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https://www.deseret.com/2019/10/2/20894166/church-women-policy-witnesses-lds-mormon-conference The Deseret news is reporting an announcement from the Church indicating that women can serve as witnesses at baptisms and temple sealings. Additionally, children who have been baptized can also serve as witnesses at baptisms. Youth with limited use recommends can act as witnesses for baptisms in the temple.

official email subscription =============== Early in this dispensation, the Lord instructed that "in the mouth of two or three witnesses shall every word be established" (Doctrine and Covenants 6:28). Consistent with this direction, members of the Church serve as witnesses when sacred ordinances of salvation and exaltation are performed.We are pleased to announce procedural adjustments for the two individuals who serve as witnesses to baptisms and sealing ordinances. These adjustments are effective immediately in all temples and in all Church units. As invited by presiding authorities: Any member holding a current temple recommend, including a limited-use recommend, may serve as a witness to a proxy baptism. Any endowed member with a current temple recommend may serve as a witness to a living or proxy sealing. Any baptized member of the Church, including children and youth, may serve as a witness to the baptism of a living person. We trust that you, as individuals and families, will find great joy in your service as you help provide saving ordinances to Heavenly Father's children.

While I can appreciate your thoughts and opinions on this...I feel like sometimes we can take things a bit too seriously as well. Sometimes we just have to lighten up and have some fun. That's what this was...just an attempt to have some fun.

Just saw this reported in the Deseret News. Apparently, Pres. Nelson announced to a leadership session that girls and women may now be witnesses for baptisms and sealings: https://www.deseret.com/2019/10/2/20894166/church-women-policy-witnesses-lds-mormon-conference?fbclid=IwAR2LtfL4QfTrRI89dQKgvRnE9bI3TwyZACki8FxbEQe-uIQAm065LXrfxD8

Surely, it's fine for private platforms to censor content. We here at thirdhour do it daily, what with the banning bots and p0rn spewers and criticisms of our church. 1st amendment doesn't apply here. Also surely, it's not fine for a monopoly of a public good (like neighborhood supermarket, or hospital, or power company) to refuse to serve someone based on 1st amendment issues. You can be in the KKK for all society cares, you still get to buy food and have running water and stuff. As social media platforms, especially YouTube and Facebook, gain prominence and usefulness in our lives, one can see it moving from 'private platform' to 'monopoly of a public good'. Is it there yet? I dunno.

Welcome to the Worship Wars. Most large churches decided a couple of decades ago that there was a crisis amongst the young, and that all efforts must be made to retain. Let the elders grit their teeth. They are mature, and can deal. We must keep the youngins! Still, as a pastor, before I would say the music interrupted the Spirit--or the worship--I would want to see what most in the congregation are doing. Are the 'rockin' to the tunes? Are they being entertained? Or...are they worshipping. It is sometimes amazing to hear music I consider a bit much, but then to see most--yes, especially the young--lifting hands to the heavens, mouthing the words, with apparent adoration of the LORD as their countenances. Then I look to the words, and often they are actually sound and solid and deep. Sometimes it is hard to discern...especially when there seem to be fingernails rubbing against chalkboards.

I have asked my wife to assist with blessings before. I state my authority and by virtue of her faith. Never underestimate the faith of a mother. Whoever told you that you could not do it that way. Joseph Smith Jr. Respecting females administering for the healing of the sick, there could be no evil in it, if God gave his sanction by healing; that there could be no more sin in any female laying hands on and praying for the sick, than in wetting the face with water; it is no sin for anybody to administer that has faith, or if the sick have faith to be healed by their administration. (Teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith, 224) Joseph Fielding Smith Q: "If a man and his wife were alone with a sick person, could he anoint with the oil and then seal the anointing with his wife assisting using the priesthood she holds jointly with her husband?" President Joseph F. Smith in The Improvement Era, Vol. 10, page 308, answered this question as follows: "Does a wife hold the priesthood with her husband and may she lay hands on the sick with him, with authority?" A wife does not hold the priesthood with her husband, but she enjoys the benefits thereof with him; and if she is requested to lay hands on the sick with him, or with any other officer holding the Melchizedek Priesthood, she may do so with perfect propriety. It is no uncommon thing for a man and wife unitedly to administer to their children. . . . The wife would lay on hands just as would a member of the Aaronic Priesthood, or a faithful brother without the priesthood, thus giving support by faith to the ordinance.... Such an administration would not be by virtue of the priesthood, but a manifestation of faith. (Answers to Gospel Questions, 1:149-150)

As a Baptistry coordinator, Ward Mission leader, and a former Ordinance worker I'm thrilled with this announcement!

If I understand the article, a temple recommend is required to witness baptisms for the dead in the temple (because being in the temple is necessary to witness those). However, any baptized member -- with or without a recommend -- may serve as a witness to baptism for the living outside of the temple. Again, assuming I am understanding the Des News reporting.

As I listened to the 48-minute video it reminded me of why my wife and I decided to home-school. Both of us had been public schooled, but we wanted something different for our family. We called it: "Learning is a Lifestyle" and that became our philosophy and motto. Everywhere we went, and everything we did was an opportunity to learn. The classroom never ended. It was very successful and our children have grown into hard working well-rounded adults. Academically most of them earned full-ride scholarships to college so it worked well in that area too. If I were to name this new program I would call it "Gospel Learning is a Lifestyle" and it would have fit into our home learning philosophy perfectly. When our kids were young we would often have family home evening five, six, or seven days a week. The one thing we wanted was a home-based seminary program that we could use, but because we didn't live in a remote area the Church would not allow us to use the existing home curriculum for seminary. It seems to me that the natural extension of this new home-centered, church supported Gospel program would be making the seminary program home-based as well. It would be a major change but I guess we will see. I taught Seminary and I loved it, but it is definitely a major disruption to family life in the mornings. So, bottom-line is that I am super excited for this program because it fits perfectly into my views on life and education!

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Joseph Smith’s opinion carries weight in my mind. The restoration will continue. Obviously, witnessing a baptism or even a sealing is NOT a priesthood ordinance. It is a peripheral event that occurs during the ordinance. Just like how we partake of the sacrament even though we have not blessed it. In the example I gave of my wife accompanying during a blessing, she does not use her priesthood to do so. And I surely do not evoke it. There is a whole lot of misunderstanding about the priesthood.

It is an interesting idea, and one that maybe needs its own thread to really explore rather than a threadjack. However, when has that stopped anyone from making a threadjack, right? I note the following from Handbook 2: For the ordinance of administering to the sick (section 20.6): " Only Melchizedek Priesthood holders may administer to the sick or afflicted. " For Father's blessings and blessings of comfort (section 20.8): "... one or more Melchizedek Priesthood holders place ..." In the one case, the word "Only" would seem to preclude women's participation in the ordinance. In the other case, the wording is less strict, but still makes no mention of women participating. I notice that your two statements are from the early and mid 20th century. From what I know of the history (without any expertise to verify the research presented to me), the trend was towards less women participating in ordinances like these throughout the 20th century. Like @clwnuke, I was under the impression that women could not participate at all in performing these ordinances. Not knowing the official answer to the question, I offer these thoughts. 1) Is it a case of "if it is not explicitly forbidden it is allowed" or "if it is not explicitly allowed it is forbidden"? 2) We often talk about not relying on "old" quotes from past Church leaders. Do we have anything newer than the '70s or '80s that would validate the older positions of Joseph, Joseph F, and Joseph Fielding Smith(s)? 3) In the spirit of "home centered -- church supported" does a wife/mother even need the Church's permission to participate with her husband in these ordinances? Like @clwnuke, I have always been under the impression that women should not participate in these ordinances, though I cannot find a specific prohibition against such. Part of me (the rebellious part, probably) would like to think that women can claim the right to participate whether the Church officially grants permission or not, but I am also mindful of AoF #5. I would feel a lot better about this practice if there was a newer affirmation that women could participate in these ordinances like you describe. With the steam that the feminist movement has (even among Church members), if we were at all comfortable with the older statements, I would think there would be more recent affirmations of the practice. In the absence of those affirmations, I am hesitant to accept the practice by virtue of the older statements alone.

I suppose my bishop who likened growth to the making of a samurai sword should stop also. I mean, we are all not swords. We are flesh. The sword is steel. There is no pain to the metal becoming a sword, and there is pain for the natural man to become like God. The Lord is able to make whatever comparison he wants that will teach his children principles. If you don't like a comparison, well, we all have our opinion.

I should have been more specific to say that I have never been opposed to Sisters receiving callings to the Priesthood, should the Lord ever choose to make a change in that respect.

If you think about all the procedures and policies that exist in the Church that have no particular scriptural requirements, there is still a great deal of room for adjustments. Perhaps Sisters will soon be able to serve as APs, Zone Leaders, or District Leaders on missions? As for me, I trust the Lord's timetable and direction in these matters through His authorized servants, but I've always told my wife that it would be wonderful if we could one day bless our children together 👫, and I would love to see wives sitting with their husbands (or visa-versa) on the stands at church and General Conference.

Currently (well, previously) it falls on quorum presidents to ensure that priesthood holders were familiar with this material. Looks like Primary, Young Women, and Relief Society presidencies need to squeeze in an extra lesson.

That's what I'm understanding as well.

Wow! That is awesome!

That's really cool. My wife would love to be a witness for our daughter when she's old enough. How neat!

I have attended worship services at a Methodist Church, a Non-denominational Church, Baptist Church, Lutheran Church, and some other Christian worship services but not sure the name. My "Pa" was Methodist, and I think she would ask my parents to attend her church when we lived with her some Sundays. As a young person, eight years old, the grape juice for sacrament was awesome. I had hope we would go back every Sunday because they offered grape juice instead of water. Primary (not sure if that is what they called it) was lead by a wonderful middle-aged woman. She was very kind in teaching us about the gospel. Lutheran services I attended once a week for two years. I attended a Lutheran private school during my middle school years. I participated in all the worship services that happened every Wednesday. Ash Wednesday I participated in receiving the ash on my forehead. Baptist church was only for brief 10 minutes. A friend, as we drove by the church, said, "Let's visit and worship for a moment. We went in and the people were very friendly. One of the couples in front of us noticed we did not have the Bible with us. He turned around and offered me his scriptures, and made a gesture that his wife had her so it was OK. The sermon was what I thought a Baptist sermon would be. Any service I attended that had rock bands always interrupted the spirit. I couldn't pay attention with heavy metal playing a spiritual tune. Fingernails on chalkboard.

It's not a moon (My kids LOVE the Star Wars Bad Lip Reading songs 🤣)

In good news, FB has apparently dropped it's censorship of the church's stuff on religious freedom. It no longer gives you this message when you try to share the link:

@Vort I don't see it saying or even approaching it as the Priesthood IS the force. They are using it like a parable. To me, your complaints could just as easily be about Jesus' parables. "I can't believe anyone would say that the kingdom of heaven is like yeast left in dough!"

I don't know, I thought it was kind of cute. I don't see anything to be concerned about, it's just a silly little video..

Launch day is the first Sunday in January - everything up until then is preparation. One impression for me is that we are preparing for a time when most will not have the freedom to assemble outside of our homes for worship. The Traveler

I went to a few Brazilian Evangelical churches on my mission, though unfortunately I had neither the humility, open-mindedness, nor security in my own faith to recognize the services for what they meant to the congregants. I don’t visit other congregations now, primarily for lack of time. I may start doing it a bit in 10-20 years as life slows down. Most of my extended family are not Mormons, so I’ve been to Evangelical, Catholic, Lutheran, Methodist, and Episcopal weddings (and Methodist and Baptist funerals). The older I get the more I appreciate them; though if compelled to pick a favorite I’d have to confess myself a sucker for high church-type liturgy.

I have been to many over the course of my lifetime. My immediate family are the only Latter-day Saints in my extended family, and I've had the pleasure of attending a wide variety of different Christian worship services. Of the ones I've been to, I most enjoyed the services in the Russian Orthodox and Methodist churches. While my experiences have run the gamut of really good to really bad, I generally feel comfortable in other churches, and I frequently hear good lessons taught in them.

I am thoroughly looking forward to it and to hear more on November 17th. A lot of the success of this program will be the focus on home centered and church supported. The church is there to support the individual and family goals that are established in the home. Fathers and mothers (more so fathers) to be more involved in their sons and daughters lives and their goals if we are actively pursuing this. As with the Come Follow Me in the home, you will begin to see another diverge between families who are applying this in their home, and families who are not.

Thanks for your thoughts. I've felt more at peace the past couple of days. Also took advantage of the prayer request board on a teacher forum. Will try to get to the temple in the next few days. I also had Husband give me a blessing of comfort. We still have not reached an agreement, so there is that underwhelming update. Facts, feelings, and testimonies have been shared.

I can hear the conversations now. "You spent how much on this?" "You make this thing, but you still won't fund NT's next trip to SLC?" (I hear these conversations because they're coming out of my mouth right now. Not too shoddy, though!)

I was thinking it was time to change the oil in my car or time to go out to the shooting range. I was wrong.

Oh please no...

Is it a moon?

BUT it was cool, right? I mean, like, the band really rocked it and you could feel an awesome vibe. Made some cool friends...and the coffee was off the charts, dude! . . .