May 04 2009
And Speaking of Mormons: Converting the Dead
And speaking of Mormons…
So, I recently got into a friendly debate with a colleague of mine about a very strange practice done by the Mormons. Now the issue is probably very subjective, but I would of course like to feel like my opinion is the correct one. 
That being said, I have a great deal of respect for the other side of the issue, and I would really love it if anyone who were to read this would weigh in as well.
Mormons have this uncanny, bizarre practice of converting dead people to Mormonism. I’ll explain (as best as I can):
Basically, Mormon folk compile huge lists of non-Mormons (with a huge stress on Jews), and do some voo-doo magic ritual that hereby takes the soul of said corpse and turns it retroactively into a non-sinner. (You’ll pardon me. It’s almost impossible for me to describe the practice in a non-tongue-in-cheek manner.)
Now, the average reaction of most Jews is to be absolutely horrified by such a practice. They think it reeks of arrogance. They think it is horrifically disrespectful to the dead person. They think it’s creepy. They think they should be prevented from continuing their practice.
Me?
I couldn’t care less.
This is my logic:
If I am a believing Jew (and I am!), as far as I’m concerned, their actions are irrelevant.
First of all, a living Jew can never convert away from being a Jew. The action of converting out of Judaism is considered sinful and heretical, but still ineffective. However, it’s neither sinful nor heretical if it were done without your will or knowledge. Imagine religion were that simplistic. I assume if you could do it to a corpse, you could also do it to a sleeping person. Just picture the look on his face as he wakes up and you laugh at him saying, “Ha ha, you’re a Mormon now!”
Furthermore, what do I care if they want to waste their times with such practices? Better them wandering aimlessly through graveyards (metaphorically speaking) than knocking on my door.
It does nothing, and keeps them busy. What more can I ask for?
But that’s just my opinion.
What’s yours?
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“It does nothing, and keeps them busy. What more can I ask for?” I think that pretty much says it all.
The LDS practice does NOT “convert” anyone. Conversion is a personal, spiritual decision. We, LDS (Mormons) believe that people are aware, active, and able to make decisions after death. We also believe that baptism is necessary to attain the greatest blessings in heaven.
With that in mind, what we are doing is performing the ordinance (which is far less intrusive than some Jewish ordinances such as circumcision) for people who are not able to do it for themselves. They have the choice whether or not to accept the performance of that ordinance. The records for this only say that the work has been done for the person, and we leave everything else up to God, and to those people for whom the work is done.
So, again, this work is NOT conversion, it is only offering people the chance, if they want it, to “convert.” It doesn’t take “the soul of said corpse and turns it retroactively into a non-sinner.”
As a point of fact, the existence of corpse is totally irrelevant.
Another point. We do not make any special effort to do this work for Jews. It is primarily focused upon our ancestors (although there are plenty of Jews within that category of people).