My apologies, but that's how it was explained to me by a member of the LDS.


>>Yeah, it's something the Mormon's have gotten into trouble with before. This is a ceremony designed for members to 'bring their ancestors' to Mormonism, thereby saving their souls (after the fact) and getting them into Mormon heaven which, of course, is different from everyone else's. I think the whole idea is that when you get to Mormon heaven, you will be able to see all your ancestors - if you had them baptized in the faith.
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>>The silly side of me has this vision of people suddenly popping into Mormon heaven going "wait a minute! I had the perfect (insert your idea of heaven) going there, what the heck??!"
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>>The not silly side of me finds it a little insulting to your ancestors, assuming you know their faith (or lack thereof) better than they did, even if they did die 150 years ago.
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>I find that mockery of someone's faith a little insulting. Your facts are completely wrong.
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>First of all there is no Mormon heaven, heaven is heaven, and our heaven is just like all the rest of the believers. The idea behind proxy baptism is to provide a chance to make a decision in the after-life if you were not given that chance in this life. It is not binding on the individual and is not baptizing them into the mormon faith. Since Jesus said that baptism is the key way into the kingdom of heaven, then baptism is just that a way. They can make the choice or not, its up to them. It has nothing to do with their faith, their membership in any church, etc.
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>Its the same as lumping everyone into the African-American community in the USA if they are black. It has nothing to do with them being born in Africa, changing their citizenship or affiliations.