Family History: a Primer
Those of you who follow me on Facebook may have seen my status update, some 36 hours ago, in which I stated that I think I’ve finally decided on a new family history program. This status led to a rather humorous discussion of what I meant by that, but the point is that I’m finally ready to move into the 21st century, when it comes to tracking my genealogy and family history. So here’s a little background, so you can understand just where I’m coming from.
Back in 1991, I accepted Christ as my Savior and became a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. One of the basic tenets of the Church of Jesus Christ is that God loves all of His children, not just those that are lucky enough to learn His plan during their short time on Earth. However, we also know that Christ taught that baptism is essential for entrance into the kingdom of God (see John 3:1-5). So what about all those that died without ever having the chance to be baptized, or even to accept Christ as Savior?
This is where proxy baptism comes in. In special Christian temples, living people can be baptized as proxies for those who have gone before, so the intended recipient can then accept or reject the ordinance performed on their behalf. In this way, God is “no respecter of persons” (see Acts 10:35)—that is, He doesn’t play favorites, but gives all of us equal opportunity to accept Him and receive His blessings. Latter-day Saints are thus encouraged to seek out their ancestors through family history (i.e. genealogical research), so each of us has the opportunity to identify and help those that have not yet received this great blessing.
The thing about family history is that it’s addictive. There are many thousands, perhaps even millions of people that spend large amounts of time trying to track down their departed family members. Furthermore, the beauty of family history is that it doesn’t just stop at names and dates; these were (and are) real people, who lived and loved and exist just as surely as we do. And given the fact that each successive generation affords us twice as many ancestors—not to mention their children, siblings, cousins, etc.—it doesn’t take very long before a database is required to really keep track of it all. And thus, we have family history software.
So now that we’re done with this primer, check out my own History with Family History, so you can see where I’m going with all this. See you there! :-)
Back in 1991, I accepted Christ as my Savior and became a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. One of the basic tenets of the Church of Jesus Christ is that God loves all of His children, not just those that are lucky enough to learn His plan during their short time on Earth. However, we also know that Christ taught that baptism is essential for entrance into the kingdom of God (see John 3:1-5). So what about all those that died without ever having the chance to be baptized, or even to accept Christ as Savior?
This is where proxy baptism comes in. In special Christian temples, living people can be baptized as proxies for those who have gone before, so the intended recipient can then accept or reject the ordinance performed on their behalf. In this way, God is “no respecter of persons” (see Acts 10:35)—that is, He doesn’t play favorites, but gives all of us equal opportunity to accept Him and receive His blessings. Latter-day Saints are thus encouraged to seek out their ancestors through family history (i.e. genealogical research), so each of us has the opportunity to identify and help those that have not yet received this great blessing.
The thing about family history is that it’s addictive. There are many thousands, perhaps even millions of people that spend large amounts of time trying to track down their departed family members. Furthermore, the beauty of family history is that it doesn’t just stop at names and dates; these were (and are) real people, who lived and loved and exist just as surely as we do. And given the fact that each successive generation affords us twice as many ancestors—not to mention their children, siblings, cousins, etc.—it doesn’t take very long before a database is required to really keep track of it all. And thus, we have family history software.
So now that we’re done with this primer, check out my own History with Family History, so you can see where I’m going with all this. See you there! :-)
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