Discussing the RLDS (now Community of Christ) rejection of baptism for the dead, Joseph Fielding Smith correctly noted that doctrines relating to baptism for the dead and other elements related to posthumous salvation are not minor issues but are central to the Gospel:
We learn from the foregoing quotations the following important facts pertaining to the salvation of the dead:
1. Salvation in behalf of the dead is the binding or sealing of the hearts of the fathers and children, the welding link. (Doc. and Cov. 128:18, Reorganite edition CX:18.)
2. It is the most glorious subject belonging to the everlasting Gospel. (Doc. and Cov. 128:17; Reorganite edition CX:17.)
3. It is the greatest responsibility in this world that God has laid upon us—to seek after our dead. (Times and Seasons, Vol. 6, page 616.)
4. It is obligatory to man. (Times and Seasons, Vol. 6, page 616.)
5. Without it the whole earth and its inhabitants would be smitten with a curse. (Malachi 4:6. Doc. and Cov. 128:18, Reorganite edition CX:18.)
6. It is an eternal doctrine prepared before the foundation of the world. (Doc. and Cov. 128:5, 8, 18, Reorganite edition CX:5, 8, 18.)
7. It is the burden of the Scriptures. (Times and Seasons, Vol. 2, page 578, Reorganite church history, Vol. 2, page 546.)
8. If we neglect it, it is at the peril of our own salvation. (Times and Seasons, Vol. 2, page 578, Reorganite church history, Vol. 2, page 546.)
9. Through it we become saviors on Mount Zion, and may save multitudes of our kin. (Times and Seasons, Vol. 2, page 577, Reorganite church history, Vol. 2, page 545.)
10. We without our dead and our dead without us cannot be saved with a perfect salvation. (Doc. and Cov. 128:18, Reorganite edition CX:18.)
11. We cannot lightly pass this doctrine over as pertaining to our salvation. (Doc. and Cov. 128:15, Reorganite edition CX:15.)
12. The time granted to the Saints to redeem their dead and gather and seal their living relatives before this earth shall be smitten with a curse is none too long.” (History of Joseph Smith, January 20, 1844.)
Now, my Reorganite friends, in the face of this how dare you presume to circumscribe, limit and profane this doctrine of salvation for the dead? Why do you call this eternal and most glorious principle a “permissive rite,” a “local commandment?” and declare before God that it is not binding on you? God has declared it to be ordained before the foundations of the world were laid for the salvation of the dead who die without a knowledge of the Gospel—an eternal principle, the burden of the Scriptures obligatory to man. Are you in harmony with the word of God? Were your leaders inspired to declare in the face of Jehovah’s commands that this eternal principle was a “local commandment not given to them as a commandment? Binding only on the Saints at Nauvoo? Do you not fear and tremble for your own salvation in neglecting the salvation of your dead? If the Jews who lived in the days of Christ will have to answer for “all the righteous blood shed upon the earth from the blood of righteous Abel unto the blood of Zacharias, son of Barachias,” because they neglected the salvation of their dead as well as their own salvation, pray tell, what will your punishment be? (See Times and Seasons, Vol. 3, pages 760-761.) Remember that you without your dead cannot be made perfect.
Confronted by this evidence, for you to declare that your leaders are inspired and that yours is the Church of Christ, is most preposterous! (Joseph Fielding Smith, The “Reorganized” Church vs. Salvation for the Dead [1905], 18-20)
