https://www.deseret.com/2019/10/2/20894166/church-women-policy-witnesses-lds-mormon-conference

Witnesses have always been required for baptisms (and baptisms for the dead) and temple marriages (and sealings for the dead).

The "witnesses" have always been "priesthood" holders, although witnesses for regular baptisms (not in the temple) could possibly be men without a temple recommend or only partially active.

Women and baptized kids can now be "witnesses" to baptisms.

Witnesses in the temple (baptisms, marriages) now can include women and kids who enter the temple with recommends.

This is one step closer to women actually holding the priesthood. When that change comes down, the faithful sheep will follow the prophet no matter what.

History lesson: many decades ago, members of the Reorganized COJCOLDS would have been absolutely certain that only men could hold the priesthood. It's now been many decades since women got the priesthood in that LDS sect, and so it seems like a long time ago. Just give things enough time, and the change for the regular COJCOLDS will be inevitable.

A future step towards gender equality will be women allowed to lay hands on a sick person's head for a blessing via "limited priesthood" powers.

As it stands now, a sick LDS woman could bypass the PH brethren, and call 2 of her women friends to come over and have a group prayer to request healing from on high. Technically this is not a priesthood blessing, but could be (in the minds of the women) equally as effective, if not actually better.

In areas where PH holders seem to be scarce, sick LDS women do this all the time.

I was never the best member. I’m probably the world’s best skeptic and believed blessings had a huge placebo effect. One neighbor needed a blessing and my consecrated oil in the little metal canister turned black and rancid.

I washed out the little container and put Crisco canola oil in it. I always thought the oil thing was dumb and we didn’t have olive oil widely available in the states until we had large amounts of Italian immigrants come in. Hardly anyone was using olive oil or eating spaghetti in the states before WWI. It was the Italians that brought the tomato’s.

I doubt you could get olive oil in Brigham’s Utah in the old days. They were cooking with lard. They were eating potatoes. They weren’t eating pasta with marinara sauce and pouring olive oil on their bread.

I got all that. I knew the consecrated oil was a modern Mormon prop. Hey. Crisco is derived from the Greek word Christo which means consecrate. Christ means the consecrated one. So Crisco canola oil is consecrated oil.

My neighbor probably felt better as I put the Crisco on his head and my home teaching partner told the poor guy what he wanted to hear through a blessing. Fortunately we did not charge him. I popped for the Crisco out of my own pocket.

>It was the Italians that brought the tomato’s

The tomato originated in Latin America. The Spanish took it to Europe. They were grown in North America as early as the 18th century

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tomato

>Crisco is derived from the Greek word Christo which means consecrate. Christ means the consecrated one. So Crisco canola oil is consecrated oil.

"Crisco" comes from crystallized cottonseed oil

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crisco
"After rejecting the names "Krispo" and "Cryst" (the latter for obvious religious connotations), the product was eventually called Crisco, a modification of the phrase "crystallized cottonseed oil".

Ir’s changing all so systematically. The church can just say women always held the priesthood in the temple and could do temple ordinances.

The past we’re different times with different social considerations. The time is now right to allow women to hold the priesthood outside if the temple.

It’s all hocus pocus. Whatever the church has to do to retain members and get them to buy a temple recommend they will do. The church sells temple recommends. Whatever it has to do to make that sell it will do. It will change the rules, it will change the ordinances. Whatever it has to do. Maybe garments will go away. Maybe the dumb temple clothes change. Maybe we will wear hoods and robes next because the youth think that’s more cool.

Giving women the same authority that is given to an eight-year-old is still no authority at all.

Ha! Ha!

If women want the priesthood they are welcome to it. I never particularly liked being Elder’s Quorum President, being in the Bishopric or serving on the High Council. I found it all a total pain in the ass.

Decades ago (when I had a few Mormon books in my house), I had a copy of Teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith. I actually read most of it in the 1970s.

I remember reading that Joseph Smith said that the women of the church can give healing blessings, if they are so moved to do so.

I remember that distinctly, because there was always so much emphasis placed on the men's priesthoods, while dismissing women.

I also remember wondering why this topic was never talked about in sacrament meetings, sunday school classes, priesthood meetings, etc.

I have no motivation to find this statement again, as I don't have those books anymore, nor do I have time to look it up. But I do remember that it was there...

ragnar Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Decades ago (when I had a few Mormon books in my house), I had a copy of Teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith. I actually read most of it in the 1970s.
>
> I remember reading that Joseph Smith said that the women of the church can give healing blessings, if they are so moved to do so.
....
> I have no motivation to find this statement again, as I don't have those books anymore, nor do I have time to look it up. But I do remember that it was there...

It's in the Teachings of JS, page 224-225:

"...some little foolish things were circulating in the [Relief] society, against some sisters not doing right in laying hands on the sick. ...if the people had common sympathies they would rejoice that the sick could be healed..."

"Respecting females administering for the healing of the sick, ... there could be no evil in it, if God gave His sanction by healing;... It is no sin for anybody to administer that has faith, or if the sick have faith to be healed by their administration."

From the article: "Imagine a mature couple serving as witnesses in the temple baptistry as their grandson baptizes their granddaughter for and in behalf of a dear ancestor."


I tried to imagine this, putting myself in the role of the mature male of the couple and it prompted severe gastric distress. The word/sound "ewww" came to mind.

Think about all the activity that needs to take place on the part of the mature male in order to get to that point in time, and then all that will follow before he can flop down on the couch to watch the opening games of this year's MLB post-season.