http://www.mormon.org/mormonorg/v/index.jsp?vgnextoid=6bbcef07640f0110VgnVCM1000003a94610aRCRD&locale=0

I found this link on an exmo board I frequent, and I decided to go ahead and post my experience here. Clicking on this link takes you to a site on the web where you can ask a question of a “Live” missionary.

So here was the basic quandry I posted. For the record, here is the truth about me: I was bapitzed as a child, went through and got my endowments, left the church, and now I am a Catholic convert, fully baptized and confirmed. Brother was baptized LDS as a child, committed suicide, and has had his endowments done for him. But that’s not quite the angle I used with the missionaries.

I didn’t think that I would get an honest answer from them if I told them I was an exmo. So I told them I was a Catholic convert (true), and my brother had committed suicide (also true). Everything else was “embellished” a bit. Here was my scenario I wanted answers to:

My brother accepted Christ as his Lord and Savior in college and was baptized non-denominational Christian (embellishment). Then he got into drugs and committed suicide. According to the Christians, he did take Christ as his lord and savior, so he is saved. According to the Catholics, he was not in a state of grace when he died, so he is condemned. But my Mormon aunt had his name sent to the temple and he was baptized for the dead.

So is he saved now? Did the baptism erase the sins of the suicide (or, in the actual case, does the initiatory clean him every whit)? And all other sins?

If this is the case … does that mean that a person can live any way that they want as long as they are baptized in the temple when they die? What is the incentive of living a good life if there’s the option of knowing that all I have to do is be baptized after I die to be redeemed?

I like being a Catholic, but I could have my aunt submit my name to the temple when I die, so all of my bases are covered. If the Catholics are right, I’m saved. If the baptists are right, I’m saved as I’ve been baptized and believe in Christ. If the Mormons are right, I’ve been baptized when I was dead so I’m good to do there too. And all of my sins are washed away to boot!

In theory, I could live my life any way I wanted as long as I made sure that my aunt submitted my name when I died.

Now, the Missionary first sent me some links about what happens when you die. Then he said that all those who have not received the gospel will have that chance when they die. But apparently, because I had talked to him, I had that chance to accept the gospel and if I rejected it, then that was my chance on earth. It doesn’t matter what happens in the temple if you’ve had a chance to accept the gospel on earth and then rejected it. He also offered to send me missionaries to talk with, but I politely declined. I said I don’t feel comfortable with that, but thank you anyway.

He tried to explain the Baptism for the Dead quote in the KJV, but I whipped out my NAB bible, which when read makes MUCH more sense about the whole of the passage than just that one snippet from the LDS KJV. The passage is not about baptism for the dead, but discussing Christ’s ressurection. It’s quite clear in the NAB I have, both with the actual translation as well as the notes accompanying the scriptures, that the baptism for the dead is not what the scripture is about at all.

Then he asked me if I had ever read the BOM, and said yep, aunt gave it to me (embellishment), and I read it all, prayed about it – nothing. He showed me some scriture in Ether about test of the faith. I said wait a second, the scripture in Moroni says nothing about testing of faith. It says pray and you’ll get an answer. I prayed – nothing. So I converted to Catholicism.

He asked why I converted, and I said peace. I found peace in that church like no other place I’ve ever been. I said I tried reading the book, I tried praying – and nothing. So I went with the Catholics, I felt like it was the right thing to do so I joined.

And then he sent me a link to the Mormon.org baptism for the dead site that somehow got sent over and over and over, until I closed the window down because I get no response from him.

So yeah, I didn’t get the answer I was hoping for. It seems like this is an unanswerable question. And it took FOREVER for each response from the missionary. I’d love to see that “call center” for the chats. If it is even a live person, it could have easily been a bot.

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