Sealing (Mormonism)

A couple following their marriage in the Manti Utah Temple.

Sealing is an ordinance (ritual) performed in Latter Day Saint temples by a person holding the sealing authority.[1] The purpose of this ordinance is to seal familial relationships, making possible the existence of family relationships throughout eternity.[2] LDS teachings place great importance on the specific authority required to perform these sealings. Church doctrine teaches that this authority, called the Priesthood, corresponds to that given to Saint Peter in Matthew 16:19.

Sealings are typically performed as marriages or as sealing of children to parents. They were performed prior to the death of Joseph Smith (the founder of the Latter Day Saint movement), and are currently performed in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Although some denominations, such as the Community of Christ, view sealing as an artifact of Smith's practice of plural marriage, others do still perform them.

Sealings

Faithful Latter Day Saints believe civil marriages are dissolved at death, but that a couple who has been sealed in a temple will be married beyond physical death and the resurrection if they remain righteous. This means that in the afterlife they and their family will be together forever. An illustrative difference in the marriage ceremony performed in LDS temples is the replacement of the words "until death do us part" with "for time and all eternity".

The LDS Church recognizes other monogamous, heterosexual marriages, both civil and religious, although they believe that such marriages will not continue after death because "eternal marriages" must be performed by priesthood authority. Eternal marriages are also performed vicariously for the deceased, of effect after receiving all other saving ordinances. As with sealings of living persons, they are sealed with their spouse and their children.

Couples who have children born to them before being sealed may have their children sealed to them afterwards. Couples who have children after being sealed need not have their children sealed to them in a separate ceremony. Children born to sealed parents are "born in the covenant" and are automatically sealed to their parents. Adopted children may be sealed to their adoptive parents once the adoption has been legally finalized.

The union of a sealed couple is regarded as valid only if both individuals have kept their religious commitments and followed LDS teachings. Just as deceased individuals may refuse any temple ordinance (such as a sealing) done by proxy on their behalf, couples, parents, and children who were sealed to each other in life may refuse to accept a sealing of which they were a part. No one will be sealed to any one with whom they do not want to be sealed.

Only worthy members of the LDS Church, who hold current valid temple recommends, can attend and witness sealings. Non-member family and friends generally wait in the temple waiting room during the sealing ceremony.

Since the LDS Church rejects same-sex marriages, these unions are not performed in temples nor are they recognized by the LDS Church.

Civil recognition

Not all countries recognize marriages performed by clergy outside of the state religion. In these cases, temple marriages are not seen as legally binding, and a civil marriage must also be performed. In other cases, marriages must be performed in a public forum for any to witness or formally object. In such circumstances, government representatives or authorized clergy will perform the civilly-recognized public wedding prior to the temple sealing.

In countries where temple marriage is legally binding, couples who choose to be married outside the temple must wait one year before they can be sealed in the temple. In countries where a civil ceremony is required before marriage, the couples must receive their sealing as soon as practical after the civil ceremony.[3]

Cancellation

Although a divorce dissolves a civilly-recognized marriage, the church still recognizes a sealing as binding. A couple who has been sealed may request to have their sealing "canceled", but this is uncommon, occurs only under special circumstances and is only granted by the President of the Church. Some refer informally to a "cancellation" as a "temple divorce", but the terminology designated by church leaders is "cancellation of a sealing". If a sealing is canceled, the sealing between them and any children remains in force, though the couple is no longer sealed. The sealing together of husband and wife and the sealing of children to parents are separate ordinances.[4]

A cancellation typically follows after a civil divorce when a woman seeks to be sealed to another man. The church's requirements for divorced men are equally strict, and even sometimes more so. A man must apply for a sealing clearance to marry another woman after he has been civilly divorced, even if he has already received a cancellation of sealing.[3]

Legacy of plural marriage

It has been argued that the LDS Church's policy on sealings and cancellations reflect its doctrine of plural marriage. Although plural marriage is currently prohibited in the church, a man can be sealed to multiple women, in the case of widowers who are sealed to their dead and living wives. Additionally, men who are dead may be sealed by proxy to all women to whom they were legally married while alive. Recent changes in church policy also allow women to be sealed to multiple men, but only after both she and her husband(s) are dead.[3]

Church doctrine is not entirely specific on the status of men or women who are sealed by proxy to multiple spouses. There are at least two possibilities:

  1. Regardless of how many people a man or woman is sealed to by proxy, they will only remain with one of them in the afterlife, and that the remaining spouses, who might still merit the full benefits of exaltation that come from being sealed, would then be given to another person in order to ensure each has an eternal marriage.
  2. These sealings create effective plural marriages that will continue after death. There are no church teachings clarifying whether polyandrous relationships can exist in the afterlife, so some church members doubt whether this possibility would apply to women who are sealed by proxy to multiple spouses. The possibility for women to be sealed to multiple men is a recent policy change enacted in 1998. Church leaders have neither explained this change, nor its doctrinal implications. It should be noted, however, that proxy sealings, like proxy baptisms, are merely offered to the person in the afterlife, indicating that the purpose is to allow the woman to choose the right man to be sealed to, as LDS doctrine forbids polyandry.

See also

Notes

  1. ↑ "Gospel Topics – Temples", LDS.org, LDS Church
  2. ↑ "Gospel Topics – Marriage", LDS.org, LDS Church
  3. 1 2 3 LDS Church, Church Handbook of Instructions, (LDS Church, Salt Lake City, Utah, 1998), page 72, "Sealing Policies".
  4. ↑ James A. Cullimore, "Q&A: Questions and Answers", New Era, December 1975.

References

External links

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