Temple Sealing Hypothetical

[maiku]

These are always interesting!

Today in priesthood we went over lesson 38, Eternal Marriage. There was an investigator there who became very curious about children sealed to parents. We explained him the basics and then he asked us a pretty good stumper,

"If I'm sealed with kids and get divorced and then later get sealed to another woman, who will the kids be sealed to then?"

I said that they would still be sealed to both but he then asked, "yes, but how will that work in the afterlife?" This guy was pretty smart, I had never even thought of this before.

I DO know that there is a lot we don't know about sealings and how every detail is going to play out, but is there a good answer for this? In the end the class basically concurred that the Lord will sort it all out but that is kind of a blanket answer, is there anything more specific?

[beefche]

No, nothing specific.

[Guest Sachi001]

Just because the children are sealed does not mean that the children are obligated to that sealing. They have the option of rejection of any ordinance. It's not up to the parents who own such children. After all in the afterlife the only real parents we have are out Heavenly Parents the rest of us including Jesus himself are brothers and sisters. The purpose of the Sealings eventually ties us all together as one family with the beginning of Adam and Eve as our mortal first grandparents.

[mightynancy]

I don't look at eternal families as vertical lines, where you're in one line or the other. I look at it more like a net, with lines crisscrossing and interconnecting.

[rameumptom]

We've been told that everything will be worked out in the hereafter to everyone's satisfaction. Don't expect the normal family we have here to apply everywhere.

[Guest mysticmorini]

Perhaps this is why the Lord doesn't look favorably on divorce.

[Jenamarie]

I agree with MightyNancy. I don't see Eternal Families as being linear (or nuclear ). The Sealing ordinance doesn't create an Eternal Smith Family, or an Eternal Anderson Family. It creats An Eternal Family. ALL of us will and are connected, through that Sealing Power, to Christ. We are HIS Family that His Atoning sacrifice is Saving from sin and unrighteousness, so that He can bring us into the precense of the Father, to whom all glory is given.

Children are greatly blessed by the besslings of the Sealing ordinance, which is why, even in the case of a divorce, their part of the Sealing remains intact (because THEY weren't the ones who broke the covenant, their parents did). I honestly would tell that investigator to think of the Sealing ordinance as something they always want to be under the blessing of, even if the choices of others sometimes muddy the waters.

[Javajot]

"If I'm sealed with kids and get divorced and then later get sealed to another woman, who will the kids be sealed to then?"

I'm in that exact boat, but I am one of the children.

I will be able to continue an eternal parent/child relationship with both of my natural parents on the other side of the veil even if they live in different mansions.

I have no interest in a relationship with my step-mother.

[LDSJewess]

I'm with mightynancy and jennamarie. I used to stuuggle with this because truth be told I would prefer not to meet up with any of the people that I knew as "parents."

I had two moms and two dads depending on how one defines it (biological and ones that raise kids). If they all wind up in the CK, I hope I live on a differnet street, perhaps even a different planet.

That being said, I see family as a much larger extended group of people, many who came long before us and many who come after us, rather than family members that we refer to in this life experience.

[maiku]

I had two moms and two dads depending on how one defines it (biological and ones that raise kids). If they all wind up in the CK, I hope I live on a differnet street, perhaps even a different planet.

I'm not sure why there's no LOL button on the gospel threads but I did indeed LOL, I hope that's not insensitive of me.

I like all the comments about the children being able to choose, I guess that makes sense. I've also read somewhere, possibly in Doctrines of Salvation, that in the final judgment, the wife gets the final say in whether she wants to continue on with her husband. Has anyone read anything about this?

[LDSJewess]

I'm not sure why there's no LOL button on the gospel threads but I did indeed LOL, I hope that's not insensitive of me.

I like all the comments about the children being able to choose, I guess that makes sense. I've also read somewhere, possibly in Doctrines of Salvation, that in the final judgment, the wife gets the final say in whether she wants to continue on with her husband. Has anyone read anything about this?

No problem. I am come to terms with some crazy and irresponsible people that were in my life. It is what it is. They taught me what I did not want to become. They are all dead now and Temple work has been done on them, but I personally don't care to be sealed with them. Better we stay our separate ways and wish each other well from afar.

As for my husband, he's a good guy so I think I'll keep him. :)

[garryw]

I said that they would still be sealed to both but he then asked, "yes, but how will that work in the afterlife?"

They will be adults, so imagine some 30 year old person with divorced parents on earth. Neither parent has "custody" because the person is an adult. So it's absurd to ask "who gets the child?" or something along those lines.

In summary it will work how it works on earth. Ask an adult with divorced parents how it works and that's your answer.

I think the more useful way to look at sealing is from the point of view of inheritance. If your parents have money, and die, will your inheritance change based on their marital status? Mathematically speaking, you should inherit the same amount either way.

[Vanhin]

When the ordinances of the new and everlasting covenant are administered and received through the authorized use of priesthood power, and sealed by the Holy Spirit of Promise, it means they are recorded on earth and in heaven. Those holy acts, and the associated promises, are thus valid and in force in the life to come, and they cannot "be annulled, according to the decrees of the great Jehovah" (See D&C 128:9) except through subsequent used of the priesthood power that bound the individuals involved to begin with (and of course by us not living up to the promises we make). The binding implied in the sealing ordinances are synonymous with recording, and record keeping.

Now, the nature of this ordinance consists in the power of the priesthood, by the revelation of Jesus Christ, wherein it is granted that whatsoever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatsoever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven. Or, in other words, taking a different view of the translation, whatsoever you record on earth shall be recorded in heaven and whatsoever you do not record on earth shall not be recorded in heaven; (D&C 128:8)

And we should never forget, that we covenant with God, when we receive these sealings,. As others have said, we are being recorded into the family of God. We will become His sons and daughters, in the sense that Christ is His Son - heirs to his kingdom (Rom. 8:17).

Regards,

Vanhin