Mormonism's Baptism for the Dead (Catholic position)

The first step toward being able to go to a Mormon temple is an interview with the "ward bishop" (roughly equivalent to a parish priest). During this interview a Mormon is questioned by the bishop to see if he has been faithful in his commitment to the teachings and ordinances of the Mormon church.

The questions cover a variety of subjects, including his tithing track record; use of alcohol, tobacco, or caffeine; sexual immorality; and any failures to adhere to church doctrines and disciplines. If the applicant has had difficulties in any of these areas, he will not receive a temple recommend. For the one who does not pass the interview, there is no trip to the temple.

It is interesting to note that the majority of Mormons do not have temple recommends. This is not to say that they fail their interviews with their bishops. Actually, for a variety of reasons, most Mormons never make the effort to obtain a temple recommend. But for the minority who do obtain one, their chief duties in the temple include baptism for the dead.

On any given day, in more than fifty Mormon temples around the world, thousands of faithful Mormons are baptized vicariously for the dead. Most non-Mormons are dimly aware that the Mormons are interested in genealogy, but they are not sure why. While there is nothing wrong with being interested in genealogy as a hobby, this is far from a hobby for Mormons.

They believe people who have died can be baptized by proxy, thus allowing them the opportunity to become Mormons after their death. The idea behind baptism for the dead is this: God wants each of us to be with him in glory. To effect this, he allows us to accept the Mormon gospel here on earth. If we do not, he sends us to a "spirit prison" until the Mormon gospel has been preached to us there and we convert.

Mormons believe that their church has missionaries in the "spirit world" who are busy spreading the Mormon gospel to dead people who have not yet received it. Should any of these dead people want to convert to Mormonism, they are required to abide by all its rules, one of which is water baptism. Hence the need for proxies to receive the corporeal waters of baptism.

You might be surprised to learn that the Mormon church has teams of men and women microfilming records of Catholic and Protestant parishes, cemetery records, birth and death certificates—virtually any sort of record pertaining to past generations. Temple Mormons hope, in time, to have all of the dead of previous generations baptized posthumously into the Mormon church.

One reason Mormons advance the practice of baptism for the dead is a sense of justice. Billions of people have died without ever hearing the gospel of Christ and without having the chance to be baptized into his Church. How could God consign such people to damnation without giving them the chance to be saved? Surely he would give them that chance. But if they never heard the gospel in this life, when else could they hear and respond to it except in the next life?

There are a number of problems with this line of reasoning. Scripture is very clear in stating that this life is the only chance we get. Once we die, our fate is sealed: "It is appointed for men to die once, and after that comes judgment" (Heb. 9:27). There are no "second chances" after death. Consequently, God judges individuals based on their actions in this life. Since he is a just judge, he does not hold people accountable for what they did not and could not have known. Thus, those who do not hear the gospel in this life will be judged based on the knowledge they did have in this life. God gives his light to all people (John 1:9), and the universe itself gives evidence of God (Ps. 19:1-4), evidence which is sufficient to establish basic moral accountability (Rom. 1:18-21). For those who are ignorant by no fault of their own, God will not hold their ignorance against them; but it is wrong to assume that people have no light from God unless they hear an oral proclamation of the gospel.

If they live up to the light that has been shown to them and would have embraced Christ and the gospel had they known about them, then they can be saved (Rom. 2:15-16). Neither is their lack of baptism an obstacle. Scripture reveals that sometimes the graces that normally come through baptism are given early, to those who have not yet been baptized (Acts 10:44-48). Such people have what the Church terms "baptism of desire" and are united to God through their desire to do what he wants of them.

In the case of those who have not yet heard the gospel or learned of God, but who nevertheless seek to follow the truth as they understand it, they have an implicit desire for God since they desire to follow the truth. They simply do not know that God is the truth. Consequently, they also can be saved through baptism of desire; therefore, a proxy baptism is superfluous, either before their death or after it. They are already united to God, even if they are not fully aware of it in this life (cf. Catechism of the Catholic Church 847-848, 1257-1260).

Thus the Mormon argument from fairness is not persuasive. There are other ways for accounting for God’s justice and mercy in dealing with those who have not heard of God and the gospel. It is not necessary to postulate another preaching of the gospel and second chance of repentance in the afterlife, much less the necessity of proxy baptism for the dead, on that basis. God can simply let whomever he wants into heaven, whether they have water baptism or not. God is not bound by the sacraments he himself instituted (CCC 1257).

The practice of baptism of the dead, then, must stand or fall based on the direct evidence concerning it, and that is where the Mormon position runs into fatal problems.

The doctrine of baptism for the dead was first given to the Mormon church by Joseph Smith in 1836 and is found in his Doctrine and Covenants, (but not, as we’ll see, in the Book of Mormon).

In Paul’s first epistle to the church in Corinth, he treats a number of subjects. This letter was written to counteract problems he saw developing in Corinth after he had established the church there. Corinth had its share of pagan religions, but there were also quasi-Christian groups that practiced variations of orthodox Christian doctrines. Enter baptism for the dead.

Mormons cite a single biblical passage to support baptizing members on behalf of dead persons, "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?" (1 Cor. 15:29).

Mormons infer that in 1 Corinthians, Paul speaks approvingly of living Christians receiving baptism on behalf of dead non-Christians; however, the context and construction of the verse indicate otherwise. The Greek phrase rendered by the King James Version as "for the dead" is huper ton nekron. This phrase is as ambiguous in Greek as it is in English. The preposition huper has a wide semantic range and can indicate "for the sake of," "on behalf of," "over," "beyond," or "more than." Like the English preposition "for," it does not have a single meaning and does not require the Mormon idea of being baptized in place of the dead. Such a reading would be unlikely given the more plausible interpretations available, and even if huper were taken to mean "in the place of," it doesn’t mean Paul endorses the practice.

First Corinthians 15 is a key chapter for Paul’s teaching on the resurrection of the body. He makes no statement on baptism for dead persons except to note that some unnamed "they" practice it. While the rest of his teaching in chapter fifteen refers to "we," his Christian followers, "they" are not further identified. Who this group was may not be known with certitude today, but there are some reasonable interpretations:

1. Some commentators assume this verse refers to the practice of giving newly baptized children the names of deceased non-Christian relatives, with the hope that the dead might somehow share in the Lord’s mercy.

2. Another interpretation envisions the baptism of catechumens who have witnessed the persecution and martyrdom of their Christian predecessors. With their belief that the dead do rise, the Christian candidates come forward boldly and accept both the faith and its consequences.

3. A related view holds that the group consists of those baptized in connection with a dead Christian loved one. In the first century, many families were split religiously, as only one or two members may have converted to Christianity. When it came time for these new Christians to die, they no doubt exhorted their non-Christian family members to consider the Christian faith and to embrace it so that they could be together in the next world. After the deaths of their Christian loved ones, many family members no doubt did investigate the Christian faith and were baptized so that they could be reunited with their loved ones in the afterlife. At the time, many pagans had at best an unclear idea of what the afterlife was like, and there were a large number of sects promising immortality to those who were willing to undergo their initiation rituals. A pagan husband mourning the death of his Christian wife might thus have an unclear idea of what her religion was all about, but still have it fixed in his mind: "If I want to be with her again, I need to become a Christian, like she was, so I can go where Christians go in the afterlife." This, then, could prompt him to investigate Christianity, learn its teachings about the afterlife and the resurrection, and embrace faith in Christ, receiving Christian baptism for the sake of being united with his dead loved one. The same is true, by extension, for other family relations as well, such as parents and children, grandparents and grandchildren. Even today deathbed exhortations to live the Christian life are not uncommon. People still resolve to live as Christians in order to please dead loved ones, to honor their memories, and to be united with them in the next life. The difference is that, today, most of those being exhorted have already been baptized.

4. Others advance the possibility that Paul was referring to the practice of a heretical cult that existed in Corinth. On this theory, Paul was not endorsing the practice of the group, but merely citing it to emphasize the importance of the resurrection. Rather, his point was: If even heterodox Christians have a practice that makes no sense if there is no resurrection of the dead, how much more, then, should we orthodox Catholics believe in and hope for the resurrection of the dead.

There is no other evidence in the Bible or in the early Church Fathers’ writings of baptism being practiced on the living in place of the dead. Some Mormon writers assert that some Christian commentators have discussed the possibility of a kind of "baptism for the dead" among some in the Corinthian community in Paul’s time. But these commentators do not suggest that the practice was accepted or mainstream. Given the silence of Scripture and tradition, we conclude rightly when we see this behavior as another aberration within a community of believers already soundly scolded by Paul for its lack of charity, its factionalism, its immorality, its abuse of the Eucharist, and other matters.

Although we have no way of knowing for sure who was engaging in this practice, it is certain that Paul was not referring to orthodox Christians baptizing the dead. Catholic and Protestant scholars agree on that.

The case against baptism for the dead is also made by the Mormon scriptures themselves. The current Mormon doctrine on baptism for the dead is quite unlike what Joseph Smith first taught. As in other cases, the Book of Mormon becomes an important tool for the Christian apologist. It contradicts much Mormon theology, and baptism for the dead is no exception.

In Alma 34:35-36 we read: "For behold, if ye have procrastinated the day of your repentance even until death, behold ye have become subjected to the spirit of the devil, and he does seal you his. Therefore, the spirit of the Lord has withdrawn from you and hath no place in you; the power of the devil is over you, and this is the final state of the wicked."

In other words, those who die as non-Mormons go to hell, period. There’s no suggestion of a later, vicarious admission into the Mormon church.

We also see present-day Mormon doctrine contradicted in 2 Nephi 9:15: "And it shall come to pass that when all men shall have passed from this first death unto life, insomuch as they have become immortal, they must appear before the judgment seat of the Holy One of Israel, and then cometh the judgment and then must they be judged according to the holy judgment of God. For the Lord God hath spoken it, and it is his eternal word, which cannot pass away, that they who are righteous shall be righteous still, and they who are filthy shall be filthy still; wherefore, they who are filthy . . . shall go away into everlasting fire, prepared for them; and their torment is as a lake of fire and brimstone, whose flame ascendeth up forever and ever and has no end."

It is unforunate that Smith abandoned his own, earlier doctrine. It would not have made the Mormon scriptures any more authentic, but it would have prevented millions of futile Mormon proxy baptisms from being performed.

NIHIL OBSTAT: I have concluded that the materials presented in this work are free of doctrinal or moral errors. Bernadeane Carr, STL, Censor Librorum, August 10, 2004

IMPRIMATUR: In accord with 1983 CIC 827 permission to publish this work is hereby granted. +Robert H. Brom, Bishop of San Diego, August 10, 2004

You will hear from mormons on FR that the LDS church NOW baptizes and does other proxy work for ONLY those names submitted by descendants. The Jews, having fought the LDS church over this issue for years, have found that the LDS church has a unique way of determining ancestors:

At this point in the ad hoc committee meeting, David Rencher, who was explaining the various practices, dropped a bombshell on the Jewish members of the task force. Rencher explained that the LDS Church interprets the phrase “direct ancestors” in the 1995 agreement to include all descendants of an ancestor and had done so for decades prior to the 1995 agreement. A Church member can baptize his great-great-great-grandfather (if that person is known) and all of the descendants of that great-great-great-grandfather even though he is not a direct ancestor as the term is generally used.

Another item found at The Issue of The Mormon Baptisms of Jewish Holocaust Victims website , states this:This Mormon/Jewish controversy has not been put to rest; it is still a burning ember. It is highly likely that, in the near future, an incident will occur, such as the baptism of Holocaust victims which triggered the current controversy. It will fan the flames again. The Church will claim at that time that the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution gives it the right to involve other people's families in the Mormon religion, because their stated mission is the salvation through Jesus Christ of the entire human race both living and dead.

II. Request Removal Of Inappropriate Names

If you feel a special connection to those who have gone before you and an increased responsibility to those who will follow, you will insist on removal of their names from all baptismal lists.
A Church Elder said such requests are considered on an individual basis and "under appropriate circumstances, we do grant requests to the extent that we no longer display those records in our public data bases. We have no way, as a church, of undoing ordinances that have been performed".
E-mail specific requests for name removal to help@productsupport.familysearch.org.

Names removed from the IGI often reappear at a later date, so recheck it periodically. We believe that names may never be removed from the Ordinance Index which contains historical records of Church activity.

LDS recommends that you submit the following information, if known:
The individual’s name
The individual’s birth date and place
The individual’s parents’ names
The individual’s spouse’s name
Your name, address, and daytime phone number
Your relationship to the mentioned individual
The reason you think the individual should be removed

Alternate address:
Family and Church History Department
Attention: Family History Support, IGI Corrections
50 East North Temple Street, JSMB 3W
Salt Lake City, UT 84150-3460

01] Before the International Genealogy Index (the IGI) was made available online to the general public, ordinances (baptisms, endowments, sealings) were removed from the IGI. For LDS ordinance information, a new database called Ordinance Index (OI) was created. Submissions in the IGI/OI come from vital records extraction, family file submissions to the temple, or LDS membership records. These files contain the names of deceased people who have had their temple ordinance work done. The Ordinance Index is set up exactly the same as the IGI, the only difference between the two is the inclusion of the LDS ordinance dates in the Ordinance Index. The Ordinance Index serves as the Church’s official record of temple work [and is password protected]. "Remember: The two files have the same information and are searched the same, except the Ordinance Index shows LDS Ordinance dates (baptism, endowment, sealings) and the IGI file does not." [Source: http://familyhistory.byu.edu/labs/handouts/h-igi.htm ] It's most-probably one database and one search engine. The search engine tests to see if you've given the password and, if so, displays more information that it would if you had no password.

1] The International Genealogical Index (IGI): The IGI contains several hundred million deceased individuals extracted from vital records or submitted by LDS church members, all of whom have had their temple work done. This file is the same as the Ordinance Index found in Family History Centers. In order to access the ordinance dates through the IGI online, LDS church members must sign onto the website and also include their confirmation date and membership number (obtained through your ward clerk). [Source:http://261.byu.edu/lesson3.html]
2] Extraction or submission? Generally, there are two ways in which the Church obtains the names contained in the IGI. One is through its member/non-member submissions; the other through its extraction program, by trained volunteers. How does a researcher distinguish between an extraction and a submission? If you examine the batch/source column that is listed at the right of all IGI microfiche entries, you will see that each has been given a number. If there is no letter preceding the number, and if the fourth digit is less than four, the information was not extracted by the Church but was a submission. The batch number refers the user to the exact source of the entry. In most cases, microfilm copies of the source are available from Salt Lake City. Ask your LDS Family History Center librarian for assistance. Looking at the LDS ordinance dates you will see that there is a column for Baptism, another for Endowment and the last for Sealings. If these were performed after 1969, there is a good chance that the FGRA pink forms were used. The submitter’s name will then be listed on the bottom of the form with his/her address at the time, along with death dates, family relationships, and resources listed in more detail. These batch numbers are also call numbers that you, as a researcher, can gain access to and view. To acquire the seven digit ordering number ask your LDS Family History Center librarian. [Source: Understanding the International Genealogical Index (IGI) by Joan Wood http://www.ifhf.org/ifhfsample2.html]
3] baptize, baptism:- the ritual (with confirmation) by which one becomes a member of the Mormon church and becomes cleansed from sin. It is administered to Mormon children when they turn eight years old, and to all converts. It requires the complete immersion of the body in water, and the pronouncement of a short formula. (Book of Mormon, 3 Nephi 11:25) ... Since baptism is required for salvation, Mormons provide for those who have died without the opportunity of being properly baptized by performing baptisms for the dead by proxy in Mormon temples.
4] The Ordinance Index contains millions of records extracted from vital records or submitted by LDS Church members. It is identical to the IGI except for the inclusion of LDS temple ordinance dates. ... The Ordinance Index serves as the Church’s official record of temple work... It can be used by members of the Church [only]. [Source: http://familyhistory.byu.edu/labs/ordinance%20index.asp]
5] endowment(s), endowed:- The most important of the rituals performed in the temple, only for worthy adults. It involves ritual washings, anointings, observing a lengthy dramatic summary of the Mormon view of God's plan, learning secret passwords and handgrips, all dress in special ritual robes (called "temple clothing" or "temple robes")... After being endowed, Mormons are encouraged to repeat the ritual as often as possible, as proxy for dead persons, who thus become eligible for the celestial kingdom.
6] seal, sealing;- Mormons believe that families who are ceremonially joined to each other (husband to wife, parents to children) will enjoy that same relationship in the next life. [Source: http://home.teleport.com/~packham/glossary.htm]

BTW it is easy in the LDS faith to stay married “for eternity”, if you don't like the wife you have, pick up a younger one and keep on truckin’

According to historical information, the quickest way for Mormon men to build up a Post-this world harem would be to just have them sealed post-death to them:

Number of alleged dead women sealed to LDS leaders, as cited by the Tanners, Changing World of Mormonism, pp. 232-236 http://www.utlm.org/onlinebooks/changech9b.htm#245 …the Tanners are the secondary sources…the original sources they used are cited
* LDS apostle Parley P. Pratt, 91 dead women sealed to him (he was already dead) [done in one day in Nov., 1870 according to Stanley S. Ivins, who had access to Endowment House Records]
* LDS apostle Orson Pratt, 101 dead women sealed to him while he was alive [done in one day in Nov., 1870 according to Ivins]
* LDS “prophet” Brigham Young had 150 dead women sealed to him, plus a few women who were alive had themselves sealed to Young after his death. [According to Mormon writer John J. Steward, Brigham Young and His Wives, p.96]
* Original LDS “prophet” Joseph Smith, sealed to at least up to 229 dead women as of March 18, 1881, plus another of his 11 “for time” deceased wives were also sealed to him “for eternity” on April 4, 1899. [Other notations indicated he was sealed to at least 246 dead women…and who knows what’s happened in the past century plus???]

Sources Tanners cited: ”At the end of his paper Mr. Ivins remarked: "In addition to these dead women, Joseph Smith was sealed to at least 229 others, up to March 18, 1881.” (Joseph Smith and Polygamy p.47). “In the Preface to the second edition of her book No Man Knows My History, Fawn Brodie states: "...over two hundred women, apparently at their own request, were sealed as wives to Joseph Smith after his death in special temple ceremonies. Moreover, a great many distinguished women in history, including several Catholic saints, were also sealed to Joseph Smith in Utah. I saw these astonishing lists in the Latter-day Saint Genealogical Archives in Salt Lake City in 1944."

* Moses Franklin Farnsworth, 345 dead women sealed to him while he was alive [over 2-yr period]
* LDS apostle Abraham Cannon, approximately 400 dead women sealed to him while he was alive [all initiated in one day]

Source Tanners cite in Changing World, pp. 234, 236: On April 5, 1894, the Apostle Abraham Cannon recorded the following in his diary:” THURSDAY, APRIL 5th, 1894.... I met with the Quorum and Presidency in the temple.... President Woodruff then spoke ... "In searching out my genealogy I found about four hundred of my femal[e] kindred who were never married. I asked Pres. Young what I should do with them. He said for me to have them sealed to me unless there were more that [than?] 999 of them. the doctrine startled me, but I had it done ..." ("Daily Journal of Abraham H. Cannon," April 5, 1894, vol. 18, pp.66-67, BYU Library)

In direct contradiction to no marriages in heaven (either performed or lived out)—other than the marriage of the Bride (the Church) to the Lamb, LDS apostle Heber C. Kimball, who already himself had 40-45 wives “on earth,” said: Supposing that I have a wife or a dozen of them, and she should say, "You cannot be exalted without me," and suppose they all should say so, what of that? ... Suppose that I lose the whole of them before I go into the spirit world, but that I have been a good, faithful man ... do you think I will be destitute there. No, the Lord says there are more there than there are here ... there are millions of them, ...we will go to brother Joseph and say, "Here we are brother Joseph; we are here ourselves are we not, with none of the property we possessed in our probationary state, not even the rings on our fingers?" He will say to us, "Come along, my boys, we will give you a good suit of clothes. Where are your wives?" "They are back yonder; they would not follow us." "Never mind," says Joseph, "Here are thousands, have all you want" (Journal of Discourses, vol. 4, p.209).

And, if baptism is for the remission of sins, why do they baptize babies? I vote with the Mormons! [carcar]

What? Do you mean to tell me that infants & toddlers can never die of a hereditary disease? (Even though they didn’t do anything wrong…it was due purely to something genetic linked to their parents?)

Well, sin is a spiritual cancer – a hereditary condition. Or have you never read the book of Psalms…you know, David, the one Jesus spoke highly about?

Surely I was sinful at birth, sinful from the time my mother conceived me. (Psalm 51:5)
Even from birth the wicked go astray; from the womb they are wayward and speak lies. (Ps. 58:3)

You do know that the “alternative” belief to this is for every Mormon family—instead of having a “happy birthday” on the child’s 8th birthday—would be for them to have a mournful “happy sin day.” Because if kids are 100% “innocent” until some “magical age of accountability,” ya wanna let parents worldwide in on your little secret about what happens to a kid spiritually at midnight when they turn from age 7, 365 days to age 8?

(Oh, since we all know that kids 7 & under never “sin,” engage in tantrums, and are never self-centered, we’re sure glad we have the Mormons to come along & enlighten all such parents that all methods of discipline aren’t needed until kids reach that “enmity eight era.”)

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