Is it true you baptize dead people?

The hallway answer

About 15 seconds

“Kind of. We don’t do anything to bodies! In the temple, living people are baptized on behalf of ancestors who never had the chance. Then it’s completely up to them, in the next life, to accept it or not.”

Then ask them: Do you know much about your family history? Some of it is so cool.

I want the real answer ↓

The real answer

About 5 minutes

Jesus taught that baptism is essential: “Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God” (John 3:5). But billions of people died without that chance. The Church’s Topics and Questions page explains that because God is merciful, “He has prepared a way for all people to receive the blessings of baptism.”

A living person, often a descendant, is baptized in the temple as a proxy. The page is careful to note that each person has agency: the baptism only counts if the person accepts it in the spirit world, and “the names of deceased persons are not added to the membership records of the Church.”

This isn’t new. Paul mentioned it in the New Testament: “Else what shall they do which are baptized for the dead?” (1 Corinthians 15:29). Many teens do these baptisms with their youth group, often using names from their own family history.

Scriptures to know. Tap to read.

1 Corinthians 15:29Baptized for the dead

²⁹Else 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? Read in New Testament, Connected →

John 3:5Born of water and of the Spirit

⁵Jesus answered, 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. Read in New Testament, Connected →

Malachi 4:5-6Turn the hearts of the children to their fathers

⁵Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the LORD: ⁶And he shall turn the heart of the fathers to the children, and the heart of the children to their fathers, lest I come and smite the earth with a curse. Read in Old Testament, Connected →

D&C 128:15They without us cannot be made perfect

¹⁵And now, my dearly beloved brethren and sisters, let me assure you that these are principles in relation to the dead and the living that cannot be lightly passed over, as pertaining to our salvation. For their salvation is necessary and essential to our salvation, as Paul says concerning the fathers—that they without us cannot be made perfect—neither can we without our dead be made perfect. Read in Doctrine and Covenants, Connected →

Go deeper

Research room

What’s behind the question

The phrase “baptize dead people” sounds strange, even spooky. Friends usually imagine something very different from what actually happens.

OfficialTopics and Questions: Baptisms for the Dead ↗OfficialTopics and Questions: Spirit World ↗OfficialFor the Strength of Youth: Temple ordinances and covenants ↗Faithful scholarshipFAIR: Baptism for the dead ↗History and answers to common objections

Source labels: Official = published by the Church. Scripture = the standard works. Faithful scholarship = independent Latter-day Saint researchers. Helpful, but not official.

For me

Think it through

Which of my ancestors might be waiting for this?
How does this show me God is fair and loving?
When could I next go do baptisms?

Act in faithWhat do I already know and believe here?

Eternal perspectiveHow does God’s plan change how I see this?

Good sourcesWho could I ask: a parent, a leader, the scriptures?

My thoughts

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Weak Things is an independent site, not an official website of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Answers are written to match the Church’s published teachings, and every answer links to its sources.

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