Most American Protestants understood
baptism as a sign of an individual’s conversion or inclusion within the church.
It was important, but not strictly necessary for salvation. For Joseph, by
contrast, baptism was essential, and not just any baptism. Individuals needed
to be baptized by those who held priesthood authority in Christ’s one true
restored church. God would welcome infants and children who died before the age
of eight into the celestial kingdom, but men, women, and older children who
died unbaptized would fall short of the fullness of eternal glory. Joseph insisted
that he had the Bible on his side. “Except a man be born of water and of the
Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God,” Jesus had taught. No baptism,
no remission of sins, no salvation. (John G. Turner, Joseph Smith: The Rise
and Fall of an American Prophet [New Haven: Yale University Press, 2025], 147)
