LDS Church – The Zion Chronicle

Asking vs Advocating

Supporters of Kate Kelly love to repeat the claim that “she was only asking a question.” They consistently assert that she was a faithful member of the church and would have been satisfied if President Monson had prayed about whether women should receive the priesthood and then shared the outcome of that inquiry. All of this is meant to emphasize that her choice to agitate for change was simply an attempt to make herself heard and not an indication of her being doubtful of the person she acknowledges to be the Lord’s appointed mouthpiece today. Let’s examine that assertion.

While I will examine this assertion of supporting the prophet with a focus on the Kate Kelly situation I hope that readers can recognize that this exercise in examining the implications of what it means to sustain him and how that relates to our actual actions. I would also like to explicitly acknowledge that there are times when we must be vocal in order to affect change. The issue I am dealing with is how to recognize the boundary between advocacy and apostasy.

In order to establish a healthy family it is necessary to meet basic physical needs. Nothing else can compensate for gaps in those needs being met and when they have not been met for a family it is difficult if not impossible to focus on other areas of need in building a healthy family. This is a concern that can be addressed at the level of individual families but also at a community level.

When we speak of physical needs in a prosperous nation like the United States we are generally speaking of financial needs because everything to meet our physical needs is generally available so long as someone has the money to acquire them.