#elder bednar

 President Monson taught, “When we left our premortal existence and entered mortality, we brought with us the gift of agency. Our goal is to obtain celestial glory, and the choices we make will, in large part, determine whether or not we reach our goal.

Most of you are familiar with Alice in Lewis Carroll’s classic novel Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland. You will remember that she comes to a crossroads with two paths before her, each stretching onward but in opposite directions. As she contemplates which way to turn, she is confronted by the Cheshire Cat, of whom Alice asks, “Which path shall I follow?”

The cat answers, “That depends where you want to go. If you do not know where you want to go, it doesn’t matter which path you take.”

Unlike Alice, we know where we want to go, and it does matter which way we go, for the path we follow in this life leads to our destination in the next life.

May we choose to build up within ourselves a great and powerful faith which will be our most effective defense against the designs of the adversary—a real faith, the kind of faith which will sustain us and will bolster our desire to choose the right. Without such faith, we go nowhere. With it, we can accomplish our goals.”

In conjunction with the open house of the Washington, D.C. temple, Elder Bednar spoke to the National Press Club. After his prepared remarks, questions were asked. Some of the questions are about topics that would be considered controversial in the church.

One question pointed out that in the USA, for every 5 members of the church who leave, there are 4 converts who join. Elder Bednar says that church is growing in the United States, he didn’t specify but I think the birth rate is still high enough when added to number of converts.

Elder Bednar was asked about negative depictions of the LDS Church in the Under the Banner of Heaven Hulu series and the Book of Mormon musical. His response is, “We don’t like it, but we don’t spend all of our time trying to respond to it.”

Regarding LGBTQ issues, the Church supports legislation like was done in Utah, for LGBTQ rights & protections as long as they don’t require the church to change. He also said the Church’s position is marriage is between a man and a woman.

The question was asked, “You mentioned that women lead within the church in many ways. Will there ever be a female president of the church of Latter-day Saints? Can a woman be a prophet in the lineage of Joseph Smith?” Elder Bednar’s response is that “We follow the pattern of the ancient church...the pattern anciently was that the apostles were men.”

A question was asked whether the church would intervene in politics “by publicly advocating its position that abortion is a woman’s choice in consultation with God and local male leaders in cases of rape or when the mother’s health is at risk?” Elder Bednar reiterated the church’s position but didn’t offer the church getting involved politically.

Elder Bednar was asked how a trans person would be treated if they had already transitioned but wanted to join the church. His response is that “We welcome all and strive to love them.” He went on to say that due to existing stereotypes, misconceptions and biases people in the church may not love perfectly.

————————————————————

I am going to add my thoughts to these responses of Elder Bednar.

It’s clear the Church is barely growing in the USA and soon is likely to enter a stage where it’s shrinking. I thought it was interesting he said there’s been a huge outflow of members in the western US, which is the heart and strength of the church

—————————

On the LGBTQ issues, he failed to mention that a trans member would not be allowed the same rights & privileges as other converts, that there would be restrictions on them that other members don’t have. So yes, the church would welcome them, but only partly.

—————————

I thought the answer about women being apostles or president of the church was interesting. It’s based on tradition, not revelation or doctrine. Here’s the thing, there have been female prophets or apostles in every dispensation except ours. That seems incredible to say considering the misogynistic, patriarchal cultures of those times.

Here are some prophetesses: Sarah, Miriam, Deborah, Hannah (mother of the prophet Samuel), Abigail (a wife of King David), Huldah (from the time of Jeremiah), Esther, wife of Isaiah, Rebecca, Rachel, and Leah.

Women were the first witnesses to the empty tomb and speak with the resurrected Christ. We can say they were special witnesses of the resurrected Christ, just as we say apostles are. Junia is an apostle from the New Testament (Romans 16:7). 

Furthermore, Acts 2:17 says in the last days, God will pour out His Spirit upon all people and “your sons and your daughters shall prophesy.” Any gender can be a prophet.