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After covering D&C 125 and 126 which were added by Brigham in the 1876 edition, we spend most of the time covering sections 127 and 128, which say shockingly little about baptism for the dead.
Chris,
Your observations about the connection between baptism for the dead and the resurrection of the dead bring another scripture to mind.
I Cor 15:29 Else what shall they do which are baptized for the dead, if the dead rise not at all? why are they then baptized for the dead?
There is a whole lot to unpack here, and there are two other witnesses to D&C 128:12. Namely: I Cor 15:29 and I Peter 3:21.
I am probably not the only person who believes the party line coming out of the church and discounts these other scriptures because I don’t understand them with the Mormon context. I am going to do a lot of pondering and praying over this. Thank you for bringing this up.
I think our current baptisms for the dead are symbolic just like the endowment, and were meant to point us towards our downfall. I mean they’re literally dead works. Section 76 makes it clear that those without the law inherit a terrestrial glory if they followed the light they had. But a celestial glory is only for those who had the true three part baptism that adam received when he became a true son of God with the true high priesthood. So my belief is that baptism for the dead is to point us to the fact that the dead must rise again and have a chance to accept or reject the fullness in the flesh when it is offered to them. Just like the endowment shows us the necessity of regaining what was lost, namely the high priesthood, in order to enter into God’s presence.