None Are Exempt From This Great Obligation

Ogden Utah Temple - Photo From LDS Media Library

“It matters not what else we have been called to do, or what position we may occupy, or how faithfully in other ways we have labored in the Church, none are exempt from this great obligation [of performance of temple work for the dead]. 

“It is required of the apostle as well as of the humblest elder. Place, or distinction, or long service in the Church, in the mission field, the Stakes of Zion, or where or how else it may have been will not entitle one to disregard the salvation of one’s dead. 

“Some may feel that if they pay their tithing, attend their regular meetings and other duties, give of their substance to feed the poor, perchance spend one or two or more years preaching in the world, that they are absolved from further duty. 

“But the greatest and grandest duty of all is to labor for the dead. We may and should do all these other things, for which reward will be given, but if we neglect the weightier privilege and commandment, notwithstanding all other good works, we shall find ourselves under severe condemnation.” 

– President Joseph Fielding Smith, “Seeking after Our Dead”, 

Genealogical Society of Utah, 1928, pp. 35–36.