God is Not a Respector of Persons

Problem

The Bible is very specific in the requirements needed to enter Gods kingdom.

"Except a man be born of water and of the spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God." (John 3:5)

The Bible also tells us that God is a merciful God.

"Blessed be God, even the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies, and the God of all comfort." (2 Corinthians 1:3)

The problem I see hear is that there are many in the history of the earth that never had a chance to be baptized. In fact there are nations that have come and gone that have never even heard of Christ. If God is merciful how could he condemn those that never even had a chance to hear his message?

Mormons: we have an "app" for that!

The best place to start is by applying some scriptures from the Bible. Peter taught that Christ went to those who had died and preached the gospel to them.

"For Christ also hath once suffered for sins, the just for the unjust, that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh, but quickened by the Spirit: By which also he went and preached unto the spirits in prison." (1 Peter 3:18-19)

Christ suffered death for all! This includes those that had died not hearing of His great gift. Peter tells us that those who have died have the opportunity to have the gospel preached to them. He also gives us the reason this is so important.

"Who shall give account to him that is ready to judge the quick and the dead. 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." (1 Peter 4:5-6)

In order for God's judgments to be just everyone must have a chance to hear the gospel of Jesus Christ. While accepting Jesus Christ and his gospel and having faith in him is important, the act of baptism is a necessary step for salvation. If one has died, how can one be baptized? Paul makes a brief mention of the answer.

"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?" (1Corinthians 15:20)

In this scripture, Paul is speaking to his brethren or in other words fellow Christians who live in Corinth. Corinth was one of the three economic centers of Greece. The Greek philosophy of the day taught that the body was impure and that in the afterlife one would be free of that polluted body. For this reason it was difficult for the Christian Corinthians to accept a literal resurrection. Instead, they melded Greek philosophy with Christianity and determined that the resurrection was only spiritual. In order to clear up this false doctrine, Paul sends them a letter. He uses the practice of baptisms for the dead as one of his arguments for a literal resurrection. Had there not been a Christian practice of baptisms for the dead Paul would have not chosen to use it as a reasoning tool.

Although there is no explanation of the practice, we as Mormons believe that this is the way that God is able to justly judge all of His children. We build temples and in them one of the things we do is perform proxy baptisms for our ancestors. This is the reason that we do genealogical work in our church. We believe that those we do proxy baptisms for have the right to accept or reject the ordinance and the gospel that is preached to them. Here is a picture of a baptismal font in one of our temples.

Our baptismal fonts are placed upon the back of twelve oxen representing the twelve tribes of Israel. It symbolizes the gathering of the twelve tribes into the church through the ordiance of baptism. Solomon was also commanded to place a basin upon the backs of twelve oxen in the temple he built. (2 Chronicles 4:2-4)

We believe in a merciful God who is not a "respecter of persons" (Acts 10:34). We believe that God has provided a way for all of His children to return to Him, not just a select few. We believe that man must be born of water and the spirit to enter the kingdom of God and that through God's mercy and grace, all will have that chance!