I have a question regarding "baptism for the dead". I am a nevermo but married to my husband whose family is mostly LDS. Over the years I've read posts about the Jews being offended that the church is baptizing deceased family holocaust victims. Though I understood all the implications of the practice, I never put much credence into it because I believe that it's what you do while you are "living" that affects the outcome of your eternal life. Recently however, I started to thinking about my deceased parents, who were not LDS, and that it is most probable that my very self righteous sister-in-law may have had them baptized. I think the prospect of that has me bothered in a way that I never thought about before. It basically says "you didn't get it right while you were living so here, let us help you get it right now". It usurps the power to choose what is right for you. So my question is this. Is it possible to find out if my parents were actually baptized? Do they appear on a list or something and can you have them removed from that list? Like I said earlier, the practice is hocus pocus to me so it actually doesn't really matter, but it is the principle of the thing.

No, no way to unbaptise some. There will be records, but not until they're deceased for years for privacy.

don't worry about it if you think it's hocus pocus.

Principle is not understood, let a concern.


http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2112157/Mormon-baptism-dead-Church-shuts-access-list-people-posthumously-baptised.html

But secrecy paramount.

I have a dear friend who is a convert. When first taught of baptisms for the dead, he asked if they did it right after the person died, or went back and dug them up. He was serious.

My niece and I, too, both thought when we were hildren that it involved dunking dead bodies.

Baptism can be performed after one year or more after the person dies. But before anyone can perform baptisms for a deceased person, they must get permission from the closest living relative first, otherwise they have to wait 95 years from the persons birth date before performing the baptism.

From what I understand, a lot of the getting "permission" and emphasis on only doing stuff for your own relatives came about after the fiasco involving Holocaust victims, and actually because of it.
So of course they didn't get permission, as that event was the cause of the new rule.

I personally don't see what the fuss is about. I have always been told that the baptism is only "valid" if the individual accepts it on the other side. Meaning the individual has to want it.

Although the concept of "becoming Mormon" in the afterlife has always made me smile. I wonder if they have similar complaints there, haha, if the lessons are boring and repetitive. etc.

Actually, the idea that you have to get permission from the nearest living relative when someone dies has been around as long as I can remember. My TBM mom is a convert and she's done a lot of her family's temple work but she says that according to the rules, you have to ask if it's someone who has been dead less than 95 years. Sometimes there is no one that close to the deceased or, after 40 years there is no close relative that cares, so many Mormons will just figure they can go ahead and do it anyway.

The problem is - that is the rule but Mormons are notorious about breaking the rules when the "greater good" is at stake. Once someone is baptized for the dead, they remain Mormon for eternity. So if the living person catches a bit of flack for what they have done, they feel it's no big deal since they have performed God's work. They believe the dead person appreciates it, even if their living kin do not. They also don't understand why it's such a big deal to non-Mormons. They say stuff like "if you don't believe in Mormonism, then why do you think this baptism has any effect? You must know deep in your heart that Mormonism's priesthood power is true." Or, "well, the dead person has the right to reject the ordinance if they don't want to be LDS. It's more that we are offering the opportunity to have a baptism but they can reject it." However, Mormons believe that with the greater knowledge of those who have passed beyond the veil, few souls would turn down a proxy baptism - unless they were really evil or something.

If you know Mormons, you should be able to get one to access the genealogical data base (the part that records temple work) and see if the work has been done. The information is only hidden from outsiders. I think a Mormon with a membership number should be able to look it up for you. Otherwise, how would they know whose name to submit to the temple and who had their work done 20 years ago?

The dead person has the right to reject the "ordinance". Do you know how stupid that sounds and IS!!!

The handbook procedures aren't well known or necessarily observed. No one has ever been exed or disciplined for dunking early or not getting permission from next of kin or any of the other fluctuating dead dunking rules.

Mormons harvest names for temple rites wherever they can find them. They tend to wait a bit before dunking and using names in their rituals but they usually eventually process all of them including Jews. This includes resigned and exed former members.

To many, it's insulting and a desecration of the dead and their memories and wishes.

Fortunately, it doesn't do anything, nothing at all.

I think the only people who are offended by it are those who believe in other religious fantasies.

Many people DO respect the wishes of the dead.

Atheists, agnostics, believers generally try to remember what the person wanted in the way of a funeral and what they wanted done about their legacy.

Some people spit on graves and spend headstone money on beer when the dead person wouldn't have liked it. But others remember the dead fondly and try to be a credit to their influence.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 11/23/2013 10:27AM by Cheryl.

I am with you. It is the principal of the thing. I feel sure when my dear daughter converted, her mom in law asked her about dates of birth for my grandparents and death date. My daughter said her mom in law was writing up a history of the ancestors for both sides. I was too uninformed then. I know now why she wanted that info....for baptism for the dead.

I am still irate about it. They have no idea how my grandparents lived a life of full belief in JC...attended a real church where they were not forced to tithe an amt, did not have to do jobs assigned to them, did not have to have home teachers, did not exclude people from family weddings, and all the rest. They worshiped in a way that they did not have to have an intermediary-the Bishop. So I am not mad at the practice really - it is hocus pocus. I am angry at people who overstep their boundaries and as you said seem to declare these people in our lives did not get it right the first time. If Mormons only knew how wrong they were.