Posted on 03/15/2009 12:55:16 PM PDT by delacoert
Ron McDowell clunks open a metal drawer, one of many at the Sacramento Family History Center, to reveal stacks and stacks of microfilm.
"Those are the census records from 1880," he said, pointing down the line of drawers. "They just go on and on."
(Excerpt) Read more at sacbee.com ...
On Saturday, the church invited African Americans in the region to view those records, offering workshops and guidance on how to sort through dusty documents and online databases to uncover more about their ancestors.
As part of its fourth annual seminar, the church offered scores of probate, land transfer and bank records, along with slave transaction records, to African Americans, a group whose documented ties to ancestors were muddied by more than two centuries of slavery in America.
"All of us need to feel like we belong to a community," Lynette McDowell said.
The LDS church is considered a world leader in genealogy research and makes its ancestral records available to the public.
Genealogy is valued as part of the faith's emphasis on the eternal nature of marriage and family. Since the bonds of family last forever, even beyond death, according to Mormon belief, it's crucial for the living to be aware of their ancestry.
Saturday's church event, which drew more than 100 participants, was something of an awkward union, as African Americans were blocked from church ceremonies and the priesthood until the late 1970s, when the church repealed the restrictions.
To help bridge the divide, the local Mormon church sought sponsorships from African American business groups, and advertised directly to the African American community before Saturday's event.
Participants were delighted with the access to the church's family history room – a library holding more than 20,000 research books of historical records and maps within its exposed brick walls.
Hester McCoy Snider, 82, from Rocklin, came to the event with a friend. She just finished up her memoir and was hoping to find out more about her ancestors.
"You want to know as much as possible because you want to let your children know who they are," she said.
Brenda Austin of Vallejo also came with a friend. She said the importance of being familiar with your family tree hit home when her daughter, then in middle school, came home talking about a boy she liked. After the family did some research, they made an unnerving discovery.
"He turned out to be a cousin," Austin said. "It's a very small world."
Organizer Ron McDowell said interfacing with the African American community is helping the church reach out to other minority groups, as well.
"We've become sharper about how to help out other communities," he said. "The Ukrainians are coming in, the Hispanics are coming in. It's helping us reach out."
Mark Jansson, who does public affairs work for the church in the Sacramento area, even attributed some of his inspiration to do genealogical work to Alex Haley, the African American author who wrote "Roots," a novel adapted into an iconic miniseries that spurred interest among African Americans in tracing their ancestry.
Event organizers said they have no intention of using these workshops to convert but would embrace any who did.
offering workshops and guidance on how to sort through dusty documents and online databases to uncover more about their ancestors.
___________________________________
who are all candidates for necro-dunking...
who are all candidates for necro-dunking...
If their name is in the database, the Mormons already their names available for "necro-dunking". Every person with a published obituary in today's newspaper is available for "necro-dunking".
If the Mormon religion is false, then "necro-dunking" will have no more effect that my saying, "I hereby use the power of the Karma of Internet Connectivity to baptize you, Tennessee Nana, into the Church of Kundar."
If it's false, it's just meaningless babbling.
I've used Mormon resources for genealogical research and it helped quite a bit.
3 As I urged you when I went into Macedonia, stay there in Ephesus so that you may command certain men not to teach false doctrines any longer 4nor to devote themselves to myths and endless genealogies. These promote controversies rather than God's work—which is by faith.
Oh, good grief! He acts like these “treasure” records belong only to the LDS. These are public records that have been in libraries and index books for decades. Anyone can browse them online from the comfort of their easy chair from many different sites.
Didn’t ol’ Joe Smith have something to say negatively about people who did not possess “white and delightsome” skin?
Yes, he did.
The false prophet wrote much false scripture that was unbelievably racist.
I don’t have “white and delightsome skin.” I am olive complected. Gladys Knight and Thurl Bailey don’t have the “white and delightsome skin” either.
++++++++++++++++++++++
Angels in heaven have kept that better record and there will be a day when Heavenly Father shares it with us. Until then, we do the best we can with what man has recorded.
There is an important difference between something mentioned in the Bible and something that is said to be "Biblical."
Is idolatry Biblical?
Idolatry is repeatedly mentioned in the Bible in both the old and new testament, but no honest person would declare that idolatry is "Biblical" in the sense that it is an approved practice.
In a similar vein, baptism for the dead is mentioned. It is mentioned once.
It is not mentioned as an approved practice.
+++++++++
Having done some looking up of my ancestors, I have looked in the LDS Genealogical Libery and found some, and I have had to look at original records from all over to find some.
I for one am thankful that someone has taken the time, energy, and effort to go around the world and photograph as many old records as passable.
Then this film is copied and made avabile in many locations, making it easier to find folks in places I would never have had a chance to visit.
And today there is a whole new army of volunteers that type the information into a computer form that is being made avalible on line.
http://www.familysearch.org/eng/default.asp
No, it belongs to all, it has just taken a lot of dedicated work to get it together in a way that all can use it.
When did you stop being caucasian?
By what means does God save those who die without knowledge of Christ? The following passages deal with this question:
Matthew 5:25
Matthew 5:28-29
1 Peter 4:6
1 Peter 3:18
1 Corinthians 15:29
The apostle Paul used the practice of baptism for the dead as supporting evidence for the reality of Christ’s resurrection. Why would he use a false principle to teach a true one? Doesn’t make sense to see it that way.
There are legitimate doctrinal differences of opinion. People interpret the Bible differently. Some Christians say baptism is necessary. Others say it isn’t essential to salvation. Both use the Bible to support their position.
If one side that believes baptism is essential, then it is up to them to resolve for themselves how God will deal with those who die in ignorance of Christ’s atonement. If one believes that baptism isn’t necessary, then it is a superfluous question.
Mormons believe every person must repent and be baptized. For those who die in ignorance of Christ, they learn of him while they await the resurrection. Christ himself went there as the scriptures above mention to preach the gospel to them.
If baptism is essential, then God must provide away for them to receive it as well as us. Thus, we believe in doing proxy baptisms for those who died without the chance to know the gospel in its fullness.
If other churches have their own solution to the problem of those who die in ignorance, they’re welcome to it. There’s no reason to attack our belief if you believe yours to be true.
The real questions are:
Is baptism necessary?
Who can perform a baptism and have it be valid?
How is baptism to be performed (Immersion vs. sprinkling)
At what age should one be baptized (Infancy? Age of accountability?)
If baptism is essential, then how can it be realized for those who died in ignorance of Christ?
There is no unity among sectarian Christians on these points. Catholics believe one thing, Protestants another. All Protestants don’t agree on these points. All of them use the Bible. How is it you expect to tell Mormons how to believe when there is no unity or consensus on this particular doctrine among the sects of Christianity?
For us, baptism for the dead teaches us that God will judge us all mercifully and with perfect justice. No one is condemned for dying in ignorance. No souls were created for the express purpose of suffering forever.
The LDS records are only as good as the submitters information. I quit using them due to the enormous amount of errors they contain. And in most cases you CANNOT contact the submitter to get the errors corrected.
Be wary of accepting what you find in these records as correct.
I wonder how many of those people get a knock on the door from a couple of bicyclists in white shirts in the next couple of weeks.
Typical anti-Mormon tactic—change the subject.
Let’s get back to the topic of baptism. Let’s see a statement from each one of those denominations on whether baptism is a requirement for salvation, who can perform it, how it is to be performed, and who has authority to perform it.
You will find legitimate differences in the way each one of those denominations interprets the Bible vis-a-vis the doctrine of baptism. That was the point I was making. A doctrinal exclusion of Mormonism must be equally applied across the spectrum of Christian practice. If Catholics, Baptists, Lutherans, Presbyterians, and Methodists all have differing doctrines and they all use the Bible, something must be amiss with them. They can’t all correct.
OK
i.e., Mormon baptism and salvation are rejected by the Lutheran Church.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.