This is the 13th Chapter of the book, Teaching of presidents of the Church; Lorenzo snow. You might be suprised to hear that there is absolutely nothing I disagree with in this chapter. The work of the Relief Society is commendable. It truly is the embodiment of these verses.
Titus 2:3-5 3 Older women likewise are to be reverent in behavior, not slanderers or slaves to much wine. They are to teach what is good, 4 and so train the young women to love their husbands and children, 5 to be self-controlled, pure, working at home, kind, and submissive to their own husbands, that the word of God may not be reviled.
If your wondering what the relief society is then here are a few details…
The purpose of Relief Society as established by the Lord is to prepare women for the blessings of eternal life by helping them:
- 1. Increase their faith and personal righteousness.
- 2. Strengthen their families and homes.
- 3. Serve the Lord and His children.
Sisters meet for Relief Society meetings during the week, they have the opportunity to learn and accomplish the charitable and practical responsibilities of the Relief Society. This is where they learn and practice skills that will help them increase their faith and personal righteousness, strengthen families and homes, and provide service to those in need. These meetings are meant to be instrumental in teaching the skills and responsibilities of womanhood and motherhood in the Lord’s plan.
It is here that women learn and apply principles of provident living and spiritual and temporal self-reliance, and they also increase in sisterhood and unity as they teach one another and serve together. Relief Society: A Sacred Work JULIE B. BECK Relief Society General President
If such an organisation existed within my church i would happily be a part of it, the relief Society is something to be appreciated about the LDSChurch.
There are many things to appreciate about the LDS church such as Family home evening, daily prayers with the family, and separate wards ( In America,) for young adults or in England separate groups, to help them find a Husband or wife. Also the vast amount of social activities held within the church, so that a church member can happily busy themselves with church and church activities, without needing to seek these things in the secular world. These social events are also used as evangelistic opportunities to invite people along. Anyone entering one of these events at their local LDS chapel is welcomed in by a truly loving people, their hospitality is exceptional. All of these things along with the LDS belief system work together to create a very strong culture within Mormonism.
Women are often stay at home Mothers, although they’re encouraged to seek eduaction and many attend University. They tend to marry young and settle down to have large families. It is very much expected that you should marry another Mormon, which in England can leave their choices very limited. Typically Mormons are very polite and they dress smart. They work hard, and they work hard to serve God.
The LDSChurch operates like a well oiled machine, what you see in one church, you will see in another. As a Member the LDSChurch you know what to expect and you know what is expected of you. This Culture of Mormonism, can be very attractive. There is a sense of security to be gained from being part of such an organized religion. One thing it lacks though is to offer genuine security. It offers the kind of hope that is no hope at all, a hope that says ‘one day’, ‘may be’, ‘if you try hard enough’.
The great amount of expectations put on the backs of it’s members weigh them down. I know as a Christian, seeking to obey God every day in every part of my life, at times you can feel weighed down by your own sinfulness and by your seeming inability to obey.
Gospel Principles manual says:
“The time to fulfill the requirements for exaltation is now” (Gospel Principles, 1997, p. 303).
Past Mormon Apostle Bruce Mcconkie said
“To the saints his everlasting counsel is: Obey, obey, obey; keep the commandments; earn the attributes of godliness-and then, and then only, cometh salvation!” (Bruce R. McConkie, Doctrinal New Testament Commentary 3:124).
But I as a born again believer in Christ can know that God loves me, that He accepts me, that no matter what I do or do not achieve in seeking to obey Him, He will receive me into His presence eternally. I can truly Know this because it does not depend on anything that I do. I am not here to live the perfect life, because God knows that its to hard for me to do. Jesus did it for me completely. Jesus does not just ‘Make up the rest.’ but he paid the price in full and offers eternal life as a free gift to those who would accept it
Romans 6:23 For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. (KJV)
Here is a great video that illustrates this
Thanis for reading and as always I welcome your comments
“The work of the Relief Society is commendable. It truly is the embodiment of the scriptures.”
I’m afraid you have probably never actually been part of the relief society and so are talking only from the point of view of Mormon propaganda.
The relief society is a tool for brainwashing and peer pressure, an organisation that exist purely to root out and control “rebellious” female members and keep them in line.
My wife for example who suffers from severe eczema on her legs was none the less condemned and bullied week in week out for wearing trousers by the “sweet Sisters”.
Like wise when another member, the wife of a close friend went back to work to support an invalid husband was treated very badly for being the family bread winner..
God help the single parent mother in RS who will be treated as a pariah and bullied relentlessly to marry ANY single man in the ward, so as to cease to be a threat to the husbands of these “decent women”
“Sisters meet for Relief Society meetings during the week, they have the opportunity to learn and accomplish the charitable and practical responsibilities of the Relief Society. This is where they learn and practice skills that will help them increase their faith and personal righteousness, strengthen families and homes, and provide service to those in need. These meetings are meant to be instrumental in teaching the skills and responsibilities of womanhood and motherhood in the Lord’s plan.”
In reality, this amount to being unpaid skivvies for the LDS church for whom the term “Charity begins at home” is more than a proverb it is a doctrine.
It is rare that the RS does any charitable work for anyone outside of the church and when they do they make sure the maximum amount of publicity is wheeled out to further church PR.
“If such an organisation existed within my church i would happily be a part of it,”
I am happy to inform you that most churches and many secular societies DO in fact have much better alternatives to the RS
The WVRS, the women’s guild, the women’s institute, the young wives, Christian wives, the church army, The Parish Women’s Group all spring to mind without any bother.
“Typically Mormons are very polite and they dress smart. They work hard, and they work hard to serve God.”
Alas what you see is often not what you get
“The LDSChurch operates like a well oiled machine, what you see in one church, you will see in another. As a Member the LDSChurch you know what to expect and you know what is expected of you.”
This is true, Mormonism like most other businesses does operate like this, it is the MCDonalds of religious institutions.
Finally it should be noted that the RS is another of those bits of Mormonism where one “Prophet” out rightly disagrees and contradicts another.
Brigham Young condemned the RS roundly and banned it completely as a “Malicious Gossip Shop” and it stayed banned for over 20 years, with young and his successor pointing out that it was more important for women to get home and cook their husbands meals than sit around in a pointless meeting after sacrament.
When the society was allowed to meet again it was a very different organisation to that founded by Emma Smith.
Hi Henry thanks for this.
I am sure you will agree its not often we get criticized for not being critical enough haha but I totally accept what you are saying.
Having never been Mormons we looked at this chapter and did not see immediate issues from a Biblical standpoint. We like to when possible show that we can
appreciate some elements of Mormonism as well as criticize many elements of it, on the other hand you having been a part of this movement and seen many
areas up close are definitely well qualified to comment.
I think we will just bear in mind to look at actual experiences in the future as well, thanks a lot
I find it so easy to judge something you have no substance that invites you to form such an “opionion”. Im so sorry for your lack of knowledge regarding the LDS faith, more directly, the Relief Soceity.
I would like to share with all of you readers who I am.
I was born into the Mormon Faith. I have 3 older brothers and one younger brother. Three of my four brothers have served honorable missions. In addition, all four of them are Eagle Scouts. You could easily consider me as the “black sheep” of the family. Not only am the only girl, I did not serve a mission, I did not get married to well into my twenties, nor did I marry in the temple, choose to marry outside my faith and was blessed with a son from each of my marriages that have now both failed.
I have remained faithful in my faith throughout my life. Although my choices may contradict what the church “teaches” I am still a daughter of God. I am still a human being that plays an important role to my children, to my Hevenly Father, to my friends and family.
I have NEVER been treated or felt as though I am an outcast, or that Im looked at as any diffrent than anyone else.
I currently have three callings in my ward. I teach Relief Society once a month and love it. I teach by the spirit and would invite anyone to one of my lessons. I will never judge you, come as you are!
Hi there Michelle
Could you please explain where in this post you feel the relief society has been incorrectly judged?
As you will see if you have read the comments we have taken criticism for being too lenient on the relief society.
The only part of what we have said I can really imagine you will have taken issue with is this
The great amount of expectations put on the backs of it’s members weigh them down. I know as a Christian, seeking to obey God every day in every part of my life, at times you can feel weighed down by your own sinfulness and by your seeming inability to obey.
Can you say this never happens? Does this say that this always happens?
Past experience tells me that Mormons often glance over our posts and then come out with some dramatic exaggerated response not actually dealing with what we have said, I hope you will prove to be different.
thanks a lot
Dear Michelle would that all the RS in every ward and stake was a “black sheep” like you, please continue to teach by your good example and thank you for your comments and experiences as balance to my own.