I think you are being argumentative. You just want to argue for its own sake, which is not what I am here to do. You are an avowed atheist, and I am not interested in “proving” to you the truth of the tenets of Mormonism which you have no interest in wanting to know. In such situations I need only testify that I know that what Mormonism teaches is true, and leave it at that. However you have raised some points the answers to which may be of interest to others; therefore I will selectively reply to some of your points for the benefit of those who might be interested.
Again, you didn’t really answer the question. I’m asking why this would be a good method for God to go about things; you’re just saying that God instituted the method. I get that you believe this; my question is why it would make sense for God to do things this way.
There are two answers to that. The first is that religion is a matter of faith. We do things because we believe that is what God wants us to do, not because He has an obligation to tell us why He wants us to do them. Almost all religions have certain rites and rituals for which there is no rational justification. Many Old Testament rites and rituals, such as circumcision or animal sacrifices for example, fall into this category. It was done because it was believed that God wanted it to be done, not because God had provided a rational explanation for why He wanted it to be done. That is the nature of religion. Mormonism is no different. You can look at the temple work for the dead in the same light. However, in this case there are some explanations which I am sure would not be satisfactory to you, but makes sense to us. In our temples we do not just seal (make eternal) marriages; but children are also sealed eternally to their parents. In other words, the entire family relationship becomes eternal; and this is stretched all the way back, as far as the generations go. Salvation in our Church is a family affair; and that explains why everyone is responsible for doing the work for their own descendants. Just as every father is responsible for providing food and shelter for his own family, and not for every other family on the planet; so likewise the Lord has made everyone responsible for doing this work for his own deceased ancestors and not for every ancestor on the planet. That answers your question of why God has required everyone to do this work for their own ancestors and not for everyone else’s. In ancient times, before the Flood (and for a short period after the Flood), when people lived to be almost a thousand years, governments were patriarchal. Patriarchs ruled over their own posterity, because they lived long enough to see them become a nation. By the time that Adam died his posterity had increased to many thousands, if not millions. The scriptures suggest that that form of government will be replicated in the celestial kingdom in heaven.
I mean, it doesn’t make a good deal of sense, IMO. There are people who had no descendants. There were people for whom there are no records whatsoever. Even if proxy baptism did have an effect, it would be impossible to do it for everybody who ever lived.
We do what God commands us to do. We don’t question what He tells us to do. We have faith to believe that His ways are just, and that He has worked out contingency arrangements to take care of those situations, and that when He commands, He will in His own time give us the power to accomplish them.
And are you even keeping up with the backlog? I mean, there were almost 140 million births last year. You didn’t do 140 million proxy baptisms, did you? And as time goes on, this backlog will get worse and worse.
Remember, we do the work for our own ancestors. We do as much of it as we are able, and leave the rest in the hand of the Lord to take care of. And for your information, you might like to know that there are people who have traced their genealogy back to Adam. The European royalty for example can trace their genealogy back to Adam. They do that by linking up with one of the biblical characters (usually Ephraim); and from there the genealogy exists in the Bible all the way back to Adam. If you were doing your own genealogy, and happen to link up to one of the royalty lines, you will find that the rest of it has already been worked out for you by others, all the way back to Adam.
The idea of proxy baptism doesn’t make sense on a number of levels.
LOL!
To you maybe; but it does to me.
But what if your ancestors and my ancestors are the same people?
Then I have as much right to say that the work should be done for them as you have to say that it shouldn’t! Why should I listen to you? We will take it to an independent arbitration committee shall we, and see what they will say. Is that a good idea? There is another answer to that. Luckily my ancestors are not the same as yours, therefore that problem does not arise! You are being a bit “more Catholic than the Pope” here. I have never known in practice one set of descendants objecting to this work by another set of descendants. I have cousins who are not Mormons, and they have the same relationship to my grandparents and great grandparents as I do. They have no objections to my doing this work; so who are you to object?
OTOH, I do have the right to voice my disapproval, and to not help you in any way whatsoever.
You certainly do; but don’t get offended if nobody gives a dime for your “disapproval”.
Continued … /
(John 3:5)
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