Bishops and Young Women in the Ward
Throughout my life as a Mormon I served in many areas of the Church. However, the one place I spent most of my time was in the Young Women’s program. I served as a counselor to the president and then as a Young Women’s president.
Being a teenager at heart helped me to really enjoy serving in this area of the Church. I liked hanging out with the girls, and teaching them the things I believed then would lead them to happiness and exaltation. As I think back now on the times I spent with them I can’t help but feel a twinge of regret and heartache for teaching them what I know now to be false doctrines.
Yesterday I was looking over one of the manuals I taught from which is still in use today, all I could do was shake my head at the things I was reading. In the Young Women’s Manual 2, Lesson 11: Appreciating the Bishop (page 41), I read;
“The bishop presides over every person in the ward and directs their local church activities. … All of your adolescent life you will be under the direction of the bishop. He will appoint teachers and supervisors to do his work, but he will be very much interested in your progress. Your life here will be constantly weighed by him, for he is the judge of your worthiness … to receive higher ordinances, and to be worthy to go to the Temple.” (S. Dilworth Young, More Precious than Rubies [Salt Lake City: Bookcraft, 1959], pp. 40–41).”
At this point I had to stop reading. I began asking myself questions, and wondering why a man who wasn’t the young girls father, or legal guardian would be allowed to have so much authority over her, authority which doesn’t even belong to him? It’s the parents who have the God given right and authority to direct, teach, and guide their children on the correct path. As we read in Proverbs 22:6 “Train up a child in the way he should go: and when he is old, he will not depart from it”
In Mormonism the bishop is believed to be the judge of not only her worthiness, but every single member he presides over. He also calls her in for yearly interviews to weigh and measure her life, and above all to make sure she is remaining pure and chaste. I can’t imagine how this would play on the mind of a young woman.
To believe this man who sits behind the desk before her has the power to judge whether or not she is worthy enough in his eyes to attend the temple. To believe he holds her salvation in his hands and can yank it away anytime he chooses to without provocation. What this man is doing is attempting to rob Jesus of his authority.
Jesus is the only one who has the authority to judge us. Once we have accepted him we belong to him, and no one can snatch us from his hand (John 10:29).
These girls are taught at a very young age before they enter the Young Women’s program how the temple is the ultimate goal for any good, and worthy Mormon. In Young Women’s program this goal is expounded upon even more in their lessons. They dangle the temple in front of the girls as if it were a carrot, in hopes of directing them on the path the church wants them to go on. In turn teaching them they can’t function without the approval of bishop, or another mortal man.
Teaching these girls that their worthiness is determined by a man, and not Jesus Christ, is very offensive to me. Mormonism begins at a very early age teaching women to be subservient to men, because he is the one who will judge her. This continues on to her adult life when she learns it’s her husband who will call her from her grave, if he is pleased with her at the second coming.
I truly pray for all the young women and men in Mormon chapels all over the world, I pray they will learn the truth. I pray a Christian friend will have the courage to witness to them of God’s love for them, of his son Jesus Christ, and how only he has the right to judge one’s worthiness.
In Christ,
Melissa Grimes
A well written and informative piece! For non-Mormons, this lets us know how it REALLY is in the LDC church even today.
Mormon women are taught that during the temple marriage ceremony her husband is given two secret names that he must never reveal to anyone. One name that he must know is his when he is called from the grave and other is his wife’s name that only he knows and if he chooses to use it will resurrect is wife from her grave. Obviously this is an attempt to further subjugate her to her husband. If it would offer these ladies any comfort, they will be called forth under any circumstances, since the “secret” name for each and every male is Joseph and believe it or not each wife’s secret name is Mary. Thus when the first Mormon male calls forth his wife, ALL Mormon wives will be raised.
I am an LDS Bishop in Indiana. We do not seek to rule over people -especially young women. Worthiness interviews are conducted to help the individual evaluate themselves against the commandments. Jesus is the ultimate judge. However, in this life, there are those that are called to judge in order guide one back to the path of discipleship and help them recognize their errors. Questions regarding chastity and purity are also discussed with young men and not directed only to young women as a reader could infer from this article. All evaluations of worthiness are done in the spirit of prayer and seeking to know God’s will -not the will of the Bishop.
I know this will be mocked at by most of you. I ask that you soften your heart just a little toward the church and Bishops. After all, isn’t this post about not judging people?
“I know this will be mocked at by most of you. I ask that you soften your heart just a little toward the church and Bishops. After all, isn’t this post about not judging people?”
We aren’t here to “mock” Mormons but to show that your ideology is in error; that Joseph Smith’s tenets lead people from the Triune God down the road to destruction and death. It isn’t a matter of “softening” our heats but speaking the biblical truth.
Having Bishops in LDS is a matter of control. We Christians use the Bible to show and guide us. The Ten Commandments act as a curb and a mirror to our behavior. They are God-given, not man-given.
The freedom in Christ is what He gave us, purchased with his blood, death on the cross, and resurrection. Our sins are forgiven and we are washed clean. In joyful thanksgiving, we want to follow Him; we give our lives and all we have to Jesus without having man’s rules over us.
We joyfully give our money and time to Jesus by helping others . No rules hang over our heads to force tithing. We make our decisions based on what Jesus taught us and not what men say.
We pray that Mormons will come to know this freedom in Christ, too. There is no need for Bishops like in Mormonism.