Alright, i just had a question about celestial families.
I used to date a Mormon guy a few years ago and i never asked him this. I guess at the time i didn't want to start talking to a guy about marriage or questioning his religion. well he spacedditherme a little message and got me thinking about this again.
Now, he told me that in his religion he said that there are celestial families (i think thats what he called it!) and that means after you die and your family dies you all are rejoined in heaven, but my parents are divorced and my dad is remarried and this got me thinking...would that mean my dad his wife and step children would be one family and my sister and me would stay with my mom, but then what if she got remarried, would that mean my sister and i are out in the cold lol. now im married so i guess my husband and i have branched off and are creating our own family. but does that mean im still attached to my mom or dads family or both.
am i overthinking this? lol
im seriously asking. im not trying to judge or disagree or prove anyone wrong i just want to know what it really is, i mean i like the idea of it...well my idea i suppose. im just confused about the whole divorce on earth thing and then the eternal part.
thanks so much!
lizzy lol
you almost answered my question
=D
ok so its not like segregated groups, its everyone together but still in individual families? no ones excluded unless they dont make it to the celestial kingdom?
I think the idea is that we'll all be sealed together in the end. That's what our temple work is for. Brigham Young said that the temple work will eventually tie the entire human race together all the way back to Adam. So, for a Mormon, the only thing that really matters is living a good life and making sure you and your children make it to the Celestial kingdom.
For example, I'm sealed to my wife, but I'm also sealed to my brothers and sisters through my parents marriage. My brother is sealed to his wife, my sister is sealed to her husband and we're all united. As long as each individual makes it to the Celestial Kingdom, we'll all be together forever. For those people who were never able to be sealed, we can perform their sealing for them. I'll stand in the place of someone who has died, and I'll be sealed in their behalf. The plan is that this will be done for everyone who has ever lived on earth.
The point of an eternal family is to take what we enjoy here on earth and bind it into heaven as well to bless the lives of those involved.
In the case of a man not wanting to be with someone he was technically sealed to there is no longer a benefit and God will simply work it out for there to be some compensatory blessing.
Clearly God wouldn't place us in a situation in which our eternal reward for faith and righteousness would be a miserable situation. The scriptures in speaking of the matter say that it must be sealed by the holy spirit of promise - in other words if we're not righteous or if there is some other reason why it shouldn't be so, then it's not so.
Concerning your dad nobody could really say what that situation would be, however a man is not permitted to be sealed to more than one living wife; in the case of death they can be sealed to another without breaking the sealing to the first, however again we don't know if the holy spirit of promise dissolves one sealing or keeps both intact - people have their own opinions on this but the reality is that we just don't know.
All we know is that God is just and loving, that leaves little to worry about as He'll reward us better than we could imagine ourselves!
Yes, it is true that families can be together forever, but that is attained through the holy priesthood of God and the sacred ordinances in a temple of the Lord.
Living non-members of the LDS Church are not permitted entry into a temple; only worthy Latter-day-Saints. For our ancestors, however, worthy members may perform vicariously those sacred ordinances in the temples that will seal families together so that they may enter the Celestial Kingdom.
The principle of family relationships and marriages that last for eternity is a very wonderful concept don't you think?
As Mormon's we believe that in order for a marriage and all of the children that belong to that marriage to be sealed for all eternity it requires several things.
1. To be married or sealed as a family in the holy temple by one who holds the Priesthood of God which gives him the authority to seal couples and families together for all eternity.
In today's society marriages are only valid for this life only. "Till death do us part." The person who performs the marriage only has authority to bind the couple together for this life time, no longer.
2. A couple and their children must live worthy to be part of the Celestial Kingdom which is where God and Christ dwell. It is the highest of all kingdoms. This is the only way for the marriage to be binding after death.
Their is no other way, because in any other kingdom marriages do not exist. So, even if a person is married in the temple by the right authority they must live the commandments and qualify for life in the Celestial Kingdom.
Now comes the tricky part of your question to answer. It requires some speculation. The part about who is sealed to whom if two marriages have occur ed. I have a situation in my own family like this. My father was married to a wonderful woman in the temple and they had 5 children. The woman got cancer and finally died. Both my father and his first wife had lived exemplary lives. My father met my mother and they fell in love and were married. After a couple of years they had me. My mother had been married before and divorced prior to meeting my father. She had a son from that marriage and my father wanted to adopt him. Once approval was given by my brother's biological father my mother, father, brother and I went to the temple and were sealed together as a family for all eternity. My mother was a very good person and I believe she qualified for the Celestial kingdom as well.
So, now what happens to us all? We all love our father even though we are from different families. I can't imagine not being part of my father's family for all eternity.
I believe that a person would have to be a very spiritual person, one who emulates the qualities of our Savior and Father in Heaven to be able to abide and live in a situation where your husband had more than one wife. Some of the prophets in ancient Biblical times were allowed to practice polygamy, and even in our early church history it was practiced. Though it was abolished after a few years.
I know that it is an eternal principle even though I do not understand it. I put my trust in God. I know that he knows what is best for all concerned and will judge us fairly and with compassion. This is what I have decided to do to trust God.
I believe also that we will live as separate families in the Celestial kingdom but that we will all be linked together through the Eternal binding of the temple ordinances. It would have to be so, since our children grow up and start their own families, so in the end it will be just you and your husband.
I hope this helps to answer your question. It is a deep subject, and one that we don't know all the answers to, but I do trust in God and his goodness.
No one is left out in the cold. And you are exactly right, now you and your husband are creating your own family, or "branch", as you call it. The most important relationship is that between husband and wife because, as you note, children grow up and get married themselves. What we believe is that with our spouse, if sealed by the proper authority (the authority that extends beyond death, for don't the priests of today admit their authority is only good for this life when they declare "UNTIL death do you part"), we can continue to be married...forever.
As far as divorce goes, it will all work out, no one will be left out in the cold. My parents were divorced and each has remarried. So the question is, which set of parents would I "stay with"? Actually, the answer is neither because, as you point out, I am married and will have my own "branch". I will be able to associate with and enjoy the company of both sets of parents in heaven, and can call both my biological father and step father "Dad", just like I do now.
I always think about it like this: Heaven is like a church chapel. When I am young, I attend church with my parents and sit in their row. When I grow up and have my own family, I still attend church with my parents, but now I have my own row with my own family. When my kids grow up and have their own family, they still attend church with us, but now they have their own row with their own family. And so on and so forth. We'll all still be in heaven together, but we'll all have our own "rows", so to speak.
The Prophet Malachi, in the Bible, talks about families being bound and sealed together. This sealing can occur by way of priesthood ordinances. Those priesthood ordinances are performed in a temple (the place were these eternal and Celestial ordinances are performed).
A couple, when married, receive of this sealing ordinance and they are married together not just for time only, but for the eternities. Families continue together throughout the eternities, we being able to enjoy the same social relationships with our families in heaven as we do now in this life.
You can read more about this in the Doctrine and Covenants, Section 132 and at lads.org and Mormon.org
Mormonism and eternal families?
