Mormon Baptism for the DEAD?!

In this episode we talk about something unique to Mormonism: Baptisms for the dead. Fun fact. We don't literally baptize dead people. Nope, we actually do work "vicariously" for people that have died. In other words, we act in behalf of those people to be baptized.

Baptism for the dead only happens in LDS (Mormon) temples. Mormon temples can only be entered into by worthy members of the LDS Church who are over 12 years old. Baptism for the dead is performed just as it is for the living-- by full immersion in water and using the same prayer as would be said in a living baptism.

SUBSCRIBE:

Follow Us:

Follow the Hosts:

[darthgela]

I just went to the Toronto temple on Saturday for the 2nd time. Brought 44 names from my family... such a blessing.

[PyrrhicPax]

I've been asked to undergo Babtism by some Missionaries with my local LDS Church and have been very worried about leaving my family behind if I accept a Christian afterlife. This really gave me hope that even if I decide to go through with it, I can do something to leave a door to Paradise open for them. They are non-LDS Christians, so I guess in truth, they abandoned my spirit a long time ago, by accepting Christianity when I didnt. I hope that one day after we are all dead I can go to them and say I didn't abandon them.

[bobbyflamez]

You should do a video on Mormonism for new people. There was a lot of terms that were hard to understand what was being talked about

[thelatterdayarbiter]

Long before I learned otherwise, I used to sing hymns in the locker rooms until my bishop told me that the temple is meant to be reverent in silence. Which made sense, so I don’t complain

[imdustinaskmeaboutmychurch]

Last week it was only me so I was able to do 20 baptisms for 20 wonderful children of god.

[davidbixler]

Last time at the temple, A lady walked up to me and said she had been waiting three days. She asked me to do her baptisms for her, which I did. Then another sister approached and asked me to do hers.

[SpiritualHealing]

I’m a new member. I’m going through a tough time right now. One of my best friends passed away yesterday without having the chance to learn the gospel or become a member. So I’m getting prepared to baptize him

[josephsaltal]

I was just conversing with Missionaries online on Facebook about this very subject!

[alatterdaysaintonfire]

This is how I know that it is true doctrine. I understand why all must be baptized either while living or by proxy. But that is a long statement. The other reason I know, is because of direct revelation, first on a Sunday in a dream my dad's voice asked me for help. He has been passed for 12 years and was an unrepentant man. 3 days after that, I was dead asleep, my alarm is set for 515 AM but at 455 AM I was awaken by a voice. It clearly told me to read Isaiah 56. There is more to the story, but it happened, and there is no mistake why it happened.

[AbiGodinha]

Question: being that you believe that people need bodies for the resurrection, is cremation prohibited in the LDS church?

[michaeljames]

This false doctrine comes from ONE verse that the LDS Church twisted. If you read 1 Corinthians 15 you can see what Paul is actually talking about.

1 Corinthians 15 is clearly a chapter on resurrection that Paul is writing to the Church at Corinth. In Verse 12 we see that Paul is addressing a certain sect of individuals in the Corinthian Church that are teaching there is no resurrection of the dead.

“Now if Christ be preached that he rose from the dead, how say some among you that there is no resurrection of the dead?”
‭‭1 Corinthians‬ ‭15:12‬ ‭

Then if you come to Verse 29 (Read verses 13-28 Paul talks on the importance of resurrection) the twisted verse. You can clearly see that Paul is still talking about these certain individuals.

“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?”
‭‭1 Corinthians‬ ‭15:29‬ ‭

It’s very easy to see that Paul is addressing a certain sect of individuals that are preaching there is no resurrection. But then they are baptizing for the dead. It doesn’t make any sense and that is was Paul is addressing.

Also if baptism for the dead was such an important doctrine don’t you think Paul would have talked and taught about it more? I mean it’s one verse that has been clearly twisted. And that’s it Paul doesn’t mention anything else on baptism for the dead. Also don’t you think Jesus would have taught about it? Show me one verse in the gospels that even come close to teaching of baptism for the dead and I’ll accept it today.

Stop being brainwashed by LDS leaders. Pick up the Bible and read the New Testament and you’ll see how the teaching of the New Testament and the teaching of the LDS church are in straight contradiction!!

[reidscorner]

Could you guys talk more about baptisms?

[emaartamor]

Love the insight about the oxen protecting their young and I also didn't realise it's a keyhole shape.

[blueeyedmagic]

Before I convert I litarally thought we baptized the dead body's

[matthew]

Hay, I'm struggling with my faith here, I still believe in God and that Jesus died on the cross for us, I just ha e trouble believing Joseph Smith was a prophet. Can you guys help me out?

[sidname]

The Holy Spirit will offer an assurance of all they are saying is true and from God

[Lovemountains]

I am going to the Temple for the first time on Wednesday! (I was baptized on July 21st) and I CANNOT WAIT TO GO OH MY GOSH

[ScripturalMormonism]

Great video. Just two quick notes which you might appreciate:

(1) On the KJV and how the pronoun "they" is sometimes used to "prove" Paul was against thep practice--The Greek text of 1 Cor 15:29 reads as followed (followed by my translation of the Greek):

Ἐπεὶ τί ποιήσουσιν οἱ βαπτιζόμενοι ὑπὲρ τῶν νεκρῶν; εἰ ὅλως νεκροὶ οὐκ ἐγείρονται, τί καὶ βαπτίζονται ὑπὲρ αὐτῶν

Else why are the one's being baptised on behalf of the dead ones? If the dead are not raised at all, then why are the one's being baptised on behalf of the dead ones?

The Greek text does not have the pronoun “they.” Instead, it uses a present passive participle, literally, “the being baptised ones” (οι βαπτιζομενοι). Contra critics who harp on the pronoun “they” and their ignorance of the original language texts, the verse is entirely neutral towards the question of whether Paul himself was in favour of this doctrine (though some commentators argue that v.30 shows Paul associated himself with those who were baptised on behalf of the dead).

(2) You might appreciate the following comment from a non-LDS scholar who argues Paul *was* advocating this as a valid Christian practice:

It cannot be denied that Paul is here [1 Cor 15:29] speaking of a vicarious baptism: one is baptised for the dead to ensure for them a share in the effect of baptism, and this must relate to a post-mortal life. It is also clear that Paul himself refers to this baptismal practice, and without distancing himself from it (This is the embarrassing perception which is the reason for some (comparatively few) interpreters making an imaginative attempt to ignore that this relates to a vicarious baptism). (Søren Agersnap, Baptism and the New Life: A Study of Romans 6:1-14 [Langelandsgade, Denmark: Aarhus University Press, 1999], 175-76)

Something similar is said in the following work:

Verse 29 is one of the most vigorously disputed passages in the NT. On the surface, it seems rather simple. Using the statement of the opposition as a springboard—there is no resurrection—Paul points to the inconsistency and futility of a practice of the Corinthians, i.e., being baptized on behalf of the dead. Despite the numerous attempts to explain this passage away, or get out of the difficulties and discomfort it causes, it seems better to accept the obvious surface meaning of the passage: Some Corinthians practiced a form of vicarious baptism. What is meant exactly by that, and when and under what circumstances it was practiced is impossible to answer . . . . (Scott M. Lewis, So That God May Be All in All: The Apocalyptic Message of 1 Corinthians 15, 12-34 [Rome: Editrice Pontificia Universitá Gregoriana, 1998], 70-71)

Keep up the great work!

[janiapaige]

Hey all! I’m curious, Kwaku said that it’s not scriptural that salvation comes by simply accepting Jesus as your saviour. Just wondering how that comment can be made when there are countless verses in scripture that confirm salvation is simply by believing? Examples: Ephesians 2:8-9, John 3:16-17, John 14:6, 1 Peter 1:9, Romans 6:23, Hebrews 9:28, John 5:24, Acts 4:12, and many more! I’ve read these same verses in the versions NLT, NIV, and KJV and they all say the same thing. Does JST say something different?

[johnahanjohnson]

Just north of Corinth was a city named Eleusis. This was the location of a pagan religion where baptism in the sea was practiced to guarantee a good afterlife. This religion was mention by Homer in Hymn to Demeter. The Corinthians were known to be heavily influenced by other customs. After all, they were in a large economic area where a great many different people frequented. It is probable that the Corinthians were being influenced by the religious practices found at Eleusis where baptism for the dead was practiced.

Paul used this example from the pagans in 1 Cor. 15:29, when he said, "...if the dead are not raised, then why are they baptized for the dead?" Paul did not say we. This is significant because the Christian church was not practicing baptism for the dead, but the pagans were. Paul's point was simple. The resurrection is a reality. It is going to happen when Jesus returns. Even the pagans believe in the resurrection, otherwise, why would they baptize for the dead? Moreover, there is no such thing as baptism for the dead in ancient Israel and is denied by all non-LDS Jewish Hebrew scholars.

Lastly, how is baptism for the dead not a contradiction of other Mormon doctrine? I am very curious about this. In Alma 34:35-36 we read: "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 does seal you his. Therefore, the spirit of the Lord has withdrawn from you and hath no place in you; the power of the devil is over you, and this is the final state of the wicked." In other words, those who die as non-Mormons go to hell, period. There’s no suggestion of a later, vicarious admission into the Mormon church.

We also see present-day Mormon doctrine contradicted in 2 Nephi 9:15: "And it shall come to pass that when all men shall have passed from this first death unto life, insomuch as they have become immortal, they must appear before the judgment seat of the Holy One of Israel, and then cometh the judgment and then must they be judged according to the holy judgment of God. For the Lord God hath spoken it, and it is his eternal word, which cannot pass away, that they who are righteous shall be righteous still, and they who are filthy shall be filthy still; wherefore, they who are filthy . . . shall go away into everlasting fire, prepared for them; and their torment is as a lake of fire and brimstone, whose flame ascendeth up forever and ever and has no end."

I love the channel guys, you all are great. But, BFTD is not biblical among Jews or Christians. As Paul states in context, it was only practiced by pagans.