the mormon doctrine of preisthood authority is a tact of all cultic systems, in which they believe that church of latter day saints have bestowed this authorititative system .. to which they give authoritative statement on part of God and also give authoritative declaration of biblical passages
"What is the Priesthood? It is nothing more or less than the power of God delegated to man by which man can act in the earth for the salvation of the human family... by which they may baptize for the remission of sins and lay on hands for the reception of the Holy Ghost, and by which they can remit sin with the sanction and blessing of Almighty God. It is the same power and priesthood that was committed to the disciples of Christ while He was upon the earth..." (Joseph F. Smith, 6th Prophet of the LDS Church, Gospel Doctrine, 1919, p. 173; also see Mormon Doctrine by Bruce R. McConkie, 1966, p. 594).
the above citation is taken from one of the doctrinal statement on the preisthood authority which was bestowed on the mormon church. and this was supposedly done by Jesus Christ in 1832 ... several years after the first vision and the book of mormon in 1821 -- the srious problems this courses for this church are severe and hard to get a round
like if this supposed authority come upon the mormon church in 1832 ... based on what authority did joseph give his own revelations .. so in retrospect all that come before including the contradictory vison had no basis .. as no authoritative system was in place and it only became a far worse problem after based on the fact of the contradictory veiws on God ... being 1, then a multiplicity of gods
but the major problem lies in their false handling of scripture to make it seem like it is a ligit system .. we have to note that it is not unique to momonism to claim authority over that which trumps their whole fabricated system of thought ... the bible is God word .. it is God authority in the believers life on earth ... there is no other .. not mormonism, jehovah witness, catholics, nore islam
note this line ... "It is the same power and priesthood that was committed to the disciples of Christ while He was upon the earth" ... .... there are only two preisthoods mention in the bible .. the levitical preisthood and the melchezidek preisthood ... the first ended in christ the second is in christ it is his unique role
while through christ we as believers have an authoritiy which is classed as minister / preisthood of the covenant .. this in no manner is identical to that of the levitical one or the melchezidek one
now to the support passages for this belief
passage 1 ---- john 15 :16
You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit and that your fruit should abide, so that whatever you ask the Father in my name, he may give it to you
a cursory reviw of this verse and the passage in full does not prove the priesthood authority but that Christ is the head of the church and each member of the body has a role to preform and this is called fruit
a side note this verse in its immediate context provides clarity to the reformed position of Gods soveriegn election (unconditional election) also the pattern which the church is strongly following is to "love one another"
I am the true vine, and my Father is the vinedresser. Every branch in me that does not bear fruit he takes away, and every branch that does bear fruit he prunes, that it may bear more fruit. Already you are clean because of the word that I have spoken to you. Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit by itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in me. I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing. If anyone does not abide in me he is thrown away like a branch and withers; and the branches are gathered, thrown into the fire, and burned. If you abide in me, and my words abide in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you. By this my Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit and so prove to be my disciples --- “This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends. You are my friends if you do what I command you. No longer do I call you servants for the servant does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, for all that I have heard from my Father I have made known to you. You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit and that your fruit should abide, so that whatever you ask the Father in my name, he may give it to you. These things I command you, so that you will love one another--- john 15 :1 -8, 12 -17
there is nothing in this verse or the over all passage which reveals a priesthood authority, if anything this is being read into the context of this great sermon of jesus christ -- and show a dispassion for the truth of christ and a sheer eisagesis
king james states "ordained" which may lead to the conclusion but it is still bad interpretive skills -- since ordain can also be used to discribe the act of appointing in the church
lets also just think about the term ordained -- how does it follow that it means one is ordained for preisthood -- there is simply no evidence in the passage itself, nor the whole biblical revelation to conclude this
the word ordained could be correct or incorrect ... but even so lets cosider a few other offices which one could be ordained unto :
1 -- minister / elder
2 -- king / queen
3 -- knighthood
4 -- deacon / overseer
5 -- preist (old testament)
what does the bible indicate as the offices ... there are three roles --- the 2 most notable are deacons and overseers .. for this we only need to go to 1 timothy 3 1-13 -- since it lays out the specifics of these offices and the roles they are to take on
the other is an elder ... which could be seen as a simalar role .. and we have several different place which speaks to this but the most notable places are in 1 peter 5 and we can include timothy 1 and 2 for the more focused elements of this role ... and then we have the lesser passage of 1 timothy 4 :11 -16
"there is always a group of elders or deacons to shepherd the flock and main tain a watchful eye on each other"
and all the member are under the true gaurdian and the authority -- the bible
passage 2 -- acts 8 :14 -20
Now when the apostles at Jerusalem heard that Samaria had received the word of God, they sent to them Peter and John, who came down and prayed for them that they might receive the Holy Spirit, for he had not yet fallen on any of them, but they had only been baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus. Then they laid their hands on them and they received the Holy Spirit. Now when Simon saw that the Spirit was given through the laying on of the apostles' hands, he offered them money, saying, “Give me this power also, so that anyone on whom I lay my hands may receive the Holy Spirit.” But Peter said to him, “May your silver perish with you, because you thought you could obtain the gift of God with money!
in this passage i am not seeing any connection to the priesthood such as being ordained, although it could be the phrase which could be the reason for this being cited : "then laid their hands on them and they recieved the holy spirit"
and yes this is a divine act of laying on hands we could also add to this that this passage in no way speaks to the preisthood authority
while we are considering some passages we can look at
acts 6 :1 -3
Now in these days when the disciples were increasing in number, a complaint by the Hellenists arose against the Hebrews because their widows were being neglected in the daily distribution. And the twelve summoned the full number of the disciples and said, “It is not right that we should give up preaching the word of God to serve tables. Therefore, brothers, pick out from among you seven men of good repute, full of the Spirit and of wisdom, whom we will appoint to this duty
this passage use the term "appointed" of several new believers unto a specific function in the early church .. and like wise this is actually a divine calling and act, not merely a human one .. and since this is true .. it like wise make election true in another aspect ... these 7 were chosen for salvation .. and also for ministry of the spirit
we also need to consider pauls words in this matter since they follow a similar flow of thought, which are as follow:
Command and teach these things. Let no one despise you for your youth, but set the believers an example in speech, in conduct, in love, in faith, in purity. Until I come, devote yourself to the public reading of Scripture, to exhortation, to teaching. Do not neglect the gift you have, which was given you by prophecy when the council of elders laid their hands on you. Practice these things, immerse yourself in them,[c] so that all may see your progress. Keep a close watch on yourself and on the teaching. Persist in this, for by so doing you will save both yourself and your hearers --- 1 timothy 4 :11 -16
this section is very similar to that of acts 8 : 14 -20 in that they both speak of this act of laying on hands .... so i believe paul is refering to the moment that timothy recieve the holy spirit in this passage .. which was prophecied that many would in acts 2 .. and in joel 2
we also need to note that there is a positive and negitive point in acts 8 .. while in the positive men of honesty desired for this new life, in the negitive, one man simon tried to bribe his way with his wealth, so acts 8 if it is utilised correctly are mormon the truthful and sincere peoples, or are they the dishonest ones who only seek to gain for their benefit
passage 3 -- hebrews 5 :4
if this one verse "And no one takes this honor for himself, but only when called by God, just as Aaron was."
is good enough to validate a belief system, so to by the same token it is good enough to sink it
first of all --- we need to take note that aarons priesthood was not in effect after 70 ad, since there was no place to carry it out and that these things became obsolete in the self giving of christ(in accord to hebrews chaprters 8 -10 , for instance the writer states in verse 13 of chp. 8 "in speaking of the new covenant, he makes the first obsolete and what is becoming obsolete is growing old is ready to vanish
meaning in christ sacrifical giving the old covenant is done away with along with it the preistly acts and all kinds of things
secondly --- as the position is eternal by nature which the father bestowed on the son it can not be giving to another in any manner since it is in his death this position is accomplished
we also have to consider the mormon preisthood come about out of a sheer misunderstanding
on pages 124 -125, of the book by james white .. letters to a mormon elder
James white makes the case that this office come out of a misunderstanding of sorts .. that joseph smith refered to an occultic practise -- smith edited a teaching to fit into the requirements of his beliefs
as he often did .. in the book of commandments .. 18 33 , 1835
the 1833 edition section 76 :1 -4 and the 1835 edition (with re editing) section 8 :5 -9
where this thing about the occults is mentioned with the terminology of "working the rod" or "rod of nature" then in the re edition it is changed to "gift of aaron -- which could be mistaken (and indeed was) as the preisthood
and this whole ideal is worked to this one verse which contains the name aaron and it is assumed it is connected somehow, with no indepth study to prove it
4th support passage -- james 5 :14 -15
from these 2 verses mormons assume so much yet cant prove it "Is anyone among you sick? Let him call for the elders of the church, and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord. 15 And the prayer of faith will save the one who is sick, and the Lord will raise him up. And if he has committed sins, he will be forgiven." --
this is not a passage that can prove the mormon belief no matter how one (mormons twist it) it is simply a prayer of healing which is aimed at a number of points but has no connection to priest hood
so we see even here mormons are inject a foriegn concept into the meaning of the passage --
and the elders mentioned are possibly the same offices mention in paul and paul lettersas well as johns letters
-- nothing significantly important to the momon belief
