Although several subjects are discussed in this week’s lessons, I am focusing on why the subject of baptism for the dead is so important.
Introduction
If you look at the gospel being like a solid ball, with any one doctrine being a center point in the ball, you can say that the doctrine in question never stands alone, since all things surrounding it touch it either directly or indirectly. Baptism for the dead is just such a subject. As I treat this subject, at no time will I be addressing all there is to the subject at one time. Instead, everything I say about the subject is just one part of the doctrine as to why baptizing the dead is so important and so relevant to each of us. So please be patient and just accept each part of the doctrine as being an important part to know about in order to see the doctrine as a whole, and its bigger place in the plan for our salvation.
The Christian practice
According to 1 Corinthians 15:29 baptisms for the dead was a common enough practice that a casual mention of it to the Corinthian saints appears to have required no explanation by the apostle Paul.
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?
As a practice, baptisms for the dead can only be done with the sealing power present. Whatever ordinance is done by a living soul has to be valid for the person the ordinance it being performed for. Without the sealing power any such ordinance is not valid in the eyes of the Heavenly Judge. Sealings require priesthood keys, like the ones received by Joseph Smith in the Kirtland Temple. For almost two thousand years there had been no priesthood keys that would allow baptisms for the dead to be done.
I believe baptisms for the dead was one of the early priesthood practices to be done away with in the early Church, since there are no vestiges of its practice remaining in current Christianity, nor are there any records of the practice being done anciently. That one lone verse from 1 Corinthians 15 is all that remains of the ancient practice that was once so common among the followers of Christ. The doctrine vanished from Christian practice many, many centuries ago.
I find it interesting, and a little puzzling, that no apparent use of this doctrine was had among the Book of Mormon people. At least there is no record of them ever practicing baptisms for the dead. They had the sealing power, but I’m guessing not this part of that power. One day we will know more about what they actually had, and didn’t have, and why.
The hurdle
For many centuries Christianity has taught that anyone who is not baptized will go to hell. End of story. This means little children, and the heathens who never even heard of Jesus of Nazareth are without hope of any joy in heaven for all of the eternal worlds. Only misery is the lot of he or she who dies without having accepted Christ. Most of humanity, under this doctrine, is consigned to never-ending torment, just because they never heard of Jesus. Imagine all the weeping and sorrow experienced by the people who were taught this grievous false doctrine who had already lost loved ones to death without repentance and baptism into the Christian faith. If you believe this doctrine then many, if not most of those you know will be forever damned to hell for not being baptized before their death.
This belief that God consigns the unbaptized to eternal punishment (including innocent babies) is something people just had to take on faith, for there is no justification for it in the scriptures. There is for those who knew better and rejected what they were taught, but I know of no teaching in the Old or New Testaments that teach of such a harsh ending for those whose lives were lived in spiritual ignorance of eternal truths. Somehow God is supposed to be the embodiment of love, but still be justified in damning most of the human race for their ignorance.
When the doctrine of baptism for the dead was introduced to the saints of the Restoration, it naturally caused great joy, for all of them had family and friends who were not yet members of the restored church or had died in their youth. This doctrine was a ray of hope not seen for thousands of years. This is why the saints almost immediately started to baptize family members for those family members who were dead. This was the first time in their lives Christ’s followers were given spiritual hope for those already deceased.
The doctrine of baptizing for the dead is totally foreign to general Christianity. To teach that we can offer salvation to others through acts we perform in life hasn’t been taught for thousands of years. For many Christians it is blasphemy to think we can help save those who have already passed beyond the veil of death. The doctrine of baptism for the dead is literally a God-given universal offer for salvation not found anywhere but in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. This is a major departure from the beliefs of mainstream Christianity.
Where the doctrine fits
The doctrine of baptizing a person who is dead is a necessary part of the plan of salvation. The gospel of Christ, as taught by Joseph Smith, promises the same opportunities for salvation if you are baptized today as you would have available to you if you died the year before Abraham was promised that through his lineage all the nations of the earth would be blessed. What makes salvation, as taught by the restored Church of Christ, different from the last two thousand years of Christianity, is that without the doctrine of baptism for the dead only a handful of fortunate people could receive eternal salvation, but with the priesthood keys of sealing, every soul to ever live can now have the opportunity to hear of Christ, repent and come to him and have everlasting life in his presence.
With the knowledge of the sealing power and baptisms for the dead, God’s professed universal love for His children now has some teeth. His love now has meaning and universal application that faith tried before to ascribe to Him, but couldn’t justify. It was unjustifiable before, because of God’s obvious partiality to those who were lucky enough to have heard of His Son and his atoning sacrifice, while all others were automatically consigned to eternal punishment for their lack of access to the truth.
The doctrine of baptizing someone for someone who is already dead is so integral to the whole plan of salvation that it is difficult to point to just one thing and say, “This is where the doctrine comes from.” I will need a moment of your time to explain why it is in the plan in the first place.
The plan of happiness
Family is everything to God. Only gods have families. All others in the eternities are single. God’s work and glory are all bound up in raising His children to be as happy as He is (Moses 1:39).
39 For behold, this is my and my —to bring to pass the and of man.
When He presented and explained His plan for our salvation and exaltation, it wasn’t based on individual effort, but as a family that exaltation would happen. If we didn’t work together as a family then none of us would see salvation and exaltation. Now that is a commitment to the family structure! In Malachi 4:5-6 he tells us that before the Lord returns to cleanse the earth of wickedness (the “great and dreadful day of the Lord”) he will send Elijah to use the keys to the priesthood power God gave him to turn the hearts of all mankind to the welfare of each other. The hearts of the children would be turned to seek the welfare of their fathers, and the hearts of the fathers would seek the welfare of their children.
5 ¶ Behold, I will you the prophet the coming of the and dreadful of the Lord:
6 And he shall the of the to the , and the heart of the to their fathers, lest I come and the with a .
This isn’t just any kind of concern for family we are talking about. This refers to generational concern. That concern is ignited through the use of the doctrine of baptism for the dead. Why? Because through the ability to baptize someone living as a proxy for someone who is dead, for the first time in the history of man’s time on earth we are able to reach out to our family members and offer them the saving ordinances of Christ’s gospel, opening salvation and exaltation to all of God’s children, as God planned for it in the beginning before the world was created. This is why these baptisms must be done in the temple. The temple is the only place God allows all of His most sacred ordinances of salvation and exaltation to be given and studied.
I don’t pretend to understand how Elijah’s priesthood keys enabled all the hearts of the human race to become so fixated on our kindred dead, it just does. This is why it would be such a waste if the intended link between generations was never made. God intends for each generation, by the time the work is complete, to be connected to one another as one big family, as we were all one family in the premortal realm. The restoration of the gospel and all the gathering together of priesthood keys from previous dispensations is just the beginning of the work needing to be done to bring about this welding of the human family into a single unit. The main work will happen during the millennium.
We are required, as those privileged enough to hold God’s priesthood authority, to carry out the work of salvation for the family members we must answer to in the hereafter. The ordinances can only be performed by those holding the priesthood authority, so God has given it to all of His saints of the latter day. We are bound through the covenants we have made at our own baptism to seek out our kindred dead and offer them the gospel, and all its blessings, we have received. The doctrine of baptism for the dead ties all the generations of mankind from Adam’s day to the end day together. It is the great unifier of the human family. This is why baptisms for the dead is such an important and all encompassing doctrine. It is a significant part in the crown of saving ordinances being offered as part of the Restoration of all things designed to happen just prior to Christ’s return and his millennial reign.
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