Religion
Related: About this forumMormon leaders encourage more baptisms for the dead
Mormon leaders reminded church members Saturday about the importance of performing ceremonial baptisms on dead ancestors who didnt receive the ordinance while alive a practice unique to the faith that came under fire in the past from Jews when they discovered Holocaust victims were being baptized.
Henry Eyring told a worldwide audience during a twice-yearly Mormon conference in Salt Lake City that God wants all his children home again, in families and in glory. He encouraged listeners to use the religions massive genealogical database to trace their roots.
Ceremonial baptisms occur when a member brings an ancestors name to a temple. Mormons believe the ritual allows deceased people a way to the afterlife if they choose to accept what they see as an offering of love. The belief that families are sealed for eternity is one of the faiths core tenets.
The practice is becoming more common because young church members have embraced it, said Eyring, a member of a top governing body of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, called the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles.
Read more: http://evans.allongeorgia.com/mormon-leaders-encourage-more-baptisms-for-the-dead/
DetlefK
(16,423 posts)Just imagine: A religious flaming-war where dead people are baptized and un-baptized back-and-forth.
- "I just un-baptized him!"
- "No, you didn't!"
- "Did, too!"
Mike Nelson
(9,956 posts)...leave dead people alone. If there is something after life, they can help each other.
Warpy
(111,267 posts)Mormons who make a pile of money get whole planets to rule over as gods if they're male. Women can expect an afterlife of cleaning up after him, recreating their "natural role" in life under rigid patriarchy.
The rest of us will be the same, "our father's house has many mansions" only something tells me we'll end up in the shacks.
Cleaning up after men.
PoindexterOglethorpe
(25,861 posts)There is an offensive arrogance in this: assuming that the person baptizing the long dead person really does know what the deceased might want. Wrong.
I've also read that hundreds of Mormons have retroactively baptized Anne Frank, which is truly offensive. And she's simply a well known dead person.
If there really is an afterlife, and some time after I've departed this life, and some idiot Mormon baptizes me, trust me that I'll be raging around the afterlife in full fury. Assuming, that is, that such post-death baptism actually changes my afterlife circumstances. I actually am inclined to believe that such ceremonies mean absolutely nothing, and have zero effect on the dead.