Regarding The bible stating what Priests do, here is the first part that came to mind in Hebrews 7:

26 For it was fitting for us to have such a high priest, holy, innocent, undefiled, separated from sinners and exalted above the heavens; 27 who does not need daily, like those high priests, to offer up sacrifices, first for His own sins and then for the sins of the people, because this He did once for all when He offered up Himself.

This is why Priests are not neccesary today, as this is what they did and Christ has done it once and for all.

Pentecost was an empowering to preach the gospel rather than a giving of authority to do it.

Jesus was baptized as He said to “fulfill all righteousness” as Jesus was a (last) holder of the Old Testament Priesthood and being washed in water was neccesary in ordination for this role.

Exodus 29:1,4, “This is what you are to do to consecrate them, so they may serve me as priests: Take a young bull and two rams without defect” … 4 “Then you shall bring Aaron and his sons to the doorway of the tent of meeting, and wash them with water.”
Leviticus 8:6, “Then Moses had Aaron and his sons come near, and washed them with water.”

However today we are baptized to identify with Christ.

“Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit” (Matthew 28:19).

In the old testament Priests were also annointed with oil.

Exodus 29:7, “Then you shall take the anointing oil, and pour it on his head and anoint him.”

This was representative of being annointed with the Holy Spirit which Jesus recieved directly. More on this here

http://carm.org/questions/why-was-jesus-baptized

Thanks Henry talk soon

Actually Bob I’m ex Anglican, Ex society of friends, ex Mormon and Ex Born Again.
In short I’m ex ex Chrisitian, I spent a lot of time and effort studying and seeking the right church, only to find, for me, it does not exist.

biblically priesthood is to mediate between God and man, offer sacrifices for sin etc.

Biblically there is no definition of what a priest actually is or does, there are plenty of instructions on what he must not be, disabled, ill, a dwarf or a eunuch see Leviticus 21:16-23 for example, how he should dress Exodus 28:40-43 and how he should be ordained Exodus 29:1-37 or how he must be a decendant of Aaron, but very little about what a priest actually is or does other than administer the law of Moses on behalf of and as a representative of God

Jesus holds this forever, all of our power and authority is delegated from Him, who is in nature God and has power in

So again what was the Pentacost? This surely was the holy spirit decending on men and empowering them personally, not a delegation of power.
By the way there were no women in that upper room either, another reason why the LDS, RC and others deny the priesthood to women.

His own nature rather than some priesthood power or authority granted to Him.

SO what was the Holy spirit / dove and the commanding voice of God doing at Jesus’ baptism if not empowering him and granting authority?

There seem to be a lot of LDS Women that dont think that temple priesthood is enough, have you seen this site?

http://ordainwomen.org/

The Bible has nothing for what happens now? Wow, your church seems to think otherwise.

The truth is that the Church reveres the Bible as a sacred volume of scripture. Latter-day Saints cherish its teachings and engage in a lifelong study of its divine wisdom. Moreover, during worship and instruction services the Bible and its teachings are pondered and discussed. To increase biblical understanding, the Church provides extensive resources and tools: lesson manuals, cross-reference materials, Bible maps, a Bible dictionary, and articles in various magazines. Thus, the Bible is much more than simply a collection of antiquated writings and revelations that have only scant relevance to the modern world. On the contrary, it stands in the center of the Latter-day Saints’ spiritual lives.
http://www.mormonnewsroom.org/article/reverence-for-the-bible

In reality the Mormon Church has gone way beyond, sadly to the point of outright contradicting what the Bible teaches on the Priesthood. In the New Testament there is the collective priesthood and the Priesthood of Christ, the Old Testament covenant is called old and obsolete in Hebrews 8:13, thus this priesthood that your church resurrected is also old and obsolete, this article is merely done out of concern for you guys. I would heavily recommend you read the book of Hebrews from beginning to end.

However could you please explain how you feel all true followers of Jesus have the Priesthood?

Hope to hear back from you.

First off, I am a Saint and member of The Church of Jesus Christ. I share int he priesthood of Christ and I agree with the assumptions made here that all true followers of Jesus have the priesthood.

With that said, women have access to the priesthood but do not exercise it outside of the temple because it has not been given to then to do so yet at this point in time. They may not ever be ordained the way men are, but they do have access to the priesthood as all true Christians do.

Only worthy men in the Church of Christ are ordained to the priesthood by direct revelation from God. The Bible has nothing to do with what occurs now and it proves nothing for or against God’s church today. So what that things are not the same in every aspect. There are more Christians now than there were then and more priesthood leaders and holders now.

Christ promised to share with us all that he has and we become joint heirs. When we are baptised we receive the Holy Ghost who is a member of the Godhead. We enter into the presence of God. We then are given priesthood if we are men so that we can do the work of God as joint-heirs in His glory. In this life, we experience a level of God and His power in the Holy Ghost. If we are very righteous, we can receive the second comforter or Jesus Himself.

“To empower believers to preach the gospel.” How is that NOT a priesthood?

Remember you are thinking with an Ex LDS mind, biblically priesthood is to mediate between God and man, offer sacrifices for sin etc. Jesus holds this forever, all of our power and authority is delegated from Him, who is in nature God and has power in His own nature rather than some priesthood power or authority granted to Him.

Romans 11 tells us why the gentiles (non Jews) have been given salvation (or grafted onto the tree) because of the apostasy of the Jews, yes they still have promises to them, but this does explain why some of the covenants of the Old Testament were broken and why Christ came, as was prophesied that He would.

Mormonism does not teach all believers have the priesthood, it teaches worthy males hold Priesthood offices in the Church. This is by no means taken in the same way.

I assume you will have picked up on this, but I do not go with the Catholic notion of the Priesthood either.

“To empower believers to preach the gospel.” How is that NOT a priesthood?

“All believers by virtue of being in Christ hold the Priesthood,” isn’t that exactly what the LDS teach.they even use the same scripture you quoted as proof of this

I’m sorry but Roman 11:20 has nothing to do with the discussion we are having Romans 11 is about the restoration of Israel ( in the form of Christianity) contemporary to its composition and how some have “hardened their hearts” against that restoration because of the inclusion of Gentiles in the Gospel, so why have you quoted it as a reference to the Old Testament apostasy?

1, The people of the Old Testament were not faithful to Gods standards, due to their apostasy the covenant was broken. We see this in Romans 11, they were broken off because of unbelief (v20)

Jesus fulfilled what was prophesied right through the Old Testament, often verses like Amos 8:11 that the LDS church use to say an apostasy of the Christian church is coming, it was actually about the apostasy of the Old Testament people.

2, To empower believers to preach the gospel.

3, What do you base your assumption about my belief on here? The sacrament as in taking bread and wine I assume? Is as Jesus said, in remembrance of what He did. If I have misinterpreted the question please let me know.

True priesthood very much exists, and it is in Christ, the new testament only talks about an active priesthood aside from this in the collective.

1 Peter 2:5 Ye also, as lively stones, are built up a spiritual house, an holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices, acceptable to God by Jesus Christ.

All believers by virtue of being in Christ hold the Priesthood, it is not a church function for the few based on worthiness.