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Descriptions:
In this episode, Dave talks about the Latter-day Saint practice of baptisms for the dead. He also talks about where Latter-day Saints believe Jesus Christ went during the 3-day interim between His death and resurrection.
Transcript of this episode and possibly additional notes on our website: https://bit.ly/303KMAO
Is Paul condemning baptisms for the dead in 1 Corinth. 15?: https://bit.ly/39h6WAl
The Church’s “gospel topics” essay on this subject: https://bit.ly/2wtw0XL
2012 Letter from the First Presidency about the vicarious baptism of celebrities and Holocaust victims: https://bit.ly/2W0An6h
A quick overview of this topic and related scripture passages: https://bit.ly/2JgkotN
From the Encyclopedia of Mormonism: https://bit.ly/39oTn1Q
How scholars inside and (some) outside the Church interpret 1 Cor. 15: https://bit.ly/2WKLC3N
Video on this subject by Latter-day Saint Q & A: https://bit.ly/2xv8bP7
Reference to baptisms for the dead in Shephard of Hermas (early Christian document): https://bit.ly/2QPRRzg
NOTES:
-Different faiths have different answers for the “what happens to the people who die before every hearing about Christ” question. Some people believe that these people are left without excuse and God is justified in condemning them because all of God’s creations (trees, animals, rocks) should be adequate evidence to humanity that God exists (and that there’s a guy named Jesus Christ who can save them from their sins). Personally, I find this idea very troubling, but the result of it seems to be exemplified in this response from GotQuestions.org (popular non-denominational Christian website—emphasis added):
“If we assume that those who never hear the gospel are granted mercy from God, we will run into a terrible problem. If people who never hear the gospel are saved, it is logical that we should make sure no one ever hears the gospel. The worst thing we could do would be to share the gospel with a person and have him or her reject it. If that were to happen, he or she would be condemned. People who do not hear the gospel must be condemned, or else there is no motivation for evangelism. Why run the risk of people possibly rejecting the gospel and condemning themselves when they were previously saved because they had never heard the gospel?” Source: https://www.gotquestions.org/never-heard.html
In my opinion, this conclusion implies that an all-knowing God chose to enact a plan that He knew would damn the vast majority of his children to eternal punishment due to no fault of their own, which doesn’t sound like a God of justice to me.
-The late Krister Stendahl, a Lutheran bishop who had formerly been a professor and dean of Harvard Divinity School, wrote that “the text seems to speak plainly enough about a practice within the Church of vicarious baptism for the dead. This is the view of most contemporary critical exegetes.” Source: https://bit.ly/2UjTx6k
-”The normal reading of the text [1 Cor. 15:29] is that some Corinthians are being baptized, apparently vicariously, in behalf of some people who have already died. It would be fair to add that this reading is such a plain understanding of the Greek text that no one would ever have imagined the various alternatives were it not for the difficulties involved” (Gordon Fee, “The First Epistle to the Corinthians,” p. 763-764). Source: https://bit.ly/2QL4Jac / https://bit.ly/39h6WAl
-”Close inspection of the language of the reference makes all attempts to soften or eliminate its literal meaning unsuccessful. An endeavor to understand the dead as persons who are “dead in sin” does not really help; for the condition offered, if the dead are not being raised at all, makes it clear that the apostle is writing about persons who are physically dead. It appears that under the pressure of concern for the eternal destiny of dead relatives or friends some people in the church were undergoing baptism on their behalf in the belief that this would enable the dead to receive the benefits of Christ’s salvation” (James Moulten and George Milligan, “The Vocabulary of the Greek New Testament,” p. 651, 1980/81 ed. published in Michigan). As cited by Jeff Lindsay, who is citing Mike Griffith. Source: https://bit.ly/39h6WAl
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