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DEVIN - I have a question about infants and baptism. I know
that people that die without being baptized are saved
by Christ's grace if they meet one of two criteria:
innocence or ignorance. The latter is if they died
without the law but would have accepted it. We do
baptisms for the dead on their behalf and they can
choose whether or not to accept it. The former is if
they die before reaching the age of accountability.
Are baptisms for the dead performed on their behalf?
If not, I realize they are still saved. Yet,
we know that they will be resurrected and raised
during the Millenium.
Once they reach the age of accountability, won't they
need to accept gospel teachings and perform the saving
ordinances to continue to progress?
Specifically, will resurrected infants be baptized in
the Millenium once they are no longer innocent? It
seems that the only way that this wouldn't be the case
is if they were kept in a state of innocence, as Adam
and Eve might have been if they had partaken of the
fruit of the tree of life before they had a knowledge
of good and evil. Any information you have and
thoughts you could share would be greatly appreciated.
JOEL - Infants who die in this life are never "no longer
innocent". Baptisms for anyone who dies before the age
of accountability are not required and therefore not
performed in our temples because:
"little children are holy, being sanctified through
the atonement of Jesus Christ" (D&C 74:7).
and:
"I also beheld that all children who die before they
arrive at the years of accountability, are saved in
the celestial kingdom of heaven." (D&C 137: 10)
Children are innocent of sin before death and will be resurrected into their perfect
immortal bodies, which will no longer be susceptable
to sin, even though they do grow and mature to adult
stage under their parents care. They will forever as
you say remain in a state of innocence . Speaking of
infants Joseph Smith said:
" It will never grow [in the grave]; it will still be
the child, in the same precise form [when it rises] as
it appeared before it died out of its mother's arms,
but possessing all the intelligence of a God." (HC
6:316)
When they rise with "all the intelligence of a God"
they will obviously not need to be taught the gospel,
for they will have already learned it in the spirit
world and will have complete recollection of all that
they knew in the pre-mortal life.
There will be temple work performed for the dead
during the Millennium, but not for infants who died,
because they will rise in the morning of the first
resurrection before the Millennium even begins and
will never be tempted to commit sin, and will
therefore never require baptism before or after their
resurrection.
President Joseph Fielding Smith once said:
“Satan cannot tempt little children in this life, nor
in the spirit world, nor after their resurrection.
Little children who die before reaching the years of
accountability will not be tempted.” (Doctrines of
Salvation, 2:56-57.)
For some reason that only God knows, these children
don't need the test of temptation for thier salvation;
they only need a body.
Joseph Fielding Smith also said:
"We must assume that the Lord knows and arranges
beforehand who shall be taken in infancy and who shall
remain on earth to undergo whatever tests are needed
in their cases." (Joseph Fielding Smith" The Salvation
of Little Children," Ensign, April 1977, p. 6.)
Precisely what the Lord will require for spirits who
died as infants on earth in order to receive
exaltation, has not been revealed. We also do not
currently endow children who die before accountability
nor do we seal them to a spouse. But this does not
mean that the blessings of these latter ordinances are
unavailable to them.
President Smith also said:
"The Lord will grant unto these children the privilege
of all the sealing blessings which pertain to
exaltation.
We were all mature spirits before we were born, and
the bodies of little children will grow after
resurrection to the full stature of the spirit, and
all the blessings will be theirs through their
obedience the same as if they had lived to maturity
and received them on the earth.
The Lord is just and will not deprive any person of a
blessing, simply because he died before that blessing
can be received. It would be manifestly unfair to
deprive a little child of the privilege of receiving
all the blessings of exaltation in the world to come
simply because it died in infancy." (Doctrines of
Salvation, Vol. 2)
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