You dont have to be LDS to discover that this really was an ancient Christian practice, described in an early Christian manuscript, once in the original Bible that the Catholics and Protestants removed, by an angelic revelation to a man called Hermas. ---This lady did a very good job of explaining it in 3 minutes. Here is an ancient Christian description of how and why it was done from an early Christian book once in the original Bible, called the Shepherd of Hermas: ... Proxy Baptism in the Shepherd of Hermas The concept of proxy baptism appears in Similitude 9 of the Shepherd of Hermas, in the allegory of the building of the tower. The tower represents the church. The lower layers of stones of the tower are the righteous men of ages past, probably from the Old Testament period. The last of the lower layers of stones is a set of 40 stones. These 40 stones represent the apostles and teachers, who proclaimed the name of the Son of God. In Similitude 9, we read that the righteous dead who had died without baptism received the seal, i.e., baptism, as a result of the apostles and teachers being baptized with them. Hermas doesnt understand why the apostles and teachers were baptized again. The angel explains that as a result of the apostles and teachers receiving the seal of baptism again, the dead received the seal as well and were able to enter into the kingdom of God. Richard Lloyd Anderson explains: The three lower courses of stones represent the foundation generations of the righteous men of the Old Testament, with the last and largest number of 40 representing the prophets and teachers of the Son of God. These have the seal, clearly defined as baptism by (1) the requirement to come up through the water that they might be made alive; (2) the quotation of John 3:5, referring to water as the way to enter into the kingdom of God; and (3) the summary, the seal, then, is the water. . . . Hermass messenger is explaining that the pre-Christian dead--who had fallen asleep--were also baptized; this is followed by the explanation that the New Testament priesthood bearers [the 40 stones, the apostles and teachers of the Son of God] had been baptized to make this possible. . . . Those fallen asleep in his passage are, of course, the dead, and his subject closes with plain words about the righteous who had died without baptism. So Hermas is discussing what Christians believe about baptism for the dead. . . . That explains his question to the angel, for he found it contradictory that the New Testament priesthood leaders went into the deep again, the symbol of their personal baptisms. If they would merely baptize others, there could be no puzzle. So Hermass question was really about rebaptism of those already baptized. The explanation was that both groups go into the water, but the effect of remission of sins is only for those dying without baptism. This cooperative baptism is proxy baptism, the only type mentioned by the apostles and teachers that he refers to. The joint immersion in water is part of the symbolism not expressly interpreted, referring to the earthly baptisms that were a shared experience of the living and the dead.[4] ... mtgriffith/web_documents/proxy2.htm
Posted on: Thu, 22 Jan 2015 22:50:22 +0000
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