Cassandra

To King David: It was interesting to me what you said about your younger sister, the engineer/MBA. Most LDS women I know pursuing advanced studies (there certainly aren't many) are haunted by that dilemma. Will it intimidate men? Dry up the dating pool? Am I choosing selfish pursuits over what's most important? Answers: yes, yes, and well, that's between me and the Lord and requires daily re-evaluation. On the other hand, I would kind of despise myself if, finding myself unpursued and without immediate prospects, I had settled for a job that was easy for me instead of going for my full potential. If I'd married early everything would have been different, but the way my life has gone, I'd never have forgiven myself if I hadn't seized the opportunity presented to me to go to law school. And to wonder if maybe I'd quit with just the bachelor's would I be married by now is a fool's errand. Blaming women for living life at the top of their lungs as best they know how is dangerous, even though in some cases it's almost certainly deserved. But it's hard to tell which cases those are. Sheri Dew said in a talk that a woman once came up to her and said "aren't you sorry you chose a career over marriage?" That's a mighty big judgment to make on mighty slim information. That said, I completely and utterly agree with you that more needs to be done to deprogram young women from the world's "career first, then look around for marriage when you're thirty" script. Sister Beck's talk was a brilliant attempt on that front.

We also don't really know at what stage Peter was in his spiritual development--had he made the necessary covenants, such that taking the Sacrament would be a violation of them? We don't interview nonmembers before letting them partake. Also, President Kimball speculated that we jump to conclusions when we think Peter was a bad guy for denying Christ--what if what Christ said was actually a command to deny Him, so that Peter wouldn't be harmed and would be able to go on leading the church? It's impossible to fairly judge Peter on the slim accounts we have.