Now, could a man choose to not receive the melkezdick priesthood but still be allowed to receive their endowments?

Before the priesthood ban was lifted, could black men receive their endowments?

Black men & women could not receive endowments or enter the temple until 1978.

As far as I know you are required to be ordained an Elder before receiving a temple recommend. I'm not 100% sure it is required, but it is always done that way.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 12/13/2012 03:28PM by bc.

Women as well, even though their gender prohibited them from holding the priesthood anyhow?

Right - it wasn't just the priesthood - blacks were also not allowed to attend the temple.

A concrete example is this: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jane_Elizabeth_Manning_James

She was sealed to Joseph Smith as his eternal servant while living but wasn't able to attend the temple and had to be sealed to Joseph Smith as his eternal slave by proxy - how low can you go?

"In the ceremony, Jane was 'attached as a Servitor for eternity to the prophet Joseph Smith and in this capacity be connected with his family and be obedient to him in all things in the Lord as a faithful Servitor'. "



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 12/13/2012 03:36PM by bc.

By the way if you want to read more about blacks & the priesthood here's the best links I've found (most provided by people here on RFM):

http://www.mormonprobe.com/index.php?topic=Racism

It sounds like you are saying that women were not allowed to go into the temple before 1978??


My Parents were married in the temple way before that.

BLACK women

No worries I probably could have written it more clearly.

Im mostly sure you have to be melsdickholder before you can go through the temple. cept for women.

Yup.
In the endowment you receive 2 signs & tokens for the aaronic P-hood, and 2 for the Melchizedek P-hood. So you must have received the Melchizedek p-hood as a man before you can be endowed.

Washing & Annointing could be a gray area. I've never heard of a non-Melchizedek-p-hood holder being washed, nor of washings without endowments... but it doesn't clearly indicate the requirement of the P-hood. Debateably you could say that it is synonymous with the endowment because they are anointing you to become a king & priest (as with the endowment) but that blessing is future-tense, so again it leaves a gray area.

I agree the policy is that you need to be an Elder first, but I don't know that the Melkie tokens are the reason since women are able to receive them without the priesthood (and without being married - so there is no argument that they hold them through their husbands).

No and No

Men have to be at least an elder before they can be endowed, even if they are dead.

http://www.ldsendowment.org/baptism.html

Being ordained an Elder is an official temple ordinance - for males (see link above).

For blacks before 1978 there were no endowments and no sealings for eternity. Hence they could at best hope to become single ministering angels in the celestial kingdom.