You may have wondered about the Latter-day Saint practice called baptism for the dead. What is it? Why does it matter? Let’s talk about it in the video “Baptism for the Dead.”

2000 years ago, Jesus went to the Jordan River and was baptized by immersion, lowered fully under the water, by John the Baptist. By doing this, Jesus showed us two things: first, that each of us needs to be baptized as He was; second, a baptism must be performed by somebody with authority from God. But here’s the problem. What about those millions of people who died without baptism, or who were baptized but without proper authority?

That is where Latter-day Saint temples and the practice of baptism for the dead come in.

This video is part of the “Now You Know” series of videos from the Church that explain our basic beliefs.