Posthumous Mormon Baptisms

[bullmikey]

So just to be clear... if you were informed that some Muslim sect had posthumously brought your deceased father into the community of Islam, and listed him in their records as a Muslim... this would serve as a source of bemusement for you, rather than annoyance?

I would be completely indifferent to it.

What would be the point of being annoyed?

Hell, I wasn't even annoyed when my deceased father, a lifelong Republican, suddenly became a Democrat right after he died. Though I was able to put a stop to that and have the old man recognized as officially dead in 1993. Now he's a Reublican again.

[bullmikey]

If it were my deceased father, I'd know it was nonsense and I'd be irked.

And what would that get you except high blood pressure and a shorter life span?

[bullmikey]

They posthumously Baptized Anne Frank and Adolph Hitler.

http://www.nydailynews.com/news/morm...icle-1.1027101

I know a great many people wish to envision Adolph Hitler roasting in hell, but really, it's not up to them, is it? As for what the Mormons do, ho-hum.

[bullmikey]

Creepy...when I first heard about this I was like WT...??

Yeah, it is a little creepy. But then so is the idead of a god-man walking on water and rasing the dead. The world is full of creepy. I don't see one kind of creepy having that much advantage of another is all. And the Mormons are no creepier than many another.

[regularguy]

And what wouold that get you except high blood pressure and a shorter life span?

Being annoyed is not a conscious choice, based on one's desire to "get" something.

I would be genuinely annoyed at my father's name being used for something he didn't believe in.

[ms maggie]

Yeah, it is a little creepy. But then so is the idead of a god-man walking on water and rasing the dead. The world is full of creepy. I don't see one kind of creepy having that much advantage of another is all. And the Mormons are no creepier than many another.

Well I think the early Mormon leaders were creepier than average. 70 year old men wedding and bedding teenage girls. Pretty creepy.

[regularguy]

Well I think the early Mormon leaders were creepier than average. 70 year old men wedding and bedding teenage girls. Pretty creepy.

I'm sure the creepy oldsters thought of it as a great idea!

[bullmikey]

Being annoyed is not a conscious choice, based on one's desire to "get" something.

I would be genuinely annoyed at my father's name being used for something he didn't believe in.

What you allow yourself to be annoyed about should be a conscious choice. Otherwise, you're apt to spend the greater part of your life being annoyed. I long ago made peace with the philosophy not to get peeved over stuff I'm powerless to change or do anything about. Since I can't convert the Mormons and they can't convert me, I'm not going to work up a sweat over who they claim to have incorporated post mortem.

Of course I realize the new talking points emphasize attacking Romney because he is believed to be the more viable threat to His Oneness, and that of course means stigmatizing his religion, etc., but really, one should not be so obvious about it. Apparently this Mormon-phobia is only an issue when it comes to Mormons who are Republicans; apparently the “creepy” factor never emerged in regard to Harry Reid, who must be one of the few “good” Mormons in politics, right?

[ms maggie]

What you allow yourself to be annoyed about should be a conscious choice. Otherwise, you're apt to spend the greater part of your life being annoyed. I long ago made peace with the philosophy not to get peeved over stuff I'm powerless to change or do anything about. Since I can't convert the Mormons and they can't convert me, I'm not going to work up a sweat over who they claim to have incorporated post mortem.

Of course I realize the new talking points emphasize attacking Romney because he is believed to be the more viable threat to His Oneness, and that of course means stigmatizing his religion, etc., but really, one should not be so obvious about it. Apparently this Mormon-phobia is only an issue when it comes to Mormons who are Republicans; apparently the “creepy” factor never emerged in regard to Harry Reid, who must be one of the few “good” Mormons in politics, right?

I was talking about the early Mormons. Read "Under the Banner of Heaven". Every religion has its moments of ignominy. The Inquisition, not a crowd pleaser.

[bullmikey]

Well I think the early Mormon leaders were creepier than average. 70 year old men wedding and bedding teenage girls. Pretty creepy.

And those Patriarchs of the OT weren’t doing the same?

Let's face it, the Mormons were not unique when it comes to doing such things, and I bet they won't be the last.

I’ve traveled in a few places where they buy and sell their children like cabbages on market day. But we don’t condemn these practices in those places because they are deemed culturally acceptable and moral relativism teaches us that no one cultural is superior to another. One must appreciate diversity, not flog it into cultural submission in accordance with one’s own sensibilities. Or at least that's what I've been told by supposedly "learned" people with lots of letters after their names.

Anyway, the old time Mormons didn’t invent plural marriage, they just took advantage of the idea to salt their own fare for as long as they could get away with it. And besides, the Mormon church no longer sanctions plural marriage.

I mean if we're going to talk about creepy, God asked Abraham to sacrifice his son in ordered to prove his devotion. Doesn’t get any creepier than that, does it? Do you think that’s why we’ve never had a Jewish president? I tend to think not. The average bigot is not that well-read. Anyway, I wouldn't hold the whole Abraham thing against the Jews today; they got over it a long time ago.

[bullmikey]

I was talking about the early Mormons. Read "Under the Banner of Heaven". Every religion has its moments of ignominy. The Inquisition, not a crowd pleaser.

I understand that. I simply question why this topic in relation to the Mormon Church, which is no more or less creepy than any other church, IMHO, is so hotly bandied about at this particular moment in time. What do the early Mormons have to do with anything? They are about as relevant as the Inquisition.

By the way, I imagine the Inquisition will become relevant sooner or later, if and when it comes time to turn the guns on Rick Santorum's Roman Catholicism. At least I wouldn’t put it past some individuals down at Talking Points Central. After all, they found the crusades relevant (more or less a long stretch of the chickens coming home to roost theory, I imagine) when arguing that 9/11 was really our fault and had had nothing to do with certain tendencies inherent in the religion of peace, love, and cuddly puppy dogs.

Let’s face it, all this sudden concern about the Mormonism is aimed at Romney in the hopes of boosting Santorum’s chances, because the Obama Billion Dollar Machine would rather face Rikki-Tikki-Tavi than Wishy-Washy-Mitty in the coming general election.

Can't say I blame them, and it sure beats having to talk about the economy, but it is rather obvious what they are up to.

[ms maggie]

I understand that. I simply question why this topic in relation to the Mormon Church, which is no more or less creepy than any other church, IMHO, is so hotly bandied about at this particular moment in time. What do the early Mormons have to do with anything? They are about as relevant as the Inquisition.

By the way, I imagine the Inquisition will become relevant sooner or later, if and when it comes time to turn the guns on Rick Santorum's Roman Catholicism. At least I wouldn’t put it past some individuals down at Talking Points Central. After all, they found the crusades relevant (more or less a long stretch of the chickens coming home to roost theory, I imagine) when arguing that 9/11 was really our fault and had had nothing to do with certain tendencies inherent in the religion of peace, love, and cuddly puppy dogs.

Let’s face it, all this sudden concern about the Mormonism is aimed at Romney in the hopes of boosting Santorum’s chances, because the Obama Billion Dollar Machine would rather face Rikki-Tikki-Tavi than Wishy-Washy-Mitty in the coming general election.

Can't say I blame them, and it sure beats having to talk about the economy, but it is rather obvious what they are up to.

What sudden concern about Mormonism? I have listened to just about all the debates and haven't heard it once. The only poll data I have seen suggests only uber-evangelicals have any issue with it (see son of Billy Graham).

And Romney's big problem ain't his religion or Rickyboy or Obama. His big problem is that he isn't connecting with the R base or the R establishment. Kinda weird as clearly he's a bright fella and have to believe he has great advisors and while he's not wildly charismatic, he's not completely lacking in appeal. Beats me.

[bullmikey]

What sudden concern about Mormonism? I have listened to just about all the debates and haven't heard it once. The only poll data I have seen suggests only uber-evangelicals have any issue with it (see son of Billy Graham).

And Romney's big problem ain't his religion or Rickyboy or Obama. His big problem is that he isn't connecting with the R base or the R establishment. Kinda weird as clearly he's a bright fella and have to believe he has great advisors and while he's not wildly charismatic, he's not completely lacking in appeal. Beats me.

I heard on NPR this morning that Obama & CO. are running attack ads in Michigan aimed directly at Romney. This tells me His Oneness would rather go up against Santorum than Romney. Why the Republican base can’t figure this out, I don’t know. Anyway, probably doesn’t matter now – after the pommeling he’s taken so far, Romney is damaged goods. Even if he comes out on top of the heap, I don’t think he’s got enough of what it will take to beat Obama now. On the positive side, if Santorum comes out on top, there won’t be much chance of him winning (unless the economy really tanks or Obama gets caught stealing candy from babies), but it should be plenty entertaining watching him lose.

[zenwalk]

Why stop at Baptisms? Why not marry the dead to each other as well? It's fun for the whole dead family.

[ms maggie]

Why stop at Baptisms? Why not marry the dead to each other as well? It's fun for the whole dead family.

LOL. But only a man and a woman. Those same sex marriages will undermine dead society.

[bullmikey]

My Big Fat Mormon Zombie Wedding.

[regularguy]

But only a man and a woman.

In Mormon Heaven? Are you kidding?

[SomeIdiot]

I first heard about this practice years ago when I planned my first visited Germany. The neat little side-effect of them doing it is that they tend to have very detailed genealogical records.

As for folks getting upset over this my response is, yea, it's kind of weird, but life is too short to worry about stuff like this. I've yet to encounter someone mad about it who doesn't strike me as either looking for a reason to be offended or to score a point against a certain Mormon politician whose been in the headlines lately.

[OriAl]

Yeah, but what's the point of getting upset about so much nothing? I mean if the Mormons want to think that, well... I mean I guess they're going think that no matter what. I mean die-hard Catholics probably think I'm going to hell since I'm what they call a lapsed soul. You’d think they’d gotten hold of the invitation list for the Devil’s wedding or something. It doesn’t bother me though because I figure it’s between me and God where I’m spending the afterlife, not anybody else. And I’m certainly not going to lose any sleep over what other people believe or do not believe. I don’t see why Jews would want to be upset over something as silly as what they Mormons do.

Maybe it's me but I just don't see where it means anything.


Historical footnote: Jews killed in the holocaust didn’t die for their religion but because of their blood. The Nazis murdered “converted” Jews too, as well and people who were only partly Jewish (as I am partly Italian and partly Irish and completely American). Hitler’s anti-Semitism was not based on religion but on some convoluted notion of race and blood. They rounded up and murdered people of Jewish ancestry who had been Christians for generations.

Hitler had numerous reasons for targeting Jews, among them being that Jews were responsible for killing Christ (this is in "Mein Kampf.) He had many convoluted notions - race and blood weren't the only ones.

I always wondered how a brown haired, brown eyed man got so focused on Aryans (blond with blue eyes.)

On another note, marriage in the Bible was often a man with multiple women, best illustrated by King Solomon's 700 wives (and 300 concubines.)

[zenwalk]

I always wondered how a brown haired, brown eyed man got so focused on Aryans (blond with blue eyes.

That was actually more Himmler's department. Hitler paid lip service to it since it provided a theme to his pudding.