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Baptism for the dead, vicarious baptism or proxy baptism is the religious practice of baptizing a living person on behalf of an individual who is dead; the living person is acting as the deceased person's proxy. Those who practice this religious rite place great importance upon baptism and view it as a requirement to enter the Kingdom of God. So it is with this practice, an individual is baptized to give those who have already died without the opportunity to receive baptism the opportunity to receive it by proxy if they wish. It has been practiced since 1840 in the Latter Day Saint movement. The practice continues in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, where it is performed only in dedicated temples. Baptism for the dead is also practiced by several other current groups in the Latter Day Saint movement.
Advocates of this practice believe it is referred to in The New Testament in 1 Corinthians 15:29. The practice was forbidden by the Catholic Church in the 4th century[citation needed] as an aberrant practice of heretical groups, and is not practiced in modern mainstream Christianity, whether Catholic, Eastern Orthodox, or Protestant.
Contents |
In the practice of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (or "Mormons"), a living person, acting as proxy, is baptized by immersion on behalf of a deceased person of the same gender. The baptism ritual is as follows: after calling the living proxy by name, the person performing the baptism says, "Having been commissioned of Jesus Christ, I baptize you for and in behalf of [full name of deceased person], who is dead, in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost. Amen." The proxy is then immersed briefly in the water. This is almost identical to the way baptism is performed for living individuals (with slight variation in the wording). Baptism for the dead is a distinctive ordinance of the church and is based on the belief that baptism is a required ordinance for entry into the Kingdom of God.
Some members of the early Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints (now known as the Community of Christ) also believed in baptism for the dead,[1] but it was never officially sanctioned by that organization, and was considered highly controversial.[2]
A revelation and two letters written by Joseph Smith, Jr. appertaining to baptism for the dead were removed from the RLDS Doctrine and Covenants by a church general conference in 1970.[citation needed]
In the Restoration Branches movement, which broke from the RLDS Church in the 1980s, the question of Baptism for the Dead is at best unsettled, reflecting their RLDS origin. Many adherents reject the validity of this ordinance completely.[3]
Other Latter Day Saint denominations that accept baptism for the dead include the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints (Strangite) and The Church of Jesus Christ (Cutlerite). The Strangite Church performed baptisms for the dead during the 1840s in Voree, Wisconsin and later during the 1850s on Beaver Island, Michigan. In each case, the practice was authorized by revelation given by James J. Strang. The question of whether the Strangite Church still practices proxy baptism is an open one, but belief is considered orthodox.[4]
Cutlerite practice permits baptisms for the dead to be performed in baptismal fonts in Cutlerite meetinghouses (of which only two exist today, one in Clitherall, Minnesota and the other in Independence, Missouri). Though Cutlerites believe in the concept of temples, it is not required that baptisms for the dead be performed in one. The meetinghouse baptismal fonts are used for baptism of the living and for the dead. Cutlerites have practiced baptisms for the dead sporadically throughout their history (including during the early 1990s), but it is not known if they still do so. As with the LDS Church and the Strangite Church, belief in this doctrine is considered orthodox.[citation needed]
As part of their Sacraments, the New Apostolic Church and Old Apostolic Church also practices Baptism for the Dead, as well as Communion and Sealing to the Departed. In this practice a proxy or substitute is baptised in the place of an unknown number of deceased person. According to NAC and OAC doctrine the deceased do not enter the body of the substitute.
In the Reformed Old Apostolic Church it is believed that all deceased persons that are baptised reside within the body of the substitute.[citation needed]
Outside of Christianity, proxy baptisms are practiced by the Mandaeans of Iraq and Iran,[5].
Some scholars suggest that baptism for the dead was practiced by some early Christian groups, continuing until at least the late fourth century. John A. Tvedtnes, a Hebrew and early Christian scholar at Brigham Young University writes:
| “ | That baptism for the dead was indeed practiced in some orthodox Christian circles is indicated by the decisions of two late fourth century councils. The fourth canon of the Synod of Hippo, held in 393, declares, "The Eucharist shall not be given to dead bodies, nor baptism conferred upon them." The ruling was confirmed four years later in the sixth canon of the Third Council of Carthage.[6] | ” |
Some argue that the fact that these two councils felt it necessary to explicitly forbid baptism for the dead shows that there must have been a significant group of people practicing some form of 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. John Chrysostom linked this practice with the Marcionites, who were considered unorthodox for this and other reasons.[citation needed]
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."
The "early church" refers to the church shortly after the time of the apostles. Paul taught, "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 Corinthians 15:29). Latter-day Saints believe this to be one of Paul's arguments for the reality of Christ's resurrection made throughout 1 Corinthians 15, and as such, is Paul's acknowledgment that baptism for the dead was accepted Gospel doctrine and practice. The International Standard Bible Encyclopedia says that "commentators have offered between thirty and forty other interpretations, more or less strained, of the passage." Most of these other interpretations center around the notion that either Paul was merely trying to point out contradiction within practices unique to the Corinthians or that the wording describes something other than actual physical baptism. John Chrysostom suggests (in his 40th homily on I Corinthians) that this verse refers to the new believer's professed faith in the resurrection of the dead.
The concept of baptism for the dead, according to Elaine Pagels, was easily explained by gnostics. Since the gnostics argued that the text was allegory, their stance was that baptism for the dead refers to pneumatics (i.e. gnostics) taking the place of psychics (i.e. literalists), who were dead to gnosis. (See: Gnosticism and the New Testament.) Irenaeus, a disciple of Polycarp, wrote about the gnostics as being heretical in his work On the Detection and Overthrow of the So-Called Gnosis. The doctrines of Marcion were so similar to the gnostics that the church father Irenaeus in the 180s regarded Marcion as one of them. Eventually Marcion was excommunicated for his views. Tertullian wrote about gnostics in his work Against Marcion indicating that there was another aberrant Christian sect who believed in baptism for the dead. Clement of Alexandria warned in his writings Excerpta ex Theodoto against paganism and deviations from Christianity, mentioning baptism for the dead as a doctrine particular to gnostics.[citation needed]
Members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints believe that baptism is a prerequisite for entry into the kingdom of God as stated by Jesus in John 3:5: "Except that a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God" (KJV).
The LDS Church teaches that performing baptisms for the dead allows this saving ordinance to be offered to those who have died without accepting or knowing Jesus Christ or his teachings during their mortal lives. It is taught that this is the method by which all who have lived upon the earth will have the opportunity to receive baptism and to thereby enter the Kingdom of God. This concept is similar to but more specific than the idea of Anonymous Christians, posed by Karl Rahner.
The LDS Church teaches that those in the afterlife who have been baptized by proxy are free to accept or reject the ordinance done on their behalf. Baptism on behalf of a deceased individual is not binding if that individual chooses to reject it in the afterlife.[7][8]
Any member of the LDS church, male or female, who is at least 12 years old and holds a current temple recommend may act as a proxy in this ordinance. Men must also hold the Aaronic Priesthood prior to entering the temple. A man must act as proxy for a deceased man, and a woman must act as proxy for a deceased woman. The concept of a spiritual proxy is compared by some in the LDS Church to the belief that Jesus acted as proxy for every human when he atoned for the sins of the world.[9]
Only an adult male holder of the Melchizedek priesthood who has undergone the Endowment ordinance may baptize others as proxies for the dead.
According to The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, the practice of baptism for the dead is based on a revelation received by the prophet Joseph Smith. He first taught the doctrine at the funeral sermon of a deceased member of the Church, Seymour Brunson.[10] In a letter written on October 19, 1840, to the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles of the Church (who were on a mission in the United Kingdom at the time), Smith refers to the passage in 1 Corinthians 15:29 (KJV):
| “ | I presume the doctrine of "baptism for the dead" has ere this reached your ears, and may have raised some inquiries in your minds respecting the same. I cannot in this letter give you all the information you may desire on the subject; but aside from knowledge independent of the Bible, I would say that it was certainly practiced by the ancient churches; and Saint Paul endeavors to prove the doctrine of the resurrection from the same, and says, "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?"[11] | ” |
LDS Church scripture expands further upon this doctrine and states that such baptisms are to be performed in temples.[12] Vicarious baptism is performed in connection with other vicarious ordinances in temples of the LDS Church, such as the Endowment and celestial marriage.
Initially, women could be baptized for dead men, and vice versa; this, however, was changed in order to ensure that the person being baptized for a dead man could also be ordained on their behalf to the priesthood.[13]
The LDS church holds that deceased persons who have not accepted or had the opportunity to accept the gospel of Christ in this life will have the opportunity to accept the gospel in the afterlife. As all must follow Jesus Christ, they must also receive all the ordinances that a living person is expected to receive, including baptism. For this reason, members of the LDS Church are encouraged to research their genealogy. This research is then used as the basis for Church performing temple ordinances for as many deceased persons as possible. As a part of these efforts, Mormons have performed temple ordinances on behalf of a number of high profile people. Of particular interest are: the Founding Fathers of the U.S., Presidents of the U.S., Pope John Paul II, John Wesley, Christopher Columbus, Adolf Hitler, and others.
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 be sensitive to the issue of proxy baptizing for non-Mormons that are not related to Church members, the Church in recent years has published a general policy of performing temple ordinances only 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 (IGI). 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."[citation needed]
In 2008, a directive from the Vatican Congregation for the Clergy directed Catholic dioceses to prevent the LDS Church from "microfilming and digitizing information" contained in Catholic sacramental registers so that those whose names were contained therein would not be subjected to vicarious Mormon baptism,[14][15] even though the Vatican had previously declared that Mormon baptism was invalid.[16]
Other Christian denominations generally do not accept the Latter-day Saint interpretation of baptism for the dead contemplated in 1 Corinthians 15:29, and no other contemporary Christian church practices such an ordinance. These Christians interpret that in this chapter Paul is arguing, to Christians in Corinth, against those who do not believe in the bodily resurrection (1 Corinthians 15:12). While there are different approaches taken to interpreting the meaning of this scripture, some mainstream Christians believe Paul was merely demonstrating the logical contradiction between the practices of these local Christians and their lack of belief in the resurrection without giving any approval of the action. Others believe that "the dead," though plural in the original Greek, refers to Christ (rendering the interpretation of the verse as "why are you baptized for [one of] the dead, [Jesus], if the dead rise not at all?"), or 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. Other scholars are not exactly sure about what Paul meant by the comments (see links below).
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints performs vicarious baptisms for individuals regardless of their race, sex, creed, or morality. It has baptized both victims and perpetrators of the Holocaust, including Anne Frank and Adolf Hitler. Some Jewish Holocaust survivors and some Jewish organizations have strenuously objected to this practice.
The LDS church has urged members to submit the names of only their own ancestors for ordinances, and to request permission of surviving family members of people who have died within the past 75 years, and has enforced these guidelines to the best of its abilities, erasing hundreds of thousands of improperly submitted names.[17] Latter-day Saint apostle Boyd K. Packer has stated the LDS Church is clear that it uses the public records it collects for temple ordinance work.[18]
Despite the guidelines, some members of the Church have submitted the names of Holocaust victims, and prominent Nazis, such as Heinrich Himmler, for vicarious baptism without adequate permission. In December 2002, independent researcher Helen Radkey published a report showing that, following a 1995 promise from the church to remove Jewish Nazi victims from its International Genealogical Index, the Church's database included the names of about 19,000 who had a 40 to 50 percent chance "to be Holocaust victims ... in Russia, Poland, France, and Austria."[19][20] Genealogist Bernard Kouchel conducted a search of the International Genealogical Index, and discovered that many well known Jews had been vicariously baptized, including Maimonides, Albert Einstein, and Irving Berlin, without family permission.
Church official D. Todd Christofferson told the New York Times that the church expends massive amounts of resources attempting to purge improperly submitted names, but that it is not feasible to expect the Church to find each and every last one, and that the agreement in 1995 did not place this type of responsibility on the centralized church leadership.[21]
Jewish groups such as the Simon Wiesenthal Center spoke out against the vicarious baptism of Holocaust perpetrators and victims in the mid-1990s and again in the 2000s when they discovered the practice, which they consider insensitive to the living and the dead, was continuing.[22] The associate dean of the Simon Wiesenthal Center, Abraham Cooper, complained that infamous figures such as Adolf Hitler and Eva Braun appeared on LDS genealogical records: "Whether official or not, the fact remains that this is exactly the kind of activity that enraged and hurt, really, so many victims of the Holocaust and caused alarm in the Jewish community."[23][24]
In 2008, the American Gathering of Jewish Holocaust Survivors, announced that, since the Church had repeatedly violated previous agreements, it would no longer negotiate with the Church to try to prevent vicarious baptism.[25] Michel called the practice a revision of history that plays into the hands of Holocaust deniers, stating: "They tell me, that my parents' Jewishness has not been altered but ... 100 years from now, how will they be able to guarantee that my mother and father of blessed memory who lived as Jews and were slaughtered by Hitler for no other reason than they were Jews, will someday not be identified as Mormon victims of the Holocaust?"[26]
Church officials, in response, stated that the Church does not teach that vicarious baptisms coerce deceased persons to become Mormons, nor does the Church add those names to its list of Church members.[27][28] Church officials have also stated that, in accordance with the 1995 agreement, it has removed more than 300,000 names of Jewish Holocaust victims from its databases, as well as subsequently removing names later identified by Jewish groups. Church officials have also stated that a new version of the database, New FamilySearch, has been developed and is currently being implemented that would help prevent the submission of Holocaust victim names for temple ordinances.[29]
In May 2009, it was discovered that President Barack Obama's mother, Stanley Ann Dunham, "who died in 1995, was baptized posthumously into The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints last year during her son's campaign."[30] "It is not yet clear whether Obama is troubled by the practice. The White House declined to comment Tuesday," May 5, 2009. The June 4, 2008 baptism was performed in Provo, Utah's temple, and a week later the ritual of endowment was performed on behalf of Dunham. LDS Church spokesman Scott Trotter confirmed that someone did perform a proxy baptism for Dunham, but said it was “counter to [LDS] Church policy for a church member to submit names for baptism for persons to whom they are not related.”
of the Nauvoo Temple basement. The basement of the temple was used as the baptistery, containing a large baptismal font in the center of the main room.]]
Baptism for the dead, vicarious baptism or proxy baptism is the religious practice of baptizing a living person on behalf of an individual who is dead; the living person is acting as the deceased person's proxy. Those who practice this religious rite place great importance upon baptism and view it as a requirement to enter the Kingdom of God. So it is with this practice, an individual is baptized to give those who have already died without the opportunity to receive baptism the opportunity to receive it by proxy if they wish. It has been practiced since 1840 in the Latter Day Saint movement. The practice continues in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, where it is performed only in dedicated temples. Baptism for the dead is also practiced by several other current groups in the Latter Day Saint movement.
Advocates of this practice believe it is referred to in The New Testament in 1 Corinthians 15:29. The practice was forbidden by the Catholic Church in the 4th century[citation needed] as an aberrant practice of heretical groups, and is not practiced in modern mainstream Christianity, whether Catholic, Eastern Orthodox, or Protestant.
Contents |
In the practice of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (or "Mormons"), a living person, acting as proxy, is baptized by immersion on behalf of a deceased person. After giving a short prayer that includes the name of the deceased individual, the proxy is immersed briefly in the water, then brought up again. Baptism for the dead is a distinctive ordinance of the church and is based on the belief that baptism is a required ordinance for entry into the Kingdom of God.
Some members of the early Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints (now known as the Community of Christ) also believed in baptism for the dead,[1] but it was never officially sanctioned by that organization, and was considered highly controversial.[2]
A revelation and two letters written by Joseph Smith, Jr. appertaining to baptism for the dead were removed from the RLDS Doctrine and Covenants by a church general conference in 1970.[citation needed]
In the Restoration Branches movement, which broke from the RLDS Church in the 1980s, the question of Baptism for the Dead is at best unsettled, reflecting their RLDS origin. Many adherents reject the validity of this ordinance completely.[3]
Other Latter Day Saint denominations that accept baptism for the dead include the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints (Strangite) and The Church of Jesus Christ (Cutlerite). The Strangite Church performed baptisms for the dead during the 1840s in Voree, Wisconsin and later during the 1850s on Beaver Island, Michigan. In each case, the practice was authorized by revelation given by James J. Strang. The question of whether the Strangite Church still practices proxy baptism is an open one, but belief is considered orthodox.[4]
Cutlerite practice permits baptisms for the dead to be performed in baptismal fonts in Cutlerite meetinghouses (of which only two exist today, one in Clitherall, Minnesota and the other in Independence, Missouri). Though Cutlerites believe in the concept of temples, it is not required that baptisms for the dead be performed in one. The meetinghouse baptismal fonts are used for baptism of the living and for the dead. Cutlerites have practiced baptisms for the dead sporadically throughout their history (including during the early 1990s), but it is not known if they still do so. As with the LDS Church and the Strangite Church, belief in this doctrine is considered orthodox.[citation needed]
As part of their Sacraments, the New Apostolic Church and Old Apostolic Church also practices Baptism for the Dead, as well as Communion and Sealing to the Departed. In this practice a proxy or substitute is baptised in the place of an unknown number of deceased person. According to NAC and OAC doctrine the deceased do not enter the body of the substitute.
In the Reformed Old Apostolic Church it is believed that all deceased persons that are baptised reside within the body of the substitute.[citation needed]
Outside of Christianity, proxy baptisms are practiced by the Mandaeans of Iraq and Iran,.[5]
Some scholars suggest that baptism for the dead was practiced by some Early Christian groups, continuing until at least the late fourth century.
A deprecated fourth-century custom of baptizing dead bodies and giving the Eucharist to them, a practice of baptism of the dead,[6] has sometimes been interpreted as baptism for the dead. Thus John A. Tvedtnes, a Hebrew and early Christian scholar at Brigham Young University writes:
| “ | That baptism for the dead was indeed practiced in some orthodox Christian circles is indicated by the decisions of two late fourth century councils. The fourth canon of the Synod of Hippo, held in 393, declares, "The Eucharist shall not be given to dead bodies, nor baptism conferred upon them." The ruling was confirmed four years later in the sixth canon of the Third Council of Carthage.[7] | ” |
John Chrysostom describes a similar practice among the Marcionites of the same century: if one of their followers who was being prepared for baptism died before receiving baptism, the dead person's corpse was addressed with the question whether he wished to be baptized, whereupon another answered affirmatively and was baptized for the dead person.[8] In the same passage, Chrysostom, a speaker of the language (Koine Greek) in which Paul the Apostle wrote, explained Paul's mention of people being "baptized for the dead" as a reference to the profession of faith in their own future resurrection that Christians made before being baptized.
In the context of insisting that "in Christ shall all be made alive .. Christ the firstfruits; afterward they that are Christ's",[9] Paul wrote in 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?" Different views have been expressed on the meaning of the phrase "baptized for the dead", and on whether Paul gave his approval to the practice.
Some interpret "baptized for the dead" as a metaphor for martyrdom, as in Mark 10:38 and Luke 12:50 baptism is a metaphor for suffering or martyrdom; accordingly they would translate it as "being baptized with a view to death".[10] In this interpretation, the phrase is closely linked with what Paul says immediately afterwards[11] of the suffering that he himself faces and is enabled to endure precisely because of his faith in his resurrection.[12][13] This interpretation is similar to that of John Chrysostom.
Others interpret the phrase as referring to simple baptism of an individual. For Martin Luther it regarded a practice of being baptized above (the first of the meanings of the preposition ὑπέρ, generally translated in this passage as for)[14] the tombs of the dead. John Calvin saw it as a reference to being baptized when close to death.[10]
The third interpretation sees the phrase as referring to vicarious baptism on behalf of dead people performed in the belief that the dead were thereby benefitted in some way. This belief is put forward as the reason why, when Paul compares the Corinthians' experience to that of the Israelites in crossing the Red Sea and being fed on manna, he insists that the Israelites were not thereby prevented from sinning.[10]
The Tyndale Bible Dictionary concludes that Paul probably did not approve the practice of baptism for the dead. He refers to its practitioners as "they", not as "you" (the Corinthian Christians to whom he wrote). The note in the Catholic New American Bible is more cautious: "Baptized for the dead: this practice is not further explained here, nor is it necessarily mentioned with approval, but Paul cites it as something in their experience that attests in one more way to belief in the resurrection."[15] In this, it stays close to what Tertullian wrote in the year 207 or 208, when he said that Paul's only aim in alluding to the practice of baptism for the dead, "whatever it may have been", was "that he might all the more firmly insist upon the resurrection of the body, in proportion as they who were vainly baptized for the dead resorted to the practice from their belief of such a resurrection."[16]
The concept of baptism for the dead, according to Elaine Pagels, was easily explained by gnostics. Since the gnostics argued that the text was allegory, their stance was that baptism for the dead refers to pneumatics (i.e. gnostics) taking the place of psychics (i.e. literalists), who were dead to gnosis. (See: Gnosticism and the New Testament.) Irenaeus, a disciple of Polycarp, wrote about the gnostics as being heretical in his work On the Detection and Overthrow of the So-Called Gnosis. The doctrines of Marcion were so similar to the gnostics that the church father Irenaeus in the 180s regarded Marcion as one of them. Eventually Marcion was excommunicated for his views. Tertullian wrote about gnostics in his work Against Marcion indicating that there was another aberrant Christian sect who believed in baptism for the dead. Clement of Alexandria warned in his writings Excerpta ex Theodoto against paganism and deviations from Christianity, mentioning baptism for the dead as a doctrine particular to gnostics.[citation needed]
, circa 1912, where baptisms for the dead are performed by proxy. The font rests on the backs of twelve oxen representing the Twelve Tribes of Israel]]
Members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints believe that baptism is a prerequisite for entry into the kingdom of God as stated by Jesus in John 3:5: "Except that a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God" (KJV).
The LDS Church teaches that performing baptisms for the dead allows this saving ordinance to be offered to those who have died without accepting or knowing Jesus Christ or his teachings during their mortal lives. It is taught that this is the method by which all who have lived upon the earth will have the opportunity to receive baptism and to thereby enter the Kingdom of God. This concept is similar to but more specific than the idea of Anonymous Christians, posed by Karl Rahner.
The LDS Church teaches that those in the afterlife who have been baptized by proxy are free to accept or reject the ordinance done on their behalf. Baptism on behalf of a deceased individual is not binding if that individual chooses to reject it in the afterlife.[17][18]
Any member of the LDS church, male or female, who is at least 12 years old and holds a current temple recommend may act as a proxy in this ordinance. Men must also hold the Aaronic Priesthood prior to entering the temple. A man must act as proxy for a deceased man, and a woman must act as proxy for a deceased woman. The concept of a spiritual proxy is compared by some in the LDS Church to the belief that Jesus acted as proxy for every human when he atoned for the sins of the world.[19]
Only an adult male holder of the Melchizedek priesthood who has undergone the Endowment ordinance may baptize others as proxies for the dead.
According to The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, the practice of baptism for the dead is based on a revelation received by the prophet Joseph Smith. He first taught the doctrine at the funeral sermon of a deceased member of the Church, Seymour Brunson.[20] In a letter written on October 19, 1840, to the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles of the Church (who were on a mission in the United Kingdom at the time), Smith refers to the passage in 1 Corinthians 15:29 (KJV):
| “ | I presume the doctrine of "baptism for the dead" has ere this reached your ears, and may have raised some inquiries in your minds respecting the same. I cannot in this letter give you all the information you may desire on the subject; but aside from knowledge independent of the Bible, I would say that it was certainly practiced by the ancient churches; and Saint Paul endeavors to prove the doctrine of the resurrection from the same, and says, "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?"[21] | ” |
LDS Church scripture expands further upon this doctrine and states that such baptisms are to be performed in temples.[22] Vicarious baptism is performed in connection with other vicarious ordinances in temples of the LDS Church, such as the Endowment and celestial marriage.
Initially, women could be baptized for dead men, and vice versa; this, however, was changed in order to ensure that the person being baptized for a dead man could also be ordained on their behalf to the priesthood.[23]
The LDS church holds that deceased persons who have not accepted or had the opportunity to accept the gospel of Christ in this life will have the opportunity to accept the gospel in the afterlife. As all must follow Jesus Christ, they must also receive all the ordinances that a living person is expected to receive, including baptism. For this reason, members of the LDS Church are encouraged to research their genealogy. This research is then used as the basis for Church performing temple ordinances for as many deceased persons as possible. As a part of these efforts, Mormons have performed temple ordinances on behalf of a number of high profile people. Of particular interest are: the Founding Fathers of the U.S., Presidents of the U.S., Pope John Paul II, John Wesley, Christopher Columbus, Adolf Hitler, and others.[citation needed]
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 be sensitive to the issue of proxy baptizing for non-Mormons that are not related to Church members, the Church in recent years has published a general policy of performing temple ordinances only 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 (IGI). 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."[citation needed]
In 2008, a directive from the Vatican Congregation for the Clergy directed Catholic dioceses to prevent the LDS Church from "microfilming and digitizing information" contained in Catholic sacramental registers so that those whose names were contained therein would not be subjected to vicarious Mormon baptism,[24][25] even though the Vatican had previously declared that Mormon baptism was invalid.[26]
Other Christian denominations generally do not accept the Latter-day Saints interpretation of "baptism for the dead", mentioned in 1 Corinthians 15:29, though a few other contemporary Christian churches do practice such an ordinance. For the various interpretations that have been put forward of what Saint Paul meant by the phrase, see the discussion above.
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints performs vicarious baptisms for individuals regardless of their race, sex, creed, or morality. It has baptized both victims and perpetrators of the Holocaust, including Anne Frank and Adolf Hitler[citation needed]. Some Jewish Holocaust survivors and some Jewish organizations have strenuously objected to this practice.
The LDS church has urged members to submit the names of only their own ancestors for ordinances, and to request permission of surviving family members of people who have died within the past 75 years, and has enforced these guidelines to the best of its abilities, erasing hundreds of thousands of improperly submitted names.[27] Latter-day Saint apostle Boyd K. Packer has stated the LDS Church is clear that it uses the public records it collects for temple ordinance work.[28]
Despite the guidelines, some members of the Church have submitted the names of Holocaust victims, and prominent Nazis, such as Heinrich Himmler, for vicarious baptism without adequate permission. In December 2002, independent researcher Helen Radkey published a report showing that, following a 1995 promise from the church to remove Jewish Nazi victims from its International Genealogical Index, the Church's database included the names of about 19,000 who had a 40 to 50 percent chance "to be Holocaust victims ... in Russia, Poland, France, and Austria."[29][30] Genealogist Bernard Kouchel conducted a search of the International Genealogical Index, and discovered that many well known Jews had been vicariously baptized, including Maimonides, Albert Einstein, and Irving Berlin, without family permission.
Church official D. Todd Christofferson told the New York Times that the church expends massive amounts of resources attempting to purge improperly submitted names, but that it is not feasible to expect the Church to find each and every last one, and that the agreement in 1995 did not place this type of responsibility on the centralized church leadership.[31]
Jewish groups such as the Simon Wiesenthal Center spoke out against the vicarious baptism of Holocaust perpetrators and victims in the mid-1990s and again in the 2000s when they discovered the practice, which they consider insensitive to the living and the dead, was continuing.[32] The associate dean of the Simon Wiesenthal Center, Abraham Cooper, complained that infamous figures such as Adolf Hitler and Eva Braun appeared on LDS genealogical records: "Whether official or not, the fact remains that this is exactly the kind of activity that enraged and hurt, really, so many victims of the Holocaust and caused alarm in the Jewish community."[33][34]
In 2008, the American Gathering of Jewish Holocaust Survivors, announced that, since the Church had repeatedly violated previous agreements, it would no longer negotiate with the Church to try to prevent vicarious baptism.[35] Michel called the practice a revision of history that plays into the hands of Holocaust deniers, stating: "They tell me, that my parents' Jewishness has not been altered but ... 100 years from now, how will they be able to guarantee that my mother and father of blessed memory who lived as Jews and were slaughtered by Hitler for no other reason than they were Jews, will someday not be identified as Mormon victims of the Holocaust?"[36]
Church officials, in response, stated that the Church does not teach that vicarious baptisms coerce deceased persons to become Mormons, nor does the Church add those names to its list of Church members.[37][38] Church officials have also stated that, in accordance with the 1995 agreement, it has removed more than 300,000 names of Jewish Holocaust victims from its databases, as well as subsequently removing names later identified by Jewish groups. Church officials have also stated that a new version of the database, New FamilySearch, has been developed and is currently being implemented that would help prevent the submission of Holocaust victim names for temple ordinances.[39]
In May 2009, it was discovered that President Barack Obama's mother, Stanley Ann Dunham, "who died in 1995, was baptized posthumously into The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints last year during her son's campaign."[40] "It is not yet clear whether Obama is troubled by the practice. The White House declined to comment Tuesday," May 5, 2009. The June 4, 2008 baptism was performed in Provo, Utah's temple, and a week later the ritual of endowment was performed on behalf of Dunham. LDS Church spokesman Scott Trotter confirmed that someone did perform a proxy baptism for Dunham, but said it was “counter to [LDS] Church policy for a church member to submit names for baptism for persons to whom they are not related.”
| Constructs such as ibid. and loc. cit. are discouraged by Wikipedia's style guide for footnotes, as they are easily broken. Please improve this article by replacing them with named references (quick guide), or an abbreviated title. |
only mentioned in 1Cor 15:29. This expression
as used by the apostle may
be equivalent to saying, "He who goes through a baptism of blood in order to join a glorified
church which has no existence [i.e., if the dead rise not] is a
fool." Some also regard the statement here as an allusion to the
strange practice which began, it is said, to prevail at Corinth, in which a person was
baptized in the stead of others who had died before being baptized,
to whom it was hoped some of the benefits of that rite would be
extended. This they think may have been one of the erroneous
customs which Paul went to Corinth to "set in order."
what mentions this? (please help by turning references to this page into wiki links)
Baptism for the dead, vicarious baptism or proxy baptism is a religious practice of baptising a living person on behalf of an individual who is dead; the living person is acting as the deceased person's proxy. So it is with this practice, an individual is baptized to give those beyond the grave the opportunity of baptism by proxy. It has been practiced since 1840 in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, where it is also called temple baptism because it is performed only in dedicated temples. Advocates of this practice believe it is referred to in The New Testament (1 Cor. 15:29); it was forbidden by the Orthodox Church in the 4th Century as an aberrant practice of heretical groups, and is not practiced in modern mainstream Christianity. Baptism for the dead is also practiced by several other groups in the Latter Day Saint movement.
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In the practice of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, a living person, acting as proxy, is baptized by immersion on behalf of a deceased person of the same gender. The baptism ritual is as follows: after calling the living proxy by name, the person performing the baptism says, "Having been commissioned of Jesus Christ, I baptize you for and in behalf of [full name of deceased person], who is dead, in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost. Amen." The proxy is then immersed briefly in the water. Baptism for the dead is a distinctive ordinance of the church and is based on the belief that baptism is a required ordinance for entry into the Kingdom of God.
Some members of the early Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints (now known as the Community of Christ) also believed in baptism for the dead, but it was never officially sanctioned by that organization. A revelation and two letters written by Joseph Smith appertaining to baptism for the dead were removed from the RLDS Doctrine and Covenants by a church general conference in 1970.
Some adherents of the Restoration Branches movement, which broke from the RLDS Church in the 1980s, still believe in the correctness of baptism for the dead, though it is not practiced in their churches. These adherents tend to believe that it will one day be sanctioned under the leadership of a new prophet, whom they expect will reunite the various Latter Day Saint factions under his leadership and correct what they feel is wrong in the Community of Christ. However, there are other members of the Restoration Branches that ardently disagree with this, rejecting the validity of the baptism for the dead doctrine completely.
Other Latter Day Saint denominations that accept baptism for the dead include the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints and The Church of Jesus Christ. The Strangite Church performed baptisms for the dead during the 1840s in Voree and later during the 1850s on Beaver Island. In both cases, the practice was specifically authorized by revelation given through James J. Strang. The Strangite Church no longer practices proxy baptism (due to lack of prophetic leadership at the current time), but belief in it is considered orthodox.
Cutlerite practice permits baptisms for the dead to be performed in baptismal fonts in Cutlerite meetinghouses (of which only two exist today, one in Clitherall and the other in Independence). Though Cutlerites believe in the concept of temples, it is not required that baptisms for the dead be performed in one. The meetinghouse baptismal fonts are used for baptism of the livng and for the dead. Cutlerites have practiced baptisms for the dead sporadically throughout their history (including during the early 1990s), but it is not known if they still do so. As with the LDS Church and the Strangite Church, belief in this doctrine is considered orthodox.
Outside of Christianity, proxy baptisms are practised by the Mandaeans of Iraq and Iran,[1] by some of the Neo-Apostolic congregations of Europe, and by some Native American religions.
Some scholars suggest that baptism for the dead was practiced by some early Christian groups, continuing until at least the late fourth century. John A. Tvedtnes, a Hebrew and early Christian scholar at Brigham Young University, Utah writes:
| “ | That baptism for the dead was indeed practiced in some orthodox Christian circles is indicated by the decisions of two late fourth century councils. The fourth canon of the Synod of Hippo, held in 393, declares, "The Eucharist shall not be given to dead bodies, nor baptism conferred upon them." The ruling was confirmed four years later in the sixth canon of the Third Council of Carthage.[2] | ” |
Some argue that the fact that these two councils felt it necessary to explicitly forbid baptism for the dead shows that there must have been a significant group of people practicing some form of 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. John Chrysostom linked this practice with the Marcionites, who were considered unorthodox for this and other reasons.
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."
The "early church" refers to the church shortly after the time of the apostles. Paul said in 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?" Latter Day Saints believe this statement is an acknowledgment by Paul that baptism for the dead was both practiced and accepted. The International Standard Bible Encyclopedia says that "commentators have offered between thirty and forty other interpretations, more or less strained, of the passage." Most of these other interpretations center around the notion that either Paul was merely trying to point out contradiction within practices unique to the Corinthians or that the wording describes something other than actual physical baptism. John Chrysostom suggests (in his 40th homily on I Corinthians) that this verse refers to the new believer's professed faith in the resurrection of the dead.
The concept of baptism for the dead, according to Elaine Pagels, was easily explained by gnostics. Since the gnostics argued that the text was allegory, their stance was that baptism for the dead refers to pneumatics (i.e. gnostics) taking the place of psychics (i.e. literalists), who were dead to gnosis. (See: Gnosticism and the New Testament.) Irenaeus, a disciple of Polycarp, wrote about the gnostics as being heretical in his work On the Detection and Overthrow of the So-Called Gnosis. The doctrines of Marcion were so similar to the gnostics that the church father Irenaeus in the 180s regarded Marcion as one of them. Eventually Marcion was excommunicated for his views. Tertullian wrote about gnostics in his work Against Marcion indicating that there was another aberrant Christian sect who believed in baptism for the dead. Clement of Alexandria warned in his writings Excerpta ex Theodoto against paganism and deviations from Christianity, mentioning baptism for the dead as a doctrine particular to gnostics.
Members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints believe that baptism is a prerequisite for entry into the kingdom of God as stated by Jesus in John 3:5: "Except that a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God" (KJV).
The LDS Church teaches that performing baptisms for the dead allows this saving ordinance to be offered to those who have died without accepting or knowing Jesus Christ or his teachings during their mortal lives. It is taught that this is the method by which all who have lived upon the earth will have the opportunity to receive baptism and to thereby enter the Kingdom of God.
The LDS Church teaches that those in the afterlife who have been baptized by proxy are free to accept or reject the ordinance done on their behalf. Baptism on behalf of a deceased individual is not binding if that individual chooses to reject it in the afterlife.[3]
Any member of the LDS church, male or female, who is at least 12 years old and holds a current temple recommend may act as a proxy in this ordinance. Men must also hold the Aaronic Priesthood prior to entering the temple. A man must act as proxy for a deceased man, and a woman must act as proxy for a deceased woman. The concept of a spiritual proxy is compared by some in the LDS Church to the belief that Jesus acted as proxy for every human when he atoned for the sins of the world.[4]
Only an adult male holder of the Melchizedek priesthood who has undergone the Endowment ordinance may perform baptisms for the dead.
According to The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, the practice of baptism for the dead is based on a revelation received by the prophet Joseph Smith. He first taught the doctrine at the funeral sermon of a deceased member of the Church, Seymour Brunson.[5] In a letter written on October 19, 1840, to the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles of the Church (who were on a mission in the United Kingdom at the time), Smith refers to the passage in 1 Corinthians 15:29 (KJV): {{cquote|I presume the doctrine of "baptism for the dead" has ere this reached your ears, and may have raised some inquiries in your minds respecting the same. I cannot in this letter give you all the information you may desire on the subject; but aside from knowledge independent of the Bible, I would say that it was certainly practiced by the ancient churches; and Saint Paul endeavors to prove the doctrine of the resurrection from the same, and says, "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?"Cite error: Closing </ref> missing for <ref> tag Vicarious baptism is performed in connection with other vicarious ordinances in temples of the LDS Church, such as the Endowment and celestial marriage.
Initially, women could be baptized for dead men, and vice versa; this, however, was changed in order to ensure that the person being baptized for a dead man could also be ordained on their behalf to the priesthood.[6]
The LDS church holds that deceased persons who have not accepted or had the opportunity to accept the gospel of Christ in this life will have the opportunity to accept the gospel in the afterlife. As all must follow Jesus Christ, they must also receive all the ordinances that a living person is expected to receive, including baptism. For this reason, members of the LDS Church are encouraged to seek out their genealogy. This genealogy research is then used as the 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, Mormons have performed temple ordinances on behalf of a number of high profile people. Of particular interest are: the Founding Fathers of the U.S., Presidents of the U.S., John Wesley, Christopher Columbus, and others.
Vicarious baptism does not mean that the decedent is forced to accept the ordinance performed for him or her or that the deceased becomes a member of the LDS Church; it merely means that the decedent has the option to accept the ordinance and the benefits which the Latter-day Saints claim baptism provides. (See Exaltation.)
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 be sensitive to the issue of proxy baptizing for non-Mormons that are not related to Church members, the Church in recent years has published a general policy of 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."
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. However, these parallels are disputed by non-Mormons and Mormons.
Other Christian denominations generally do not accept the Latter-day Saint interpretation of baptism for the dead contemplated in 1 Corinthians 15:29, and no other contemporary Christian church practices such an ordinance. These Christians interpret that in this chapter Paul is arguing, to Christians in Corinth, against those who do not believe in the bodily resurrection (1 Corinthians 15:12). While there are different approaches taken to interpreting the meaning of this scripture, some mainstream Christians believe Paul was merely demonstrating the logical contradiction between the practices of these local Christians and their lack of belief in the resurrection without giving any approval of the action. Others believe that "the dead," though plural in the original Greek, refers to Christ (rendering the interpretation of the verse as "why are you baptized for [one of] the dead, [Jesus], if the dead rise not at all?"), or 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. Other scholars are not exactly sure about what Paul meant by the comments (see links below).
Another counter-argument to baptism for the dead is that there is little or no record (or incomplete, or disputed) of any mainstream Christian denomination historically practicing it, 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."
Some Christians dismiss this practice because they believe salvation is not dependent on baptism at all and that Christ's example of being baptized by John the Baptist is irrelevant to one's own personal salvation. If baptism is not important, then baptism on behalf of the dead is irrelevant and unneeded. The practice of baptism for the dead also appears to some Christians to abrogate the individual's personal responsibility.
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints vicariously baptizes people regardless of race, sex, or creed. This includes both victims and perpetrators of genocide, including Adolf Hitler. Some Jewish survivors of the Holocaust and their supporters have objected to this practice.
The church urges members to submit only the names of their own ancestors for these type of ordinances, and not celebrities or Holocaust victims. If the names are not submitted by a direct descendant then a surviving family member's permission should be obtained for baptisms performed for people who died recently (usually within 50-75 years). These guidelines are not always followed, as in the case of Catholic popes, saints, and various historical figures with no existing family members.[7] Efforts by the church to respect the wishes of living descendants have included asking them for the deceased person's details and explaining why they are requested. Latter-day Saint apostle Boyd K. Packer, describes an example:
| “ | For a number of years the Church had negotiated with the government of Israel for permission to microfilm the archives of that nation. These records, including many carefully kept genealogies, are priceless records of the human family and have a tie to great events in the history of the world. The officials had learned all they wanted to know about the Church storage procedures and were impressed. They insisted however that someone be sent to talk to them about the doctrine relating to our desire for their records. They wanted to know why we wanted their records. In 1977 I received the assignment to go to Israel and meet with their official archivists and scholars on the matter ... I explained to them our great interest in the Old Testament and our kinship with Israel. We talked of family, of patriarchal lineage and blessings. We talked of the doctrine of agency. But all of these things were not central to the point. It might seem that in order to obtain a favorable decision we would have to be "diplomatic" and not mention ordinances--especially baptism. But we were on the Lord's errand, and so I told them—plainly, bluntly—that we desired their records in order to provide baptism, Christian baptism, for their forebears and for ours. The reaction was immediate and intense. The meeting thereafter was most interesting! We came away uncertain as to the outcome. But we were on the Lord's errand. We were serving the work of redemption for the dead. We had told the truth without any shade of misrepresentation. In due time the answer came. We received approval to microfilm and preserve those records which were sanctified by the suffering of our brethren of the house of Israel.[8] | ” |
Despite these rules, some members of the church have submitted the names of Catholic popes and saints, Holocaust victims, Adolf Hitler and other prominent Nazis for vicarious baptism without adequate permission. In December 2002, independent researcher Helen Radkey published a report showing that, following a 1995 promise from the church to remove Jewish Nazi victims from its International Genealogical Index, the church's database included 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." Genealogist Bernard Kouchel conducted a search of the International Genealogical Index, and discovered that many well known Jews had been vicariously baptized, including Maimonides, Albert Einstein, and Irving Berlin, without a system in place to ensure permissions were obtained.
Church official D. Todd Christofferson told the New York Times that it was not feasible for the church to continuously monitor the archives to ensure that no new Jewish names appear. And that the agreement in 1995 did not place this type of responsibility on the centralized church leadership.[9]
Jewish groups such as the Simon Wiesenthal Center, which operates the Museum of Tolerance in Los Angeles, opposed the vicarious baptism of Holocaust perpetrators and victims in the mid 1990s and again in the 2000s when they discovered the practice was continuing. Simon Wiesenthal himself had been baptised after his death. They said the practice was insulting and an affront to Jews who died because of their religion. Rabbi Marvin Hier of the center said: "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."[10] Aaron Breitbart, a researcher with the Center believes the church was showing insensitivity to the living and their dead ancestors. "They did not get baptized when they were alive and they had a choice, and doing so after they are dead is beyond the ethical bounds."[11] Associate dean of the Simon Wiesenthal Center, Abraham Cooper, complained that infamous figures such as Adolf Hitler and Eva Braun appeared on LDS genealogical records at all: "Whether official or not, the fact remains that this is exactly the kind of activity that enraged and hurt, really, so many victims of the Holocaust and caused alarm in the Jewish community. Whatever framework in which it is presented, the notion of performing these sort of rites for Hitler, Himmler and other Nazis . . . is beyond [understanding]."[12]
In a 2005 statement responding to such concerns, Marlin K. Jensen, executive director of the LDS Church Family and Church History Department said: "It is important to stress that the freedom of choice remains a prevailing concept behind baptism for the dead. No ordinance is administered by compulsion. The freedom of the recipient to accept or reject the ordinance is an overarching principle ... The result of a proxy baptism is not binding on the recipient, and no name is added to the membership rolls of the Church. There is no change in ethnic identity or heritage of the recipient or of the recipient's descendants."
In responding to the Marcionite's baptism for the dead, John Chrysostom anticipated this application of the doctrine in Homily XV on I Corinthians: As thus, if this was Paul’s meaning wherefore did God threaten him that is not baptized? For it is impossible that any should not be baptized henceforth, this being once devised: and besides, the fault no longer lies with the dead, but with the living.... For if this be permitted, and there be no need of the mind of the receiver nor of his assent while he lives, what hinders both Greeks and Jews thus to become believers, other men after their decease doing these things in their stead?
| This page uses content from the English language Wikipedia. The original content was at Baptism for the dead. The list of authors can be seen in the page history. As with this Familypedia wiki, the content of Wikipedia is available under the Creative Commons License. |
   | Baptism for the Dead: The Coptic Rationale - Baptism for the Dead: The Coptic Rationale |
| | Questions about Baptism for the Dead - FAQ: Baptism for the Dead |
| | Ancient Sources for Baptism of the Dead - Baptism for the Dead |
| | Christian Classics Ethereal Library - Baptism for the Dead |
| | A chronology of the issue of Mormon baptisms of Jewish Holocaust victims - A chronicle of the Mormon/Jewish controversy; THE LDS AGREEMENT: A JewishGen InfoFile |
| | 127:5-10 - Doctrine and Covenants 127 |
| | 128 - Doctrine and Covenants 128 |
| | 124:29 - Doctrine and Covenants 124 |
| | New Covenant Church of God - NCCG.ORG New Covenant Church of God - B'rit Chadashah Assembly of Yahweh, FAQ 116: Baptism for the Dead? |
| | Hitler Temple Records - Mormons Attempt to Hide Temple Baptism for Hitler |
| | Honoring our Religious Traditions - Newsroom - The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints |
| | Baptism for the Dead - BBC - Religion & Ethics - Rites |
| | Mormons, Jews Set Up Group to Study Concerns - Meridian Magazine : : Church Update: Mormons, Jews Set Up Group to Study Concerns |
| | Catholic Answers - Mormonism's Baptism for the Dead |
| | chapter - BibleGateway.com - Passage Lookup: 1cor |
| | LDS Struggle to Keep Proxy Baptisms Appropriate - Mormons Baptize HOLOCAUST Victims |
| | Search God's Word - Baptism For the Dead - International Standard Bible Encyclopedia |
| | Christian Apologetics and Research Ministry - Is Baptism Necessary for Salvation? | Christian Apologetics & Research Ministry |
| | Christian Apologetics and Research Ministry - What is baptism for the dead mentioned in 1 Cor. 15:29? | Christian Apologetics & Research Ministry |
| | Utah Lighthouse Ministry - Utah Lighthouse Ministry: Topical Index S-Z |
| | the One, Jesus, sacrificed Himself for all - BibleGateway.com - Passage Lookup: Hebrews 10:10, 12 |
| | Mormons, Jews Set Up Group to Study Concerns - Newsroom - The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints |
| | New Covenant Church of God - Messianic Evangelicals - Mishpachah Lev-Tsiyon - MLT - New Covenant Ministries - New Covenant Church of God - B'rit Chadashah Assembly of Yahweh - NCCG - BCAY - NCCG.ORG - Chavurat Bekorot - Holy Echad Marriage - HEM |
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