How does baptism by proxy work?

[KellyKapowski]

if someone is baptised by proxy for someone who's dead in the Mormon faith, how does that work? does the dead person's soul enter the body of the living to be cleansed of sin?

[WhyNotAskDonnieandMarie]

Immediately after death, a person is prepared for heaven or hell. I don't belief in ceremonies on earth affecting that. I'm an ex-mormon but I didn't believe their theories even when I was in their church.Now I have found the Universal Theology of the New Jerusalem by Swedenborg and I love it!

[Minister of Sound-ness]

There is one of the many unscriptural Mormon errors. The Bible says that each one of us is appointed once to die, and then the judgement.

[Uryx]

Na, if a person dies without being baptized they're damned. This proxy thing doesn't really work, it's a placebo.

[shovelead]

There is only one baptism, baptism by immersion.

[coffee_pot12]

It is not Biblical based; The dead are dead and can not be baptized, etc. by proxy.

[Gram]

It doesn't. Every person is responsible for their own trust in God. When a person accepts Christ as their personal savior the next step is baptism. It is an outward expression of an inward experience.

[Matt M]

Baptism for the dead was practiced in the early Christian church. Paul mentions baptism for the dead in 1 Corintheans 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?" Note that he did not condemn baptisms for the dead as a wicked practice. Jesus says that baptism is an essential ordinance when he said in John 3:5,"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."Because baptism is an essential ordinance and because not everybody will have the opportunity in this life to hear of the gospel of Christ it makes sense that a merciful God would still provide a way to be baptized after one is dead. Those that did not have an opportunity to hear the gospel in this life will hear it in the next. 1 Peter 4:6 says, "For for this cause was the gospel preached also to them that are dead, that they might be judged according to men in the flesh, but live according to God in the spirit."The person's soul does not enter the body of the living to be cleansed of sin. After they are taught the gospel they will have the opportunity to accept or reject the baptism that was performed for them. If they accept the baptism it is the same effect as if they had been the one's who went down into the water and they are cleansed of their sins.

[from above]

It does not work at all, according to the Bible the person dead is beyond saving by any means. When a person dies they have used up their allotted time to be saved. It is like saying that Adolph Hitler has a great grandson/daughter that happens to be a believer. That grandchild hates the fact that Hitler did what he did, so they pray and repent on behalf of Hitler and seek baptism. That sounds crazy right? Without actual repentance possible because Hitler is dead, they can not have baptismal. Repenting from sins means a person stops sinning, a dead person can not repent hence they can not be saved. A child or baby that dies early on is not accountable for the sins of their parents in the event of death. There is a time of knowing, for instance during the time of the exodus from Egypt. God allowed all the children that did not know evil, to enter the promised land. However the adults from twenty upwards had to die out first in the wilderness. Dt1:37

[mormon_4_jesus]

No, we believe that those who didn't get the chance to hear and accept the gospel in life are given that chance after death. They are there, and we are here. We are baptised for and in behalf of the dead person, and up there, they are asked if they accept the baptism done in their name. They have free agency to accept or reject it. And since we are taught that we will take with us all ouro feelings and emotions and prejudices, etc., then some will reject it.