, visit members in their homes to check on their well-being, and perform many other acts of service for the church.
Some church positions of leadership can only be held by priesthood holders, and this is where the controversy arises by those who don’t understand the priesthood or the culture.
It should first be noted that those who hold the priesthood cannot use it on themselves. If a priesthood holder is ill, he cannot give a special blessing of healing to himself. Just as a woman must do, he must find two other priesthood holders to come and administer that blessing. Everyone in the church can receive all the blessings and gifts of the priesthood, whether or not they hold the priesthood themselves, and all must receive those blessings from others.
They receive no extra rewards in Heaven, no special privileges, and no financial paycheck.They have a greater responsibility, but no additional rewards. The Mormons operate a lay church, and everyone volunteers. This is one reason women aren’t demanding to hold it. Most women consider themselves far too busy already, with more opportunities to lead and serve than they have time for. They see no special benefit in taking on the work of the priesthood as well as their own.
One question often asked of Mormon women is whether or not they object to not being allowed to become a bishop, which is the ecclesiastical equivalent of a pastor or minister. The general wisdom among Mormons is that no one who is worthy to do the job and who understands what it entails wants that job. Women are quite happy to know they can’t be given it. As mentioned earlier, it is not a paid position. The bishop holds a full-time job, and has a family. In between all the various aspects of his personal life, he does nearly everything a full-time pastor must do. He serves for about five years, and during this time, bishops generally have no time to themselves and spend a great many hours away from home.
Mormon women consider their first responsibility to be to their families. They are given the sacred gift of bearing and
raising children, and of maintaining a pleasant and spiritual home. While not all women are able to marry or to have children, these women find other ways to serve, often spending time caring for extended family, or serving in demanding church leadership roles. They carry out the commandment to care for their own homes well, even if they live alone. Mormon women do not see this role as demeaning, but as an honor. What could be a greater privilege than to care for God’s children? Mormon women don’t feel the need for a paycheck to prove their worth. Their paycheck comes from the pleasures of being able to raise their own children or care for their families. They reach beyond cleaning and cooking and work to create a home at the highest levels. Parents don’t just bathe and feed children. They teach them and lead them.
Although their priorities are in the home, Mormon women do have many opportunities to be leaders and to serve. They can head up the Primary, which is the children’s auxiliary, the Young Women’s Organization, which is for teenagers, and the Relief Society, which is for the women of the church. There are other church jobs that do not require the priesthood and are open to either gender. Mormon women serve in their own congregations and all the way up the church structure to lead in the international church for these same organizations. The General Relief Society president, for instance, has a responsibility for all the women in the church, and oversees a worldwide organization larger than most corporations. Ample opportunities to lead are available to women in the church, and the priesthood is not necessary to give them the opportunities they need.
The bishop does not deliver the weekly sermon. In the Sunday services, known as Sacrament Meeting, men and women can give the prayers and the sermons. Each meeting has an opening and a closing prayer, and two to three speakers chosen from the congregation. This gives women many opportunities to preach and to pray. This service is followed by classes which are often taught by women. During the week, other meetings are held, also often run by women.
The Mormon women are not concerned about holding the priesthood, largely because they’re simply too busy with home, community and church service, and leadership, as well as a career for some, to give it much thought. They find complete satisfaction in the roles already available to them and do not in any way feel limited. Although the priesthood does provide opportunities to serve others-the entire function of the priesthood-women have many other, often more important ways, to serve.
The most important reason Mormon women don’t demand the priesthood, however, is that God has chosen that role for the men and another role for the women. With the great faith Mormon women are known for, they trust God and focus on the roles given them.