18.1

Ordinances of Salvation and Exaltation

The priesthood includes the authority to administer gospel ordinances that are necessary for salvation and exaltation. People make sacred covenants with God as they receive these ordinances. The ordinances of salvation and exaltation are listed below:

Baptism

Confirmation and gift of the Holy Ghost

Conferral of the Melchizedek Priesthood and ordination to an office (for men)

Temple endowment

Temple sealing

For information about performing these ordinances for those with intellectual disabilities, see the following:

For baptism and confirmation (38.2.8.1)

For ordination to an office in the Melchizedek Priesthood (38.2.9.7)

For the temple endowment and sealing (27.2.1.3 and 27.3.1.2)

If a child who was born in the covenant dies before age 8, no ordinances are needed or performed. If the child was not born in the covenant, the only ordinance he or she needs is to be sealed to parents. Because of the Savior’s Atonement, all children who die before age 8 are “saved in the celestial kingdom of heaven” (Doctrine and Covenants 137:10; see also Moroni 8:8–12).