Temple sealings and the hereafter

[USUC]

Today in Sunday school the teacher gave her testimony at the end of the lesson. She mentioned how she feels truly blessed that she will be sealed to her husband and that her family will be together forever, and that her heart aches for non members who will lose out on this. It reminded me of a time when a non-member friend asked if he could go to church with me. It just so happened that the day he came was fast and testimony meeting. The "families can be together forever" mantra was repeated several times. After the meeting he asked me what the deal was with temple sealings. Specifically, what happens to the non-lds family when they die. What is the nature of the husband-wife, parent-child relationship in heaven if they are not sealed? Can they not see each other? I didn't know how to answer. I said i'd find out more about it and get back to him. I didn't get any answers I felt confident enough to tell him. If he asked me the same thing today, I still wouldn't have much to say. Any of you had to feild questions like this? What did/would you say?

[RobinFinderson]

Anyone who puts any serious thought into what these sealing literally mean is going to run into all kinds of logistical problems that no GA would touch without a hazmat suit. Like tasty sausage, this is one of those things that is much better if left unexamined. Best case scenario, husband and wives work as some kind of cohesive unit, and progeny can visit on the weekends.

[Goatnapper'96]

Today in Sunday school the teacher gave her testimony at the end of the lesson. She mentioned how she feels truly blessed that she will be sealed to her husband and that her family will be together forever, and that her heart aches for non members who will lose out on this. It reminded me of a time when a non-member friend asked if he could go to church with me. It just so happened that the day he came was fast and testimony meeting. The "families can be together forever" mantra was repeated several times. After the meeting he asked me what the deal was with temple sealings. Specifically, what happens to the non-lds family when they die. What is the nature of the husband-wife, parent-child relationship in heaven if they are not sealed? Can they not see each other? I didn't know how to answer. I said i'd find out more about it and get back to him. I didn't get any answers I felt confident enough to tell him. If he asked me the same thing today, I still wouldn't have much to say. Any of you had to feild questions like this? What did/would you say?

This is just my opinion. Doctrinally, I think temple sealing is eventually how all of mankind is linked back to God. The entire famalies are forever mantra really makes no sense, IMO, beyond the sealing between man and wife. It is a nice concept that emphasizes, or at least reminds us of, the eternal importance of the family unit as a temporal and eternal institution. Being reminded of such things helps me to refresh my perspective and reminds me to focus on what I should.

I think the LDS doctrine does a pretty good job of explaining that all of mankind will have the opportunity to accept the sealing ordinance. I can't understand why you struggle answering that question. Sure the concept of vicarious ordinances for the dead sounds kooky, but IMO it is one of the most just and attractive aspects of LDS theology.

I think your sunday school teacher is probably a splendid soul but I think sometimes mormons can become entirely too preoccupied with the LDS monopoly on truth angle. Perhaps he/she is right and only those baptized LDS in mortality will make it to the final banquet, but that doesn't square up with what I believe the teachings to be or with how I think a just God governs. I tend to believe that when the dust finally settles there will be everlasting gobstoppers of people who accept the ordinance and get to copulate eternally, but never once will they in all their eternall butt-slapping and hair-pulling hot'n'nasty sexual expades, to populate their worlds without number, will any of them put together that they are following what Joseph Smith or those damned mormons taught.

Of course I don't include Robin in those numbers, his back is to hairy!

[Scott R Nelson]

After the meeting he asked me what the deal was with temple sealings. Specifically, what happens to the non-LDS family when they die.

Their descendants do the the temple work for them, then they're all sealed.

That's what my wife did for her parents who were non-members their whole lives and didn't want to learn more about the LDS church. So my wife is now sealed to her parents and she and I were able to do all of the temple work for them. My 12-year-old grandson was baptized for his great-grandfather, which was a special event for all of us. It's quite a bit more meaningful to do temple work for someone that you knew than for some random person from two hundred years ago whose name you can't even pronounce.

[Moliere]

Today in Sunday school the teacher gave her testimony at the end of the lesson. She mentioned how she feels truly blessed that she will be sealed to her husband and that her family will be together forever, and that her heart aches for non members who will lose out on this. It reminded me of a time when a non-member friend asked if he could go to church with me. It just so happened that the day he came was fast and testimony meeting. The "families can be together forever" mantra was repeated several times. After the meeting he asked me what the deal was with temple sealings. Specifically, what happens to the non-lds family when they die. What is the nature of the husband-wife, parent-child relationship in heaven if they are not sealed? Can they not see each other? I didn't know how to answer. I said i'd find out more about it and get back to him. I didn't get any answers I felt confident enough to tell him. If he asked me the same thing today, I still wouldn't have much to say. Any of you had to feild questions like this? What did/would you say?

Very interesting thought. If you are in the lower kingdoms does that mean you can't see anyone in your family even if they are in the same kingdom? I guess that depends on if you see the kingdoms as more physical than spiritual.

An intersting tangent related to this is the question of what it will be like to hang out with your dad and your kids who apparently will be about the same age as you. Won't that be weird and will it mess up the whole patriarichal persona?