Mormons: Genealogies?

[Edge3165]

I was reading a question about genealogies earlier. I know mormons keep track of this and are proud of it. But doesn't the Bible tell us genealogies are foolish and unprofitable? So why put such emphasis on them?Titus 3:9 But avoid foolish questions, and genealogies, and contentions, and strivings about the law; for they are unprofitable and vain.

[cadisneygirl76BenistheDEVIL4924]

Genealogical records were indispensable to the ancient Israelites. “All Israel were reckoned by genealogies; and, behold, they were written in the book of the kings of Israel and Judah.” (1 Chr. 9:1.) Local genealogical records were also kept, reckoning people “by their genealogy in their villages.” (1 Chr. 9:22.) Through such records, the Israelites were able to establish lineage, and the Levites were able to prove their right to the priesthood.Genealogies are listed in several places in both the Old and New Testaments. We are all familiar with the long lists of “begats” that record parentage and lineage. For example, Genesis lists the generations following Adam. Later, in the first chapter of 1 Chronicles, we find the genealogy from Adam to Abraham; then in succeeding chapters, the generations following Abraham are given. The Savior’s own genealogy is recorded twice in the New Testament—once in Matthew 1:1–17 [Matt. 1:1–17] and again in Luke 3:23–38.The Apostle Paul referred to “genealogies” in letters to Timothy and Titus. To Timothy he said, “Neither give heed to fables and endless genealogies, which minister [present] questions, rather than godly edifying which is in faith: so do.” (1 Tim. 1:4.)To Titus he said, “But avoid foolish questions, and genealogies, and contentions, and strivings about the law; for they are unprofitable and vain.” (Titus 3:9.)These passages, taken out of context, could cause misunderstanding. Paul was not condemning genealogy work itself. The importance of genealogy had been well established from the time of Adam down to Paul’s day. The respected Bible scholar Dr. Adam Clarke tells us that “the Jews had scrupulously preserved their genealogical tables till the advent of Christ; and the evangelists had recourse to them, and appealed to them in reference to our Lord’s descent from the house of David; Matthew taking this genealogy in the descending, Luke in the ascending, line. And whatever difficulties we may now find in these genealogies, they were certainly clear to the Jews; nor did the most determined enemies of the Gospel attempt to raise one objection to it from the appeal which the evangelists had made to their own public and accredited tableshttp://lds.org/ldsorg/v/index.jsp?vgnextoid=2354fccf2b7db010VgnVCM1000004d 82620aRCRD&locale=0&sourceId=8af9ef960417b010VgnVC M1000004d82620a____&hideNav=1

[Green9352]

Mormon's use genealogy for making lists of dead people to be "baptized". They used to put a lot of pressure on the women to compile their family trees back many generations. As if they didn't have enough to do with 10 kids, Relief Society, visiting teaching, and Sunday school.

[paular0748]

cadisneygirl has the best most thorough answer. basically, its done in hopes of securing a families salvation. that way they will be united forever in the eternities.

[wyomugs8394]

Mormons believe that based on the eternal principle of vicarious service, the Lord has ordained 'baptism for the dead' as the means whereby all His worthy children of all ages can become heirs of salvation in His kingdom (The Celestial Kingdom).The fact that Christ never mentioned baptism for the dead is strong evidence that no such doctrine existed in the early Christian church. Although the Bible and The Book of Mormon contain no specific authorization of baptism for the dead, the Mormon Church has been practicing this doctrine since its early days in Nauvoo, Illinois. The Mormon Prophet Joseph Smith declared, "The greatest responsibility in this world that God has laid upon us is to seek after our dead." (Doctrines of Salvation, vol. 2, p. 146)Wilford Woodruff, the fourth President of the Mormon Church made this statement: "Joseph Smith himself went into the Mississippi River one Sunday night after meeting, and baptized a hundred. I baptized another hundred. The next man, a few rods from me, baptized another hundred. We were strung up and down the Mississippi, baptizing for our dead." (The Deseret Weekly, vol. 42:554, April 25, 1891, as quoted in Temples of the Most High, by N. B. Lundwall, Salt Lake City, 1962, p. 69)Baptism for the dead is now only performed in temples. Fonts for such purposes are constructed in the basements or lower portions of such buildings. The baptismal font rests on the backs of twelve carved oxen, representing the Twelve Tribes of Israel. The Mormon people are very zealous about this work for the dead; they believe they are saving their dead ancestors. John Taylor, who became the third President of the Mormon Church, stated: "We are the only people that know how to save our progenitors,...we in fact are the saviors of the world, if they ever are saved." (Journal of Discourses, vol. 6 p. 163)The Mormon Church has one of the largest and best genealogical libraries in the world. The Church is spending millions of dollars doing genealogical research in order to find the names of those who have died so they can do proxy baptism and temple work for them. Worthy adult members and youth of the Church may participate as 'proxies' for baptizing the dead after an interview with their Bishop.The Church also has many people serving as 'extraction missionaries.' Elbert Peck, the former editor and publisher of the unauthorized Mormon intellectual magazine, Sunstone, said in an interview with The New Yorker Magazine in 2002: "They basically go to their little stake center and sit down at a microfilm machine and take these names and put them into our computer database."According to Richard E. Turley, Jr., the managing director of the Family and Church History Department in Salt Lake City, as many as two hundred million dead people have been baptized as Mormons, (no permission was needed) including Buddha and all the Catholic popes, Shakespeare, Einstein, and Elvis Presley. Peck dismissively calls this practice "celebrity work for the dead." In the early nineties, some Mormons were moved to baptize victims of the Holocaust. The practice caused a great deal of friction with Jewish genealogists, who now monitor Mormon baptismal lists to make sure that Jews are not included.Wilford Woodruff, the fourth president of the Mormon Church, claimed that he had saved (by doing their temple work) John Wesley Powell, Columbus, all the Presidents of the United States except three, and the signers of The Declaration of Independence, who he said gathered around him in the spirit and wanted to know why they had not been redeemed. (Journal of Discourses, vol. 19, p. 229)Many people wonder why Mormons spend so much time and money searching for the names of the dead when there are so many people in the world starving to death. Maybe the answer to this question is in Malachi 4:5-6, which reads: "Behold I will send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the Lord: And he shall turn the hearts of the fathers to the children, and the heart of the children to their fathers, lest I come and smite the earth with a curse."Mormons literally believe that if they don't search out their deceased ancestors and have their temple work done, there will be devastating eternal consequences. (See source below)Have a blessed day.