If Mormons or others "baptized" your dead relatives, what would be your reaction?

Question

Would it make you angry? Would you care? Would it matter?

The Mormon church, for example, proxy-baptized many Jews who perished in the Holocaust, which brought about sharp criticism from Jewish groups. They've also baptized numerous deceased family members from other faiths.

From Wikipedia, FYI:

Answer 1

I think it is a rather nasty practice.

Maybe we could proxy circumcise them ???

Answer 2

I would be shocked that they would take such a liberty. Pretty much every person who wants to be baptized can be baptized quickly and easily while they are alive, forcing baptism upon the dead is a rather dubious idea at best.
I have not heard of the practice before, possibly because I have not studied the Mormons in any real depth, so I have looked up about the issue of Wikipedia and the who thing seems a little crazy. I have studied archeology at university and there are no artifacts to support the claim of a 4th century Abrahamic faith having existed in the Americas. Then again I suppose "absence of evidence does not mean evidence of absence" so I will leave this side issue before I get dragged to deeply into it.
So back to posthumous baptism, as I mentioned before I would be shocked if my relatives were proxy-baptized. It just seems like some sort of violation. My relatives are all either atheists or follow the Church of England, so they would not willingly have chosen a Mormon baptizm while alive, so it is a bit below the belt to force it upon them after death.
If they want to baptize people by proxy they should do it while the person is alive to thank them (I know what kind of "thanks" I would give them if they tried it on me, oh yeah a big can of "thanks" would be opened). Alternativly they could just baptise famous dead figures from other faiths, like Anton LaVey, Mohammad, Zarathustra, Nietzsche, Moses, Gandhi... and so on. I can guess what kind of reaction they might get.

Answer 3

From what I understand, mormons cannot baptize anyone that has died without their name being submitted for baptism from their relatives. Mormons are very much into family history. I am not 100% positive about his though. Any way, if I found out that some religion I was not part of baptized my dead mother by proxy, I would think that it would be funny. As long as someone isn't stealing their identity. I know that happens to dead people too.

Answer 4

It does DOES NOT Baptize them into the LDS Church.

What do you think of all the BILLIONS of people that have died ever since the beginning that have never had the chance to hear Gods word OR BE BAPTIZED?

1 Corinthians 15:29 Else what shall they do which are baptized for the dead, if the dead rise not at all? why are they then baptized for the dead?

Doesn't scripture teach that we MUST BE BAPTIZED?
The meaning of this is if the dead DO NOT RISE then why are we NOT BAPTIZED FOR THEM.

They are in Paradise awaiting the second coming, which is when all the dead will be resurrected. By our Ordinance of Baptism for the dead, we are giving them the CHOICE TO HEAR IT OR EVEN REJECT IT. THEY STILL HAVE THE FREE WILL TO CHOOSE.

Because so many don't understand this ordinance they have the mistaken belief that we are Baptizing them into our Church.

If you were to check even the History of the Catholic Church they also did it many years ago.

Answer 5

Let's see what the Bible says about the dead.

Ecclesiastes 9:5,6,10 states: 5 For the living are conscious that they will die; but as for the dead, they are conscious of nothing at all, neither do they anymore have wages, because the remembrance of them has been forgotten. 6 Also, their love and their hate and their jealousy have already perished, and they have no portion anymore to time indefinite in anything that has to be done under the sun. 10 All that your hand finds to do, do with your very power, for there is no work nor devising nor knowledge nor wisdom in She′ol, the place to which you are going.

If someone is baptizing the dead, it is a form of spiritistic practices. The true God does not approve of such a thing. On the other hand, Satan loves to trick people into doing things opposite of what the true God requires of each one of us. As a matter of fact, Satan in these last days works very hard to mislead the entire earth.

To mislead people, the demons use spiritism. The practice of spiritism is involvement with the demons, both in a direct way and through a human medium. The Bible condemns spiritism and warns us to keep free from everything connected with it. (Galatians 5:19-21) Spiritism does for the demons what bait does for fishermen. A fisherman uses a variety of baits to catch various kinds of fish. Similarly, wicked spirits use different forms of spiritism to bring all sorts of people under their influence.

One type of bait used by the demons is divination. What is divination? It is an attempt to find out about the future or about something unknown. Some forms of divination are astrology, the use of tarot cards, crystal gazing, palmistry, and the search for mysterious omens, or signs, in dreams. Although many people think that practicing divination is harmless, the Bible shows that fortune-tellers and wicked spirits work together. For instance, Acts 16:16-18 mentions “a demon of divination” that enabled a girl to practice “the art of prediction.” But she lost this ability when the demon was cast out of her.

Another way that the demons mislead people is by encouraging them to inquire of the dead. People grieving over the death of a loved one are often deceived by wrong ideas about those who have died. A spirit medium may give special information or may speak in a voice that seems to be that of a dead person. As a result, many people become convinced that the dead are really alive and that contacting them will help the living to endure their grief. But any such “comfort” is really false as well as dangerous. Why? Because the demons can imitate the voice of a dead person and give a spirit medium information about the one who died. (1 Samuel 28:3-19) Moreover, the dead have ceased to exist. (Psalm 115:17) So “anyone who inquires of the dead” has been misled by wicked spirits and is acting contrary to the will of God. (Deuteronomy 18:10, 11; Isaiah 8:19) Therefore, be careful to reject this dangerous bait used by the demons.

Answer 6

I have a friend who has participated in these baptisms. Baptism is a public dedication of ones commitment to God, which is why Jesus was baptized. As for the dead being able to choose, that make a presumption that they have a conscious presence after death. Since every Bible says the soul dies with the body and that the spirit of life we share with all forms of life, neither being greater than another, what is surviving death to be able to make a conscious choice? If you believe in life after death, does this mean that if someone is baptized in the name of Hitler, that he can go to Heaven?

Answer 7

Personally, I choose my emotions (this in regards to "would it make you angry?") and I think that if this blows their skirts up, they can baptize whomever they wish. I think it is an interesting cult practice. Not unlike eating the dead, which some folks I know do after cremations.

Funny how folks quote the Bible on this. You asked not about scriptural justification, just about your feelings. I guess some folks have to go to a book to sort out their feelings. Kind of sad.

Can we do proxy lobotomies, too? Like the proxy circumcisions. Those rock!

Answer 8

Jesus said in Matthew 22:

31 But as touching the resurrection of the dead, have ye not read that which was spoken unto you by God, saying,
32 I am the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob? God is not the God of the dead, but of the living.
33 And when the multitude heard this, they were astonished at his doctrine.

There are billions who have passed and never had the chance to hear the Gospel in mortality. Now they are waiting for the opportunity and to receive the ordinances.

Jesus told Nicodemus, "Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God."

So you either condem most of humanity to perdition, or you have baptize them and give them the Gift of the Holy Ghost.

The instructions for members is to only submit names of their own family unless the person died more than 100 years ago. This is to be sensitive to families of other faiths.

Answer 9

in case you've been to position in writing my useless grandmother's call on the jobs of a baptist church, might want to that make her baptist? We document what ordinances are carried out for who, and comprise in the experience that they were living and useless. in case your difficulty is that others may imagine that your spouse and youngsters contributors were Mormon because they said they were baptized, it would want to also teach that it become after their lack of life. we do not think that baptisms by way of proxy for the deceased "forces" every person to grow to be Mormon. It basically supplies them an chance to settle for or reject it. Baptism is a actual ingredient it really is had to enter the dominion of God. It won't be able to be carried out by way of the useless or on the useless, so God has presented a fashion that those who did no longer have a danger to be baptized by way of one who has his authority even as living can nonetheless receive the ordinance.

Answer 10

I am an ex-mormon who did baptisms for the dead. At the time I thought I was doing a very worthy thing. The truth is it means absolutely nothing to the one being baptized. It makes no difference either way, except that it is a waste of time and money to the mormons who practice it. Baptism for the dead is actually an old pagan custom, and is not new or restored to the mormon faith. I would prefer that a mormon not perform this ritual for any in my family, however I won't get in their face about it if it is important to them because I know it makes no difference. I actually went through this recently. My son died in a car accident and a mormon relative asked me if they could do his temple work for him, and I knew it was important to them so I did not say no, but I felt queasy in my stomach over it.

Answer 11

A very important addition to the info about LDS proxy baptisms is that the dead person on the other side can choose whether or not to accept it - so if they don't want it, no harm done.

So long as other faiths who did it, had that same tenant, then no big deal - no harm done.