Will Pope Benedict become a Mormon after he dies?

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PARIS (Reuters) - Pope Benedict was baptized at birth and will most likely be baptized again one year after his death, not by his Roman Catholic Church but by a Mormon he never met.
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Adolf Hitler, Joseph Stalin, Genghis Khan, Mao Zedong, King Herod, Al Capone and Mickey Mouse have all appeared for a short time in the International Genealogical Index for proxy baptisms, said Helen Radkey, a researcher specialized in the IGI.
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Jewish Holocaust victims, Protestant reformers Martin Luther and John Calvin and Mohammed ibn Abdel-Wahhab, founder of Saudi Arabia's stern version of Islam, have all popped up on the list.
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Clearly sensitive to questions about the practice, the LDS Church defends it as a central tenet of its faith. It argues the proxy baptism does no harm because the dead can reject it in the next life, a notion baffling to most Christians.
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http://www.boston.com/news/world/europe/articles/2007/02/05/will_pope_benedict_become_a_mormon_after_he_dies/?rss_id=Boston.com+%2F+News

Two things that cling together in my mind from this piece from all the absurdities are "Mickey Mouse" and "Central Tenant". Baptising fictional characters can be part of a central tenant?

Are there any Mormon's here that can and care to shed some light on this idea?

He called the College of Cardinals together to announce that he was on the phone with God and said "I have some good news and some bad news. The good news is that Christ is coming back to earth next week."

Cardinal: What's the bad news?
Pope: The call was long distance from Salt Lake City.

thing about this craze Mormons have for baptizing the dead: geneologists find their records to be a great source.

They baptize everyone in sight, and don't check the reliability of their sources. They have listed several mistakes for some of my ancestors, but I don't intend to tell them. I try not to use their resources because of their practices with baptism.

There are Mormons who troll the internet and find names of living people who they then baptize without their knowledge and consent. It happened to my mother, who was very upset. The perp posted her name, date of birth, etc, on a genealogical site, and refused to remove it or apologize. I wrote the LDS church, who said they didn't know anything about it. So just know that the Mormon Church doesn't even try to stop this practice.

I find this invasive and offesive--so I LIKE the idea of paganizing Joseph Smith!

That does not necessarily mean that the stories are true. Baptising living people in proxy baptisms is contrary to the doctrines of the Mormon church as is baptising fictional mice. Does that mean that it could never happen? Of course not. Drinking and cussing are also contrary to Mormon Doctrine, and yet Mormons occasionally still do those things as well.

Bryant

Do Mormons baptize non-Mormons after they are dead? Why? Enlighten us if you please.

Cosmik Debris the honest debator.

But here it is.

Mormons believe Baptism (and certain other ordinances) to be essential (similar to the Catholics and some protestent faiths, from what I understand). However many people die without the opportunity to recieve those ordinances. So proxy baptisms are performed those who have passed on without the opportunity to recieve them in life. I can't tell you much about the mechanisms of how this works on the other side of mortality, but we are given to understand that those who want to accept the baptism may, and those who do not, do not have to.

Bryant

But just to be clear, do Mormons believe that people get a second chance at salvation AFTER they die?

This conflicts with other Christian ideas that you must achieve salvation in this life. Is this different in LDS churches?

Again, I'm not trying to start a fight. I'm just curious about the LDS POV.

Particularly if you believe that acceptance of Jesus Christ or Baptism are essentials - for thousands of years people didn't have the chance to hear about those things, and even to day there are parts of the world where they aren't available. If you don't have a chance ot hear it hear, than you get a chance to hear it in the world beyond.

That said, you are rewarded for the light you are given and live by - if a man grows up in a tribe or a village or whatever and tries to do good according to his beliefs and according to the light he has, than he will find it easier in the next world - if a person generally takes advantage of otehr people or is cruel or whatever, than he will find it harder in the next world - you are the same kind of person there that you are here - so it's not like your life here doesn't matter.

Bryant

but when I wrote the LDS Church about this, giving proof that it had been done and who had done it, they brushed it off with a letter that basically said, "We don't care." THAT'S what made me mad-because this was an official letter from the church itself, and to me that reprensents their position in this matter.

Bishops and even Stake Presidents blow these kinds of calls on occasion, and church letterhead is readily available.

Bryant

and I don't recall the title. Basically, the impression I got was that they really didn't care and were not going to do anything about it. My mother was extremely upset.

So I'm not in the best position to answer this - but Baptising a person by proxy who is still alive makes very little sense by Mormon Theology. I'm not saying it couldn't happen - people do inappropriate things - I heard the story of two missionaries who baptized a fence pole once, but it is not the standard practice (the two were apparently pretty seriously chastised).

Bryant

I had the person's name and email and links to where she posted the information, including change date, online. I understand that some people do inappropriate things, and would never rant about the entire Church for the inappropriate action of an individual. But when the Church did NOT respond with any sense of concern, I felt that this meant they felt the actions were appropriate or not worth bothering about. Since this appeared to be official church policy, well, I felt the right to rant!

I am sorry you and your family were hard done by as far as it goes.

Bryant

Did the person invent a death date for your mother? ANyway, the church would not knowingly baptise a living person by proxy. If you are alive, you have to show up in person for your baptism. :-)

I wouldn't expect he church to keep tabs on what is posted on various genealogical sites. That information may not have anything to do with baptisms, but just someone's records. It wasn't on FamilySearch, was it?

So they baptize dead people, so what. In fact, I find it a lot more pleasant than some christians, who would rather smile as they contemplate you burning alive.

Really...they're baptizing dead people. Who the fuck cares? I can't believe people take putting water on their heads so seriously...and in the case of these dead people, there isn't even water going on corpses.\


On edit: I really wish they would stick to baptising dead people, and leave the ones that are alive alone.

Since all of the non-Mormons don't believe in their religion, what possible effect could it have?

Waitasec...this isn't the underwear I left the house with...

I thought he was still alive! How sad! I'm devastated... :-(

Was he already baptized after death? Thank God for that!

:popcorn: :popcorn: :popcorn:

I can't say that this would hurt anybody who doesn't believe in it. I certainly don't believe in the tenets of Mormonism, and I reject that their baptism means anything to my soul, just as I would suspect that non-Christians would reject mainstream Christian baptisms. So, though I can see where some people may feel violated, it's nothing more than foolish wishful thinking. It's not like they can exhume your body and actually do anything to it.

of a joke. No one reasonable believes fictional cartoon characters have need of baptism or any other church ordinances.

As for the rest of it, the church teaches that we will all have need of certain ordinances, including baptism. Many people submit names of relatives who have died to have proxy baptisms. The idea is that the person who is dead has the opportunity to accept the baptism or not. I personally have never submitted a name of a non-relative and doubt I ever would. Too much potential to offend.

How can the dead have the opportunity for anything?

the spirit lives on after the physical body is dead. If you're one who doesn't believe in any sort of live after death, I can see how this would seem odd.

There were some astonishingly eccentric people drawn to Salt Lake City generations ago. My own family history is probably not the sort of thing the Mormon Church would want their young missionaries to hear about, and this may explain why they have never, ever, visited my house. I'm certain my dead Salt Lake City ancestors, who were very troubling to the church in life, are the same sort of trouble in death. They probably greeted their posthumous Mormon Baptizers with the same wicked grin I have as I write this.

My ancestors coexisted with the Mormons, mostly in peace, but it was always a very strange relationship -- sometimes involving higher mathematics, very messy politics, hard liquor, infidelity, and dancing girls.

When my mom, born in the Mormon heartland, moved to Hollywood she didn't have any trouble adapting. She'd already seen it all.