“It is absolutely necessary to perform these ordinances in a temple”
Not exactly. When the doctrine of baptism for the dead was first revealed to the Latter-day Saints, there was a period of time when the ordinance was performed in the Mississippi river by Nauvoo, IL. This was before the Nauvoo temple was constructed.
The Lord explained: “A baptismal font there is not upon the earth, that they, my saints, may be baptized for those who are dead—for this ordinance belongeth to my house, and cannot be acceptable to me, only in the days of your poverty, wherein ye are not able to build a house unto me” Doctrine and Covenants 124: 29-30
Oh really? So if a temple is not necessary to perform ordinances, what's the point of wasting all that money? It's not a place of worship. They get closed up on Sundays. It seems to me the money could be better spent.
Does it really give God more glory to make many multi-million dollar buildings to perform something that could just as easily be done in a river? It was good enough for Jesus and He is God.
Boy!
That LORD sure changes his mind a lot!!
John 1:28:
These things took place in Bethany beyond the Jordan, where John was baptizing.
(Jesus baptised in RIVER...)
27So he got up and went; and there was an Ethiopian eunuch, a court official of Candace, queen of the Ethiopians, who was in charge of all her treasure; and he had come to Jerusalem to worship,
28and he was returning and sitting in his chariot, and was reading the prophet Isaiah.
29Then the Spirit said to Philip, "Go up and join this chariot."
30Philip ran up and heard him reading Isaiah the prophet, and said, "Do you understand what you are reading?"
31And he said, "Well, how could I, unless someone guides me?" And he invited Philip to come up and sit with him.
32Now the passage of Scripture which he was reading was this:
"HE WAS LED AS A SHEEP TO SLAUGHTER;
AND AS A LAMB BEFORE ITS SHEARER IS SILENT,
SO HE DOES NOT OPEN HIS MOUTH.
33"IN HUMILIATION HIS JUDGMENT WAS TAKEN AWAY;
WHO WILL RELATE HIS GENERATION?
FOR HIS LIFE IS REMOVED FROM THE EARTH."
34The eunuch answered Philip and said, "Please tell me, of whom does the prophet say this? Of himself or of someone else?"
35Then Philip opened his mouth, and beginning from this Scripture he preached Jesus to him.
36As they went along the road they came to some water; and the eunuch said, "Look! Water! What prevents me from being baptized?"
37[And Philip said, "If you believe with all your heart, you may." And he answered and said, "I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God."]
38And he ordered the chariot to stop; and they both went down into the water, Philip as well as the eunuch, and he baptized him.
39When they came up out of the water, the Spirit of the Lord snatched Philip away; and the eunuch no longer saw him, but went on his way rejoicing.
40But Philip found himself at Azotus, and as he passed through he kept preaching the gospel to all the cities until he came to Caesarea.
(Who knows what kind of 'water' this was: a stream? farm pond? irrigation ditch?)
Point is - no temple was needed for 'baptism'.