Hi, I'm Harley

I'm a graduate student studying plant proteins. I love my work. I love my family. I love being a Mormon.

About Me

I'm a graduate student rocking molecular and cellular biology. I teach biology and love the scientific method. I've got two boys and a beautiful wife. I plan lessons for our men's church group in Montgomery Village, MD.

Why I am a Mormon

You know that one part in the New Testament where the Savior promised peace (John 14:27)? I always would read that without pausing to think about my life. But the older I become the more I realize that there is peace in my life, and that peace is a great gift of God.

I'm at peace with my life, with my beliefs, with my balance. I'm just happy and peaceful.

I know we can find peace in this life when we seek Jesus Christ.

How I live my faith

It must have been hard for my parents to join the Church. They joined when they were 26 having not really been associated with any religion. Sometimes I ask myself, "Could I accept the gospel and change my life? Could I lay aside my skepticism to belong to something I felt in my heart was right but in my mind I wanted to deny?" I daily hope to answer this question with "I believe."

My parents answered that they believe by being baptized. I was less than one year old, but their decision profoundly changed our family life. Of course, my childhood was like any other childhood: work, messes, and sibling fights. But through it all we never questioned the love my parents had for us, each other or the Savior. Their example taught me that we can have bad days, but everyday we can answer in some small way, "I believe!"

Why don’t women hold the priesthood in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints? How do Mormon women lead in the Church?

Harley answered...

This one is tough for me. Truthfully, I don't know, but I do know that women are compassionate. Women make excellent decisions. Women are great leaders. There are no well-founded mortal reasons why God could not call women to the priesthood except for one.

It's His Church.

If it be the Church of Harley King then call it after my name, or the Church of Moses then call if after the name of Moses. I don't call the shots. I just try to be faithful and not let my questioning supersede my faith.

I don't think God looks upon callings in the Church as favoring men or women. There's just stuff that needs to get done, and He's assigned different roles to different people to get it done. I think our current world values suggest leading is a result of success, preparation and reward, but in the Church all roles are just opportunities to serve. The Savior is our leader.
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Leeny answered...

This is a question I had to really consider before joining the Church. My mother is a non-denominational chaplain, and both my sisters are pastors. Female leadership in church settings is very important to my family.

It is to me as well. I think many people become offended when they learn that only men hold the priesthood because they misunderstand it. The priesthood is a tool given to men in order that they might serve others more. It does not in any way give them power or dominion over women. Those people who suppose the priesthood is a way to control others are deeply mistaken.

My husband is a priesthood holder, this means I am too. I have claim on my husband's priesthood power. Even more than he does. If I am sick, discouraged, or in need of help I can call upon my husband to give me a blessing through the priesthood that he holds. I then recieve many blessings because of my husband's worthiness to work in behalf of Christ. My husband is never able to give himself a blessing though. If he is sick or discouraged he must call on other priesthood holders to administer to him. My husband holds the priesthood so that he can bless me and our child - never himself.

The priesthood is the power of Christ on the earth. It allows those who hold it to serve their families in the same way Christ served the Church. Did Christ do any deed for himself during his earthly ministry? No. Christ spent all his energy serving the people. This is what the priesthood does for my husband. It infuses him with Christ's compassion and ability to love, and then my husband is able to use that celestial love in our family.

Why don't women also recieve this special gift then? The simple answer is women don't need it. As women we are innately endowed with compassion, selflessness, and love. Think about the way a mother loves her child. I believe there is nothing more pure and similar to Christ's love for us, than a mother's love for her children. Women naturally have the ability to love as Christ does.

In an ideal situation, which is what God always intended for us, there are two partners in marriage. There is the husband and father, a priesthood leader who can be called upon to administer blessings and serve in Christ's name. And there is also the wife and mother, who is blessed with the ability to love as Christ loves and sacrifice for her family. These are two seperate and divinely appointed roles. Each complementing the other. Both make a complete home.

Women do not hold the priesthood because they do not need it. Women have other God-given powers that raise them up to the task they are called to. A man is appointed to serve his wife and children - it is the power of the priesthood that enables him to do this.

I am grateful to have a husband who is worhty to use the priesthood in my behalf. It has blessed me many times and I know that it is a special gift from God - not only to my husband, but to me as well.

Why do some call Mormonism a cult?

Garth answered...

I just saw news footage where a minister called the Mormon Church a ‘cult’ and the news commentator turned around and said it wasn’t. The news commentator was right. One definition listed for ‘cult’ in Webster’s Dictionary is “a religion regarded as unorthodox.” ‘Unorthodox’ according to whom? Catholicism and over 2000 churches who broke off of the Catholic Church or the original teachings of the Church of Jesus Christ? We believe some of the original doctrines contained in the original Church of Jesus Christ fell into apostasy and were changed by men. One example is the definition of the Godhead as laid out in the Nicene and Athanasian Creeds that are widely accepted by most Catholic and Protestant churches today. We believe the Godhead is made up of three separate and distinct individuals that are one in purpose not in body. When I read about the atonement in Matthew 26:39 (KJV), “And he went a little further, and fell on his face, and prayed, saying, O my Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me: nevertheless not as I will, but as thou wilt” I believe God the Father, Jesus Christ, Peter and the other Apostles would find the teaching that ‘Jesus Christ was praying to himself’ as quite ‘unorthodox’. I choose to follow the teachings of Jesus Christ, not the teachings of men…regardless of the names they choose to call us.