Baptism for the dead

Baptism for the dead by proxy (or "vicarious baptism") is an ordinance practiced by members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (and splinter churches), the Mandaeans of Iraq and Iran, the Copts of Egypt, some of the Neo-Apostolic congregations of Europe, and some Native American religions. Although all the mentioned religious groups practice baptism for the dead to some extent, the term "baptism for the dead" is used almost exclusively in reference to the ordinance practiced by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

In the Church, 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 Church's temples.

Table of contents

1 Overview
2 Christian opposition
3 Jewish opposition
4 References
5 External links

Overview

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):

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 St. 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?" (History of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints 4:231)

Other scriptures of the 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 emphasized 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."

It should be noted that dozens of historical documents show that baptism for the dead was practiced by several Christian groups—both orthodox and radicals—from the time of Christ up until the late fourth century. Christian scholar John A. Tvedtness confirms this:

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.

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. Historical documents also make it clear that nearly all early Christian churches—as well as many modern churches—had practices intended to redeem the dead of their sins. A clear example of these continued practices can be found in the ancestor liberation rite practiced by the Unification Church.

Christian opposition

No other major Christian denomination currently accepts the Latter-day Saint interpretation of 1 Corinithians 15:29; they differ greatly on what the passage is intended to mean. The more common position is that this verse is only an aside to the central issue contemplated in that chapter. Paul is arguing to Christians in Corinth against those who do not believe in the bodily resurrection of both Jesus and His followers. Paul was trying to catch the disciples who did not believe in resurrection in a logical contradiction since they were also baptizing the dead.

Another counter-argument is that most Christian churches have not historically practiced baptism for the dead, and have not held the Latter-day Saint interpretation of this passage, 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."

Jewish opposition

A long time practice of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has been to vicariously baptize the Holocaust's Jewish victims. When this information became public, there was a backlash against the Church from Jewish groups, who found this ritual to be insulting and insensitive, but not rising to the level of anti-Semitism. Partly as a result of public pressure, Church leaders in 1995 promised to stop the practice, unless specifically requested 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.

See also: ancestor liberation

References

Roberts, B.H. (editor); History of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints; The Deseret Book Company; ISBN 0-87579-490-4 (revised 2nd edition, softcover, 1975)
Tvedtnes, John A.; Baptism for the Dead: The Coptic Rationale; Retrieved Aug 19, 2003, from http://www.fairlds.org/apol/misc/misc23.html