Mormon Sealing question?

Question

If children are "sealed to their parents at birth, naturally, or in the case of adoption on newly converted families, through the temple ordinance then why does it sa in D&C 131:1-3 " 1 In the acelestial glory there are three bheavens or degrees;
2 And in order to obtain the ahighest, a man must enter into this border of the cpriesthood [meaning the new and deverlasting covenant of emarriage];
3 And if he does not, he cannot obtain it. "

Does the effect of sealing only last until the child is of marriable age? Also, who is the person sealed to? Are they still sealed to their childhood family or is that bond broken when they are sealed to their family through marriage? If no sealing bonds are broken and everybody is one big happy family, how is that any different from people just being together in heaven as believers as the Bible teaches? ANd if that is the case, why bother with sealings?

If the sealings last, why the commandment to get married and sealed to your husband/wife? If the sealing to your parents was still good, why would you need to be sealed again to get the CK?

No one is answering the question of "why are you commanded to marry if your sealing to your parents is still in effect?" Please answer!!!!

Answer 1

I don't think anyone should kill baby seals no matter what religion they are in.

Answer 2

Sealings are to Heavenly Father through our Families (specifically Mothers), The sealing of a child is still in effect even if parents divorce. Even if both parents fall away the sealing is still good because one is not sealed to a mortal being but more to the Priesthood or to Heavenly Father.

You must be sealed to Enter into the Celestial Kingdom, but to achieve the highest order of that Glory you must be married & sealed to a spouse. This is necessary in order to continue to learn and progress after the Father. If someone didn't have the opportunity in this life to be married then they won't be "punished". All things will work out in the end.

One of the greatest works that is to be done during the Millenium is the sealing of Everyone who ever lived. So if something gets messed up because of divorce or whatever, then it'll all be straightened out during Christ's 1000 year reign.

Long story short, we must be married & sealed, not just sealed, in order to become more like Heavenly Father.

Answer 3

The goal is to seal our families in an unbroken chain back to father Adam and mother Eve. In order to do that we have to be both sealed to our parents as well as to our spouse and children. The marriage sealing does not affect our parental sealing. A marriage sealing can be broken by the same authority that created it. If your conduct is inappropriate for a LDS and you do not repent, then you can be excommunicated and have your sealing cancelled. That does not apply to the parental sealing, only the marital sealing. We are promised that the only thing that will break the parental sealing is to commit the unforgiveable sin of murder, wherein you shed innocent blood, and the denial of the Holy Ghost after having received the fullness thereof. All sins will be paid for, either by Christ through His atonement or by our own suffering, if we do not accept Christ's atonement in our lives by our repentance and obedient living. Thus, we can still be sealed to our families and yet not achieve the highest degree within the Celestial Kingdom because we did not merit the new and everlasting covenant of marriage. You can be in the Celestial Kingdom but not in the highest degree thereof. The purpose of the marriage covenant is to continue the growth and development of God's Glory through a continuation of the spirits throughout eternity. Just as we are magnified by the success of our children, so also, God is glorified by the success of His children, us.
The same sociality that exists in this world will continue to exist in the eternal realms but we will not enjoy familial status unless we are sealed together with the priesthood authority in the temples of God. It is not true that we will be strangers to each other. We will know each other and will be tormented by the knowledge that we could have still been married but are not because we did not accept the principle of eternal marriage. It will be like being divorced from the person we love when we would rather be married. That is a crude analogy but you get the idea.
Please study Doctrine and Covenants, Section 76 and 132.

Answer 4

We have to get married in order to obtain the highest degree of the Celestial Kingdom. If your parents have been sealed in the temple then you are sealed for them for time and all eternity, as well as all your siblings. That is permanent, and nothing can break it, unless you do not live worthily enough to have that blessing. When you are sealed to your own spouse/kids, then you will be with them again in heaven as well. So yes, it will all be one big happy family. If you are not SEALED, then you will not have any family relations in heaven. If you are not SEALED to your spouse, then on the other side, he/she will not be your spouse. That is why it is so important to be sealed to your family, because if you are not, then they will not be your family on the other side.


EDIT: Dane H, I believe that is correct, that we can visit others in other kingdoms. You can visit those lower, but you can never visit those higher.


No one is answering the question of "why are you commanded to marry if your sealing to your parents is still in effect?" Please answer!!!!

The verses you just quoted said that in order to enter into the highest degree of the Celestial Kingdom, we must enter into the new and everlasting covenant of marriage. Just because you are sealed to your parents doesn't mean you have a ticket into the Kingdom, you have to earn it and meet all the requirements, one of which is a temple marriage.

Answer 5

simon61161 wrote: From my (non-Mormon) understanding, I believe that "sealings" can be broken. The reason I say that is because I believe that, if a person becomes ex-communicated from the Mormon church, their seals are also broken from their families who are still Mormons in good standing.
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If a person become ex-communicated from the Church of God, their seals are not broken unless an authorized priesthood performs an ordinance to dissolve the sealing. Excommunication is not grounds for a sealing to be dissolved.

Just as a man, who had a woman sealed to him, and leaves the church, not being excommunicated, has a chance later to repent and return to observing and fulfilling his duty to his covenants, without having previous sealings dissolved, so also does a man who is excommunicated have that chance.

Those sealings are not dissolved simply because of unrighteousness in mortality. Unrighteousness can lead a woman, for instance, to request her sealing be annulled to the man who is not living appropriately, however that is not always granted. There is more to the process of annulling sealings.

Answer 6

The key or operative word is "child" or "children".

Under the normal bonds of matrimony, outside of legal papers/proceedings for adoption and a birth certificate, is there any ceremonial (ordinance) that has to be performed to make that child a member of that family?

Or in a normal non-LDS family, does not the child remain "part of the family" until such time as they marry? And, or to use a biblical term -- "cleave unto another"?

The true "sealing" power of ANY ordinance is "love". The "ordinance" is simply a symbol.

However, if one, thru their free-will place themselves under this "law", then yes, the ordinance must be performed the ordinance by a 'authorized representative' and abide by the law.

You bring up a good question about LDS families versus other families -- christian or not.

LDS need to ask themselves how it is they are going to think, feel and believe about "being in heaven" when they consider that in accordance with "their/the law" that EACH of us is going to be individually 'judged' and individually proceed according to our own individual "spiritual progression" -- meaning, what about those members of these families that don't meet the requirements of entering the Celestial Kingdom?

Do they just get left behind?

What if YOU don't 'qualify'? How would you feel about being left behind by the rest of your family?

...as in "sorry Charlie"!?

Would you, as a father/mother allow this to happen to your children? I don't think so, so why is it that we believe we know the mind of our Heavenly Father and Mother so well as to know that they would be any different?

Personally I wouldn't have anything to do with such a heavenly parent who would.

The key to all this is the teaching of Joseph Smith called "ETERNAL LIVES" (Hint: more than one life)

One person has written the following articles on this and related topics at:

http://www.freeread.com/archives/eternal_lives.php

Regards,

Answer 7

The sealings to parents aren't broken by a sealing to a spouse or children. It's kinda like links in a chain.

The way I understand it (i.e. not church doctrine) who you are sealed to does not affect your degree of glory. There was a period of time after Joseph Smith's death, that women tried to get sealed to him to ensure inheriting the Celestial Kingdom. Doesn't work. We are each judged on our own actions, thoughts, words weighted by our knowledge of the truth. However, for example, if I were to go to the Terrestrial Kingdom (the middle one) my family members that were in the Celestial could come and visit me. We could chill there for a while. But I couldn't go to the Celestial Kingdom to visit them. Again this is my understanding and may not be correct.

Edit: Oh, I misunderstood your question. There is a difference between a sealing of parents and children and a sealing between spouses. The sealing between spouses is what is necessary to recieve the highest degree of the Celestial Kingdom, not a sealing of families.

Is that what you were looking for?

Drizzt: I like the new avatar

Answer 8

Q1 Does the effect of sealing only last until the child is of marriable age?
A1 No.

Q2 Also, who is the person sealed to?
A2 To their nuclear family (Mom, Dad, siblings) and to their spouse after marriage in the temple.

Q3 Are they still sealed to their childhood family or is that bond broken when they are sealed to their family through marriage?
A3 Still sealed to childhood family. Family sealing not broken upon marriage.

Q4 If no sealing bonds are broken and everybody is one big happy family, how is that any different from people just being together in heaven as believers as the Bible teaches?
A4 Because without being sealed together, people do NOT have that family bond in Heaven. As I understand it, without the sealing ordinance, you might be right next to the person you were married to for 50 years and not know them. Or you might be doing something right next to your child and not even recognize them. It's the sealing ordinance that allows for recognition of family members.

Q5 ANd if that is the case, why bother with sealings?
A5 Answered in A4.


Simon is right. Sealings can be broken through a temple divorce and through excommunication. However, we believe that they can be reinstituted through many individual changes on the part of the person whose sealings have been broken. I also agree with Atom. His friend told him correctly. Sealings are not automatically broken just because someone leaves the church, or is excommunicated. But those are ways in which a sealing CAN be broken.


To answer one of your added details, so that our children will have someone to be sealed to. Let's pretend for a moment that I am sealed to my parents. Let's further pretend that I get married and have children. I'm sealed to my parents, my husband is sealed to his parents, yet my own children are not sealed? Why, because in our little pretend feast, I was not married in the temple.
And it can go further than that. How can I be sealed to my parents if you don't need to be sealed in order to be married? Why did my parents get sealed, so that I could be sealed to them? It goes backward as well as forward.

Answer 9

The sealing lasts even after death. They are sealed to first the parents, then whomever they marry.
The Bible also says that marriage will not exist in heaven. In do the sealing, we believe that marriage will continue after death.

Answer 10

One should be sealed to their spouse to attain the highest levels of the CK. One can go to the CK if tey are not sealed to a spouse, but not be exalted in the highest.

Besides, if one is happy with their parents and siblings, then how much happier they would be with the right spouse and children of their own?

Answer 11

Q: Deos the effect of sealing only last until the child is of marriagable age?

A: No. The sealing of the child to his parents lasts for eternity.

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Q: Who is the person sealed to?

A: In the case of a child, the child is sealed to his parents. In the case of a man and a woman being sealed as a family unit, the woman is sealed to the man, and thereafter their children are born under the covenant of that seal and are already sealed to them at creation.

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Q: If no sealing bonds are broken and everybody is one big happy family, how is that any different from people just being together in heaven as believers as the Bible teaches?

A: If "the Bible" teaches you anything, it is not authorized to do so. Meanwhile, if the records found in the Bible are translated correctly by authorized men of God, then those "scriptures" would also reveal these things in them.

Unfortunately, "the Bible" is not translated correctly and is only considered scripture by the LDS Church when it is. See the 8th Article of Faith: "We believe the Bible to be the word of God, as fas as it is translated correctly..."

So my question is, what Bible that is on the Earth, is translated correctly? None of them.

So "the Bible" needs to be respected for what it truly is, here. It is not "the Bible" that we receive an understanding of God from. It is the scriptures of the Holy Prophets of God, who wrote scripture. As fate would have it, some of these scriptures were collected, interpreted in many ways incorrectly, and then compiled into a volume that men call 'the Bible." But the writings exist independently from "the Bible."

So it is erroneous for men and women to think "the Bible" has any type of authority to teach and testify of Christ. For it surely is not "the Bible" but rather the original writings of the prophets and witnesses. A better word would be "scriptures."

Now, back to your question...
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Q: If no sealing bonds are broken...how is that any different from people just being together in heaven as believers...?

A: In the highest heavens, the government of which is completely misunderstood by Christians and non-believers, as well as among many Saints of God today, there is no such thing as "people just being together as believers," if they are not sealed. People who are not sealed, who make it to the highest heavens, are servants and become angels. Now I don't know to what extent these positions will separate them from anybody they may have known in Mortality, but the scriptures make it clear that the family unit only exists among those who are true to their covenants, including those predicating their sealings to parents or spouses.

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Q: Why bother with sealings?

A: You need to learn and understand the many blessings that come to a person when he or she keeps the covenants pertaining to sealings, in order to answer this question fully. For there are many, and they are great. Just as the Sun is so much brighter than the stars in the sky at night, so also are the blessings that are in store for those who are capable of living a Celestial Law rather than a Telestial law (which is similar to the life which we have in mortality, without death though).

It has been said by an uncertain source which should not be considered doctrine, but definitely can put things into perspective, here, that Joseph Smith (who saw and talked with the Gods and many angels) taught something like this: If a man could see the Telestial world in the heavens, he would kill himself just to get there.

This suggests to the mind, obviously, how glorious the lowest kingdom in heaven is, which Heavenly Father is reserving for his less righteous children. The scriptures tell us that the glory of the Telestial Kingdom of heaven can be likened to the brightness of the stars.

The glory of the Highest Heavens is likened to the brightness of the Sun, as compared to the brightness of the stars which can only be observed at night. So, if we are to believe these scriptures, you should be able to imagine in your mind why it would be necessary to "bother with sealings" if you truly desire to receive a Celestial glory.

While it is more than likely true that the lowest glories of Heaven do indeed provide a more glorious life than the one we are living now, there also exists something of a far greater degree for those who desire it...