Baptism for the Dead
Brett Hickey
A November 11, 2008 Washington Post article by David Waters titled “Mormons, Jews Contend for Souls of Dead” introduces an interesting question on baptism. Controversy erupted in the mid-1990’s when Jewish genealogists discovered “thousands of Holocaust victims” were on a list of names baptized by the Mormon church. Why so controversial? These Jews were not baptized until after they were dead. No relative consented to their posthumous baptism. Instead, a Mormon was baptized on their behalf in their unique religious practice of baptism for the dead. In response to the Jewish outcry, the Mormon Church “debaptized” over 300,000 Jews. The article reads, in part,
Leaders of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints say they are abiding by a 1995 agreement to limit the baptism of Jews who were killed in Nazi concentration camps…Holocaust survivors held a press conference Monday to say that the Mormon practice continues and they want it to stop. ‘My mother and father were killed in the Holocaust for no other reason than they were Jews,’ Ernest ‘Ernie’ Michel told the Salt Lake Tribune. ‘How can the Mormons victimize them a second time and falsely claim their souls for eternity?’
…Mormons believe that (baptism for the dead gives the recipient) the option of accepting Christ and becoming Mormon in the afterlife.
…In 1995…Latter Day Saints agreed to “discontinue any future baptisms of deceased Jews, including all lists of Jewish Holocaust victims who are known Jews, except if they were direct ancestors of living members of the Church or the Church had the written approval of all living members of the deceased’s immediate family.”
Wickman (general authority for the Mormon Church) said Monday that the church also has removed the names of more than 300,000 dead Jews. They also are changing the LDS genealogical database to make it more difficult to enter names of Holocaust victims. But Michel said his group’s research shows that the names of Holocaust victims continue to be added to the LDS rolls, without permission, as recently as July….The Catholic Church also is growing more uncomfortable with the practice. Over the years, even dead popes and saints have been found on LDS lists of the posthumously baptized.
If this practice was legitimately of God and Mormons could give the dead a second chance for salvation, how could they cancel this opportunity merely to avoid a lawsuit?
If you know anything about denominational divisions, you realize the devil directs his attack on baptism. While Ephesians 4:5 speaks of only “one baptism” required of all who turn to God, different churches teach many different kinds of baptisms. This cannot be the Lord’s will; He prayed we all be united in John 17:20-23. As with all the other modern, man-made baptisms, the needless confusion from the Mormon practice of baptism for the dead can be seen at the most basic level in that baptism for the living plus baptism for the dead equals two baptisms. Let us take a closer look at this practice.
How is the Mormon “baptism for the dead” performed? One source explains:
In the temple baptistery dressing room, baptismal proxies (those who will be baptized on behalf of deceased individuals) change into white baptismal clothing that they brought or the temple provided. After they’re dressed, proxies gather at the temple baptismal font, which sits atop statues of twelve oxen that represent the twelve tribes of Israel. After saying the brief baptismal prayer, a temple worker fully immerses the proxy on behalf of a dead person, repeating the process for several dead people in rapid succession.
In addition, baptismal proxies can receive the gift of the Holy Ghost on behalf of deceased people. To complete this ordinance, which is generally known as confirmation, priesthood holders lay hands upon the proxy’s head, confirm him or her as a member of the Church on behalf of a deceased person, and, most important, bestow the gift of the Holy Ghost.
To their credit, the Mormon Church does attempt to find biblical support for the practice. In 1 Corinthians 15:29, the Bible says, “Otherwise, what will they do who are baptized for the dead, if the dead do not rise at all? Why then are they baptized for the dead?” At first glance, this sounds like Mormon baptism by proxy. But is this what the Bible is teaching?
Since nothing like this is ever mentioned in the Bible (or, ironically, even in the Book of Mormon!) many different understandings have been suggested. Consider two of the most reasonable explanations.
Some believe baptism for the dead refers to those baptized in order to share in the resurrection and eternal life with friends and family who died in Christ. This is certainly possible.
I believe instead that Paul referred to the practice of a false religion that had digressed from Christianity into a separate sect in the early centuries of the church. Look closely at the pronoun usage in the 1 Corinthians 15. In verses 1-17, Paul uses the pronouns “I” or “me” fifteen times to refer to himself; the pronouns “you” or “yours” fourteen times to refer to the Christians at Corinth; the pronouns “we” or “our” six times to include himself and the Corinthian Christians. Then, in verse 29, Paul turns away from the pronouns “I”, “you,” and “we,” to use the pronoun “they.” “What will THEY do who are baptized for the dead… Why then are THEY baptized for the dead?” Then, in the remainder of the chapter he returns to the use of “I” (six times), “you” (five times), “we/our” (seven times).
Who was Paul talking about in verse 29? Was Paul saying genuine Christians were baptized for the dead? If so, why didn’t Paul say, “Why then am I baptized for the dead?” or “Why then are YOU baptized for the dead?” or “Why then are WE baptized for the dead?” If being baptized on behalf of another who was dead was a Christian practice, surely Paul would have used “I”, “you” or “we.” But, instead, he said “they” because he wasn’t referring to a Christian practice, but to the practice of erring Christians who were also trying to influence the faithful in rejecting the resurrection.
A couple of facts are critical to remember: 1) The teaching on the passage focuses on the resurrection; 2) Any difficult or obscure scripture should always be understood in light of the more simple, straightforward passages on that subject and related topics. If an obscure passage contradicts fundamental teachings that are easily understood, we know we have misunderstood the actual teaching of the obscure passage.
The Mormon doctrine of Baptism for the Dead contradicts clear teaching of a number of plain Scriptures, and therefore, must be rejected.
First of all, if this type of baptism were valid, it would make preaching the gospel incredibly inefficient. Paul endured considerable difficulties, even persecution, for preaching the gospel. Why go through all of that if all he had to do was hang out at the mortuary, collect the names of the deceased and have someone be baptized on their behalf? He wouldn’t have had to risk his life or health as he often did. In fact, he would rarely even need to preach the gospel. It would be much easier to convince those in the afterlife that they need to submit to the gospel.
For modern Mormons, this point would be even more relevant. It is much easier today with the internet to obtain long lists of obituaries from across the country (about 150,000 people die every day) and it would require only about a minute per person to see to it that someone was baptized on their behalf.
Surely, we would read much more about this peculiar practice in the Scriptures if this was an actual church ordinance. Dozens of Scriptures show how ordinary baptisms were performed, what prerequisites were necessary and who would qualify. But no other place in Scripture even hints at anything like this. Although Joseph Smith emphasized “baptism for the dead” as a cardinal doctrine for Mormons, again, this teaching is not once found in the Book of Mormon.
The strongest reason, however, to reject the Mormon doctrine of “baptism of the dead” is that it directly contradicts the teachings of Jesus and the apostles. Stop and think about the Parable of the Ten Virgins in Matthew 25:1-13. Do you remember the primary point of the parable? Jesus drove home the importance of being ready to stand before God in judgment at all times because no one knows when the Lord will return. When the midnight cry was heard in Matthew 25:6, announcing the coming of the bridegroom (which represents Jesus’ second coming), the virgins awoke and scrambled to trim their lamps. The five wise virgins had oil in their lamps; the foolish did not. The foolish virgins pleaded with the wise virgins to share some of their oil, but the wise refused, saying there was not enough for both of them. The obvious application: on the Day of Judgment we only will have enough faith, enough righteousness (1 Jn. 3:7, 10) to save our own souls.
This truth is even more emphatic in verse 10-13, “(T)hose who were ready went in with him to the wedding and the door was shut. Afterward the other virgins came also, saying, ‘Lord, Lord, open to us!’ “But he answered and said, ‘Assuredly, I say to you, I do not know you.’ Watch therefore, for you know neither the day nor the hour in which the Son of Man is coming. ” Once the trumpet sounds for eternity, once the midnight cry is heard, either at our death or at Jesus’ Second Coming, it’s all over; the die is cast; our fate is sealed. No more chances after death. The inspired writer tells us in Hebrews 9:27, “And as it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment.”
What about the argument that baptism for the dead gives people who don’t hear the gospel in their lifetime another shot at salvation? Ignorance of the gospel does not give one a free pass or second chance in a future life. The Holy Spirit tells us in Acts 17:30, “Truly, these times of ignorance God overlooked, but now commands all men everywhere to repent…” The Apostle Paul reiterated the urgency of obeying God in this life in 2 Thessalonians 1:7-9, saying that Jesus would come with His holy angels “In flaming fire taking vengeance on those who do not know God, and on those who do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ. These shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of His power.”
The condition of the ignorant, though unfavorable, is not as dreadful as those who stubbornly reject the gospel. Jesus says in Luke 12:47-48, “And that servant who knew his master’s will, and did not prepare himself or do according to his will, shall be beaten with many stripes. But he who did not know, yet committed things deserving of stripes, shall be beaten with few.”
The Apostle Paul taught, in fact, in Romans 1:20-21, that apart from God’s Word there was sufficient evidence to convince man of God’s existence. He wrote,
For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even His eternal power and Godhead, so that they are without excuse, because, although they knew God, they did not glorify Him as God, nor were thankful, but became futile in their thoughts, and their foolish hearts were darkened.
Beyond that, Jesus taught in Matthew 7 that the soul that genuinely searches for this God revealed by nature would find Him, “Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened.”
Further militating against the idea someone else could be baptized on behalf of another is the message of personal responsibility from 2 Corinthians 5:10. This Scripture says each individual will be judged according “to what he has done, whether it be good or bad.” This truth is confirmed in Romans 14:12 where Paul attests that “each one of us shall give account of himself to God.” All movement toward salvation must be taken by the individual himself. This cannot be harmonized with the Mormon doctrine of baptism for the dead.
Jesus makes a point in the story of the rich man and Lazarus in Luke 16 that presents a further problem. When the rich man in torment cries out for mercy suggesting that Lazarus bring him a drop of water, Jesus explains this is impossible because, “between us and you there is a great gulf fixed, so that those who want to pass from here to you cannot, nor can those from there pass to us.” Our fate is sealed at death. Hence, we see the urgency for sharing the good news and for obeying it as soon as we hear it.
Even the Book of Mormon confirms there is only one opportunity to respond to the gospel before awaiting judgment after death. The following is taken from Alma 34 in the Book of Mormon:
For behold, this life is the time for men to prepare to meet God; yea, behold the day of this life is the day for men to perform their labors. And now…do not procrastinate the day of your repentance until the end; for after this day of life, which is given us to prepare for eternity, behold, if we do not improve our time while in this life, then cometh the night of darkness wherein there can be no labor performed. Ye cannot say, when ye are brought to that awful crisis, that I will repent, that I will return to my God. Nay, ye cannot say this; for that same spirit which doth possess your bodies at the time that ye go out of this life, that same spirit will have power to possess your body in that eternal world. 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 doth seal you his; therefore, the Spirit of the Lord hath withdrawn from you, and hath no place in you, and the devil hath all power over you; and this is the final state of the wicked.
The Mormon doctrine of Baptism of the Dead adds to the gospel taught by the apostles in the New Testament. Paul warns against such in Galatians 1:6-9: “I marvel that you are turning away so soon from Him who called you in the grace of Christ, to a different gospel, which is not another; but there are some who trouble you and want to pervert the gospel of Christ. But even if we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel to you than what we have preached to you, let him be accursed.”
The gospel preached in the New Testament required living men preaching to a living audience. We read in Romans 10:14, “How then shall they call on him in whom they have not believed? and how shall they believe in him of whom they have not heard? and how shall they hear without a preacher?”
Baptism was always preceded by faith. Jesus says in Mark 16:16, “He that believes and is baptized shall be saved.” When the Ethiopian eunuch requested baptism of Philip in Acts 8, the preacher responded, “If you believe with all your heart, you may.” A lack of faith removed the soul saving power of baptism. In Colossians 2:12, Paul added, “you also were raised with him through faith in the working of God, who raised him from the dead.” Since we only have one life to live, it is urgent we respond in faith to the gospel by repenting, confessing, and being baptized for the remission of sins (Heb. 11:6; Acts 3:19; 8:37; 2:38) while on this side of eternity.