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The Dead Know Not Any Thing

Are vicarious ordinances important if, according to Ecclesiastes, "the dead know not any thing, neither have they any more reward"?

  1. For to him that is joined to all the living there is hope: for a living dog is better than a dead lion.
  2. For the living know that they shall die: but the dead know not any thing, neither have they any more a reward; for the memory of them is forgotten.
  3. Also their love, and their hatred, and their envy, is now perished; neither have they any more a portion for ever in any thing that is done under the sun.

Ecclesiastes 9.4-6

Some might interpret these verses to mean that baptisms for the dead are an impractical and useless ordinance. If the dead have no more reward, then isn’t performing ordinances for them pointless?

If we look at this scripture from another angle, though, it becomes clear how very important vicarious ordinances are.

In Alma 34.32, Amulek teaches that “this life is the time for men to prepare to meet God; yea, behold the day of this life is the day for men to perform their labors”. Once we die, we cannot labor further; that is, we are no longer able to perform any of these ordinances for ourselves. This life is the time to prepare to meet God.

Thankfully, we have vicarious ordinances for those who didn’t have the opportunity to receive them in this life. If we do have the opportunity in this life, though, now is the time to do so. Let us not “procrastinate the day of [our] repentance” (Alma 13.27).