Latter Day Saints Question

[ThunderAeroI]

If someone I knew who was a member of the latter day saints told me they were sealed in a church, does that mean :

a). They got married
b). They are locked in a room and can't leave
c). Something else


I'm serious I have no idea

 

[Argus Skyhawk]

It refers to a temple ceremony in which the relationship between family members is made permanent so that the family is still a family after death. If a couple is married in the temple, the marriage ceremony and the sealing ceremony are one and the same.

 

[Plecostomus]

If someone I knew who was a member of the latter day saints told me they were sealed in a church, does that mean :

a). They got married
b). They are locked in a room and can't leave
c). Something else


I'm serious I have no idea

It's a binding ritual/service that locks you with that person for time and eternity beyond death. "traditional" Church marriage is "until death do you part," Latter Day Saint/Mormon marriage is "for eternity."

Wife and I aren't sealed, yet. Once we are I'll report back. We *are* LDS/Mormon but we ain't exactly the most devout/most spiritual/best examples out there.

 

[ThunderAeroI]

Is there a lengthly vetting before you can be sealed? What benefit is there in not being sealed? Is there an escape clause that allows you to unseal yourself?

 

[J.T.B.]

Is there a lengthly vetting before you can be sealed? What benefit is there in not being sealed?

To be married or sealed in the temple, you have to have a "temple recommend" which is essentially a pass to get in, and to get the pass you have to have an interview with your church leader to find out if you've been doing everything right. If you're not up to code, no pass and no temple ceremonies. You can work on things and try again later. According to the church, if you get a regular legal marriage, that's OK, but you have to get a temple marriage/sealing to still be married in the afterlife.

Is there an escape clause that allows you to unseal yourself?

You can't unseal yourself. To have the sealing reversed, you have to go up the chain, possibly all the way to Salt Lake, I don't know for sure. Here's the tricky bit: if you get a legal divorce, but not an "un-sealing," when you die and get to heaven you'd find you're still married! A woman has to get un-sealed if she wants to re-marry in the temple, but a man doesn't, he can have multiple afterlife wives.

--Justin

 

[Smiley]

How does the LDS church reconcile the afterlife marriage concept with what Jesus said in the Gospels in the story about the woman who married seven times?

 

[Magisterfrodo]

I've often wondered the same thing.

Of course, one would assume that woman wasn't sealed in a Mormon temple to any of those men since Mormonisms wasn't around until around 150 years ago.

 

[Plecostomus]

Quick TXT to the missionary group here in town... She was married but not sealed and one of the discussion points for that parable is its really kind of wicked/sinful to marry that many times.

Hooray TXT-messaging.

 

[Magisterfrodo]

Right, but in all seriousness, Jesus does make a blanket statement there that

Matthew 22:29-30
29 But Jesus answered and said to them, "You are mistaken, not understanding the Scriptures nor the power of God.
30 "For in the resurrection they neither marry nor are given in marriage, but are like angels in heaven.

He's not simply referring to her to but to the very idea of marriage in heaven.

 

[Smiley]

I did some googling on the subject and found this interesting article:

http://www.mrm.org/topics/marriage-family/mark-12-25-and-marriage-heaven

I tend to agree with the final paragraph, but it is interesting to know what the foundation for the Mormon belief is.

 

[Plecostomus]

Where this discussion will turn ugly is what WE believe vs what the rest of the mainstream groups believe. Many of them have spent considerable time and effort picking away at Mormon/LDS beliefs. Personally I find some of our stuff to be kind of strange, but then again this is how I was raised, and I feel some of the stuff that Catholics believe to be odd as well.

In regards to the eternal marriage thing... This is what we believe. Take it or leave it, and lets get back to IMPORTANT discussions like how Transphasic torpedoes work or weather or not ball-phasers are more powerful than strip phasers and weather or not the phasers on the Reliant were strips or balls.

 

[Magisterfrodo]

I did some googling on the subject and found this interesting article:

http://www.mrm.org/topics/marriage-family/mark-12-25-and-marriage-heaven

I tend to agree with the final paragraph, but it is interesting to know what the foundation for the Mormon belief is.

Interesting article. Thanks for sharing that. I do agree with the article though. Nothing in that passage warrants the Mormon view (actually, just the opposite), but they have to make it fit with Joseph Smith's writings.

 

[Magisterfrodo]

Where this discussion will turn ugly is what WE believe vs what the rest of the mainstream groups believe.

These types of discussions don't have to turn ugly so long as people keep their emotions in check. Healthy debate is a good thing. If nothing else, it sharpens us in our beliefs, and it may just help us to re-think positions on which we are wrong. That's not a bad thing either.

 

[Plecostomus]

Where this discussion will turn ugly is what WE believe vs what the rest of the mainstream groups believe.

These types of discussions don't have to turn ugly so long as people keep their emotions in check. Healthy debate is a good thing. If nothing else, it sharpens us in our beliefs, and it may just help us to re-think positions on which we are wrong. That's not a bad thing either.

Indeed. I love sticking up for my faith as far as I can, I just hate the whole "OUR JESUS IS MORE JESUS THAN YOUR JESUS" mentality some people bring to the table.

...which so far seems to be absent from this thread.

 

[Augustus]

I did some googling on the subject and found this interesting article:

http://www.mrm.org/topics/marriage-family/mark-12-25-and-marriage-heaven

I tend to agree with the final paragraph, but it is interesting to know what the foundation for the Mormon belief is.

I think it odd that some one would call their organization "Mormon Research Ministries" and basically spend most of their effort discrediting LDS beliefs.

I don't have a perfect understanding of this principle, but as I understand it, Christ was teaching that people are not married in heaven, it is an earthly ordinance. "They are neither married, nor given in marriage".

The woman in question was married 7 times to 7 brothers, a rather ridiculous situation that was meant as a trap question to Jesus of his critics. They were asking which one of the 7 will she be married to?

I do not think he is suggesting or teaching that there are no married people in heaven, but that marriage does not take place there, because it is an earthly ordinance ("The children of this world marry and are given in marraige.")

That is my understanding of it.

 

[ThunderAeroI]

I didn't start this thread to pick apart any religion, I just wanted to know what Sealing was. I suggest if you want to take Mormons apart or vis versa do it in TNZ.

 

[Augustus]

Well I don't think any forum is good for picking a religion apart.

But I did want to explain the doctrine as I understood it.

 

[Tobin_Dax]

A family can be sealed in the temple as well, so this isn't limited to married couples. (I was sealed with my parents when they got to doing it.) The way I've always interpreted it is that sealing is a guarantee that you will be with the people you love in heaven, with your parents, spouse, and children. Those bonds will still be there after you die.

I do need to add the disclaimer that I'm about the farthest thing possible from an active member of the Mormon church. But this is how I see it after attending church into my high school years.

 

[Magisterfrodo]

So, from your point of view, what does this accomplish in heaven? What I mean is, if everyone in heaven is perfect, and there is no lacking of things, and we're all there together anyway, what is the purpose of beingn eternally sealed as a family. Couldn't people that were family members on earth still see one another anyway?

 

[Venardhi]

Short answer?
Heaven has VIP lounges.