why are children sealed to their parents?

[soulfire]

in order to get into the highest level of the celestial kingdom, you have to be married, so doesnt that mean the children who are sealed to their parents, but never get married, cannot enter the highest level of the Celestial? and if the child does get married and do everything else that is required to enter the highest level of the Celestial, wouldnt they be with everyone in the celestial including their families? so doesnt a seal between parents and children pretty much do nothing, or am i missing something?

[FunkyTown]

Soulfire? You have started several threads that basically say "Marriage is bad. mm-kay?"

You clearly have an agenda: Why not let us know what it is you're really looking for here so we can talk about that rather than the endless threads that touch upon but do not actually address what you're really asking?

in order to get into the highest level of the celestial kingdom, you have to be married, so doesnt that mean the children who are sealed to their parents, but never get married, cannot enter the highest level of the Celestial? and if the child does get married and do everything else that is required to enter the highest level of the Celestial, wouldnt they be with everyone in the celestial including their families? so doesnt a seal between parents and children pretty much do nothing, or am i missing something?

[soulfire]

Soulfire? You have started several threads that basically say "Marriage is bad. mm-kay?"

You clearly have an agenda: Why not let us know what it is you're really looking for here so we can talk about that rather than the endless threads that touch upon but do not actually address what you're really asking?

i am not interested in arguing with someone who jumps to conclusions, but to clear the record for the other users, i posted one thread on marriage and i am not personally opposed to marriage. one of the responses to that thread brought up another question in my mind that i wanted to ask. if someone wants to respectfully ask why im interested in answers to these questions, they may do so

[FunkyTown]

All right, I'll bite:

You're giving the answers you want in the questions you're asking. You're basically asking questions, then demanding the answer be that such a practice is wrong.

A proper way to ask a question would be: "I had always thought you had to be married to achieve the highest celestial glory. Can someone explain what sealing does for someone who is unmarried?"

If you contrast that with your question, you will see the difference.

Rather than dancing around with various questions that clearly aren't reaching the heart of the matter, I thought I'd give you the opportunity to ask your real question. If you were really just looking to 'clear the record for other users', then you can rest assured that if other users have questions of their own, they will ask them. I promise you that many users come on here and ask questions they themselves are interested in.

[Blackmarch]

in order to get into the highest level of the celestial kingdom, you have to be married, so doesnt that mean the children who are sealed to their parents, but never get married, cannot enter the highest level of the Celestial? and if the child does get married and do everything else that is required to enter the highest level of the Celestial, wouldnt they be with everyone in the celestial including their families? so doesnt a seal between parents and children pretty much do nothing, or am i missing something?

If they did everything that was required to attain the highest level in the Celestial kingdom they would be married and sealed.

If an individual chooses to go against the covenant(s) they've been brought into they will have to pay the price.

Sealing covers more than just marriage- its the binding together God's family. One thing it does is keep the family relationships after this life.

[JudoMinja]

Sealing covers more than just marriage- its the binding together God's family. One thing it does is keep the family relationships after this life.

This exactly. Sealing is more than just marriage. I suggest studying up on the Abrahamic covenant to come to a better understanding of what sealing is all about.

[Guest]

The Celestial Kingdom is not just one big room with everybody milling about.

I equate the Celestial Kingdom with the Filipino family home where you have grandma and grandpa, aunts and uncles, nieces and nephews, mom and dad, and siblings all living in the same house (or compound) with the family dog. All seeing to each other's welfare.

[estradling75]

We don't know the exact nature of the Sealing between Parents and children.

We do know its importance.

Read Malachi Chapter 4 Malachi 4 

When you get to verse 6 note that if the hearts of the Children are not turned to the Fathers and vice versa the earth will be smitten with a curse when Christ comes again.

Then read Joseph Smith History Joseph Smith?History 1  Verses 36 to 39. In this the Angel Moroni recites various scriptures some with alterations. This includes the Malachi 4:6... In this the earth would be utterly wasted if it is not done.

The church has come out a said this important turning of the Hearts of the Children to the Fathers is family history work. Which in turn is genealogy and temple work. For some reason it is very necessary to have all these family links in place. Or at least enough of them to be able to say the hearts have turned.

[Just_A_Guy]

in order to get into the highest level of the celestial kingdom, you have to be married, so doesnt that mean the children who are sealed to their parents, but never get married, cannot enter the highest level of the Celestial?

Hypothetically, yes.

and if the child does get married and do everything else that is required to enter the highest level of the Celestial, wouldnt they be with everyone in the celestial including their families?

This question is based on two assumptions: a) that the sealing guarantees perpetual and uninterrupted physical proximity to each other; and b) that the Celestial and other kingdoms of glory are physical places, separated from each other by some unbridgeable gulf (as opposed to, say, types of resurrected bodies (as the apostle Paul suggested)).

I accept neither assumption, and so I need not be disturbed by the conundrum you present.

so doesnt a seal between parents and children pretty much do nothing, or am i missing something?

Certainly not. Our doctrine does not guarantee exaltation to the children of sealed parents; but there's good authority out there for the preposition that it does, generally speaking, function as an assurance that the children will receive some measure of salvation. (In Mormon theology, exaltation and salvation are two different things.)

Moreover, Mormon theology is very big into "inheritances" and the idea that we can become heirs to all of the blessings God has to offer. Rather like an ancient king traced his authority through a chain of forebears to whom he was related by blood or adoption, a Mormon expects that ultimately he or she will become a joint-heir to the Kingdom of God by means of a chain of forebears (to whom he is related by blood or adoption) that ultimately traces its origin back to Adam, and from there to Christ Himself. The temple sealing formalizes the requisite links in that chain of forebears. It reminds the worshiper of his or her obligations to himself, to his ancestors, to his descendants, and to God.

[RMGuy]

The Celestial Kingdom is not just one big room with everybody milling about.

I equate the Celestial Kingdom with the Filipino family home where you have grandma and grandpa, aunts and uncles, nieces and nephews, mom and dad, and siblings all living in the same house (or compound) with the family dog. All seeing to each other's welfare.

Does the dog need to be sealed too, or does it get a free ride?

Sorry, couldn't resist.

-RM

[Martain]

There is one benefit to the sealing between parents and children that I'm intimately aware of because I have seen it manifest in my life.

Were it not for this blessing and the power it enabled to be manifest in my life, I expect I would still be in spiritual darkness even to this very day.

Perhaps you'll apprecaite this April 1992 conference talk given by the Apostle Boyd K. Packer.

The Measure of a Successful Parent

It is a great challenge to raise a family in the darkening mists of our moral environment.

We emphasize that the greatest work you will do will be within the walls of your home (see Harold B. Lee, Ensign, July 1973, p. 98), and that “no other success can compensate for failure in the home” (David O. McKay, Improvement Era, June 1964, p. 445).

The measure of our success as parents, however, will not rest solely on how our children turn out. That judgment would be just only if we could raise our families in a perfectly moral environment, and that now is not possible.

It is not uncommon for responsible parents to lose one of their children, for a time, to influences over which they have no control. They agonize over rebellious sons or daughters. They are puzzled over why they are so helpless when they have tried so hard to do what they should.

It is my conviction that those wicked influences one day will be overruled.

“The Prophet Joseph Smith declared—and he never taught a more comforting doctrine—that the eternal sealings of faithful parents and the divine promises made to them for valiant service in the Cause of Truth, would save not only themselves, but likewise their posterity. Though some of the sheep may wander, the eye of the Shepherd is upon them, and sooner or later they will feel the tentacles of Divine Providence reaching out after them and drawing them back to the fold. Either in this life or the life to come, they will return. They will have to pay their debt to justice; they will suffer for their sins; and may tread a thorny path; but if it leads them at last, like the penitent Prodigal, to a loving and forgiving father’s heart and home, the painful experience will not have been in vain. Pray for your careless and disobedient children; hold on to them with your faith. Hope on, trust on, till you see the salvation of God.” (Orson F. Whitney, in Conference Report, Apr. 1929, p. 110.)

We cannot overemphasize the value of temple marriage, the binding ties of the sealing ordinance, and the standards of worthiness required of them. When parents keep the covenants they have made at the altar of the temple, their children will be forever bound to them. President Brigham Young said:

“Let the father and mother, who are members of this Church and Kingdom, take a righteous course, and strive with all their might never to do a wrong, but to do good all their lives; if they have one child or one hundred children, if they conduct themselves towards them as they should, binding them to the Lord by their faith and prayers, I care not where those children go, they are bound up to their parents by an everlasting tie, and no power of earth or hell can separate them from their parents in eternity; they will return again to the fountain from whence they sprang.” (Joseph Fielding Smith, Doctrines of Salvation, comp. Bruce R. McConkie, 3 vols., 2:90–91.)

[Seminarysnoozer]

Hypothetically, yes.

This question is based on two assumptions: a) that the sealing guarantees perpetual and uninterrupted physical proximity to each other; and b) that the Celestial and other kingdoms of glory are physical places, separated from each other by some unbridgeable gulf (as opposed to, say, types of resurrected bodies (as the apostle Paul suggested)).

I accept neither assumption, and so I need not be disturbed by the conundrum you present.

Certainly not. Our doctrine does not guarantee exaltation to the children of sealed parents; but there's good authority out there for the preposition that it does, generally speaking, function as an assurance that the children will receive some measure of salvation. (In Mormon theology, exaltation and salvation are two different things.)

Moreover, Mormon theology is very big into "inheritances" and the idea that we can become heirs to all of the blessings God has to offer. Rather like an ancient king traced his authority through a chain of forebears to whom he was related by blood or adoption, a Mormon expects that ultimately he or she will become a joint-heir to the Kingdom of God by means of a chain of forebears (to whom he is related by blood or adoption) that ultimately traces its origin back to Adam, and from there to Christ Himself. The temple sealing formalizes the requisite links in that chain of forebears. It reminds the worshiper of his or her obligations to himself, to his ancestors, to his descendants, and to God.

I agree with this answer. Thanks.

I think we will find that everyone who is in the Celestial Kingdom will all be sealed to each other, through adoption, through the work done in the temple for the dead and through being born under the covenant. The sealing of the contract relates to a special relationship that Celestial people have. It is one where glory is shared (or inherited) and the success of one person affects another. The way glory and happiness is eternal is a system in which it is not just dependent on personal progress.

By the power of the holy sealing we can be part of this eternal family where successes of one family member are felt by all. We get to experience this in a small way on Earth. When one of my children does well in school, for example, there is a feeling of happiness that we share. Why is that? It is because of our family bond. Even if the family member ends up in another kingdom, the one who makes it into the Celestial kingdom by way of the traits that are part of the God's way of life allows that person to share in the success of even the person who is in a lower Kingdom. But, if a person shows interest in selfish achievement then they express a lack of desire to be part of such a love-thy-neighbor-as-thy-self system and will not find pleasure and happiness in the success of a family bond to a certain degree.