The Heart of a Woman

• Women are the heart of society.
• It is essential that society has a heart.
• Men need a heart.
• Unity of man and woman requires a head and a heart.
• Man is the head.
• Woman is the heart.
• A heart is tender.
• We must protect the hearts of women.
  
  
• A woman without a heart is just a head.
• Without a real woman, there is no heart.
• A couple with two heads is just two heads, and no heart.
• If there is no heart, gender becomes irrelevant.
• Two men can be partners with two heads.
• Two women can be partners with two heads.
• Or, a man and a woman can be partners with two heads.
• It’s all the same when there is no heart.
  
  
• Why would a woman have no heart?
• Abuse creates a heart wall that nothing can penetrate.
• Society values their body instead of their heart.
• If women are emotionally damaged, they cannot give their heart.
• If they are exposed to evil they protect their hearts.
• A woman cannot give a broken heart.
  
  

We’re told that women are just like men, that they have all the same wants, needs, desires, and that we should treat them the same. A woman should work the same, and get paid the same, as a man.  A woman can do or be anything she wants. She could be “Rosie the riveter” or run big companies, or leader of the world. A woman should be just like a man... and a man should be just like a woman. This is an earthly concept -- of the world, temporal, temporary. In the world, money is the source of life, and is the measure of success so equality of men and women is found in seeking for power and glory in earning potential, houses, lands, clothing, toys, and all the things of the world that make life good. Why not put a woman in the White House? Women should be ordained to the priesthood. Women should have all the political and economic power in the world that a man may have.

The Big Picture

In the eternities, perhaps there is no difference between a man and a woman in the lower kingdoms of heaven. A man angel is the same as a woman angel. A woman can serve God in all the ways a man can serve God. There is no reproduction so there is no need for a body that can reproduce. There is also no difference in other functions, all are the same there. It doesn’t matter. So, perhaps when one is resurrected into a body that is terrestrial or telestial they are not as man and woman, but gender-neutral. Perhaps even in the celestial glory, the kingdom of the Father, two-thirds are gender-neutral. Thus, since they are not bound together in marriage, and there is no reproduction, gender is irrelevant, so everyone is the same. They become separate, single, androgynous beings. Their unity is sameness. They can be friends, but not sealed. Since they do not increase, gender-neutral is death. This is exactly what people of the world are fighting for. 

However, there is one place in the eternities where the distinction between man and woman makes a difference. The highest degree of the celestial glory means men and women are different, and, as the French say, “Vive le difference!” It is the only place where gender is meaningful. It is where a man and a woman are together for eternity, being a complete human being. It is the highest level of existence, eternal life. Exaltation is the pinnacle of human existence, where a man and woman are as different as can be, but become one. This unity is not sameness, but togetherness in their difference. A man is fully a man, and a woman is completely feminine, and they come together as one to become complete, whole, or perfect -- like God. God is a man -- Man of Holiness is His name. He has a wife. He protects her from the evils of the world, and provides for her. They are one. The difference between men and women is life.

The fullness of the gospel of Jesus Christ is being restored to the earth. While all who have read the Bible since the death of the Apostles could understand heaven and hell -- if you’re good you go to heaven, and if you’re bad you go to hell -- they were missing the fullness, the ultimate glory, the pinnacle of success, our full purpose for existence: exaltation and eternal life. This concept was lost when the Apostles died. There was nobody left to teach it. It is that, as children of God, man can become as He is. The essential ingredient is that nobody is whole and complete as an individual, but together, a man and a woman form a complete human being -- a god. Jesus said: “Be ye therefore perfect” (Matthew 5:48) which means complete, or whole. This requires a man and a woman, together. What the prophet Joseph Smith restored is the ability to become one, the sealing power, the possibility of eternal life, the greatest of all the gifts of God. The purpose of the church is not to teach people how to become androgynous angels, servants to the gods, but rather how to become gods. Therefore, the Church of Jesus Christ will not make women and men the same. Instead, it will teach men how to be men, and women how to be women, and bring them together in unity and love, for when a woman is the heart, and the man is the head, and they are one, they are gods. 

Protect and Provide

Women are special. They have an other-world dimension of charity. They have the ability to make mankind whole. They have a heart filled with love. They are not just like men. Women are not men. Women should not be going to war. Women should not be slaying dragons. Women should not be doing all the worldly things to seek fame and fortune. These are fleeting; they whither, rot, and decay due to entropy with a final end in nothing. All that is bought with money is useless. Only love endures, and without real women there is no love. Children are only taught to make money, to be servants, to be workers in society. They don’t learn love, and don’t have hearts. Without a heart, a woman is just like a man, subject to all the evils of the world, seeking money and power. To maintain love, women should be out of the world, and completely immersed in eternity. Women need to be protected from the evils of the world so they can have a heart, so they can love and build trust, so they can put all their efforts into connecting couples, family, and society together. The glue that holds us together is love. 

The Lord explains that the heart of a woman is tender, and must be protected. The prophet Jacob clearly told the Nephite men that their lasciviousness caused broken hearts of their wives and lost confidence of their children, which brings condemnation on the whole society.

For behold, I, the Lord, have seen the sorrow, and heard the mourning of the daughters of my people in the land of Jerusalem, yea, and in all the lands of my people, because of the wickedness and abominations of their husbands. And I will not suffer, saith the Lord of Hosts, that the cries of the fair daughters of this people, which I have led out of the land of Jerusalem, shall come up unto me against the men of my people, saith the Lord of Hosts. For they shall not lead away captive the daughters of my people because of their tenderness, save I shall visit them with a sore curse, even unto destruction; for they shall not commit whoredoms, like unto them of old, saith the Lord of Hosts. And now behold, my brethren, ye know that these commandments were given to our father, Lehi; wherefore, ye have known them before; and ye have come unto great condemnation; for ye have done these things which ye ought not to have done. Behold, ye have done greater iniquities than the Lamanites, our brethren. Ye have broken the hearts of your tender wives, and lost the confidence of your children, because of your bad examples before them; and the sobbings of their hearts ascend up to God against you. And because of the strictness of the word of God, which cometh down against you, many hearts died, pierced with deep wounds.

Jacob 2:31-35

Men break the hearts of their wives and lose the confidence of their children by seeking gratification. It is lasciviousness that ruins the world, breaks down families, and brings destruction on society. Hearts are broken, the glue of love is lost, and there is nothing but heads. Men look at women to lust after them, breaking their covenant to be true to their wives. Their children have no confidence. Their daughters don’t believe that a man will protect her so she protects herself. She builds a wall. Without a heart, she then becomes a head, she learns to get along in the world, seeking power, glory, honor, money, lands, houses, toys, and temporal things. She often becomes bitter and angry over the broken heart. She cannot love. She has nothing to give. She cannot fulfill her destiny. She feels empty with all her stuff, it doesn’t fill her true needs or help her fulfill her destiny. 

In that case, a man has the same issue, finding gratification of desires unfulfilling, and having no heart, he can become bitter and angry. What he really needs for fulfillment is the heart of a woman, but his desires have broken her heart and she cannot give it. They cannot become one. They cannot achieve their ultimate purpose. They are not complete nor whole, and cannot be perfect. That which they seek is lost, making them “ripe for destruction.”

The Lord commanded men to “take up their cross” and sacrifice their desires (3 Nephi 12:28-30). By making the sacrifice to not even allow the thought of adultery, men can receive so much more. What he really wants is her heart. The flesh is just a token of the heart, so it is deceptive. It feels like she gives her heart, briefly, but then reality comes and he knows she is not his, they are not really one. Sex is an impostor; there is no fulfillment. However, in making the sacrifice, he can allow his wife to feel safe and she will be able to give the real thing, and they can become one. By giving up the desire for her body he can have her heart. This is real. It fills the need. It brings fulfillment, love, and happiness.

Rather than force them into the world, men need to protect their women, wives and daughters, from wickedness and debauchery. They need to teach them faith, hope, and charity -- to trust in God -- so they don’t build a wall around their hearts. If men take responsibility to protect and provide, then women will be able to love because they won’t need a wall to protect themselves from evil, or provide for themselves -- they can transcend the world and give love. A man must protect all women from the evils of the world; the heart of a woman must be sacred. She must feel safe. She must be innocent. She is love, the glue that holds everyone together. In the world women need real men who are willing to slay the dragon, and fight evil for them so they can be open, loving, free, and able to give their hearts. They will give their hearts to their husbands, making the world a more loving place. Anger and bitterness will be replaced by love. Parents will love their children, and children who grow up with love will be able to love. There will be no misery, for all will be loved; peace will reign. 

If there is going to be unity, we must have women with pure hearts, unadulterated by the things of the world, not caring for money or power on earth, but for love, charity, and the power of God. Joseph Smith told the Women's Relief Society of Nauvoo that they “should be a select Society separate from all the evils of the world, choice, virtuous and holy.” Joseph Smith further taught women, "All must act in concert or nothing can be done." And "by union of feeling we obtain power with God.” The pure heart of a woman has the potential to bring unity - and the power of God - to the world. There is no way to place a monetary value on a woman who loves with an open heart, “for her price is far above rubies!” (Proverbs 31:10)