“W” is for Women in the Church

“Who can find a virtuous woman, for her price [worth] is far above rubies… Give her of the fruit of her hands; and let her own works praise her in the gates.¹”

The way people outside the Church view the position of the women inside the Church never ceases to amaze me. Several of the leaders in our Church have been physically attacked by feminist groups because of the way these women mistakenly view the position of the women of the Church. Many think we are oppressed, down-trodden, ignored or considered second-class citizens. This is far from the truth. There are writers, artists, poets, musicians, teachers, scientists, doctors, nurses, business women, politicians—you name it, we’re there. In fact, some of us are all of those together, because we’re mothers.

A couple of Sundays ago, in a Relief Society meeting, one sister, who just happens to be a nurse and a director of her sector in the hospital, told us about something that happened to her at work. Now, Sister Eckert can be a bit, shall we say assertive when she requires something to be able to get the job done well. So one day, while she was talking to the personnel director of the hospital, he mentioned that he had just learned that Sister Eckert was LDS, and told her he was surprised, because she didn’t look like a woman in the Church. When she asked him why he replied, “Mormon women are oppressed, but…” Staring him straight in the eye, Sister Eckert asked him, “Now Fred, do I look oppressed?” We all had to laugh when she told the story, because believe me, Sister Eckert is anything but oppressed and Fred had to admit it, too.*

The Relief Society [of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints] is the oldest and largest women's organization in the world. Relief Society was established in 1842 for women 18 years of age and older. Its purpose is to build faith and personal righteousness, strengthen families and homes, and help those in need.² The leaders of the group are all women.

Fun Fact: In the 1800s, LDS women were invited to go back East and study medicine, to be doctors and nurses. “As the Saints settled in the valley, and began organizing various needs for the community, it became clear that medical education needed to be addressed. There were a few male doctors, but the women wanted women to assist them in having their babies. As well, women were more concerned about health care and teaching hygiene. Eliza R. Snow, with the support of Pres. Brigham Young, sent six women back east to attend medical school. Upon their return, a building was purchased to house the first Mormon hospital. There were other religious based hospitals in the valley (St. Mark’s and Holy Cross), but this new hospital would be willing to treat everyone whether they could pay or not. In the late 1800s Deseret Hospital would serve the LDS community with an all woman board of directors.³”

For the most part, the women of the Church are highly respected members of the Church.

¹Proverbs 31:10, 31; I would suggest reading all verses from 10-31, inclusive, to know exactly what is written; it might surprise you.

²http://www.mormon.org/faq/relief-society

³http://www.ldswomenofgod.com/hospitals-and-the-relief-society/

* Story used with permission; Fred is not the director’s real name.

©Mary Purpari. April 27, 2015. All Rights Reserved.

“V”is for Virtue

“We believe in being honest, true, chaste, benevolent, virtuous, and in doing good to all men; indeed, we may say that we follow the admonition of Paul—We believe all things, we hope all things, we have endured many things, and hope to be able to endure all things. If there is anything virtuous, lovely, or of good report or praiseworthy, we seek after these things.¹”

I realize that most churches, Christian or not, basically claim this same belief. It is taught in most religious works, including the Bible, the Koran the Torah and Talmud and other religious teachings; it is not something claimed exclusively by the LDS.

Virtue is defined as: behavior showing high moral standards. synonyms: goodness, virtuousness, righteousness, morality, integrity, dignity, rectitude, honor, decency, respectability, nobility, worthiness, purity, chastity, honesty.

It is our belief that being virtuous is not something that has gone out of style, like old clothing, hairstyles or music; nor do we believe it ever will. We also believe that being virtuous applies to both women and men, to the same degree. In other words, what’s good for the goose is also good for the gander, and vice-versa.  

Being virtuous is one of the main steps in determining a person’s worthiness to enter the temple. We must literally live according to the Thirteenth Article of Faith if we wish to be worthy of entering the temple and performing the ordinances that are reserved for the temple.

We also believe that obeying God’s commandments helps us to maintain our virtues and to therefore become more like God, or as stated above: If there is anything virtuous, lovely or of good report or praiseworthy, we seek after these things. We know we’re not perfect, but we’re working on it so that some day we can be with God.

¹Thirteenth Article of Faith

“U” is for the United Nations

“Representatives of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints addressed the role of the Church’s global humanitarian outreach efforts at a meeting at the United Nations in New York City on 27 February 2014.¹”

I was present that day last year and it was a truly amazing experience to be in that meeting where the efforts of the Church in offering humanitarian was was unfolded. I knew that the members of the Church had been involved in many such efforts throughout the world, but just how widespread those efforts were and how great the manpower involved was, truly caught me by surprise, as it did many others, as well.

For instance, I was unaware that immediately following WWII the members of the Church in Holland had gathered together over 70 tons of new potatoes that were put into the warehouse to be exported to Germany. One must consider that at that moment of time there was not a whole lot of love lost between the Dutch and the Germans, but they willingly shared what they had, planting potato crops wherever they could find a free space to cultivate; some even turned the space used for flower gardens into potato patches. Were they their brothers’ keepers? You can bet on it!

When the Teton Dam waters overflowed in Idaho, more than 45,000 members of the Church also flowed in Idaho to assist in cleaning  and fixing up. The same thing happened here in New York City when Sandy hit us in 2012.

Italian members of the Church sewed rag dolls in cooperation with UNICEF in order to collect funds for vaccinations for children in Third World countries.

“Initiatives of LDS Charities in 2013 include clean water (560,000 people in 37 countries), neonatal resuscitation (28,000 people in 37 countries), vision care (89,000 people in 34 countries), wheelchair distribution (66,000 people in 55 countries), family gardens (35,000 people in 20 countries), immunizations (18 projects in 12 countries) and emergency response (103 projects in 54 countries).”²

The services rendered around the world are provided free of charge  to all people, regardless of nationality or religion.

I enjoyed participating in the meeting, and hearing about the way things are improving throughout the world, thanks to the services offered by the Church.

For those who are interested, there is a video at the link below that should play; it shows the entire meeting if you are able to get it going.

¹http://www.mormonnewsroom.org/article/mormon-representatives-united-nations-discussion

² ibid.

© April 23, 2013. Mary Purpari. All Rights Reserved.

“T” is for Temples

“For verily this generation shall not all pass away until [a temple] shall be built unto the Lord, and a cloud shall rest upon it, which cloud shall be even the glory of the Lord, which shall fill the house.¹”

Temples. I Love the temples of the Church. They are such beautiful places to go, to bask in the peace that is found inside, where nothing of the world outside can come in. At the moment, there are 144 temples in operation around the world, so that worthy members of the Church can go and worship the Lord and learn more about Him. There are several more that should be dedicated this year, including a temple in Rome.

Temples are sacred places for adoration, where only worthy members of the Church can enter. It is not like our regular meetinghouses where anyone, including nonmembers can enter. The Temple is reserved for sacred ordinances that can be done only in the temple.

When a member of the Church goes through the temple for the first time, they do the ordinances for themselves. These ordinances are varied, but the most beautiful are the marriages that are performed there. When a marriage is performed in the temple, we believe that that marriage is bound not only until death do us part, but also beyond the grave and for all eternity.²

In Malachi, we read “Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the Lord: And he shall turn the heart of the fathers to the children, and the heart of the children to their fathers, lest I come and smite the earth with a curse.³” One of the main reasons that the LDS Church is so interested in genealogy is so that we might be a means for our ancestors to receive those blessings that come from being members of the Church. In my article on the Spirit World, I spoke of how the gospel is preached to those who didn’t have the chance to hear it when they were alive. In the temple, we act as proxies for our ancestors, giving them the chance to be baptized and sealed in the temple. Of course, they will have the choice of accepting these ordinances or not – they are not forced to accept. For those who might feel that this is a flight of fantasy of the LDS Church, I would invite you to read 1Corinthians 15:29.

Because of problems related to these ordinances being performed for the dead, the Church now allows this ordinance to be performed only if the member presenting the names is a direct descendant or has permission from the closest living relative, if the person being presented was born within the last one hundred ten years.

 

¹Doctrine and Covenants 84:5

²See Matthew 16:19 

The temples shown are:  (counter-clockwise) The San Diego, CA Temple, the London England Temple, The Los Angeles CA Temple, The Rome Italy Temple, The Bern, Switzerland Temple

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

“S” is for the Spirit World

“…the spirits of all men, as soon as they are departed from this mortal body, yea, the spirits of all men, whether they be good or evil, are taken home to that God who gave them life. The spirits of those who are righteous are received into a state of happiness, which is called paradise, a state of rest, a state of peace, where they should rest from all their troubles and from all care, and sorrow. The spirits of the wicked, yea, who are evil—for behold, they have no part nor portion of the Spirit of the Lord;…shall be cast out into outer darkness.¹”

Most Christian churches agree that when a person dies there is a separation of the physical body and the immortal soul. Most also agree that the physical body remains in the tomb while our spirit returns to our Heavenly Father or goes down to Hell to stay with the devil. Many think that that is the way things remain, ignoring the importance of the Resurrection; but the LDS believe that the resurrection is the reunion of the soul and the physical body to be led before the judgment bar.

So then, what happens to our spirit in the time between the physical death and the resurrection? According to Alma, a prophet in the Book of Mormon, the righteous spirits are taken into a state of happiness, or paradise, whereas the spirits of those who have lived evil lives will be sent into outer darkness, or to a spirit prison, where they will be preached the gospel.²

And so, the spirit world is not our final destination, but it will be decided at the Judgment Day, which immediately follows the resurrection. People who have visited the spirit world have said that life there is very similar to how it is here, without pain and suffering, for those living in Paradise, but there is no idleness: all are employed in some continuing task, or continuing to learn. It is not a place or condition to be feared, but one where peace and joy abide.

¹Alma 40:11,12,13

²1 Peter 3:19; 4:6

 

© April 22, 2015. Mary E. Purpari. All Rights Reserved.

“R” is for the Rest of the Story*

“Behold, I would exhort ye that when ye shall read these things…that ye shall receive these things and ponder it in your hearts. And when you shall receive these things, I would exhort you that ye 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.¹’' 

We made a new appointment and they started to answer my questions. Then, they started getting serious and I wasn’t. They gave me a Book of Mormon and asked me to read it and to pray about it. They came back two days later and asked me if I’d had a chance to read some of the Book. I said I had – the entire book. They looked at me as if I were the alien from outer space (I like to read; what can I say?) and asked me what I thought about it. I told them I thought it was interesting, but I didn’t believe it was the word of God. They were frantic.

They then asked me to read the scripture quoted above and asked if I had prayed. I said no and they asked me if I would do so. I said I would, but I was silently convinced that the answer would be no.

That night before going to bed, I prayed; I prayed every night and every morning anyway, but this time I asked about the truthfulness of the Book of Mormon. I also said in my prayer that I sincerely hoped for a negative answer, but that I would accept the answer, regardless of what it was. I then went to sleep.

When I awoke the next morning, I was smiling (I do that a lot) because I knew that the Book of Mormon WAS the word of God. And because of that, I knew that Joseph Smith had to be a prophet, which meant (in a logical process) that this had to be God’s Church, because it seemed highly illogical that God would have more than one prophet teaching things that would be so contrary to one another. I think the missionaries were ready to faint when I told them I wanted to be baptized two weeks later. And I was.

*Continued from “Q” is for Questions

¹Moroni 10:3,4

 

© April 20, 2015. Mary Purpari. All Rights Reserved.

“Q” is for Questions

“Behold, I would exhort ye that when ye shall read these things…that ye shall receive these things and ponder it in your hearts. And when you shall receive these things, I would exhort you that ye 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.¹’'

 I was in something of a quandary last night, because I had absolutely no idea what my Q blog would be about. This morning, it came to mind that a question had been asked in a comment for another article, and so I have decided to answer it today: “Why did I choose this particular Church?”

The first thing I need to say is that I didn’t really choose this Church; it chose me. Most of my family had joined the Church when I was about 14 or 15, but I already belonged to another church and was very happy where I was, thank you. This situation continued for about six years, until a few months before my 21st birthday. I was in my third year of college and the Choir was on tour in Northern California. I had a number of very good friends who were LDS and when they asked me if I’d like to go to Oakland to see the temple there I thought sure, why not? A few other friends went along with us and we had a fun time.

After the tour, I asked the pastor of my Church what he thought about the Articles of Faith of the Mormon church (I had picked up a card that had them listed while visiting the temple). I found them thoroughly confusing, and I was hoping to find an excuse that would allow me to say “Thanks, but no thanks.” He did his best, but when we’d finished talking, I think he was as confused as I, if not more so. In fact, I decided that I would ask the missionaries what those things meant, because I found that many things coincided with what my church taught, while many other things seemed to be as believable as aliens from outer space.

The missionaries didn’t come to that first appointment, which ticked me off royally.

To be continued tomorrow. Look for “R” is for the Rest of the Story.

¹Moroni 10:3,4

The photograph is of the Oakland Temple

 

© April 20, 2015. Mary Purpari. All Rights Reserved.