My name is Isaac. I was born and raised in the LDS Church and have never had much of a reason not to believe it to be true. My parents were great in establishing a belief of the Savior and His church that I wanted to share with others. I’m an Eagle Scout, served a mission from 2009-2011 and came back and married the love of my life within 6 months. I received a bachelor’s degree in family studies and am now studying the atmospheric sciences.
While I never had an opinion on women getting the priesthood, I knew that it wouldn’t be a surprise if they did because it makes sense in the scheme of things. In addition, I started to learn things with my wife that felt incongruent with the way that heaven is. I learned that the Young Men receive double the budget that the Young Women do because of scouting. I went to Moab as a scout and rode horses but I never saw the Young Women offered the same opportunities. Having our future daughters go to the LDS Church and be taught that they are worth less then the men felt wrong.
I learned about the lengths the Church has gone though to stifle teachings of our Heavenly Mother. Being told that we must not pray to her I could live with, but I have an interest in the divine female role-model that is not being fulfilled. If eternal life is to know the divines from whence we came, then why smother talk of Heavenly Mother in our churches? Why lose the role model for the women in the Church, if they are going to grow up and be like her?
I remember being told in multiple times and places that men and women are equal because women have the opportunity to bear children and men have the priesthood. The comparison is a faulty one in my opinion. In order to stay faithful, women need to be married to a man to use their power. Men receive the priesthood independent of anyone else and their relationships with others. Bearing a child is a very short and temporary process, while the fruits of it (should be) shared equally as the man and women raise the children together. Holding the priesthood is a long-standing, major commitment that lasts an entire lifetime. However, it’s not something that is currently shared. It is something that the man uses, holds and gives. All his wife can do with the priesthood is ask for it and support it.
I feel the next step for us to mirror heavenly organizations is that we need to allow the women of the LDS Church to fulfill their divine destinies, while not being limited in their current capacities. Because I am of the opinion that in heavens, all people are equal regardless of gender or race, I believe women should be ordained.