I am not LDS and do not understand their practice of baptism for the dead. However, I do not believe it is appropriate for them to "honor" me in this way after I die if I did not choose their faith when I was alive.

I am also sorry that the Catholic Church has issued such a letter because I was hoping to trace some relatives in Germany by accessing some Catholic documents from the Family History library in Salt Lake City.

It is a conundrum.

Sandra

Do you believe in baptisms for the dead? Do you know what they are about or what it means? I think not. Do you think that if it was done for you after you died that something strange and alarming would happen to you? Surely not, if you don't beleive, why would it bother you? I don't understand. The Catholic Church must believe as Mormons do, only they don't like it.

If you believe in Jesus, you believe in vicarious work. The suffering and crucifixtion was done for you without you being there and giving your consent. Jesus did it not knowing if you would accept it and follow Him, but he still did it so that when the time came you could choose for yourself. The same applies to the work for the dead that the LDS church believes in and practices. You still can choose to accept it in the afterlife, but there is not a way for it to physically (on earth) be done for you once you have died. Those who have died STILL HAVE THE CHOICE.

I was raised LDS, but have spent plenty of time researching other faiths and feel that I have a fairly open mind regarding relgion. First of all, the LDS church is not just taking names out of a hat. These names used for LDS temple work are provided by family members of the deceased. Second, if you're dead, how is this proxy service harmful to you? Third, the proxy service does not make you a church member in heaven. The teaching is that it is still a personal choice to accept or not accept the gospel. I do not see how this harms anyone, and I am not necessarily a pro-Mormon either. I am very disappointed that Doug Fabrizio's show is almost always attached somehow to anti-Mormon sentiment. I think it is cheap and disprespectful. Would it be acceptable if we were in a predominantly Jewish community to continually attack the spirtual rituals of that faith?

I agree that the Fabrizio's discussion was one sided.

Because the LDS Church chose not to participate in the discussion?

Being new to Utah, I am still learning much about the Mormon church. I have found my LDS neighbors to be some of the best neighbors ever. However, the church itself seems to give me the impression that they do not respond well when they are questioned on many topics that they say are "sacred"not secret.

If the church can't defend or answer questions...or even show up to the discussion, that does not make Radio West the one that is one-sided. I think they are counting on people to say that Doug Fabrizio is not being fair, I think they are hoping that people will stop asking questions.

I've noticed this also about Doug, but not sure what his motives are? Clearly, when he does these types of shows he gets a better response than when talking about other things.

If you fail to see how utterly disrespectful this is, let me put it this way. If a person devotes his life to any religion and then after death is baptized into another church, how is that respectful? You say that he doesn't have to accept and so it can't be harmful, that person already chose their religion. The LDS church is mocking the memory of the dead. Why don't you just go stomp on their gravesite and say, "Sorry you picked the wrong church, now we are going to have to fix your mistake!" There seems to be many contradictions in the LDS church. Doesn't this practice go against your eleventh article of faith? http://scr..._f/1/11#11

I am Catholic and I was raised LDS so unless the doctrine has changed since my teenage years in the LDS faith tradition, this leaves me in outer darkness, beyond hope, as one who has denied Christ. Since I was already baptized LDS once and since my disposition is so dire, I don’t think they will baptize me again. But, should they be so inclined and I find out they intended to baptize me after my death, my first inclination would be to take offense that they imply my Catholic baptism fell short and I needed something more, but then when I consider that they really believe in this work and they are doing this for me, well, then I say “thanks for the thought, go ahead if you must”.

And although I don’t mind being baptized for the dead, I wish they would instead do a charitable act for the living in my name, yes, I would really like that.

Let any and all religions baptize me vicariously into their religions. See if I care. To me it means nothing. If you don't believe it has no power or value. Who cares. If it bothers you than maybe you think it might be legitimate and if that's the case then maybe you should come join in person.

I did not grow up in the LDS church, but was converted when I was in my early twenties. I don't believe baptisms for the dead are disrespectful at all. I have performed baptisms by proxy for both of my parents. I do it out of love for them. Everyone has free agency here on earth and in the next life. I happen to believe that my parents may not have had a full understanding of the gospel of Jesus Christ when they were alive, therefore their choices were made without the whole picture in my mind. I want for them to have the opportunity, should they choose after having the chance to learn the gospel plan fully and completely, to accept membership and the baptism that was done for them by proxy. When I was a baptised member of the Baptist church I was told that even though my parents believed in God and Jesus Christ, and lived good "christian" lives, they would both go to Hell because they did not walk down the isle in the Baptist church and "accept Jesus" the way they teach. That is one of the reasons I left that church and joined the LDS Church, knowing that many people do not have the chance while on earth to fully understand or even know about Christianity. I have found nothing but love and understanding in the Church of Jesus Christ of Lattter-Day Saints.

If you're dead, how is this proxy service beneficial to you? I've spent my whole life not being Mormon and living in Salt Lake. I know more than I want to know about the LDS church and have chosen not to join it. I'm not going to baptize you into the Church of the Flying Spaghetti-Monster. Stop making choices for others.

Please baptize me into the Church of the Flying Spaghetti-Monster. I think it would be fun. You people who keep making comments without knowing what your fighting against is comical and disgraceful for liberals. Just so you know, there isn't any "making choices for others" in baptisms for the dead. Read up on the subject and then come back educated and informed and maybe a little more open minded. Then you can make some worthwhile remarks.

I have a sneaking suspicion that you would be offended if the Catholic church got a hold of the records of you devout Mormon grandmother and performed some sort of ceremony in behalf of her spirit. Not because you believe that her soul would actually be affected by this act, but because if the lack of respect of the memory of her.

The Catholic church would apparently need to rebaptize a mormon who converts to Catholicism.
How can the catholic church condemn the LDS church for essentially believing the same thing in reguards to baptism?
(As in baptism by proxy.)
Also, it seems the LDS church takes the ordinance of baptism more seriously by making the effort to perform baptism for the dead at all.

When my mother went through the process of joining the Catholic church there was a question for a time if her LDS baptism would suffice for joining the Catholic church. I had to send her the baptism certificate from her LDS Baptism so they could review it. I found that very interesting. After several years of classes she finally was baptized Catholic. So in the end they decided that she need to have a Catholic baptism.

Evidently, you seem to have conveniently overlooked the fact that people who choose to convert from one religion to another do so by CHOICE. If someone is being baptized by proxy, they are dead and are not making that choice...a very personal choice. As stated by Father James during the program, this kind of action implies that the baptism that is other than LDS is not good enough.

Finally, to make assumptions regarding which religion "takes the ordinance of baptism more seriously" is an ignorant assumption and shows your lack of understanding of the topic of the conversation and your lack of consideration of other people's faith.

I am a Mormon. Our baptisms for the dead is our offering to EVERYONE to join the church. If I were a devout Catholic, I would graciously decline the offer in the afterlife, I would not be insulted, knowing at that point what is the truth.

Clearly, it seems as if it is "getting in the last word" on one's soul, as it were. Perhaps if other faiths were to perform the same practice to Mormons, Mormons would be more mindful to the opposition of the practice.