Topical Guide/Doctrinal issues/Basic Gospel Principles/Baptism

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Topical Guide

• Baptism for the dead (Link)

Mormonism and baptism

• Baptism for the dead—There is considerable evidence that some early Christians and some Jewish groups performed proxy ordinance work for the salvation of the dead. The most obvious of these is 1 Cor. 15:29: "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?" Attempts to shrug this off as a reference by Paul to a practice he does not condone but only uses to support the doctrine of the resurrection are indefensible. Paul's statement makes no sense unless the practice was valid and the saints in Corinth knew it. (Link)
• Book of Mormon textual changes: "or out of the waters of baptism"—The phrase "or out of the waters of baptism" was added to the 1840 edition of the Book of Mormon by Joseph Smith. It is thought that this simply recommends a prophetic commentary on Joseph Smith's part describing the proper interpretation of the phrase "waters of Judah." It is not regarded as an error, or likely part of the original Book of Mormon plates' text. (Link)
• Essential for salvation—Critics argue that the LDS insistence on baptism as an essential ordinance of salvation is "unChristian" or "unbiblical." (Link)

FAIR Articles

• FAIR Topical Guide: Baptism FAIR link
  

External Articles

• Baptism in the Encyclopedia of Mormonism