In the The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, a living person, acting as proxy, is baptized by immersion in typical Latter-day Saint fashion, except that the prayer accompanying the baptism states that the baptism is being performed for and in behalf of a deceased person whose name has been submitted for that ordinance. In addition to this, the baptism must be performed by an endowed Melchizedek Priesthood holder in one of the Latter-day Saints' Church's temples.
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2 History 3 Christian opposition 4 Holocaust Victim Controversy 5 References 6 External links |
According to The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, their practice of baptism for the dead is based on a revelation Joseph Smith received. Smith first taught the doctrine at the funeral sermon of a deceased member of the Church, Seymour Brunson. In a letter written on October 19, 1840, to the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles of the Church (who were on a mission in Great Britain at the time), Smith refers to the passage in 1 Corinthians 15:29 (KJV):
Overview
Other scriptures of the Latter Day's Saints' Church (Doctrine and Covenants 124:29, 127:5-10 and 128) expand upon this doctrine and command that such baptisms are to be performed in Temples, of which there are more than 110 worldwide and many more under construction as of 2003. Vicarious baptism is performed in connection with other vicarious ordinances in Latter-day Saint temples. The Church holds that deceased persons who have not accepted or had the opportunity to accept the faith in this life will have the opportunity to accept the faith in the afterlife, but in order to do so they must receive all the ordinances that a living person is expected to receive, including baptism. For this reason, genealogy forms an important basis of research in the Church's efforts to perform temple ordinances for as many deceased persons as possible . As a part of these efforts, a number of high profile people who have had temple ordinances performed on their behalf. Of particular interest are: the Founding Fathers of the U.S., Presidents of the U.S., John Wesley, Christopher Columbus, Jewish Holocaust victims, Ghengis Khan, Joan of Arc, Adolf Hitler, Josef Stalin, and Buddha. Vicarious baptism does not mean that the decedent actually accepts the ordinance performed for him or her; it merely means that the decedent may accept the ordinance and the benefits which the Latter-day Saints claim it provides. However, Church leaders have stated that the people in the afterlife for whom these ordinances have been performed will rarely reject it.
While members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints consider it a great service to perform vicarious ordinances for the deceased, some non-members have taken offense to what they see as an arrogant practice. To be sensitive to the issue of vicariously baptizing non-Mormons that are not related to Church members, the Church in recent years has publicized a policy of generally only performing temple ordinances for direct ancestors of Church members. For example, the Church is in the process of removing sensitive names (such as Jewish Holocaust victims) from its International Genealogical Index. D. Todd Christofferson of the Church's Presidency of the Seventy stated that removing the names is an "ongoing, labor intensive process requiring name-by-name research...When the Church is made aware of documented concerns, action is taken...Plans are underway to refine this process." Despite such "plans", Mormons in Russia are attempting to purchase genealogical records with the intent of post-humously baptizing the people whose names are recorded in the cash-strapped archives, over the vocal objections of the local Russian Orthodox Christians.
Some members of the LDS church see significant parallels between the Baptism for the dead and the prayers and requiem masses read for the dead in some churches( e.g. Roman Catholic), both historical and modern. Others see similarities to other doctrines associated with Purgatory. These parallels are disputed by many non-Mormons and Mormons.
According to the International Standard Bible Encyclopedia, "Tertullian believed that Paul referred to a custom of vicarious baptism (Res., 48c; Adv. Marc., 5.10). There is evidence that the early church knew such a practice. Epiphanius mentions a tradition that the custom obtained among the Cerinthians (Haer., 28 6). And Chrysostom states that it prevailed among the Marcionites." All of these supporters were considered heretics by the early Church: Tertullian died outside the church as a Montanist; the Cerinthians were a Gnostic group that also denied that Jesus Christ was crucified; and the Marcionites were yet another Gnostic group who followed Marcion, who was also excommunicated from the Church before forming his own sect.
Many Christian denominations do not accept the Latter-day Saint interpretation of 1 Corinithians 15:29 and no contemprary Christian church practices a similar ordinance. While there are different approaches to the meaning of these verses the general consensus among Christian scholars is that this verse is only an aside to the central issue of bodily ressurrection contemplated in that chapter[1]. Paul is arguing to Christians in Corinth against those who do not believe in the bodily resurrection of both Jesus and His followers. Some Christians believe that Paul was showing the logical contradiction between the practices of these local heretics and their lack of belief in the resurrection. Other scholars are not sure exactly what Paul meant by the comments (see links below).
Still others believe that Paul was referring to "The Dead" as Christ (Why are you then baptized in to Christ, if he rise not at all), or that Paul is referring to the symbol of Baptism - the death, burial and resurrection of the individual as they begin their new life as a disciple of Jesus Christ.
Another counter-argument is that since there is little or no record (or incomplete, or disputed) of any mainstream Christian denomination historically practicing baptism for the dead, and therefore it fails the test set forth by Saint Vincent of Lerins, that Christians should believe that which "has been believed by all Christians in all places at all times."
The most important reason though for many Christians to dismiss this practice out of hand is, that it appears to make salvation dependent on the religious works of others. Similarly to the Jewish views described below, it is a central Christian belief that every person is personally responsible in the face of God. The practice of Baptism for the Dead appears to some Christians to abrogate this personal responsibility, by allowing others to change the standing of the dead in God's eyes; however in the Latter-day Saint view, personal responsibility to accept of reject the ordinance still resides with the deceased individual.
Believed to be a long time practice of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has been to vicariously baptize the Holocaust's Jewish victims and other prominent individuals. However, Church policy states that Church members submit their own names for these type of ordinances, and require that a suriving family member's permission be obtained for any Baptism that is to be performed of deceased individuals that have died within a certain time period (usually 50-75 years). However, some Baptisms were done of Holocoaust Victims, without proper approval or permission. When this information became public, there was a backlash against the Church (though not rising to the level of anti-Mormonism) from Jewish groups, who found this ritual to be insulting and insensitive (though not rising to the level of anti-Semitism). Partly as a result of public pressure, Church leaders in 1995 promised to put into place new policies that would help stop the practice, unless specifically requested or approved by relatives of the victims.
In late 2002, information surfaced that members of the Church had not stopped this practice despite directives from the Church leadership to its members, and criticism from Jewish groups began again. The Simon Wiesenthal Center, Los Angeles, is on record as opposing the vicarious baptism of Holocaust victims. Rabbi Marvin Hier of the Center holds: "If these people did not contact the Mormons themselves, the adage should be: Don't call me, I'll call you. With the greatest of respect to them, we do not think they are the exclusive arbitrators of who is saved." Recently Church leaders have agreed to meet with leaders of the World Gathering of Jewish Holocaust Survivors.
In December 2002, independent researcher Helen Radkey published a report showing that the Church's 1995 promise to remove Jewish Nazi victims from its International Genealogical Index was not sufficient; her research of the Church's database uncovered the names of about 19,000 who had a 40 to 50 percent chance of having "the potential to be Holocaust victims...in Russia, Poland, France, and Austria."
Jewish geneaologist Bernard Kouchel conducted a search of the International Genealogical Index, and discovered that many well known Jews have been vicariously baptized, including Rashi, Maimonides, Albert Einstein, Menachem Begin, Irving Berlin, Marc Chagall, and Gilda Radner. Some permissions may have been obtained, but there is not currently not a system in play to ensure that these permissions have been obtained, which has angered many in various religious and cultural communities.
See also: ancestor liberation
History
It should be noted that dozens of historical documents show that baptism for the dead was practiced by some Christian groups from the time of Christ up until the late fourth century. John A. Tvedtness, a Hebrew and early Christian scholar at Brigham Young University, Utah writes:
Some think that the fact that these two councils felt it necessary to explicity forbid baptism for the dead shows that there must have been a significant group of people practicing it, accompanied by opposition to it by the church's leadership. Others disagree with the classification of such groups as "orthodox", since the councils concluded that they were in fact unorthodox, at least with respect to that practice.Christian opposition
Holocaust Victim Controversy
References
External links
Additional links about Baptism for the Dead