Lesson for March 23, 2014

Lesson for March 23, 2014 Our lesson today was given by Kristine Hanson, the Moral Force of Women. She started with a story, “ Consider now, in summary, a true story from Australian history that illustrates the power of women’s moral influence as mothers of hope, women of fidelity, wives of commitment, and nurturers of human ties. In its early decades as a British colony, Australia was a vast wilderness designated as a jail for exiled convicts. Until 1850, six of every seven people who went “down under” from Britain were men. And the few women who went were often convicts or social outcasts themselves. The men ruthlessly exploited them, sexually and in other ways. With few exceptions, these women without hope were powerless to change their conditions. In about 1840, a reformer named Caroline Chisholm urged that more women would stabilize the culture. She told the British government the best way to establish a community of “great and good people” in Australia: “For all the clergy you can dispatch, all the schoolmasters you can appoint, all the churches you can build, and all the books you can export, will never do much good without . . . ‘God’s police’-- wives and little children--good and virtuous women.” Chisholm searched for women who would raise “the moral standard of the people.” She spent twenty years traveling to England, recruiting young women and young couples who believed in the common sense principles of family life. Over time, these women tamed the men who were taming the wild land; and civil society in Australia gradually emerged. Also, the colonial governments enacted policies that elevated women’s status and reinforced family life.[23] As one historian said, “the initial reluctance of the wild colonial boys to marry was eroded fairly quickly.” Eventually, thousands of new immigrants who shared the vision of these “good and virtuous women” established stable families as the basic unit of Australian society more quickly than had occurred “anywhere else in the Western world.”[24] This striking story of women’s moral influence grew from a conscious design to replace “the penal colony’s rough and wild ways” with “a more moral civilization.” The reformers intentionally capitalized on women’s innate “civilizing” capacity. [25] These women made Australia a promised land that flowed with a healthy ecosystem of milk and honey. And the milk, literally and figuratively, was mother’s milk--the milk of human kindness. That milk nurtures those habits of the heart without which no civil society can sustain itself. Anne Summers, Damned Whores and God’s Police (Penguin Books Australia Ltd, 1975, 1994) Women have a moral force. Elder Christofferson said “Women bring with them into the world, a certain virtue, a divine gift that makes them adept at instilling such qualities as faith, courage, empathy, and refinement in relationships and in cultures.” Women exert their moral force in the home, where a father and a mother work in harmony to provide for, teach and nurture their children. A mother’s love and high expectations lead her children to act responsibly without excuses, to be serious about education and personal development, and to make ongoing contributions to the well-being of all around them. “Most sacred is a woman’s role in the creation of life. . . . As grandmothers, mothers, and role models, women have been the guardians of the wellspring of life, teach each generation the importance of sexual purity—of chastity before marriage and fidelity within marriage. In this way, they have been a civilizing influence in society; they have brought out the best in men; they have perpetuated wholesome environments in which to raise and secure healthy children.” Kristine told about her aunt whose funeral she just attended, whose family all gathered around the grave site and were examples of the influence she had on her family. Some of us feel the influence of our mothers even after they have gone to the other side. “A pernicious philosophy that undermines women’s moral influence is the devaluation of marriage and of motherhood and homemaking as a career. Some view homemaking with outright contempt, arguing it demeans women and that the relentless demands of raising children are a form of exploitation. . . There is no superior career, and no amount of money, authority, or public acclaim can exceed the ultimate rewards of family. Whatever else a woman may accomplish, her moral influence is no more optimally employed than here.” “Attitudes toward human sexuality threaten the moral authority of women on several fronts.” Claudia Laycock said it all comes down to what you can do. Some mother are great mothers and some are pretty poor, but some really can do it all. We need to understand that each person is in a unique circumstance. It is important to know that no matter their circumstances, childless or not, they can be role models to others and still be a moral influence. Lisa Buckner said her sister-in-law is a great moral example to Lisa’s daughter. Still, we need to contribute to the positive, and not the degrading equal opportunity promiscuity, coarseness in language, immodesty in dress. The world has a double standard that have caused men not rising to a higher standard, women have lowered their standards to wallow in the muck with men without conscience. We need to stand up and teach girls and boys to keep the standard of moral purity that will benefit society or society will experience degradation and. The third problem is when the line between genders is erased. We need to teach children that it is OK to be girls and OK to be boys. How do women maintain their ability to be a moral force? We need to preserve our innate virtue that is within us. And we need not apologize for our moral standards. God is the source of our moral power and we need to strive to maintain that relationship. Recommended reading: Bruce L. Hafen, “Motherhood and the Moral Influence of Women,” http://worldcongress.org/wfc2_spkrs/wcf2_hafen.htm Sheri Dew, “Are We Not All Mothers?” Ensign, Nov. 2001.