What do you think of the Mormon practice of baptizing the dead?

Question

This is the underlying reason that they are so interested in geneology. They collect information about dead relatives then baptize them in their church.
Reference: http://www.jefflindsay.com/LDSFAQ/FQ_BaptDead.shtml#agency

Answer 1

One of the main goals of the church is to convert the entire world to mormonism, including dead people on the assumption that they can 'take it or leave it' in the hereafter.

It's easier to collect the names of dead people than the living, and they've done a remarkable job of genealogy research.

The downside was when they started 'baptizing' Holocaust survivors it amounted to an extremely sensitive issue with their Jewish family survivors. While at face value, it really shouldn't matter, but since the records are kept in Granite Mtn, the argument is that if in 5,000 years archaeologists uncover (and translate) these records, the will emerge a 'false history' of the ancient inhabitants as being mormon, not Jews.

This story still sounds familiar...

Answer 2

Peter wrote that Jesus taught the spirits in prison. Why did He initiate the conversion of those who died without the Gospel, unless there was a way for them to receive the ordinances of the Gospel?

18 For Christ also hath once suffered for sins, the just for the unjust, that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh, but quickened by the Spirit:
19 By which also he went and preached unto the spirits in prison;
20 Which sometime were disobedient, when once the longsuffering of God waited in the days of Noah, while the ark was a preparing, wherein few, that is, eight souls were saved by water.
21 The like figure whereunto even baptism doth also now save us (not the putting away of the filth of the flesh, but the answer of a good conscience toward God,) by the resurrection of Jesus Christ:

Answer 3

mmm well got a Catholic joke for you all....

you hear the catholics were baptizing the dead?

-ya they installed sprinkler systems in the grave yards...

damn I love those Catholics.......I heard that the catholic who started the catholic church (correct me if I got some facts screwy)... this Constantine guy he was not even catholic. he brought all the leaders of the dieing church of Christ together in order to establish some peace amongst the early Christian's... apparently they were fighting amongst them selves and were killing and causing a big ruckus. well he brought them together under guard and demanded they come to a comon belief system amongst them selves or they would all be put to death. the came up with the Nicene creed....wow! any ways Constantine made hum self leader of the church and only became baptized on his death bed. the catholics were practising baptism by immersion then and had a conundrum... Constantine did not want to be baptized and could not be immersed in his late stage of life(very sick) so the sprinkled the poor bugger...

why I bring this up is I see though out history (several times in fact) the desire to afford those who might not see the whole picture another opportunity to do the (perceived) right thing...and you know those guys on the cross robbers and murders went to the spirit world along with Jesus.... think they may have had a chance to change their minds about baptism? hmmm and what of all those people who never got the opportunity to hear the gospel? I believe there are good people from every walk of life that will have the opportunity to be with God. now having said that I also know people who flee from those who do good and seek those who do evil because they are more comfortable with darkness...those will never change their minds after death. I love those old catholic nuns they are such good people.... I really love my born again neighbour...even though she is constantly trying to save me in to the right church. I love my budist friend who shows me the best path in life. and that Jehovah's witness...well God love him...somebodys gotta....just kidding...had a J.W. girlfriend...she was pretty cool person too... hope she makes it to heaven.... and hell If for some forbidden reason I chose the wrong religion I hope those damn Mormons baptize me and seal me to my wife when I'm dead too. or maybe sprinkled in the grave yard so I can be a damn catholic!....ha ha ha ahaaah

Answer 4

You have 20 answers here and 19 people who do not understand our practise. And from your reference, I would say that this brings the number to 20.

First, a person has free will during his life and AFTER HIS LIFE TOO. We baptize FOR (not the actual corpse...come on, people!) people who were not able in this life to know and accept Jesus. Now, it is true that we baptize for every person we can find, but it is also true that some of these people will not be ALLOWED to accept the baptism (because of their evil deeds and the evil in their hearts) and some of these people will REJECT the baptism of their own free will...which still exists. And if your dearly departed Auntie Edna decides to reject the proxy baptism, that's just fine. We are doing our part and the decision is theirs.

Of course it's the underlying reason that we are so interested in family history (geneology)! It's not a secret!

Answer 5

It is as stupid as selling indulgences or praying people into heaven. Once you are dead no force or act on earth will change your destination that you yourself set.

I know of no verse in the Bible that supports such practices. If it is in the mormon bible that is just another proof that their text contradicts the real scriptures.

I saw a PBS special that covered this aspect of mormonism. Some Jews found out that mormons were baptizing dead Jews and they sued the mormons and won. They did not want to die and find out their ancestors were not in heaven because they were now gentile. Now the only way a Jew can be baptized is at the direct request of that family. I would bet that the practice has not stopped only gone underground; another secret ritual performed in the temple.

Answer 6

No, we don't baptise them "in (our) church". We do not count ANYONE who is dead to be a member of our church, even those who have been members since they were born.

We believe that those we vicariously baptise have the choice of accepting or rejecting that baptism. That means that we don't know if they did or not. We don't even know if they were given the choice, since some have already rejected it, or were not worthy (that's why I didn't get all upset about this rumor that someone had vicariously baptized Adolf Hitler).

We want to give everyone the chance to have all the ordinances of the gospel performed for them.

Answer 7

specific. It grow to be so ordinary and customary in early Christianity that the apostle Paul noted the prepare in his tries to show, in basic terms like the gospel writers attested, that the resurrection of the lifeless is literal and actual and tangible. because Peter, who could be seen an expert on Christianity, taught that even the wicked could have a honest possibility (not unavoidably a 2d possibility) to hearken to and settle for the gospel, it quite is clever that the sacraments, which includes baptism, could be made available (by ability of a dwelling human proxy) to them vicariously. there is not any different doctrine different than Jesus' being the son of God that's so common and so Christian.

Answer 8

Baptism for the dead is a practice that was common in the pagan religions of Greece and is still practiced today by some cults; but it doesn't change a person's sentence, for that is determined while he lives (Luke 16:26

Answer 9

It was practiced by those that attended the temple in Old Testament times. If you dig hard you can find stuff on it, but since everything done in the temple was sacred, no one wrote about it for fear of God's judgement. It is mentioned in the New Testament once. Mainstream Christians think it is weird, but only because they know nothing about what the temple was for in the OT.

Answer 10

Again the Mormon's cannot handle language they do not immediately understand so they made up some kind of reason for it that they can understand.

Paul talks about baptising for the dead in the new testament. At first it's very strange to read it and without background knowledge it's difficult to properly interpret what he's talking about. He's not talking about dead people, he's talking about dead as in death or sin. In the old testament people would regularly wash or cleanse things with water because they were dirty or they would wash things in the temple to cleanse them for God. This was called baptising for the dead because it washed away all that was dead and cleansed what was good and what was living. This is the kind of language that was familiar to Paul and the early church, which is why it ended up in the bible. Today the Jews don't really do that anymore and we don't use that terminology so it's foreign to us.

More importantly, it doesn't have to do with the crux of Christian Theology, which is where Mormon's have freaked out and gone astray about.