AMY: I do not understand how gender roles are so central to the Gospel when I always thought the Gospel was the good news that Christ died for my sins, that He was resurrected, and that through Him, I may live again.
Truth: Christ's atonement was universal and infinite, which means that it makes possible the exaltation and eternal life of all of God's children without regard to gender, which is in fact proof of the truth that while we do have, and will have, different roles for all eternity, we are nevertheless equal before God. What Amy should understand it that the same source that teaches her the good news of the gospel, teaches the eternal place of gender in God's plan. It is convenient for her agenda to pick and choose the doctrines she wants to believe, even when they come from the same source, but that is neither honest nor helpful.
AMY: I do not understand a Gospel that tells me that my greatest calling is to become a wife and mother when I remembered Jesus telling the woman in the crowd that it is not motherhood, but hearing and obeying the word of Christ, that makes me blessed (Luke 11: 27-28).
Truth: To advocate that Jesus' words in the verse quoted somehow diminishes motherhood is intellectually and spiritually dishonest, and reveals the contextual ineptness that plagues both feminists and Anti-Mormons alike. They simply cannot understand truth, because they ignore context. What Jesus was actually teaching is that the physical act of giving birth is not sufficient, but rather the key portion of the role of motherhood is to nurture and teach obedience. The irony is that Amy has heard the word of God, as taught by him and his prophets, but along with many suffering under the culture of envy, she is NOT keeping it, thus going against the very charge she asks about here. Motherhood, when studied in spiritual and thematic context across the spectrum of God's holy word is clearly an eternal, dignified and holy calling and role, but that role loses all power and efficacy, if the role keeper, seeks to place her will above God's and fails to obey.
AMY: I do not understand a Gospel that tells me the greatest use for my time and talents is in the home when it was Jesus who taught me the greater part was to hear his word and to sit as his feet in preparation to teach it to others (Luke 10: 42).
Truth: Jesus has delegated his mission to teach to his children on earth. Today we sit at the feet of Jesus when we sit at the feet of his disciples who teach his words and ways. The logic here defies Christ's divine commission, no need for disciples to go and teach the world, Jesus will simply do it all himself. This places Amy with Thomas, who perhaps has yet to hear the savior's mild rebuke ; "Blessed are those "who have not seen, and yet believe". Mothers are the representative of Jesus on the earth. A righteous, holy mother, who has cast aside envy and who understands the divine role, will do more to teach others of the true Christ than any other source. The child, who sits at the feet of such a mother who knows, and who has embraced her divine role, truly is sitting at the Savior's feet and preparing to teach the gospel.
AMY: I do not understand a Gospel where I'm told that my role is separate but equal from a man's when the scriptures teach me there is no male or female in the Lord (Galatians3:28; 2 Nephi 26:33).
Truth: Amy's interpretation here is simply ridiculous, but again evidences the flaws of those who without spirit or context, try to use snippets of scripture to prove their point. Paul was not teaching the lack of gender in heaven, see 1 Corinthians 11:11, Hebrews 12:9, but that Gender is not a bar to unity with him, which harkens back to the truth that all are alike unto God, and if baptized may be one with Christ. The scriptures are filled with examples that indicate that divine roles will and do exist. Father, Son, Mercy as feminine, justice as masculine, are just a few examples. The Scripture from Nephi simply proves that God is not a respecter of persons, and that male and females are equally loved before God. It in no way indicates that there is no role or gender in heaven. Had she been more interested in learning truth, rather than trying to make her opinion truth by the wresting of scripture, she might have read D & C 138:39, the glorious vision which affirms, among other things, that gender is eternal.
AMY: I do not understand a Gospel that was first proclaimed by a woman chosen to act as the witness to the resurrection, when 2,000 years later, I am unable to witness the baptism of a mortal in His name.
Truth: Mary's witness of Jesus was NOT an ordinance, but a gift. Hundreds of others both men and women were also witnesses of the resurrection, just as thousands of men and women witness today of the same resurrection, and thousands of his daughters who truly do understand the Gospel, stand as witnesses of God at all times, in all things, and in all places,
AMY: I do not understand a Gospel that tells me that my uterus defines my role with God when I was always believed God looked upon the heart, the same organ that beats in men and women alike (1 Samuel 16:7)
Truth: It is only the unenlightened and spiritually empty who think that womanhood, or motherhood, is defined by physical organs. It is sillier still to assume that the heart, as referred to in the scripture meant David's organ??? If that were the case then Samuel could have chosen any man in Israel to be king, because they all had hearts. Just as God clearly refers to the spirit of man in such scriptures, so to eternal motherhood is an spiritually understood and eternal concept, powerful, holy and sacred, that is beyond the power of the flesh bound to even grasp, which is why envy lives so deep in their souls.
AMY: I do not understand a Gospel that teaches me I cannot approach God in my own right
but only through my husband whom I hearken and obey.
Truth: The Gospel of Jesus Christ, as understood by the spirit, teaches no such thing, though it serves the purpose of those who would "be" God rather than follow him, to claim so.
AMY: I do not understand a Gospel that claims to follow Jesus's teaching to leave the 99 to go after the one and then excommunicates the one, casting her out of the fold all together, after refusing to even have a conversation.
Truth: Just as Amy has contextually twisted the smattering of scripture so to she presents her private view of what really happened with the excommunication, something she cannot possibly know, but which she has adopted because it suits her preconceived notions. It also demonstrates a deplorable lack of understanding of Church discipline. Those who understand church discipline
understand that the process is exactly that, seeking the one lost sheep in and effort to save and redeem them. Mosiah Chapter 26 provides the true picture of what Amy seeks here to distort.
AMY: I do not understand a Gospel that teaches the importance of two-parent families, that we have loving Heavenly Parents, and then denies their daughters and sons access to the Mother.
Truth: There is nothing in the Gospel of Jesus Christ that denies them access to their Heavenly Mother. In fact it is only the Gospel of Jesus Christ that teaches she even exists.
AMY: I do not understand a Gospel that teaches me to come to know truth "by study and also by faith," but then treats me as a cancer when I study the more troubling and difficult aspects of our faith and history and am, unsurprisingly, troubled by them.
Truth: The past demonstrated penchant to twist and distort gospel truths indicates that what Amy was doing was NOT seeking truth by study and by faith, but rather adopting what she wanted to be truth, and then seeking to enforce her private and flawed views as truth, by the laying on of contextually altered scripture. It is not the sincere searching that is a cancer. It is the attempt to force one's opinion on others as truth, by distorting scriptures and teachings, and doing so under the false guise of searching, that is the cancer.
AMY: I do not understand a Gospel that teaches that God's ways are higher than our ways, but then practices tribalism and exclusivism in relation to truth claims and upholding the status quo, which is certainly a practice of the "natural man."
Truth: The fact is that it is God's ways, and his thoughts, (which are implemented and taught by His Church), that Amy dislikes, because they are not her ways. She is the source of tribalism and the one who is seeking to elevate the natural man to the level of God. In so doing she must project her own actions and flaws upon God, otherwise her efforts are in vain. It is classic self-deification and its results are seen throughout this thread. They also explain why she cannot understand, because she does not really want to!.