³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ

Baptism for the Dead

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints believes that a dead person can be baptised by proxy, which means that a Mormon can be baptised on behalf of someone who has already died.

The Church teaches that because millions of people lived and died without learning the teachings of Jesus Christ and without belonging to his Church, ordinances such as baptism and eternal marriage should be carried out on earth on their behalf.

Mormons believe that this restores a practice followed by the early Christians.

Mormons believe that baptising an ancestor who died without hearing the true gospel as restored by the Church is a demonstration of their love for that person.

In order to help Mormons track down the names of their ancestors so that they can baptise them, the Church has built the largest genealogical database in the world.

Joseph Smith said that it was "our privilege to act as an agent and be baptised for the remission of sins for and in behalf of our dead kindred who have not heard the gospel of the fulness of it."

Ceremony

Such baptisms can only be performed in special fonts in Mormon Temples.

Women act as proxies for women and men for men. There are witnesses present and a proper record is kept, although the ceremony does not make the person for whom the baptism is performed a Mormon.

Confirmation and higher ordinances can also be performed by proxy.

What's the point?

Mormons believe that this doctrine ends the injustice of millions of people being damned just because they died without learning of the gospel of Christ.

Traditional faith says that people are judged totally on what they do in this life. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints doesn't completely agree and believes that there is a second chance for everyone.

In Mormon belief, every soul spends time after death in a place where they are given the chance to hear and accept the gospel.

If they accept the gospel they must be baptised in order to enter into a covenant with Christ and have their sins washed away. But at this stage the person is a spirit without a body and so they can't be baptised because this involves total immersion of their body in water. Hence the need for proxy baptism, using someone else's body.

Other Faiths

There have been complaints that particularly enthusiastic Mormons have been carrying out proxy baptisms for prominent historical and religious figures including the members of other faiths.

For example the Ba'al Shem Tov, the 18th century founder of the Hasidic Jewish movement, was baptised a Mormon.

In 1995 the Church agreed to halt proxy baptisms of Holocaust victims and other deceased Jews, and to remove the names of all Holocaust victims from the files. Such names are now only accepted if they are resubmitted by a direct descendant or if consent is obtained from the dead person's immediate family.

Since that agreement Church genealogists have stripped hundreds of thousands of Jewish names from baptismal records.

Theological problem

Members of other faiths argue that it is just plain wrong to baptise dead people and make them Mormons when they can't have any say in the matter.

Mormons say that this is a fundamental error. No-one has to accept a proxy baptism. Just as the soul in paradise has a free choice to accept or reject the true gospel, they have a free choice to accept or reject the baptism.

If they choose to accept the gospel, the proxy baptism means that they are fully equipped to move on in their spiritual life.

Find out more

• Baptism
• Mormon funerals
• Temple ordinances