Baptism for the Dead

We believe in baptism for the dead for certain close relatives, but only those for whom we receive a testimony have accepted the gospel in the spirit. We do not baptize for every locatable ancestor, merely because they are located.  This is because genealogy is not a perquisite to baptism—faith and repentance are prerequisites to baptism.  You cannot baptize everyone, because you cannot baptize anyone before faith and repentance are affirmed.  In addition to Joseph Smith’s letters on baptism for the dead in the D&C, see James J. Strang’s 1849 revelation on the Baptism for the Dead, and Chapter 12 on “Baptism for the Dead” in the Book of the Law of the Lord.  There were special dispensations to baptize without temples in the Mississippi River (Nauvoo, Illinois) and Chagrin River (Kirtland, Ohio) during Joseph Smith Jr.’s administration (documented in his newspaper the Times and Seasons); and in the White River (Voree, Wisconsin) and Fonte Lake (St. James, Michigan) during James J. Strang’s administration.

29 Else what shall they do which are baptized for the dead, if the dead rise not at all? why are they then baptized for the dead?  (1 Corinthians 15:29)

2 Also he made a molten sea . . .
3 And under it [was] the similitude of oxen . . .
4 It stood upon twelve oxen, three looking toward the north, and three looking toward the west, and three looking toward the south, and three looking toward the east: and the sea [was set] above upon them, and all their hinder parts [were] inward.
6 . . . the sea [was] for the priests to wash in.  (2 Chronicles 4: 2-6)

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Prophet Joseph Smith, 1829

Ebenezer Page, 1830
(Early Mormon in N.Y., Missouri, brother of John E. Page,
Later an Apostle at Voree, Wis., and Beaver Island)

Elder Wingfield Watson, 1858
(Lived on Beaver Island)

Elder Joseph H. Hickey, 1907
(Son of L.D. Hickey who lived at Palmyra, N.Y., Nauvoo, Ill.,
Voree, Wis., and was an apostle on Beaver Island)

Elder Steve Barany, 1953
(Son-in-law of Joseph H. Hickey, died in 2010 at 95)

Others