Why have there been changes in ordinances if the prophets receive revelation from God and would not lead the members wrong? Can there be a change to an original ordinance?
2 Responses to “Why have there been changes in ordinances if the prophets re…”
Lucas Bravo
2008-09-22 01:54:08
It's interesting that changes to ordinances would make some question a prophet's calling. For me, these minor changes suggest just the opposite. In many other Christian Churches that do not claim prophetic guidance, ordinances have gone unchanged for centuries. In a Church that is guided by a modern prophet who can communicate with God, God can modify the symbols used in ordinances so that they are relevant to His children in their own day and age. Some of the symbols used in the temple ceremony in years past, for example, would make little sense to modern Mormons. God made minor changes to the temple ceremony so that we modern Mormons could understand it better.
It's important to distinguish between symbols and that which is symbolized. Symbols can change under divine guidance according to the understanding and cultural sensibilities of God's children. It is that which is symbolized, not the symbol itself, that is eternal and unchanging.
Anonymous
2008-09-20 03:33:07
The authority of priesthood was lost due to the extermination of the apostles of old, and that many churches during the apostasy years attempted to re-create the gospel of Jesus with all the saving ordinances, but because they had no authority to do it, and no heavenly direction. I remember a return missionary describing the churches in the dark ages in a parable of the stain glass window. God's church is as a stained glass window and when the leaders of old were hunted and killed is was like stained glass window being broken. Then many people who were looking again for God's true church found a few of the lost fragments of the window, and claimed they had found it all by filled in their own ideas on what they were missing and claimed that as God's church. This is why there are so many churches that feel almost right, but still don't have all the window. Enter God the Father and Jesus Christ appearing to Joseph Smith and restoring all the keys, powers, and truths from God's church of old. Along with the heavenly guided authorized procedures on ordinances. Hope that helps.
It's important to distinguish between symbols and that which is symbolized. Symbols can change under divine guidance according to the understanding and cultural sensibilities of God's children. It is that which is symbolized, not the symbol itself, that is eternal and unchanging.