Some Great Thoughts on Eve, Motherhood, and More

I am LOVING this blog ("Empowering LDS Women") that I ran across. It has some really great thoughts and discussions by LDS women striving to live and understand the gospel.

This post ("Giving Women a Voice Without Sacrificing Faith or Family") has some great thoughts on motherhood and working outside the home. So happy for personal revelation! We should remember that all can receive it and it may be different then what we receive so we shouldn't judge.

The talk shared in this post ("The Two Trees: A Symbolic Interpretation of the Creation") was summarized for me quite a while ago by my sister Liz who was at this lecture. (The talk was re-posted here in an easier format to read and is titled "I am a Mormon because I am a Feminist"). I happily stumbled across it again on this blog. Though I happen to believe that it wasn't an accident that I did. Nope, it was definitely the Lord telling me that we learn things "line upon line, precept upon precept" and He will gradually answer my search for understanding as I keep searching.

It is kind of a long post but totally worth the read. All the way through things she said just kept ringing true to me. To get a taste, here are just a few of my favorite thoughts from the post:

On equality:
"Another thing that I am taught is that men and women are equals before the Lord and before each other. Now, don't use the fallen world's sense of the term "equal"—"equal" does not mean identical. Let's face it, there are no two men who are identical, and yet they stand as equals before each other and before the Lord. Can we imagine an understanding of equality that means that a man and woman can be equals before the Lord and before each other? That is the vision of equality that the Restored Gospel teaches me."

"Elder Bruce Hafen says: 'Genesis 3:16 states that Adam is to "rule over" Eve, but. . . over in "rule over" uses the Hebrew bet, which means ruling with, not ruling over. . . . The concept of interdependent equal partners is well-grounded in the doctrine of the restored gospel." '

Eve and the Fruit:
"Women escort every soul through the veil to mortal life and full agency. I believe that when we think about it—two people, two trees—that what we're really thinking about is two stewardships. And that the fruit of the First Tree symbolizes the gift that women give to every soul that chose the plan of Christ. It symbolizes the role and power of women in the Great Plan of Happiness. It was not, in this view, right or proper for Adam to partake first of the fruit of the First Tree. It was not his role to give the gift of the fruit of the First Tree to others. It is interesting to think that even Adam, who was created before Eve, entered into full mortality and full agency by accepting the gift of the First Tree from the hand of a woman. In a sense, Adam himself was born of Eve."

Difference between patriarchy and Patriarchial Order:
"And we know that the term "patriarchy," if you look it up in a secular dictionary, is an order in which men rule over women. We know that that's not the order of Heaven. So obviously we don't have patriarchy in the Church. But we do have something called the patriarchal order. Why is it called that, and why should we reject definitions that try to make it look more like the definition of men rule over women? Here I would like to quote President Ezra Taft Benson: ". . . the patriarchal order [is called such] because it came down from father to son." The right to officiate in the ordinances of the giving of the fruit of the Second Tree in the old days came down from father to son. "But this order is otherwise described in modern revelation as an order of family government, where a man and woman enter into a covenant with God—just as did Adam and Eve—to be sealed for eternity, to have posterity, and to do the will and work of God throughout their mortality."

Those are just a few, and they don't really show the flow of thought throughout the post. I am so thankful for the light that the Restored Gospel shines on topics like this.