The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints believes that Jesus Christ taught that baptism is essential to the salvation of all who have lived on earth. Many people, however, have died without being baptized. Others were baptized without proper authority. Because God is merciful, He has prepared a way for all people to receive the blessings of baptism. By performing proxy baptisms on behalf of those who have died, church members offer these blessings to deceased ancestors. Individuals can then choose to accept or reject the ordinances that have been performed on their behalf.
In January 1841, Joseph Smith received a revelation that baptisms for the dead were intended to be performed in temples. The Lord explained that “this ordinance belongeth to my house” and commanded the Saints to complete a temple in Nauvoo. Prior to this revelation, the Saints were performing baptisms in nearby rivers and streams in behalf of relatives, friends, and prominent people. See Link
Today we perform baptisms for the deceased in our temples. There have been various programs and technologies that have allowed to extract names. At one-point, individuals were performing ordinances for others whose genealogical information they had extracted from available records. In some instances, ordinances were being performed for celebrities and individuals that were not linked to their family and permission was not received from the family and certainly not the person the work was performed. Subsequently, more detailed directions were given encouraging church members to focus on performing temple ordinances on behalf of their ancestors. (See Link)
Over time there have been different ways to find names or work for our deceased. We have been blessed with a wonderful computer system program known as FamilySearch. This has made it easy to see who our ancestors are and get to know them, and how they are connected to us. Some instances, there are not written histories or computer-generated information, but you do have access to a date and place of birth to begin further research. Since this is the tree of all mankind, we all share these ancestors. When there are ordinances that need to be done, take time to learn about the person and reserve the ordinance as a person, not a name.
Over time there may have been some desensitization from our ancestors as only seeing them as a name and not an individual. With the computer being able to find an ancestor, or as commonly referred to as a name, there may be a loss of learning about this person and their life history. Ordinance ready is one quick easy way to obtain a family member’s name, but an opportunity to learn about our ancestor as well as the ability to view their relationship to you and to connect with them.
Our efforts in learning about our ancestors can provide a memorable experience as well as allowing to have a spiritual connection to our ancestors. We can enhance our temple experience by learning about our ancestors and to feel their connection. Let us all continue our family history and all it entails as well as performing the sacred ordinances for our ancestors.
– Carolyn Heninger, consultant, Granite FamilySearch Center