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Dear
Gramps, It is my understanding that all saving ordinances are to be done on
this earth. If that is true, then that means that Adam had to have been
baptized by someone. Who could that have been done by? It would have to have
been by a resurrected being wouldn’t it? So did our Father in Heaven do
this himself? Who else in that point in time could have done it besides the
Father? FH, from California |
Dear
FH,
Although
baptism is an ordinance that must be performed in mortality, it wasn’t
required that Adam be baptized by another mortal, or even by a resurrected
being. We read in the scriptures that
And
it came to pass, when the Lord had spoken with Adam, our father, that Adam cried
unto the Lord, and he was caught away by the Spirit of the Lord, and was carried
down into the water, and was laid under the water, and was brought forth out of
the water (Moses 6:64).
There
is also another baptismal first recorded in the scripture. Alma, who was one of
King Noah’s priests and who had been converted by Abinadi, escaped from
Noah’s warriors with a small band of believers and hid out for a time in a
rather inhospitable region— having been infested, by times or at seasons,
by wild beasts— near the borders of the kingdom. Since the church was not
formally organized among the Lamanites at that time, and since the prophet
Abinadi had been put to death, there was no one with authority that could
baptize Alma or those that he had converted. Therefore,
after
Alma had said these words, both Alma and Helam were buried in the water; and
they arose and came forth out of the water rejoicing, being filled with the
Spirit (Mosiah 18:14).
Although
it is not specifically recorded in the Book of Mosiah, Alma undoubtedly acted
under the direction and inspiration of the Lord, and their act of baptism was
accompanied by and confirmed by the Holy Spirit.
Gramps