Jewish Holocaust survivor Eli Wiesel recently called for Mitt Romney to tell the Mormon Church to stop proxy baptisms of Jews. Members of his own family were listed in the Church’s genealogical database. Family members of journalist Daniel Pearl have also issued a statement on the baptism of Pearl after his death in Pakistan asserting that the baptism was unwanted.
Proxy baptisms are baptisms done on behalf of people who have died. Unlike some Christian churches who teach that those not baptized in this life cannot be saved, Mormons carry out proxy baptisms so that everyone has the chance to be saved. Proxy baptisms are conducted in a temple, a place set apart for such special ceremonies, and in the ceremony a person is baptized “on behalf of” the deceased. This does not make the person baptized Mormon. They still have the ability to choose whether to accept the baptism or not.
Church members are only supposed to submit family names for baptism so Jewish proxy baptisms are due to a few members abusing the practice of name submission. The LDS church in a recent statement read to all church congregations has called for a stop to such abuses. The Church has also started to take actions against members who violate practices and submit Jewish names. Recently, violators have lost the rights to access records or submit names indefinitely.
It is natural to see proxy baptisms as ill-advised and offensive, especially for the Jewish who have endured forced conversions throughout their history. I have been troubled by the reports myself, realizing how wrong they were and glad when I read the Church’s message calling for a stop to baptisms of non-familiar contemporaries. Yet I felt at a loss as to how to explain something that sounds odd but to me is something very precious and beautiful.
Let me see if you will understand it another way. Baptism for the dead is our way of asserting the importance of every individual in the face of a great difference in belief and earthly circumstance. It makes everyone equal before God, able to change and to be saved. It’s our way of saying that all people are children of God, equally valued, no matter the circumstances that life dealt them. It shows that we believe in a merciful God who can still allow people to change after death. This Mormon love letter to humanity helps us care about people of the past, to remember them and no matter their obscurity to testify of their value. We feel close to them when we are baptized in their name. We attest that God can fix and make sense of a confusion of belief and a multitude of ill treatment, that humanity in all its messiness now and then will have a chance.
Pingback: Proxy Baptisms | Mormon Perspectives | Church
I really enjoyed this post. I myself find it hard to explain something that seems odd to the outside world yet is such a beautiful and merciful principle to me. I love that you called it a “Mormon love letter to humanity”. I believe that God is merciful, has power over death, knows and loves each of his children individually, and knows what each person has been dealt in life. He wants so much for us in this life and in the life to come, His love for us and concern for our progress doesn’t stop when we die.
“God made a covenant with Abraham and horoned it. He did not ‘exclude’ the Gentiles, only delayed the preaching of the Gospel to them, to fulfill his promise to his chosen people, who he made the promise to not because of some phony works explanation but because of their FAITH IN GOD.”Amen, brother.In this argument, it doesn’t matter if it was a result of faith, works, or because a particular group sharing the same lineage wore boots with red stripes, there was a “delay” in the time when they could have the blessings of the gospel. God knows all the whys and hows.Bottom line- God has in the past “delayed” when groups of people with a particular ancestry could receive what other people were favored with up front.Like so many reasons you all have for not accepting modern prophets, you insist on understanding the whys yourself- even while accepting ancient prophets who could be rejected for the very same reasons you reject modern prophets.You cannot refute that non-Levites were not given the priesthood duties associated with the temple.You cannot refute that Christ was preferentially sent to those who descended from Jacob/Israel, not gentiles.You have not attempted to address the favoritism I pointed out before that is so fundamental to your theology- that God sends some people to hell while saving others for absolutely no obvious reason that we can determine. Some people are simply created on this earth in a position that will never allow them to be converted to Christ. If that is not favoritism, I really do not know what is.Any objective thinker can see the double standard EVs on this thread are attempting to apply to this topic. You can quote what you think are racist statements and stories all you want to distract from the logical conclusion that the modern “delay” was no different in principle than that practiced in ancient times.It has always been so much easier to accept a dead prophet than a living prophet.
I’m glad you enjoyed it, Nicole. Thanks also for your witness.