I'm not catholic, I was born in a catholic hospital and was baptized by a priest immediately after being born, everybody born in that hospital was. What difference does it make. I have no desire to be baptized Catholic but it didn't hurt anything. I didn't die getting baptized, they just sprinkled a little water on me, said a few words and I went on with life. In their eyes they were doing me a big favor. In my eyes it is meaningless.
For people who are not Mormon what difference does it make if someone else gets baptized in their name decades after their death? If you don't believe the religion what difference does it make. If you are a Mormon and believe it is a good thing then it is a selfless sacrifice of time and effort just like the Catholic baptism at birth. More power to them. It isn't like they go to the grave site and put some marker up or something, they do it in their Temples where you can't even go unless you are a member of their church.
Please explain what is the harm here and why this is an issue?
What a great todo about nothing.
Good question. Here's a quote from a sidebar article from the Trib I just posted -- WhoIsHelenRadkeyAndWhyIsSheOutToGetTheLDSChurch? :
Mormons believe they have a spiritual mandate to offer the faith to those throughout human history who didn't have a chance to embrace it while they were alive.
Well, let's look at "what's wrong" over a few posts:
CONCERN #1:
It leads to billions of Lds man-hours being obsessed with the dead. I think we should be consumed with the living -- not the dead.
CONCERN #2:
It leads Mormons into thinking of themselves as "saviors" of the world, when in reality, we only have One, Jesus Christ, whose birth we celebrate this month. (He doesn't need false competitors):
And we have seen and testify that the Father has sent his Son to be THE Savior of the world. (1 John 4:14; cf. John 4:42).
(If you don't think Lds deem themselves as "saviors," then you've haven't been in touch with what their revered "prophets" have said through the years:
...we are the only people that know how to save our progenitors, how to save ourselves, and how to save our posterity in the celestial kingdom of God;...we in fact are the saviours of the world..." (Lds "prophet" John Taylor, Journal of Discourses, vol.6, p.163).
"... mortals have to be saviors on Mount Zion, acting by proxy for the dead." (LDS "prophet" Joseph Fielding Smith, The Way to Perfection, p. 325)
"We know something about our progenitors, and God has taught us how to be saviors for them by being baptized for them in the flesh, that they may live according to God in the Spirit." (LDS "prophet" John Taylor, March 20,1870, Journal of Discourses, Vol. 14, 3/20/1870)
In addition to what I just said in the last post, here's additional considerations:
(3) It negates Hebrews 9:27 "For it is appointed for man to die once, and then the judgement" -- thereby, creating a false sense of security for earthly man: "Oh, I can repent AFTER I die"
(4) Mormons are able to convince prospects that theirs is a "kindler, gentler Christianity" by not condemning anybody to hell and offering all -- including those before Christ -- a "fair chance" to receive their version of the gospel after death.
What they don't tell their prospects is that the vast majority of Dark Ages & before will never have their records found. (So how can the Lds church turn around and say this is MANDATED for EVERY spirit before they can be judged? Joseph Smith taught that "ALL those who have not had an opportunity of hearing the Gospel, and being administered unto by an inspired man in the flesh, MUST have it hereafter, BEFORE they can be finally judged. --Lds Presidents book on Smith, p. 471)
(5) Lds assume not only can they arrange eternal relationships with God and Jesus Christ post-death, but they can do marital match-making for the deceased. (Someone start the Halloween Morg music): "In the temple, we can perform ALL the ordinances necessary for the exaltation of those who have died. This includes temple marriage." (Official Lds teaching pub -- Gospel Principles, p. 248)
Talk about the occultic Macabre -- more direct involvement in the affairs of the dead.
There are only two paths to a perfect Holy God. The first is to never sin, and nobody does that. The second is to be forgiven through the redemptive work of Jesus on the cross.
Mormons have twisted that redemptive message into a bizarre, salvation through works, baptism and acceptance of Joseph Smith theology.
Colofornian does a service by pointing out some of the looney beliefs and practices of the false Mormon religion. If he keeps just one person from getting caught up in it, he has done a great service.
Friday, December 4, 2009
How Anti-Mormon Hatemonger Helen Radkey Became Obsessed With The LDS Church Practice Of Baptism For The Dead
Excerpt
mary: During her life, Helen Radkey has migrated from Catholicism to Mormonism and to the New Age movement. Originally from Hobart, Tasmania, Australia, she grew up a Catholic, but became dissatisfied with it. In 1963, two Mormon missionaries knocked on the door where she was a wife and mother, but for eight years, her husband refused to let her join the Church. Nevertheless, Radkey persevered, and in 1971, she relinquished the marriage and custody of her son and daughter for a chance to join.
Later that year, Radkey met Stuart Olmstead, an American who was living in Australia. He also joined the LDS Church; they were wed and later sealed in a temple. They had identical twin sons after moving to Sydney. But shortly thereafter, trouble set in. In a neighboring LDS ward, four members were excommunicated allegedly after a disagreement with LDS officials in Sydney. Radkey was outraged and complained loudly about the treatment. Because of their open apostasy, Radkey and her husband were disfellowshipped and both stopped attending. Three years later, she condemned blind obedience in a tract called Free Agency in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Australia and distributed 300 to 400 copies to members in the area. This resulted in her excommunication, but by then she had long stopped believing in Mormon doctrine. She decided the LDS Church was a “cult”.
Fast forward to 1984, when she moved with her sons to Utah. She had some unresolved concerns with Mormonism, and thought she could help Mormons who had gone through what she had. But she also had a premonition that she would have something to do with Jews, and became obsessed with the Holocaust. “I developed a passion for the Holocaust. I have five crates of Holocaust books, took Israeli dancing and even took Hebrew classes,” said Radkey. She also met Anthony Radkey, who worked in a flour mill and installed windows, but before she would marry him, Radkey insisted the nonpracticing Mormon have his name removed from LDS Church records. Mercifully for Anthony, the marriage ended in 1992. Helen also became a minister in the New Age-oriented Universal Life Church.
To continue click
http://mormonism-unveiled.blogspot.com/2009/12/how-anti-mormon-hatemonger-helen-radkey.html