“The Prisoners Shall Go Free”

Belden (Old Grafton) Cemetery, Ohio [July 2007]

"When else in history would you find 'educated' people who know more about sports than about the history of their country, or uneducated people who do not know the stories of their families and communities?" -- Wendell Berry [What Are People For?, p. 187]

Salvation, Baptism and the Exclusivity of Heaven:

In the Pearl of Great Price we are taught that the ordinance of baptism dates from the earliest history of the human race. When the Lord manifested Himself to Adam after the expulsion from the Garden of Eden, He promised Adam that if he would turn to the Lord, believe, repent and be baptized that he would receive the gift of the Holy Ghost, and "whatsoever ye shall ask, it shall be given you" [Moses 6: 52]. The principle of baptism was always intimately tied to salvation. The Savior taught both by example and in verbal teachings that baptism is a needed step along the pathway to perfection or salvation: "Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God" [John 3: 5]. Armed with these truths, but without the authority of the Priesthood nor modern-day revelation, numerous Christian faiths seek to baptize as many people as possible in the hope that they might be "saved."

I'm sure that this was the motivation behind a small form that was brought to me by the hospital staff in Baltimore in 1998 where my son Brad was born (he's 11 now). Brad was born prematurely and spent the first 15 days of life in the neonatal intensive care unit. The form asked for my permission to have Brad baptized by a Catholic priest. Intrigued that the Catholic Church would take such an interest in the salvation of my newborn son, I pondered about what belief system would prompt such a necessity at such an early age. What did they believe would happen to Brad if he didn't make it? Where would his little spirit go? The answer is not very comforting to Catholics. Because they believe that all babies are born into the world with what they call "original sin," Brad, like all infants, would suffer damnation were he to die before he became baptized. Thus, the importance in their minds of baptizing as many infants as possible out of the NICU. The Catholic Church considers baptism, even for an infant, so important that "parents are obliged to see that their infants are baptized within the first few weeks" and, "if the infant is in danger of death, it is to be baptized without any delay." For a complete discussion of infant baptism among Christian sects, see: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Infant_baptism

Interestingly, the Catholics defend infant baptism using the same argument, that in a moment I am about to use to defend Baptism for the Dead -- "Fundamentalists must admit there is an exception for infants unless they wish to condemn instantaneously all infants to hell. Therefore, the Fundamentalist himself makes an exception for infants regarding the necessity of faith for salvation. He can thus scarcely criticize the Catholic for making the exact same exception for baptism, especially if, as Catholics believe, baptism is an instrument of salvation" [see http://www.catholic.com/library/Infant_Baptism.asp]. The Catholics say to the "Born Again's" (both in and out of the Catholic faith), that their doctrine of baptizing later in life condemns all infants to hell.

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints attests that both doctrines which exclude or omit Baptism for the Dead condemn to an eternal damnation the vast majority of humanity both living and dead. A quick look at numbers is helpful to illustrate this doctrinal blunder on the part of Catholicism and Protestantism alike. Approximately 2.1 billion of the world's current population of 6.8 billion (or 31%) consider themselves Christian. That statistic excludes at least 69% of the world from eternal salvation as it is, to say nothing of the number if we excluded all baptisms performed by unauthorized persons (the number would be high even if judged by liberal Christians). Now, think of the number of souls that would be barred salvation if we consider everyone who has ever lived and died without the saving ordinance of baptism. The final finite number, whatever it is, is staggering. Since the Apostle Paul there had been no mention of the doctrine of Baptism for the Dead. No mention that is until the Restoration of the Church in the Dispensation of the Fullness of Times.

Fast forward to the year 1832 when the Prophet Joseph Smith revealed, "And this is the gospel, the glad tidings, which the voice out of the heavens bore record unto us -- That he came into the world, even Jesus, to be crucified for the world, and to bear the sins of the world, and to sanctify the world, and to cleanse it from all unrighteousness; That through him all might be saved who the Father had put into his power and made by him" [D&C 76: 40-42]. It was 8 years later on August 15, 1840, that the Prophet Joseph preached at the funeral of a Church member named Seymour Brunson. As part of his sermon, he read extensively from 1 Corinthians 15, which includes a reference to baptism for the dead (verse 1 Corinthians 15:29). Then he announced that the Saints could be baptized in behalf of their friends and relatives who had died without receiving the gospel. He declared that the plan of salvation was intended to save everyone who was willing to obey the requirements of the law of God. After this sermon, Church members began performing baptisms for the dead in the nearby Mississippi River [see Journal History of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, 15 Aug. 1840].

In the photograph above I am at the final resting place of Jesse and Lucy Taylor, my paternal great grandparents (seven generations back). They passed away in August of 1824 at Grafton, Ohio, leaving behind a young family of six children. Their oldest son, my great grandfather Franklin Taylor, was only 19 when he assumed the role as primary bread winner of the family. Three years later he married my great grandmother Ann Mennell and they began a family that would eventually include twelve children of their own. Franklin joined the Church in April 1840 and was just one of the many men who donated one day in ten to help build the Nauvoo Temple. Like the other Saints at Nauvoo, he rejoiced when the temple ordinances of marriage sealing and baptism for the dead were revealed to the Prophet Joseph and was overjoyed when he was able to perform these with his wife Ann on behalf of his parents Jesse and Lucy Taylor.

On September 6, 1842, Joseph wrote Section 128 of the Doctrine & Covenants and sent it as a letter to the Saints in Nauvoo. This will be our discussion topic for Sunday, August 23rd. I am so excited! I hope you are too.

"Brethren, shall we not go on in so great a cause? Go forward and not backward. Courage, brethren; and on, on to the victory! Let your hearts rejoice, and be exceedingly glad. Let the earth break forth into singing. Let the dead speak forth anthems of eternal praise to the King Immanuel, who hath ordained, before the world was, that which would enable us to redeem them out of their prison; for the prisoners shall go free" [D&C 128: 22].