Since Christ’s Church was restored in 1830 under Christ’s direction through His prophet Joseph Smith using the power and authority of the priesthood of God given to Joseph Smith by John the Baptist and by Christ’s original apostles Peter, James and John, who received it from Christ Himself during His earthly ministry, there has been an unbroken line of prophets and apostles called by God to lead His church on the earth continuing up until the present day. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is currently led by the prophet and president of the church, Thomas S. Monson, his two counsellors, and twelve apostles, all chosen and directed by God through divine revelation to lead His church and prepare the world for the second coming of our Savior, Jesus Christ.
For this reason, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints does not make changes to its policies or doctrine based on the opinions of the world, or even by the opinions of its members; it is Christ’s Church, and revelation on the doctrine and organization of His church comes from Him alone to the people He has called as prophets and apostles to lead His church.
In order to be a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, you need to have a personal testimony of several things. First, you need to know for yourself that Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ are real, that they live, and that they have a plan for you and for all of Heavenly Father’s children and that through the atonement of Christ you can repent and be washed clean of your sins, overcome your weaknesses, and return to live with God after this life. Second, you need to know for yourself that Joseph Smith was really a prophet called by God to restore Christ’s Church on the earth and that he received priesthood authority from God to perform ordinances such as baptism and marriage that are binding not only on earth, but also in heaven, and that this priesthood authority has been passed down to other worthy members of the church since that time so that all priesthood ordinances performed by worthy priesthood holders in the church are recognized as valid and binding by God. You must also have a personal testimony that the current prophet and apostles who lead the The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints were also called of God and are being directed by Him in all that they do.
If you do not know these things for yourself, then there is no reason to join The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints over other churches, or even to join it at all. If Joseph Smith was a fraud and the current leaders of the church have no claim to any special authority or revelation from God, then you’re wasting your time listening to what they have to say. How can you know for yourself if the teachings of this church are true and that the leaders of the church were and are called by God? That’s where the third member of the Godhead, the Holy Ghost, comes in. It is his job to teach and testify of truth. These are some of the things Christ told His apostles about the Holy Ghost in the New Testament:
John 14:16-17
"16 And I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another Comforter, that he may abide with you for ever;
17 Even the Spirit of truth..."
John 14:26
"26 But the Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in my name, he shall teach you all things, and bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you."
John 15:26
"26 But when the Comforter is come...even the Spirit of truth, which procedeth from the Father, he shall testify of me"
John 16:13
"13 Howbeit when he, the Spirit of truth, is come, he will guide you into all truth"
The prophet Moroni also spoke of the mission of the Holy Ghost at the end of the Book of Mormon:
Moroni 10:4-5
"4 And when ye shall receive these things, I would exhort you that ye would ask God, the Eternal Father, in the name of Christ, if these things are not true; and if ye shall ask with a sincere heart, with real intent, having faith in Christ, he will manifest the truth of it unto you, by the power of the Holy Ghost.
5 And by the power of the Holy Ghost ye may know the truth of all things."
Through sincere study and prayer, the Holy Ghost can give you your own personal witness that God is there, that the Bible and the Book of Mormon contain His words, that Joseph Smith was a true prophet of God, and that The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is Christ’s Church restored to the earth again and led by Christ Himself through the servants He has chosen to lead it.
I know for myself, through the power of the Holy Ghost, that Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ do live, that Joseph Smith was a prophet of God, that The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is Christ’s Church, and that the current prophet and apostles who lead the Church were chosen by God and receive revelation from Him to guide His Church on the earth today. I know that they are humble, righteous men who sincerely seek to know God’s will in all things and direct His Church according to His will. I know that they are concerned for the salvation of all of God’s children and feel the weight of their great responsibility to teach and testify of Christ and His gospel and the path that will lead us all back to our Father in Heaven.
There are some members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints who question the leadership of the Church and the choices they make, such as only allowing men to hold offices in the priesthood or opposing same-sex marriage. Whenever I read their complaints and critiques, I think of the leaders of the Church, and I immediately feel peace, knowing that the decisions that they make are made “in all righteousness, in holiness, and lowliness of heart, meekness and long-suffering, and in faith, and virtue, and knowledge, temperance, patience, godliness, brotherly kindness and charity” (D&C 107:30).
What I find much more interesting than questioning if the leaders of the Church are really carrying out God’s will or not, since I have a personal testimony that they are, is wondering why it is important to God’s plan that only men hold offices in the priesthood right now or that marriage only be between a man and a woman. Why did God set things up that way? Why are these things important to Him? So often we tend to make something an issue between us and other mortals, when the real person who made the decision and could answer our questions is God Himself.
One thing I really like about the book Spiritual Lightening by M. Catherine Thomas that I have been reading, is that these are the kinds of questions she ponders and addresses: why might God have set things up this way? I’m not saying that her conclusions are doctrine, but I like the questions she is asking and the thoughts she shares on some of the topics that a lot of people struggle to understand, particularly on the issue of the relationship between men and women and the difference in their responsibilities.
In discussing the story of Adam and Eve, Thomas says,
“Eve’s being placed in a counseling role to her husband, far from being a punishment, was a sacred tutorial designed to sanctify both of them.
How could a counseling position be a sanctifying position? The very fact that the Lord put Eve in a counseling role with Adam acknowledges eternal woman’s great ability to do what needs doing. But her divine, developmental need is to act within a relationship, taking into account Adam’s need to be part of that relationship. Each had need of the relationship—it was not good for the man [or the woman] to be alone—he needed her and she needed him. The man and the woman had become like God, and now, even though they rejoiced in the opening of their eyes and their prospects of joy (see Moses 5:10–11), they had need not to compete for ascendancy but to console each other in their mutual loss of paradise and their mutual quest to attain exaltation.
The issue here is not who is more capable, men or women, but who will do the work God has appointed. If the presiding role of priesthood is withheld from women, it is not because they could not do the work of priesthood—that they are not spiritual enough, not intelligent enough, or not rational enough—but rather to foster the conditions in which the man and the woman may achieve interdependence.
What makes all of this so hard in practice? It may seem unfair that the man is subject to a perfect head (the Lord Jesus Christ), and the woman is presided over by an imperfect head (her husband). But how much humility the man must cultivate to hear the Lord’s voice! And how much humility the woman must exercise to encourage and rely on her imperfect husband to make that connection! The man’s presidency over the woman is designed to be as much a tutorial for him as it is for the woman as she submits to his presidency. A very fine tuning is required of each."
She goes on later to discuss further the idea of the relationships in our lives being there to perfect and sanctify us:
"We see that the Lord has given us the challenge of not only perfecting ourselves individually but also perfecting ourselves in relationships. Perfecting oneself in a relationship cannot be separated from personal perfecting.
As to perfecting ourselves in a relationship, it is easy for us to live for a good many years on the assumption that we have a right to be satisfied by life events and by the people in our lives. This is a precept of man. If we continue all the way through this life with that assumption, we will have failed to learn what we came here to learn and will have failed to develop some personal essentials. We will never obtain the essential divine nature and can never be exalted until we know and practice the truth. One important truth is that our husbands, our wives, and our children were not given to us to satisfy us, and nor were many of the most important events of our lives. To the world, love is a relationship in which the parties involved satisfy each other enough that they can call that relationship “love.” But this is not love at all—it is just self-serving.
We can tell that our love is often based on the degree to which another person satisfies us: If they don’t satisfy us, we criticize them. It seems to me that most criticism is saying, “In these ways, this person does not satisfy my expectations as to what he should be.” But our expectations are a function of the finite mind, the telestial and selfish mind, not the mind of God....
We stand in a sacred relationship to the people in our lives, especially family, because they are not there by chance. The people in our lives were placed there not only for us to enjoy but also to cross us and to dissatisfy us from time to time so that we can learn that love is not a matter of personal satisfaction but a going out of our hearts to empathize with, to understand, and to try to bless the other, giving up the demand of the natural man for satisfaction—to love the other, to forgive the other, to cease to demand that the other satisfy us, and to seek to be able to bless that person. Relationships were given to us to develop us in love."
Thomas ends this chapter on "Women, Priesthood, and the At-One-Ment" with the following:
"The point of putting the woman in a counseling role to the man is that as both of them strive for something higher than themselves, their relationship will not founder in a power struggle but will flower in mutual support and in spiritual growth for each. The point of giving priesthood authority to only one of two imperfect people is to create interdependence and at-one-ment between them. The point of the Adam and Eve relationship is to return the man and the woman to at-one-ment before the Lord. Thus we can foil the powers that seek to tear the man and woman asunder."
Whether or not you agree with all of Thomas's conclusions, I really like her insights as she ponders the reasons God gave men and women different roles and responsibilities. I have thought before of the importance of there being some things only women can do (e.g. give birth to children) and some things only men can do (e.g. administer priesthood ordinances) in order to create a sense of interdependence in the relationship that helps draw a couple together as they rely on each other in their mutual quest for exaltation.
We need each other, and we have a lot of learning and serving to do, and Christ set up families and His Church in such a way to help us do just that: to learn and serve and become like God as we each fulfill the unique roles and responsibilities required of us by God. He counsels and directs us in all wisdom and love, and I am grateful that He knows what I need to be perfected and sanctified that I might return to Him one day and receive a fulness of joy. I know I have a long way to go, but I also know that He is committed to getting me there and that He will give me all the tools and experiences I need to achieve exaltation if I choose it. I also know that the same is true for each of God's children, and I am so grateful for that truth.
