Power of Women

WOMEN AND THE PRIESTHOOD: What One Mormon Woman Believes

By: Sheri Dew                          5 Stars

Personally, I have never been one of those who have wondered why women do not hold the priesthood. I feel there are two genders for a reason. Just like within our communities we aren’t expected to do everything. Instead, we are expected to do our best with our unique abilities and in turn work together so everyone’s combined talents can progress the kingdom of our Father. Men and women too have unique strengths and weaknesses. When brought together they can form an incredible power that can destroy the grasp of evil and ultimately have the privilege of exaltation.

Sheri Dew goes above and beyond what I expected to obtain by reading this book. I believe it was back in 2012 when I was able to attend a Time Out for Women event in Salt Lake City. At that time Sheri chose the direction of her presentation to focus on the strength of women. Little did I know that within a few short months I would hear about a growing movement for women to receive the priesthood within the LDS religion.

Sheri was inspired to focus her comments on such a subject before it hit the media in full force. If I had known how important that presentation would be, I would have taken better notes. Fortunately, within Women and the Priesthood she covered much of the same material and much more in an effort to help women understand their divine calling within life.

Of course the well-known roll of LDS women is covered, that of being a wife and a mother. Yet, Sheri is single and thus, childless. It is always inspiring to hear how she handles this challenge within a community so focused on that of being a mother. Sheri eloquently describes that while this is one of the most important roles of women, there are additional worthy missions for everyone to accomplish within the Plan of Salvation.

Through the book we learn that there is a distinct difference between priesthood keys, priesthood authority and priesthood power. While women do not hold the priesthood keys, we are still entitled to benefit from priesthood authority and priesthood power. We are to use that form of the priesthood to increase our Father’s kingdom and obtain those blessings that are unique to our gender.

The most profound moment I felt within this book based around the idea that some people believe women don’t receive revelation. I can’t even imagine going one day without hoping and expecting to receive some sort of inspiration to guide my life. It is unfathomable that others, of both genders, believe that only men can obtain their own direction. I am so glad that Sheri set out to destroy that myth.

I strongly encourage everyone to read this book, no matter if you believe that women and men are equal or unequal within the LDS religion. I believe that everyone will learn a little something and feel an increased power in the unique abilities we all carry.

Light and Dark Angels

SHEDDING LIGHT ON THE DARK SIDE: A Guide for Youth and Young Adults

By: Stephen J. Stirling                         5 Stars 

This is a short book that carries quite a punch. As a reader I enjoy a good story, but even more I enjoy getting to know the characters in the book. I have often wondered what caused Satan to go from the Son of the Morning to the creature he is today. It just baffles me that he could be so highly esteemed in the premortal world that he had a name associated with light bearing. I am not exactly sure why this surprises me. We see how his influence has caused those of light to fall to darkness in our mortal world. At least here I can make more sense of how such a change could happen. On the down side, I don’t have the resources or understanding available to me to determine how such a shift could happen in the pre-existence.

Shedding Light on the Dark Side covers the war in heaven and how Satan tried to switch our allegiances during that time (Stirling, 2013). We know that one-third of the heavenly beings followed him and became the devil’s angels. The other two-thirds kept their first estate and were allowed to enter mortality. In lieu of mortality, the devil’s angels became servants of darkness. Their goal is to corrupt our Heavenly Father’s divine plan. Today they still try to test our faith, even after we know that our Savior did in fact overcome the world. He fulfilled his divine mission by taking away our sins. All we have to do is forsake them and come unto Him.

Stirling’s book covers many topics about the pre-existence and uses scriptural references to support his words. The rest of the book continues to show the power of the dark side, but offers hope on how we can recognize evil and overcome it with the help of our Savior.

One example in the book quotes an episode of The Twilight Zone from 1960. It is called “The Howling Man”. This episode finds a young traveler meeting a couple of monks who have taken another man prisoner.  The traveler believes that the prisoner is the victim of religious fanatics who believe him to be Satan.

The traveler refuses to believe such a tale after he sees the prisoner as a harmless looking fellow. The traveler decides to set the prisoner free. The prisoner then shows no mercy to the traveler and strikes him to the ground all while transforming to his true devilish form. When the monks discover the escape they tell the traveler how he will always remember the day he released Satan upon the world. The travel replied that he did not recognize him. The monk’s profound answer warned that not recognizing Satan is our greatest weakness and his greatest strength (Stirling, 2013).

 

 While reading Stirling’s book I had another book from the library titled Angels: Agents of Light, Love, and Power by Donald Parry (2013). This book is divided into three parts: About Angels (such as their appearance), how Angels Minister with Love to Mortals, and Five Symbols Associated with Angels. Parry covers many topics, such as communication through visions, dreams, speaking, impressions and even more ways. Something that stood out in relation to Stirling’s book was how to detect a false spirit.

Many of you may have heard of something about shaking the spirit’s hand. As laid out in Doctrine and Covenants section 129, there are three keys to detecting a false spirit (LDS.org, 2013). If you are unsure about the spirit offer to shake hands. A resurrected being will shake your hand. A righteous spirit will not shake your hand as it is contrary to their nature to deceive. A devilish spirit will shake your hand, but you will be unable to feel anything.

Parry covers this within his book in order to help us understand that there is an evil force. Fortunately, Parry’s book only mentions the dark side in one chapter. The remainder of his book is an enlightening read on how spirits are working for good and can indeed be a blessing in our lives. However, Parry felt it necessary to mention that angels can appear in many forms, as we also learned from “The Howling Man”.

In order to fully understand what we are up against, Parry provided a sneak peak based on detection. On the other side, Stirling focuses on how evil spirits are real. He gives us general religious history on how everything began so we may have a greater understanding. I have already touched on the war in heaven, but as I have studied, I have found more valuable information on what happened in this war.

I am still reading The Gospel Scholar Series: Selected Writings of M. Catherine Thomas, but the first chapter alone has provided many thought provoking insights (2000). This chapter is all about the premortal election. Something that stood out was the fact that some of us were more righteous than others during the war in heaven. Ms. Thomas made it sound like those who fought the hardest for the Lord’s side had added privileges, and thus more responsibilities, than those who chose the right side, but didn’t have as strong a testimony.

Many religions are based upon the Twelve Tribes of Israel. Ms. Thomas makes it sound like we were organized in these tribes based upon how dedicated we were during the war in heaven. The most valiant were placed in the tribes that promised to help bring forth the gospel in the latter days. The biggest tribe we know with this responsibility is Ephraim.

While the tribes are not necessarily listed, I found another interesting resource from LDS.org confirming that the most valiant were chosen to be rulers in the kingdom (2013). Abraham is an example of this principle. This is something amazing to think about, but it leads to a whole new world of research.

Going back to The Twilight Zone, after reading about this episode, I had to watch it. You can do so here (TheHowlingMan177, 2012). Something that was left out of the book, but was very impressive to me within “The Howling Man”, the prisoner was held by a small, easy to break cane. This can was known as the Staff of Truth. When the traveler goes to release the prisoner, he questions if that small stick was really all that had kept him hostage. The truth was strong enough to keep Satan bound for 5 years before he was released by someone who didn’t recognize his tricks.

As stated in John 8:32 (King James Version) “the truth shall set you free.” I don’t know about the rest of you, but I will make sure I learn all I can about the truth and how my Savior provided a way for us to overcome it. These things will help distinguish between the good and the evil, light and darkness.

References

LDS.org. (2013). Doctrine & Covenants. Section 129. Retrieved from http://www.lds.org/scriptures/dc-testament/dc/129

LDS.org. (2013). War in heaven. The Bible Dictionary. Retrieved from http://www.lds.org/scriptures/bd/war-in-heaven

Parry, D. W. (2013). Angels: Agents of light, love, and power. Salt Lake City, UT: Deseret Book Company.

Stirling, S. J. (2013). Shedding light on the dark side: Defeating the forces of evil. A guide for youth and young adults. Springville, UT: Cedar Fort, Inc.

TheHowlingMan177. (2012, August 15). The Howling Man [Video file]. The Twilight Zone. Retrieved from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-k4WJGtGnBw

Thomas. M. C. (2000). Selected writings of M. Catherine Thomas. Gospel scholar series. Salt Lake City, UT: Deseret Book Company.

The Positive Takeaway from Miley

In the past week the Hollywood world has been fixated on the performance Miley Cyrus gave this past Sunday. I didn’t actually see the performance and the few pictures I did see have reaffirmed the fact that I have no desire to view it. I have heard enough through social media and a few personal interactions.

It might be interesting to hear the following information. I have one friend that said the original version is available on YouTube (this is not a recommendation to see it) but for some reason they recorded a version that MTV later rebroadcast of the same award show. Within this rebroadcast Miley’s performance was slightly changed (this is also not a recommendation to watch it). Instead of the more horrific moments, the camera provides alternate angles, such as the backup dancers, to make a slightly cleaner version. This friend remarked how it seemed MTV had given into the pressure of society and provided a more favorable routine. It makes me wonder what else we can object to in order to change other unfavorable actions.

This morning I came across a well written article as a response to Miley and to raise the question of where the men were during this performance. You can read it here. The author, Geoff Steurer, brought up the fact that men’s roles are as a protector. Girls in this century need more physical protection than just killing a spider. Yes, we do appreciate killing gross disgusting things that we might swallow in our sleep. However, we need more than that. We need physical protection when it comes to the way our bodies are displayed and the way they are received. This protection can be given by respecting women and their bodies. I am not sure if this will sound harder or easier to you, but in my mind it takes an even stronger man to protect our virtue.

Think about it. When a man is protecting women and children I would imagine that adrenaline would work in the man’s favor.  I didn’t look up the science behind the fight or flight response as that is not really the purpose of this discussion, but on the flip side I would think adrenaline works against you when you see ladies who are not protecting their own virtue. There is a time and a place for relations between a man and a woman. Unfortunately, when it is not that time and place us ladies need a little help in order to save ourselves. For this reason alone I believe it does indeed take a much stronger man when protecting our spirituality.

Steurer states that protect can also mean respect, honor and cherish. Miley should have been doing this for herself, but for reasons we can only guess at, she chose not to. Even if I could be wrong, I would say that many girls feel the need to be validated by men. The sad fact is they get this validation by lowing standards in order to obtain the wrong type of attention. It is something that we as girls need to work on, but a little help from the guys would help tremendously.

The most shocking portion of Sturer’s article to me was the fact that at least one of the guys dancing with Miley is married with children. It had never even crossed my mind to wonder about such things. Where was the respect for his wife, children, Miley, and so many other countless people who were involved within and through viewing the performance? Like Joseph in Biblical times, how different would life be today if we all were as strong and we chose to flee from temptation?

While reading Sturer’s thought provoking article, I recalled that our bodies were given to us and they are to be treated as temples. Can you imagine the beautiful temples around us if they were as dirty, derogatory, and defiled as we have allowed our bodies to become? It is such a sad reality. With a few key words in a quick internet search I came across an article that reminds us of the sanctity of our bodies. You can read it here.

As mentioned above, MTV changed portions of the performance to make it less controversial based on the response from society. If everyone changes their responses in order to protect ourselves and others what good could come of it? Even if Hollywood and society doesn’t change based on our willingness to protect our bodies, even if it is just us who changes, how great will be our joy in knowing we protected something of such great worth?

Steurer, G. (2013). A response to Miley Cyrus: Where are the men? Meridian Magazine. Retrieved from http://ldsmag.com/article/1/13195

Tanner, S. W. (2005). The sanctity of the body. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. General Conference October 2005. Retrieved from https://www.lds.org/general-conference/2005/10/the-sanctity-of-the-body?lang=eng

The Spirit of the Book

THE BIBLE: Epic TV Miniseries                  By: Mark Burnett & Roma Downey           5 Stars

I love the word epic. Unfortunately, I believe it is misused with such menial and ordinary things. Usually I don’t agree with those who use the word to describe something. The Bible production states it is an “epic miniseries” and this is one of the few times I agree. Let me state that again. The Bible miniseries is EPIC!!!

With the history channel hosting this event, it should come as no surprise when the photography is exquisite with powerful colors. It enhances the story and will leave you in complete awe. Even minor details seem to be meticulous planned and placed. *There are so many beautiful moments, but a few of my personal favorite scenes for photography and color are those depicting water, such as around the Jordan River and the Sea of Galilee.

You can’t disagree with the theme or dramatization of The Bible. Mark Burnett and Roma Downey did their best to stay true to the spirit of the book, as they continuously show before each segment. Obviously not all of the stories can be told from the Bible, but the ones that were seem to be as authentic as possible. It is so authentic that I wish the series could be longer.

While watching the extras on the cast, Roma comments on how many know Jesus as meek, so by default His portrayal is cast as small in stature. However, Roma and Mark believed that Jesus should still be a tall and strong man, yet one who is still humble and gentle, someone who can be the lion and the lamb.

Diogo Morgado’s portrayal as the Savior of the World left me completely overcome with emotions which are difficult to describe. Here are some of the inadequate descriptions I can give: eyes which pierce your soul, endearing demeanor, compassionate, merciful, charitable, meek, humble, courageous; heartbreaking, glorious, inspiring…

I think what mattered most was how you could feel the power Jesus contained, yet he was still gentle, kind, and perfectly serene in even the most horrid circumstances. Everything you need to know about the scene is clearly written on Diogo’s face, but even more important was his eyes. They are soft, kind, wise, all knowing and more. Diogo has a miraculous way of invoking complete empathy for each scene and it is done in a most natural and believable way.

Another casting remark came from Mark, who provides insight into what Roma believes makes a great casting fit: truthfulness and authenticity; instead of merely watching you feel as if you are with the characters on screen. This is exactly how The Bible is. It is impossible to fully describe how you feel while watching the miniseries. My descriptions are completely inadequate. Instead you should watch it for yourself. However, many scenes are hard to watch (sometimes almost impossible) because of violence. You might want to prescreen and decide what is appropriate for children and sensitive people to watch.

You can read more about it or purchase it at http://www.history.com/shows/the-bible. While you are there, you can feel free to send me a copy. J 

Here is an article, providing a little more information on the powerhouse that is The Bible http://www.cnn.com/2013/03/05/showbiz/tv/mark-burnett-the-bible-record-ratings-ew Then while watching a little bit more before I had to return the DVDs to the library, I ran across this article: http://www.ksl.com/index.php?sid=25837057&nid=1016&title=nbc-announces-sequel-to-the-bible-miniseries Happy Day!!! 

P.S. It has been a while since I watched these, but I wanted to read the book as well, which took a little bit longer to get around to. Another quick look at the History Channel website shows the miniseries has received three Emmy nominations. One nomination is for Outstanding Miniseries or Movie and the others are for Sound Editing and Sound Mixing. The next award show is on March 11, 2013. Send happy thoughts their way.

 

THE STORY OF GOD AND ALL OF US           By: Mark Burnett & Roma Downey             4 Stars

The Story of GOD and All of Us consists mainly of the storyline Burnett and Downey used to script The Bible miniseries. It is their understanding of the stories found within The Old and New Testaments within The Bible.

When I picked the book up, I wondered if I would be looking at a script, but really the book is a fictionalized version of the stories. Yes, many of the moments come directly from the histories we know as found in The Bible, but some liberties were taken so the story would flow in a fictionalized dramatization. It is basically the same format you will see within the miniseries.

The main differences you will find between the book and the miniseries is the addition of small details. These details may include the names and back stories of people shown within the miniseries, whom are not always recognized by the viewer. Other details exist such as emotions and small actions that are not know, but are merely guesses about what could have happened in such situations.

While this book is well written, I only gave it 4.5 stars. I did learn things that weren’t entirely understood, but made more sense through the book. Other insights didn’t exactly agree with the understanding my religion has taught, but for the most part this book seemed to stay true to The Bible. I couldn’t give it 5 stars for as good as it is, it could never compete with the original Bible. Even the authors hope that the reader will be inspired to read and reread the greatest and most epic version of all, The Bible.

Near Death Experiences and the End of the World

VISIONS OF GLORY                 By: John M. Pontius                 4 Stars

This book is one that is hard to review. It is both a near death experience (NDE) book as well as what the main character states as revelation concerning the last days. Pontius writes the book in first person to portray the story as told to him by a man name Spencer (name has been changed).

 

Spencer starts by stating he was stillborn, yet somehow miraculously survived. Throughout Spencer’s life he struggles with health issues and as a result has multiple near death experiences. Through these experiences his knowledge is added upon to receive even greater and more detailed information.

The first few experiences Spencer has are slightly simpler and deal with angels and a world that is beyond the normal mortal’s vision. Each vision is built upon until Spencer learns and has a greater understanding of good versus bad angels, living things, and callings (mostly specific to Spencer’s understanding of his ultimate roles in his life and within his religion). Spencer’s role in life deals a lot with the end of the world or the last days before Jesus returns to the world.

 

Before Jesus can return to the earth, many signs and destruction must occur. Spencer’s account provides some specific details as well as just general events that are his understanding of what will happen during the last days and before Jesus returns.  It additionally gives a few details that will happen during the Millennium (or the 1,000 years Christ will rein upon the earth).

No matter what your beliefs, this book is an intriguing read that can be a quick read or a slow read depending on how you choose to evaluate the material found within. One of my personal favorite parts dealt with the library. In one of the NDE a library is presented where one could merely pick up the book and know the full contents within. More time spent with the book would provide more insight and understanding, including information about the author. As a person who spends a great deal of time reading and studying I can only imagine how much more I could do (or how much more recreation time I would have). Sign me up for that!