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Baptism – even in the Old Testament
Latter-day Saints recognize the necessity of baptism in the quest of God’s children to return to His presence. As Jesus taught Nicodemus in the New Testament, “[e]xcept a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God” (John 3:5). Latter-day Saints believe that the necessity of water baptism was taught by pre-Christian prophets.
The Book of Mormon records the prophet Alma who baptized people into the Church (Mosiah 18:15-16). The Book of Moses tells us that Adam was baptized (Moses 6:51–53).
Critics have called these references to baptism anachronistic, yet scholars have identified plausible evidence of baptism or forerunners to the practice in the pre-Christian era.208
These become perks of, and not cons for, the understanding that the Restoration provides us. It is an understanding that is unique and exclusive to those that accept the Book of Mormon and Book of Moses as inspired scripture.
208Stephen D. Ricks, “The Doctrine of Baptism: Immersions at Qumran and the Baptisms of John, the Earliest Christians, and Book of Mormon Peoples,” in By Our Rites of Worship: Latter-day Saint Views on Ritual in Scripture, History, and Practice, ed. Daniel L. Belnap (Provo, UT: Religious Studies Center; Salt Lake City: Deseret Book, 2013), 153–172, https://rsc.byu.edu/our-rites-worship/doctrine-baptism-immersions-qumran-baptisms-john-earliest-christians-book-mormon-peoples; Michael R. Ash, "Christianity in the Pre-Christian Book of Mormon Book of Mormon Anachronisms Part 5," FAIR, accessed February 10, 2025, https://www.fairlatterdaysaints.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/02/Anachronisms5.pdf;
