Mormons and Jews - New pact on baptisms

[pam]

Exciting news.

Mormons, Jews In New Pact On Baptisms | The Jewish Week

ksl.com - LDS Church, Jewish leaders tackle proxy baptism

[BookofMormonLuvr]

Wait... so Jewish Holocaust victims are the only group of people in the history of mankind excluded from the need for baptism? Was I reading that correctly?

[Wingnut]

Wait... so Jewish Holocaust victims are the only group of people in the history of mankind excluded from the need for baptism? Was I reading that correctly?

No, you weren't. It is a sensitive subject for Jews, so the Church has made an agreement to not do proxy work for Holocaust victims. I don't believe the word "need" was found anywhere in the Church's press release.

[BookofMormonLuvr]

No, you weren't. It is a sensitive subject for Jews, so the Church has made an agreement to not do proxy work for Holocaust victims. I don't believe the word "need" was found anywhere in the Church's press release.

Ok, I read the KSL story, it is way different then what the Jewish article is saying. Maybe they (the Jewish writers) are reading more into it then the church intended?

[BookofMormonLuvr]

This is the line from the Jewish article that confused me...

stipulates that the Mormon Church will allow Jewish Holocaust victims to be the only category exempt from Church doctrine that calls for vicarious baptism for the dead,

[Wingnut]

Yes, and it was a former NY state attorney general who made the statement, not an LDS Church leader or spokesperson.

[Roseslipper]

Dont stress over it....everything will be taken care of in the Lords Time. Hey im a jewish convert and their are many of us...and Im proud to be Jewish American Mormon Princess.And there are Princes out there too.

[Moksha]

Are there any talks underway with Rotarians on the issue of baptizing those who may have died while eating pie at Marie Callenders?

[talisyn]

I agree with Rose, it will be taken care of in time. But how annoying if you are descended from someone who died in the Holocaust and can't do the work for them!

[xenic101]

I agree with Rose, it will be taken care of in time. But how annoying if you are descended from someone who died in the Holocaust and can't do the work for them!

In addition, computer instructions will inform members of the exemption for Holocaust victims and ask if the entries are in compliance with Church policy.

It's my understanding that Holocaust victims can still be baptized by proxy, just that the Church now has the ability to make sure the existing policy is met:

* Jewish Holocaust victims. Members cannot do the ordinances for Jewish Holocaust victims except under the following conditions:

• They are an immediate family member of the deceased (defined as parents, spouse, or children), or
• They have permission of all living immediate family members, or
• They have permission of the closest living relative if no immediate family members are living.

And that Holocaust victims are now officially exempt from needing Temple work done at this time.

That's what I understand anyway.

I think the main problem is members who failed to pay attention to the existing policy submitting names they shouldn't have. By exempting this group, and making the Policy clearer at the time of submission, hopefully those people will stop submitting names improperly. I'd like to think, based on statements about the new system reducing duplicate temple work, that the system can now cross check submitted names against a database of performed work and against a list of Holocaust victims and deal with the submission appropriately.

[Elphaba]

That's very cute. :)

Elphaba

[Daniel2020]

Wait... so Jewish Holocaust victims are the only group of people in the history of mankind excluded from the need for baptism? Was I reading that correctly?

No.

1. Temple work for Holocaust victims will continue to be performed when requested by a decedent of the Holocaust victim.

2. Temple work will not be performed for Holocaust victims unless requested by a decedent of the Holocaust victim.

3. Better computer programs are now in place to ensure compliance with point number two above. Which means the names of Holocaust victims won't be among those for whom the Church does temple work through its name extraction program.

Edited September 5, 2010 by Daniel2020

[Just_A_Guy]

I wonder whether we'll end up make similar accommodations for Serbian Muslims killed in Milosevic's purges?

[pam]

In that case what about Saddam's attack on Halaba where Kurdish lived? I think we could find numerous times in history where attacks were made by political leaders against religious affiliations. But I don't think in modern history we will find anything like the Holocaust to date.

[Faded]

The three-fold mission of the Church is:

1.) Preach the Gospel

2.) Perfect the Saints

3.) Redeem the Dead

All that this move does is put "Redeem the Dead" on pause for this very specific group of people, in order to allow us to "Preach the Gospel" to the Jews, without having to break down a giant brick wall of, "Your people are insensitive to the sufferings and deaths of our people! Why should I listen to anything you have to say?" Sure it's a massive mischaracterization of what we're trying to do, but sometimes you have to be diplomatic in the face of such things. This was a brilliant stroke of diplomacy by the Church of Jesus Christ.

Ultimately, the Holocaust Victims will have their work done in the Lord's own due time. Leave it in the Lord's hands.

I highly doubt we'll ever see a similar exemption made by Church Leaders. As far as I'm aware, this is the only case where a very large group of people asked for such an exemption to what amounts to a tiny fraction of the deceased of the human race.

[Wingnut]

The three-fold mission of the Church is:

1.) Preach the Gospel

2.) Perfect the Saints

3.) Redeem the Dead

As a technicality, it's worth noting that the mission of the Church is to bring souls unto Christ, by proclaiming the Gospel, perfecting the Saints, and redeeming the dead. The focus and purpose, though, is to bring souls unto Christ.