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Can Temple Ordinances Be Performed Outside A Temple?


Hayds

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I was thinking about temples and the fact that they are priesthood based. Obviously a Melchizidek Priesthood holder officiates most of the ordinances, so if you have someone who is set apart for these roles does he need to actually be in a temple to perform some of them?

For instance, would baptisms for the dead count if they were performed at a Stake Center? Does it have to be in the font with the oxen? Is it the priesthood ordinance that makes them official or the fact that they were done in a temple that makes them official, or both? Is one more important than the other?

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They have been in the past. Brigham Young dedicated Ensign Peak as a "natural temple" where they performed endowments. But the Salt Lake Temple wasn't built yet.

Since temples are built, they have to be done there. But I would be curious if any type of "endowment house" type exceptions have been made after the SLC temple was completed. Someone on here may know better than I.

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I was thinking about temples and the fact that they are priesthood based. Obviously a Melchizidek Priesthood holder officiates most of the ordinances, so if you have someone who is set apart for these roles does he need to actually be in a temple to perform some of them?

For instance, would baptisms for the dead count if they were performed at a Stake Center? Does it have to be in the font with the oxen? Is it the priesthood ordinance that makes them official or the fact that they were done in a temple that makes them official, or both? Is one more important than the other?

I’m not sure if you are LDS or not (my apologies if so), but…

The Lord will only accept certain ordinances when they are performed inside the Temple with the proper priesthood authority. They are both vital – one is not necessarily more important than the other.

Those ordinances are primarily – baptism for the dead, washing and anointing (i.e. initiatory) for both the living and the dead, endowments for both the living and the dead, and the sealing ordinance for both the living and the dead.

They are beautiful and sacred ordinances to us, and it would not be appropriate to perform them outside of the Temple. And with 130+ temples on the earth, there would be no reason why they would need to be performed outside of a temple.

The Lord did accept baptisms for the dead performed in the Mississippi River on a temporary basis while the Nauvoo Temple was first being built.

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The first thing to do is define what a temple is. If the definition of temple is not limited to a construct or man made structure, then no it cannot be done outside the temple, but only if you mean or understand a temple to be any place dedicated as the Lord's house (house not having to be a structure) where his ordinances are performed. If you mean a temple must be a construct of some sort, then yes, ordinances can be done outside of a manmade construct (as those of us who have gone through the ordinances are aware),

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The general answer is "no", because you have to have a temple recommend to perform those ordinances, and limited access.

However, there have been exceptions for some ceremonial occasions, such as the re-dedication of the Atlanta temple. The stake centers became an extension of the temple and temple recommend (or permission slip) was required to enter.

It is of historical interest that certain rooms were set aside for occasional special use, but this has been discontinued with the building of new temples. When I was in Provo, we used one of those rooms for classes in one of the older ward buildings.

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The general answer is "no", because you have to have a temple recommend to perform those ordinances, and limited access.

However, there have been exceptions for some ceremonial occasions, such as the re-dedication of the Atlanta temple. The stake centers became an extension of the temple and temple recommend (or permission slip) was required to enter.

It is of historical interest that certain rooms were set aside for occasional special use, but this has been discontinued with the building of new temples. When I was in Provo, we used one of those rooms for classes in one of the older ward buildings.

Check Richard E. Bennett, “Wilford Woodruff and the Rise of Temple Consciousness among the Latter-day Saints, 1877–84,” in Banner of the Gospel: Wilford Woodruff, ed. Alexander L. Baugh and Susan Easton Black (Provo, UT: Religious Studies Center, Brigham Young University, 2010). http://rsc.byu.edu/archived/banner-gospel-wilford-woodruff/wilford-woodruff-and-rise-temple-consciousness-among-latter- (I am not sure that is the complete web link). The last three essays in that work really gave me a much better understanding of the Manifesto of the Apostles.

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Up until May 1978 prayer circles(True Order of Prayer) were organized on the stake and ward level. These prayer circles included members dressed in their temple clothes and the meetings were held in church buildings around the world. The First Presidency announced in 1978 that the practice would discontinue in is present forms and only exist as part of the endowment.

Phaedrus

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