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...FOR FAITHFUL LATTER-DAY SAINTS, the temple endowment ceremony is one of the most...powerful ordinances received in mortality. One authoritative source called it the temporal stepping stone which all people must pass to achieve exaltation with God the Father and Jesus Christ...1 ... 1 Gospel Essentials, rev. ed., sunday school manual (Salt Lake City: Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints), 1979, 247. [SNIP] Another element of literalism disappeared in 1927 when kissing over the altar during vicarious sealings for the dead was abolished.129 Probably the greatest twentieth-century catalyst to increase the number of vicarious endowments was Heber J. Grant's emphasis...

Years ago...I had lunch with a conservative Protestant clergyman and his wife...Personally friendly and pleasant, they were nonetheless outspoken critics of Mormonism who frankly considered its claims about God “blasphemous.” Our conversation...turned to the ultimate fate of the unevangelized...To make the question specific, I proposed the hypothetical case of a medieval Chinese peasant who...had never traveled more than perhaps 20 miles from his home and who had never so much as encountered the name of Jesus. “He’s damned,” the clergyman said...I responded that such a fate seemed terribly unjust, since this Chinese peasant had never had a fair chance —...

On this day – April 4, 1981 (32 years ago) – Mormon church president-”prophet” Spencer W. Kimball made an announcement about what the three-fold MISSION was of the Mormon church. In other words, these three things were not “minor fair,” and the first two were not surprising for any given “church” (proclaim the gospel, and perfect the saints). What was the third part? Per Kimball, it was to “redeem the dead.” (Source: On This Day in the Church: An Illustrated Almanac of the Latter-day Saints, Eagle Gate Publishing, Salt Lake City, 2000, p. 65) A previous string of Mormon “prophets”...

Britain's late Princess Diana has been posthumously baptised a Mormon. The royal - who was killed in a Paris car crash in August 1997 - was 'baptised' by the church after her death, even though she didn't belong to the religion. Diana - former wife of heir to the throne Prince Charles - was listed by her maiden name, Diana Frances Spencer, with her address as the family seat of Althorp, Northamptonshire. Her file also includes her birth and death date, according to the Daily Mail newspaper. Other late stars to have been 'baptised' posthumously include Charlie Chaplin, Marilyn Monroe...

Nobel-laureate Holocaust survivor Elie Wiesel and a top official from the Simon Wiesenthal Center said Tuesday that Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney should use his stature in the Mormon church to block its members from posthumously baptizing Jewish Holocaust victims. Their comments followed reports that Mormons had baptized the deceased parents of Wiesenthal, the late Holocaust survivor and Nazi hunter. A spokeswoman for Romney said his campaign would not comment, directing all inquiries to church officials. Posthumous baptisms of non-Mormons are a regular practice of the Mormon religion. Church members believe the ritual creates the possibility for the deceased to...

...Mormon church leaders apologized to the family of Holocaust survivor and Jewish rights advocate Simon Wiesenthal after his parents were posthumously baptized, a controversial ritual that Mormons believe allows deceased people a way to the afterlife but offends members of many other religions. Wiesenthal died in 2005 after surviving the Nazi death camps and spending his life documenting Holocaust crimes and hunting down perpetrators who remained at large. Jews are particularly offended by an attempt to alter the religion of Holocaust victims, who were murdered because of their religion, and the baptism of Holocaust survivors was supposed to have been...

...I attended a luncheon for the Holocaust Museum...Each year I ask myself, Why am I here? ...Tis a gruesome tradition. I think of my grandfather, Rabbi Jacob Meyer Rakowski... My grandfather was the...last — descendant of a rabbinic dynasty hailing back to 11th century France. At age 82, grandpa was gassed in Auschwitz, together with 47 members of my parents' families. I last saw him two years earlier, when my parents, my brother and I were deported to Siberia. I'm retelling this old history because now, with Mitt Romney possibly becoming the Republican nominee, it's important to remember that his...

In the October 2011 general conference, Elder David A. Bednar reiterated the words of the Prophet Joseph Smith who said: "The greatest responsibility in this world that God has laid upon us is to seek after our dead." SNIP "We are the Lord's agents in the work of salvation and exaltation that will prevent 'the whole earth [from being] smitten with a curse' (Doctrine and Covenants sections 110 and 115) when He returns again," said Elder Bednar. "This is our duty and great blessing."

When Mormons use the term “saviors” to describe other Mormons, it’s not a “figurative” or “spiritual” usage: “When living persons are baptized for the dead, they literally become saviors to others…” (Part of chapter entitled, “How to Become a Savior on Mount Zion: Duty Lesson 12” p. 223 1974-1975 When Thou Art Converted, Strengthen Thy Brethren Study Guide 1974) In light of an agreement made by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints not to baptize Jewish holocaust victims, to comply... ...or not to comply. That has been the Jewish-Mormon issue over the years. The Canadian Jewish News ran...

The dead -- and funerals for them -- figured heavy into the history of Mormon theology. Did you know that… …two of the most distinctive Mormon doctrines were first revealed at a location where the focus was on the dead? …two teachings that serve as the “heart” of the Mormon version of their “gospel?” …and that these two doctrines are not taught in the Book of Mormon? …despite the reality that another Mormon “scripture” – Doctrines & Covenants – repeatedly claims that “the Book of Mormon…contains…the fulness of the gospel” (20:8-9) – Why would a book touted to proclaim "the...