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Let's pretend the LDS leadership decided to grant all worthy members the priesthood, starting with deacons (girls and boys) at age 12 all the way up through the administrative ranks in the church to the prophet.

What would the church need to change in order to make this happen? Just the changes to documents alone would be a monumental undertaking. In the manuals and scriptures, we find over 1,200 rederences to the word priesthood, many of which are described in a context that does not support female priesthood. Phrases and words like "he", "men only", "brethren", etc. Will need to be changed to he/she, "all members", etc. Granted, many rederences to "Man" in the scriptures are taken to mean the human race in today's context. However, in church publications, great care is taken to be explicit about what gender we are talking about. If the author means all members, he will say "men and women" or "all members" as opposed to "men".

Making systematic changes to all the materials would be costly and Tim consuming.

Another challenge is changing basic themes and topics covered in manuals such as YW, YM, Relief Society, EQ, etc. Likely, an efficient solution is to combine manuals into a single, bi-gender manual.

The greatest editorial challenge will of course, be changing the LDS canon. A new revelation will need to be published (official declaration) and included in the D&C to declare that thepriesthood is now available to all worthy *members* instead of *males*.

Besides the requirement to write an official declaration, I believe the scriptures are probably able to be interpreted as bi-gender already. You just need to get past the male-centric language and it works. I see no explicit command in the LDS canon that demands priesthood be reserved for men. Certainly, there is no command that precludes women from holding the priesthood. The question is, would the church need to change the heavily male-centric phraseology out of the D&C? I'm thinking no. But if the change is required, it would be a challenge to implement. It would be an opportunity for the prophet to give revelation!

This is a big job! With God's help, it can be done!

Sorry about the typos. I'm on the iPhone.

I think that, if the Church ever did introduce the 'priesthood' to women, it'd be as a kind of alternative priesthood--a sort of 'separate but equal' priesthood. It would come under the guise of a great a glorious revelation that has come about in 'the fullness of time,' making it so that little existing canon would have to be changed. This is, of course, purely speculation, because the LDS Church has little reason to roll over on this issue--they have both bigger fish to fry and larger problems to solve.

zeezrom wrote:What would the church need to change in order to make this happen? Just the changes to documents alone would be a monumental undertaking. In the manuals and scriptures, we find over 1,200 rederences to the word priesthood, many of which are described in a context that does not support female priesthood. Phrases and words like "he", "men only", "brethren", etc. Will need to be changed to he/she, "all members", etc. Granted, many rederences to "Man" in the scriptures are taken to mean the human race in today's context. However, in church publications, great care is taken to be explicit about what gender we are talking about. If the author means all members, he will say "men and women" or "all members" as opposed to "men".

This would be phased in pretty quickly. Just distribute the proclamation or revelation. Put a change in the oath and covenant of the Priesthood to include 'sons and daughters' maybe. Then phase in the changes to the manuals as they are reprinted.

Making systematic changes to all the materials would be costly and Tim consuming.

Cannibalizing Timmy will not be necessary.

Another challenge is changing basic themes and topics covered in manuals such as YW, YM, Relief Society, EQ, etc. Likely, an efficient solution is to combine manuals into a single, bi-gender manual.

Not likely. The YW program would be most in need of small revisions but really...their manual isn't that thick. Neither is the Young Mens. I think you overestimate how much printed material there is used in the Church regularly.

The greatest editorial challenge will of course, be changing the LDS canon. A new revelation will need to be published (official declaration) and included in the D&C to declare that thepriesthood is now available to all worthy *members* instead of *males*.

Not exactly a challenge. You just announce it in General Conference and change the next printing of the standard works. You don't even have to do that right away. OD-1 and 2 didn't go into printed scripture immediately.

Besides the requirement to write an official declaration, I believe the scriptures are probably able to be interpreted as bi-gender already. You just need to get past the male-centric language and it works. I see no explicit command in the LDS canon that demands priesthood be reserved for men. Certainly, there is no command that precludes women from holding the priesthood. The question is, would the church need to change the heavily male-centric phraseology out of the D&C? I'm thinking no. But if the change is required, it would be a challenge to implement. It would be an opportunity for the prophet to give revelation!

I've read through the scriptures specifically looking for this and find almost nothing that would really need changing. Almost as if God prepared in advance.

This is a big job! With God's help, it can be done!

I think you overestimate how big a job it would be. Other then a few particulars...

split quorums for each gender or combined?
immediate advancement to elder for adult women or 6 months to year as priest?
all positions open to both genders or will some priesthood key offices still only be held by males?

...it should be easy. I anticipate maybe two months for changeover if needed. Announced in General Conference and sustained and distributed to be read at local level. Give it a month from that for local leaders to get specific instructions from Salt Lake on how to phase it all in and to discuss changes with ward and stake councils. Give it another month for local leaders to initiate and get new callings filled.

Call it a day.

Morley,

You may be right. Although, I have a feeling going half way on this would just cause more trouble. If we don't find equality, why even make an effort in the first place. It might come across as insulting.

Nehor,

It's funny - I have the same feeling as you. Maybe God wanted this to happen all along. It almost feels like the scriptures were written to allow for this change some day. Well, besides the fact that they are so male dominant.

Then you look at how Joseph Smith viewed priesthood in regards to women. He seemed open to the idea.

Could it be that if Joseph Smith had lived longer and didn't destroy the church with additional shenanigans, that women would have the priesthood today? We will never know.

It's interesting to see how scripture is conducive to a change while more modern revelation is not. This tells you that the more modern prophets might have gone the OPPOSITE direction God intended in the first place!