Baptism for the Dead
It is a truth confessed by most Christian faiths that we all must be baptized to return to God. The founder of Mormonism (or the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints), Joseph Smith Jr., was given revelations of the Lord that confirmed this. However, baptism must also be performed in the proper way, with the proper authority, which Mormons believe is the priesthood (or the power to act in the name of God).
But haven’t countless people died without baptism, let alone the specifically Mormon kind of baptism? (For Mormons do believe that their Church represents the only true Church, the only complete and restored gospel on the earth.) Yes. And for these people, these countless, the Lord revealed the doctrine of baptism for the dead to Joseph Smith. Members of the Mormon Church could be baptized, by proxy (or on behalf of), the dead. Therefore, people that died without knowing the gospel would have the opportunity to learn it in the Spirit World, and accept it if they wished. But only if they wished—it is indeed a precept of Mormon doctrine that free will is free will and that all that baptism for the dead does is provide the opportunity to make the choice. Baptism for the dead never makes the choice for them.
The only place where a baptism for the dead can be performed is inside a Mormon temple. These baptisms are performed inside a font created specially for this one purpose, this one ordinance. The font is placed on the back of a sculpture of twelve oxen, sculpted in bronze or stone, which represent the twelve tribes of Israel.
In Mormon beliefs, they are not, actually, the first group to perform baptism for the dead. Rather, they believe that the original Church of Christ performed the ordinance as well. 1 Corinthians 15:29 tells us, “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?” For those that do not recognize the ordinance of baptism for the dead, this statement is hard to explain. But the resurrection is a firm point of belief for Mormons, as are baptisms for the dead, and they believe that both show the love that God has for all His children—that He does not abandon those who could not know of His gospel. He is the God of both living and dead and loves both.
1 Peter 3: 18-20 tells us that the Lord “also . . . went and preached unto the spirits in prison,” which further supports the idea that the salvation of the dead is important to God. That Christ would go into the spirit prison to instruct those already passed from the world would seem to indicate that their state was not hopeless. 1 Peter 4:6 further tells us, “For this cause was the gospel preached also to them that are dead, that they might be judged according to men in the flesh, but live according to God in the spirit.” In the Mormon faith, God has no cruelty to Him and would see all His children happy. In fact, that first set of scriptures, 1 Peter 3: 18-20, gives us some very interesting information—some of the spirits Christ preached to died in the flood. Christ’s ministering was not restrained only to the righteous dead who had died without the faith, but was given even unto those who had been so wicked that the Lord cleansed them from the earth. He cared for all, not only those that we, as limited mortals, would consider deserving.
The love of God is not conditional and He loves us all, and would not deny salvation to those who seek it, even after this life. This is why baptism for the dead is performed in Mormon temples.