In the world of political correctness it is offensive. How dare the Mormons baptize non-Mormons into their church after they are dead.
Geez it seems that those offended must believe that it works. That somehow if the Mormons baptize them, then they are sudenly transported from their Jewish hereafter into the Mormon hereafter or some such nonsense.
The whole idea behind Mormons baptizing others for the dead is their belief that there is a chance after death that will be given to every man to accept the gospel according to Mormonism and if you do accept that gospel posthumously, then as part of your conversion process you must be physically baptized by proxy by someone with the proper authority and since you are now dead, that needs to be done by someone here on earth.
It really doesn't make a lot of sense, but nevertheless it is a cornerstone of their religious beliefs and for someone to come along and freak out because the Mormons baptized their great grandmother by proxy in some Temple Ceremony is assinine. But the political correctness often gives us assinine results.
As far as I'm concerned, they can baptize all the dead relatives of mine that they can find. Hey, wait, they already have. :-)
Precisely. And, conversely, if they believe that it works --- well, you know where that would lead.
If we are just a bunch of nuts, we are not hurting anyone by uttering the names of dead people in a temple ceremony.