Does the LDS church have valid ordinances?

[BeNotDeceived]

Are Patriarchal Blessings an ordinance?

[fractal_light_harvest]

Luke 2

36 And there was one Anna, a prophetess, the daughter of Phanuel, of the tribe of Aser: she was of a great age, and had lived with an husband seven years from her virginity;

37 And she was a widow of about fourscore and four years, which departed not from the temple, but served God with fastings and prayers night and day.

38 And she coming in that instant gave thanks likewise unto the Lord, and spake of him to all them that looked for redemption in Jerusalem.

( I find this account interesting here you have a woman that is considered a "prophetess"...
from the time Christ was growing up as a youth...she never left the temple...she was there day and night...all the time basically...just praying and fasting nonstop...there must have been something she prophesied with that she got right...because the people of her time considered her to be a prophetess. I also find it interesting that maybe Christ could have had some interactions with her in his youth. He taught those in the temple there... was she in attendance? Why was this woman so important that she was mentioned in the new testament? Could she have had the priesthood?)

I believe there is good enough reason to believe that she probably or could have held a form or type of ‘priestesshood’ *personally*. But I don’t believe this meant she could baptize others or offer acceptable sacrifice under the law Moses gave. But I also don’t think there is anything to prove this meant any power she had was inferior to those who could baptize and so on necessarily either.

[John Tavner]

Romans 16:1 1 I commend to you our sister Phoebe, a servant of the church in Cenchrea.

Servant translated here actually comes from hte word :
διάκονος, οῦ, ὁ, ἡ
Part of Speech: Noun, Feminine; Noun, Masculine
Transliteration: diakonos
Definition: a servant, minister
Usage: a waiter, servant; then of any one who performs any service, an administrator.

Same Exact word as Used in Timothy 3:8 where Women are also told what to be... often translated wives, but universally it means woman.
Woman Deaconesses existed.

[ransomme]

Are Patriarchal Blessings an ordinance?

Mine wasn't, it gave me chaos not order 0.o

[fractal_light_harvest]

Sitting at 77 votes. Percentages are *roughly* the same as at 70.

• Those who believe the the church currently holds some type of power/authority relating to ordinances — 30%

• Those who believe it currently does not hold power/authority and will not in the future — 33%

• Those who believe it shares it with others or will regain it — 22%

• Those who don’t know — 13%

• Those who don’t care — 1%

Highest single group is now those who believe the LDS church *never* had any power/authority to begin with. I think all those who are going to vote probably have at this point. Thank you for the good info it is helpful to me!

Edit: Interesting to note that *no one* felt the LDS lost power/authority due to its stance on the Covid vaxx even though many on this site take issue with it as do I personally.

[honestseeker12]

I struggle with this question a bit. I do believe that LDS baptisms and the sacrament are valid ordinances, that we at least have the Aaronic priesthood available with its ordinances. However, I think that there are many believers of other churches who show more faith than many LDS do. After listening to the audible book about "The Heavenly Man" which Marc posted at his website latterdaylamanite.com, I believe that this Chinese man Brother Yun went through more suffering for Christ and showed more faith, devotion and steadfastness than I ever could. I think Christ personally called Brother Yun to preach his gospel in China, and if his baptisms done in a prison cell in China with a cup or so of water (because that is all the water they had) aren't valid, then I don't know what would be. Brother Yun and other converts to Christ in China have sacrificed more than most of us could even imagine, so I just feel in my heart that God would recognize these ordinances done even outside of the LDS Church as valid. Also, I have heard miraculous stories of healing from other people who do not even have the priesthood, but just simply believed in the name of Jesus, and now we are supposed to believe in the "faith not to be healed." I think that God does His work, and it goes beyond the scope of only the LDS Church. Maybe I'm wrong, but it seems like Christ would accept whatever is done with a pure heart, especially if Christ Himself called the person to be a servant. Brother Yun in China seems to have been called directly by Christ.