Tag Archives: lds church

Baptism for the dead

Posted on by Rachel A. Hanson

Over the last week or so I’ve noticed that members of The Church of Jesus Christ of latter-Day Saints (Mormons or LDS for short) have been taking a lot more heat than usual. This has been due in large part to their practice of doing baptisms for the dead.  Particularly for baptising individuals of Jewish descent.

Because I was raised in the LDS faith this practice is not foreign to me and I even accept it.  However, I can also understand why this practice would be disconcerting to many individuals.  If I had not been raised in this faith I would probably think it was strange (and invasive) as well.  But because of my upbringing I feel the need to shed a little light on the practice and the belief system that LDS individuals take part in.

It is the belief of LDS individuals (as well as many other Christians) that baptism is necessary to achieve exaltation.  Within LDS doctrine it is believed that baptism by the proper authority will allow you to go to the Celestial Kingdom.  The belief is that there are three levels of “heaven” (and in fact, hell isn’t even part of the equation) and the Celestial is the highest of the three.  However, the other two levels are also pretty excellent. I believe at one point Joseph Smith had a vision of the Telestial Kingdom (the lowest of the three) and reported that it was so amazing that you would kill yourself to get there.

It is also the belief that baptism can only be performed on Earth and that after you have died another person has to participate in a very special and sacred ceremony for you to be baptised.  It is due to the sacred nature of this ceremony that I will not be talking about it.  I hope you understand.  Of course, if you are the person being baptised for this person you may not have any idea as to whether or not they want to be baptised.  This is where my third point comes into play.

You have the option, even after death, to accept the baptism.  In the media the spin has been that the LDS church is “forcing” dead people to be Mormons.  That is not the case.  All this ceremony does is allow the desceased individual the option of accepting this baptism.  They still have the ability to choose and nobody is forcing anything on anyone.

Again, I can totally understand why this practice may seem to be invasive (and even a little creepy.)  I hope my short entry here has helped  you to make sense of this media blowout and to be more educated about what individuals in the media are talking about.

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The best marriage advice I ever recieved

Posted on by Rachel A. Hanson

Well, gentle readers, it would been that when it rains it pours.  I haven’t had anything to say for days and now I’m finding that I have a lot to say.  I guess that’s how it goes sometimes.

I was raised to think, from the time I was quite young, that I would get married to a man someday.  In the LDS (aka, Mormon) church there are different organizations you belong to as you grow up.  Ages 1 1/2 – 3 go to Nursery.  Ages 3-12 go to Primary.  Ages 12-18 go to Young Men’s or Young Women’s (depending on your sex).  Ages 18-death go to Relief Society (for women) or Priesthood (for men.) 

From the time I was 12 I have been making lists enumerating the qualities that a potential mate would have.  My top two were that the man had to hold the priesthood (for more information on that click here) and he had to be college educated. I picked those things because all my friends were picking those things and because I believed they were important. 

However, I had no idea exactly what I was looking for.  Just as an example, let’s say I went Brigham Young University (BYU, it’s owned by the LDS church.)  There would be over 14,000 men that fit the criteria of being priesthood holders and college educated.  That’s a big pool to swim in! 

One day in my mid-teens I was bemoaning the difficulty of finding decent guys and trying to figure out how I’d know who to marry, my mom gave me some valuable insight.  She told me that if I was dating someone that fit my criteria but I wasn’t sure if he was “the one” I should ask myself one question.  Does this man make me want to be better?  And not in a controling way where my significant other is telling me that I need to hurry up and finish my degree, or that I need to lose weight, or that I need to improve myself.  This man should appreciate me for who I am, but also want me to develop my talents and grow as a person.

Armed with this piece of advice I went out into the world.  I found many males (not all of them were men.)  Almost none of them made me want to be better than I was today.  Following being in an abusive relationship I will admit that the priesthood criteria dropped off.  Now it was (and is) important to me to find someone that will accept the part of me that has been hurt by that other guy, along with everything else. 

I am so pleased to be able to say that I have found that person in my sweet husband.  His presence and example makes me want to be better than I am.  Every day is a new adventure.  I may not improve every day, but the desire is there.  He makes me want to be better each and every day.