Well, sort of. Like most religions, we believe that after a person dies, their spirit leaves the body and goes on. We believe that all people who have died wait in the spirit world for the second coming of Christ and their subsequent resurrection. In the spirit world we believe that there is a "spirit paradise" and a "spirit prison." This is referred to by Peter in the Bible when he mentions that during the 3 days before Christ's resurrection he "went and preached to the spirits in prison." The people in spirt prison have either not heard or not accepted the gospel while alive on the earth. Therefore, there's quite a bit of missionary work going on in the spirit world! Since everyone has to be baptized to enter in to God's kingdom, we perform baptisms on behalf of those who have died. However, the person still has the choice whether or not to accept the baptism that has been done for them. This means they must have also accepted the gospel of Christ in the spirit world beforehand. Therefore, we do the ordinance here, but they still have the choice, it's not an automatic "release."

In his comment on Matt Galloway's answer Indyguy1183 asked, "But assuming a person has accepted the gospel in prison, can they there go up to paradise after there proxy baptism?" The answer to this question is that it depends. There is one thing that Matt did not mention in his answer. Yes, the spirits still have the freedom to accept or reject the ordinances once they are performed. However, there is also the matter of the kind of lives they lived. If the person in question lived a good life according to the standards of his society, if that person would have accepted the gospel in this life had he but had the chance, then the ordinances will be effective and will release the individual from spirit prison upon their completion and acceptance. On the other hand, if the person knowingly worked evil in this life and/or would not have accepted the gospel, then the ordinances will not do them any good. Since we don't have the ability to make these kinds of judgments about people, we do the ordinances for everyone that we can and then let God, in His infinite wisdom, sort them out. ************* "Answers101: Someone must accept Jesus as their Saviour; while they're alive! There's no purgatory!" You are entitled to believe as you wish, but what does your belief have to do with how accurately I have stated my own? ************* "hemiman: If you wait until you are dead, you have waited too long. Too late then." What about all the billions of people who have lived and who now live in places where they really don't have an opportunity to accept the gospel. After all, it has only been in the last several centuries that most Christianity has spread from Europe to the rest of the world. There are also many places where Christians are still not allowed to teach their religion to others. So, what about all of the people who never have the opportunity to learn about and accept Jesus as their savior. Is a just God going to condemn then because they did not accept Jesus in this life?

No! purgatory and selling prayers was invented by Pope Leo of The Catholic Church who wanted to build a great edifest for his oun sake and they began to tell parishioners this was so...for a fee. You have to understand people did not have access to the Bible until after the reformation period of the church.

Just to add a little note. Being released from "prison" doesn't mean that you are sent to heaven. Paradise is a "holding place" for the righteous who have accepted the Gospel of Jesus Christ. They are waiting for the resurrection. Post more if you have any questions.

Some Scriptures will help clear up the confusion. Ecclesiastes 9:5,10 states that the dead are conscious of nothing; they cannot feel, hear, think or do anything. They are in an unconscious state. Jesus verified this when he was talking about Lazarus, who had just died. He said that Lazarus had gone to sleep and he as journeying to wake him up. Of course, Jesus was indicating that he was about to resurrect him. That means that when a person dies, there is no 'spirit' that leaves him and travels elsewhere. The only thing that leaves him is his life-force...which figuratively returns to God. The Bible states God's purpose that there will be a 'resurrection of the righteous and the unrighteous' (Acts 24:15) So for anyone to say that a baptism for the dead is necessary is either not familiar with what the Bible really teaches, or has ulterior motives...usually selfish ones (as can be seen from the way they try to charge money for this "service")

No, but that would be nice wouldn't it be ?