Family History & Lds

[Pegtagatha]

What dose the LDS have to do with family history? Why are they so involved with it? What dose family history have to do with their Faith?

[Doctor Steuss]

D&C 128 will probably answer your question.

[selek]

What dose the LDS have to do with family history? Why are they so involved with it? What dose family history have to do with their Faith?[/b]

Doc Stuess's answer is indeed correct, but let me give you a more glib answer in modern English.

LDS are interested in geneology and family history because we believe that our salvation is inextricably linked to our families. We believe that families are eternal, rather than "'til death do you part", and we do not wish to be saved alone.

We do our family histories primarily to identify our kindred dead so that proxy work can be completed on their behalf in the Temples. It also helps us to understand both our forebearers and ourselves, and provides further insights into Heavenly Father's plan for all of his children.

In identifying our kindred dead, members can do the physical portion of the Gospel ordinances by proxy (much as Christ himself stood in for us as the ultimate proxy), allowing those who never had the chance in mortality to accept Christ's redeeming sacrifice.

When you consider that the vast majority of people who have lived and died did so without having heard even the name of Christ, this doctrine is evidence that God is indeed both just and merciful. Whereas most Christian faiths write off these souls as damned and lost, Mormon doctrine clarifies that Heavenly Father has provided a way to redeem these sons and daughters, fathers and mothers. No one will be lost for the mistake of having been born too early or on the wrong continent and thus not receiving the Gospel.

While it might seem alien by today's standards, this practice was well understood in the early Church and is mentioned in the New Testament.

[bunnzy]

Peg, i have been reading a few of your topics, and am curious about your situation. Are you being visited by missionaries? have you been to church at all? what has been your experiences with the church, if any?

[Pegtagatha]

Peg, i have been reading a few of your topics, and am curious about your situation. Are you being visited by missionaries? have you been to church at all? what has been your experiences with the church, if any?[/b]

My first time to chapel was last Sunday, I have had a few vistis by the missonaries. I will be baptised 09/22. Next Sunday I will take Sacrament.

[havejoy]

My first time to chapel was last Sunday, I have had a few vistis by the missonaries. I will be baptised 09/22. Next Sunday I will take Sacrament.[/b]

Welcome home.

[rickg]

ahhhh........that answers my questions too. Almost thought maybe you weren't serious with your questions. My bad!
Glad you made this choice(to join). Get close to some members. You'll need the support! I saw about half the people I baptised on my mission go promptly inactive because they didn't make some close friends right off. Hopefully you'll hang in there. We're pulling for ya!

[cjcampbell]

Just to add a little more to what Selek said, it is not just that we want to perform all the saving ordinances for those who died. If that were all we needed then all we would have to do is look up baptismal or death records. But we believe that salvation consists of making actual families eternal. So we are sealed to each other as spouses, our children are sealed to us, we are sealed to our parents, so that the chain continues unbroken to the very beginning. It is literally true that no one can be saved by himself -- it would be like having a family of one individual. So, everyone is given the opportunity to take their place in the family circle. There may be (sadly) some empty chairs there, but it will not be because we did not do our part.

Remember, too, that once we enter the celestial kingdom we are much different than we are now. Perfected, we no longer have those faults that annoy each other here in mortality. It is our job to see to the perfecting of the saints throughout all eternity, to teach, persuade, and perform their ordinances for them. Once they join with us in our work our job becomes much easier -- many hands make light work. The conflicts that we had in mortality disappear.

As members of the Church here on earth, we are the vanguard, the pioneers, preparing the way for literally billions of others to return to the presence of their Father in Heaven. Many of us are the first of our families to join the Church. Our ancestors have waited with great excitement, some of them for thousands of years, for this day. They are counting on us not to fall down in our duty. What a rare opportunity we have! Out of all the billions of people who have lived on the earth, only a very few actually get to receive the gospel in mortality and pave the way for the rest of their families. I suspect that more than a few of them are quite envious and are anxious to get started in work on their side.

[Pegtagatha]

Just to add a little more to what Selek said, it is not just that we want to perform all the saving ordinances for those who died. If that were all we needed then all we would have to do is look up baptismal or death records. But we believe that salvation consists of making actual families eternal. So we are sealed to each other as spouses, our children are sealed to us, we are sealed to our parents, so that the chain continues unbroken to the very beginning. It is literally true that no one can be saved by himself -- it would be like having a family of one individual. So, everyone is given the opportunity to take their place in the family circle. There may be (sadly) some empty chairs there, but it will not be because we did not do our part.

Remember, too, that once we enter the celestial kingdom we are much different than we are now. Perfected, we no longer have those faults that annoy each other here in mortality. It is our job to see to the perfecting of the saints throughout all eternity, to teach, persuade, and perform their ordinances for them. Once they join with us in our work our job becomes much easier -- many hands make light work. The conflicts that we had in mortality disappear.

As members of the Church here on earth, we are the vanguard, the pioneers, preparing the way for literally billions of others to return to the presence of their Father in Heaven. Many of us are the first of our families to join the Church. Our ancestors have waited with great excitement, some of them for thousands of years, for this day. They are counting on us not to fall down in our duty. What a rare opportunity we have! Out of all the billions of people who have lived on the earth, only a very few actually get to receive the gospel in mortality and pave the way for the rest of their families. I suspect that more than a few of them are quite envious and are anxious to get started in work on their side.[/b]

My mother is barried, "how can she be saved?"

[cjcampbell]

My mother is barried, "how can she be saved?"[/b]

You are baptized on her behalf, by proxy, in the temple -- and you also act as her proxy for all other saving ordinances in the temple. After that, it is up to her to accept or reject what you have done on her behalf.