Sealing: Why?

[KingintheNorth]

So if I understand correctly, in the Temple one can perform a sealing where one's family becomes sealed to eachother for eternity.

Why is this necessary? By that I mean, why don't families come pre-sealed?

[skalenfehl]

The short answer has to do with agency. What if you don't want to be sealed to your parents who are sealed to theirs all the way back to Adam and Eve and finally to our Father in Heaven? What if you don't believe in all that religious stuff and want no part of it?

[Anddenex]

So if I understand correctly, in the Temple one can perform a sealing where one's family becomes sealed to each other for eternity.

Why is this necessary? By that I mean, why don't families come pre-sealed?

We don't remember much about our pre-mortal life. I wouldn't be surprised if, as sons and daughters of God, we are were already sealed to our Heavenly Father (similar to a child born under the covenant); however, who would we have been sealed to as eternal companions?

As skalenfehl mentioned, "The short answer has to do with agency." What if we were sealed to another man or woman, but due to our choices in life we never meet this woman or man? I think this would be very confusing.

It would appear, due to our circumstance and our agency, it is better that we have the opportunity, here on earth, to be sealed to the woman/man of our choosing. It would appear from doctrine also that all ordinances are performed while in the flesh, e.g. baptism, temple endowments, sacrament, and temple sealings.

[Just_A_Guy]

So if I understand correctly, in the Temple one can perform a sealing where one's family becomes sealed to eachother for eternity.

Why is this necessary? By that I mean, why don't families come pre-sealed?

Husbands and wives, of course, don't come pre-sealed at all. If the husband and wife want to be an eternal unit that is capable of accepting all of the blessings God is offering them, that unit needs to be set up in the proper place and by the proper authority.

As for parent-child sealings: Mormonism teaches that certain spiritual blessings are passed down as an inheritance from parent to child. For these parent-child links to endure into the eternities, they need to be formalized and brought under the umbrella of the sealing between the parents mentioned above--again, in the proper place and by the proper authority.