Here\u2019s a piece that I wrote by request for the official Church website back in 2005, in connection with the bicentennial of the birth of the Prophet Joseph Smith. \u00a0In the context of my recent blog post under the title of \u201cBanned in Boston? No, suppressed in Salt Lake City,\u201d<\/a> I think it worthwhile to share it again:<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n Everyone Else Makes Such Lonely Heavens<\/b><\/span><\/p>\n For these defects, and for no other evil,<\/i><\/span> The New Testament states unequivocally that, besides\u00a0Jesus Christ<\/a>, \u201cthere is none other name under heaven given among men whereby we must be saved.\u201d And yet hundreds of millions of souls, probably the majority of all who have ever lived, were never taught about Christianity and perhaps never so much as heard the name of Jesus Christ. Are these millions of souls lost for the eternities? If so, can God be considered just, let alone merciful?<\/span><\/p>\n The poet Dante Alighieri, upon entering (fictionally) into the next world, was astonished by what he saw:\u00a0 \u201cI should never have believed,\u201d he wrote in his\u00a0Inferno<\/i>, \u201cthat death could have unmade so many souls.\u201d Strikingly, despite his obvious admiration for Socrates, Plato, Aristotle, the great Islamic philosophers Avicenna and Averros, and the chivalrous Muslim military hero Saladin, Dante felt obliged to place them all in Hell. Even his guide, companion and \u201ckindly master,\u201d the Roman poet Virgil, was eternally barred from heaven.\u00a0 Virgil explains the reason to Dante as follows:<\/span>I\u2019d have you know, before you go ahead,<\/span> The founding Mormon prophet, Joseph Smith, proclaimed a much more generous and expansive view of eternal possibilities. He pointed out that even the New Testament itself suggests a hopeful escape from this troubling prospect, citing the Apostle Paul\u2019s reference to a practice long since forgotten or ignored by mainstream Christianity.<\/span><\/p>\n Else what shall they do which are baptized for the dead,<\/span> Though vicarious or \u201cproxy\u201d baptism is but briefly mentioned in the Bible, a restoration of this ancient Christian practice became a foundational doctrine of the Latter-day Saint faith.<\/span><\/p>\n Today, members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints<\/a> labor to gather\u00a0genealogical records<\/a>\u00a0and to construct temples in which baptisms for the dead and related ordinances can be performed. In striking contrast to the horrific atrocities committed by men and governments in the course of history, this vicarious\u00a0temple<\/a>\u00a0service extends the love of God, with full salvational access, to every human who ever lived.<\/span><\/p>\n Proxy temple work best reflects the foundational Latter-day Saint conviction that the power of the atonement of Christ extends even to those who did not hear: every person who has ever lived is to be individually remembered, labored for and valued, thus vindicating the justice of God and illustrating the breadth of his redemptive love. Any rite performed in a Latter-day Saint temple on behalf of a deceased person, who yet lives as a spirit being, is a rite of\u00a0offering<\/i>\u00a0only, exacting no forced compliance nor acceptance of the rite. There is no imposed change of identity, heritage or religious belief, nor is the individual\u2019s name added to the membership rolls of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/section>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n Re-posted from Orlando, Florida<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" \u00a0 \u00a0 Here\u2019s a piece that I wrote by request for the official Church website back in 2005, in connection with the bicentennial of the birth of the Prophet Joseph Smith. \u00a0In the context of my recent blog post under the title of \u201cBanned in Boston? No, suppressed in Salt Lake City,\u201d I think it […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1019,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-79494","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\n
\nwe now are lost and punished just with this:<\/i><\/span>
\nwe have no hope and yet we live in longing.<\/i><\/span>
\nDante\u2019s\u00a0Inferno<\/i><\/span><\/p>\n
\nthey did not sin; and yet, though they have merits,<\/span>
\nthat\u2019s not enough, because they lacked baptism,<\/span>
\nthe portal of the faith that you embrace.<\/span>
\nAnd if they lived before Christianity,\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/span>
\nthey did not worship God in fitting ways;<\/span>
\nand of such spirits I myself am one.<\/span>
\nFor these defects, and for no other evil,<\/span>
\nwe now are lost and punished just with this:<\/span>
\nwe have no hope and yet we live in longing.<\/span><\/p>\n
\nif the dead rise not at all? Why are they then baptized for<\/span>
\nthe dead?<\/span><\/p>\n
![\"The](\"https:\/\/wp-media.patheos.com\/blogs\/sites\/186\/2014\/12\/orlando-mormon-temple68.jpg\")
<\/a>(2010 Wikimedia Commons public domain photo by Arden Kimo Bird)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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