the Otter is spending more family time Sep, 11 2008 at 04:29 PM lola, you’ve completely misrepresented LDS doctrine. We believe in Hell. I honestly can’t imagine where anyone would get the idea that we don’t. Furthermore, no one can pray anyone into another “level of… heaven,” as you put it. If that were possible, it would completely negate our Heavenly Father’s Plan, thus making Him a liar, thus damning every last one of us (because God would cease to be God). Please, lola… I don’t think anyone around here minds you having a different opinion, but these false accusations have really got to stop. Thanks.

'cos God knows what you are going to pray for, even before you ask. That's why so many people don't even bother asking - they just say, "Praise God", or sing a hymn. So God knew that you would pray for them when they were still alive... Actually, my religion doesn't agree with this practise but I do like the above line of thought - a nice way to make your head spin on a quiet day! I once met a devoted Christian who told me that he once prayed, "God, if you exist then prove it." Within an hour, he met an old friend who started preaching to him. The old friend normally lived thousands of kilometres away, and they hadn't met in years, and they didn't know where each other lived. So God had put the wheels in motion well before the prayer. Of course, atheists would just call this a co-incidence - bound to happen occasionally in a planet of six billion people - but I'm not interested in arguing this point at the moment. Just thought I'd chuck a spanner in the works and give us something to think about.

Praying for the dead is a Catholic practice, not a Latter-day Saint one, so I’ll allow the Catholics to answer that question. Baptisms are performed on behalf of the dead because, as the Savior stated, “He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved; but he that believeth not shall be damned” (Mark 16:16). He made it even clearer in 3 Nephi, when He said:   “[W]hoso believeth in me, and is baptized, the same shall be saved; and they are    they who shall inherit the kingdom of God. And whoso believeth not in me, and    is not baptized, shall be damned” (3 Nephi 11:33-34). In short, we perform baptisms on behalf of the dead so that everyone has equal opportunity to obey the Savior’s commandments. I suppose if you want to call that “assist[ing] a dead person to elevate to a higher level of heaven,” that’s not entirely inaccurate, but I think that statement reveals where you’ve misunderstood our doctrine. When a righteous and obedient individual dies, s/he doesn’t immediately receive a degree of glory; s/he goes to Paradise. Likewise, when an unrighteous and/or ignorant individual dies, s/he goes to Prison, a.k.a. Hell. Receiving a degree of glory (or lack thereof) doesn’t come until after the Final Judgment spoken of throughout Revelation (among others), and by then everyone will have had equal opportunity to accept Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior. So you understand: there is no doctrine stating that progression from one degree of glory to another be possible, nor (to the best of my knowledge) that it be impossible; we just don’t know, and frankly it doesn’t matter. What *does* matter is that in order to “inherit the kingdom of God” (see above), an individual must accept the ordinance of baptism, whether in person or by accepting a baptism performed on his or her behalf. (And no, we don’t perform proxy baptisms for live individuals; proxy ordinances are only available to those currently lacking a physical body, who consequently cannot physically submit thereunto.) Does that make more sense?

Does that make sense. Well it make sense in the context of that is what you believe. But it does not make sense in the contexr of this is our life and our chance. When we die, at the moment of our last breathe, that is when the decision is made as to were you are going. This is it, one chance. Why would someone go through there whole life here on earth and then die, than decide to worship your god. This is it buddy, no second chances. Having grown up Catholic, I never prayed for the dead. As to baptizing dead people, what a foolish venture. You are assuming first that the person would have been remotely interested in your cult. Now lets say they were, you are now assuming they were good people. Lets just baptise all the people who died under Hitlers regiem, shall we. Now a lot of those people were Jews and don't even consider Christ as there savior. So baptising them is kinda a waste of effort. (not to mention the fact that they are dead and it is to late to baptise them anyways). Now there were also alot of Checks and Polish in among the prisoners. I find it hard ti believe that they would have been interested in turning there backs on God and worsiping Joeseph Smith and company. Again, kinda of a waste. Now lets say that they (being dead and too late again) decided to follow your cult, baptism is for the living and has to be a decision made personally by the baptizes person. It is an outwardly reflection of an inwardly change. There is nothing special about it, it does not change aything, except it shows your decision to follow God. Or in your case god. All in all it is a foolish thing to do and quoting a bural document (Nephi) really doesn't help your case much. Jesus spoke against worrying about the dead, so I would concider baptising the dead as blasphemy. So to answer your final question, from a Christian perspective, no it makes no sense at all.