Clarifying what it means that “Families Can Be Together Forever” ONLY by the Priesthood: A Generous Perspective
The following summarizes both points I’ve pondered upon over the years, and sudden strokes of inspiration from time to time which have given me this, which I consider a blessed, perspective belief and hope.
In heaven, will people be banned from seeing family members if they weren’t sealed by the priesthood? NO.
The sealing adds meaning, authority, and privileges to those relationships.
Consider:
Parents, if sealed to their children, have the authority to pour more blessings upon those children, and the authority to give binding councils, and make judgements on their behalf. In all things, the parent becomes an eternal leader of the child, always initiating the child into higher and higher priviliages which the child permits. The parent is FOREVER interested in and vested in the advancement of the child.
Note that an adopted child, whose adoptive parents are sealed to the child, are not eliminating the biologocial parents from the immortal life of the child. Rather, it means that the sealed (adopted) parent will be ETERNALLY involved, interested, and ABLE to give higher blessings to the child, which the biological parent, not involved in the priesthood, CANNOT give.
(It is natural for an adopted child to miss their biological parents, who, for whatever reasons, unable raise them. God’s plan is to INCREASE our joys and associations, not to DECREASE them. Any possible happiness and relationships will only be improved in God’s plan. No added priviliages will exist in rejecting God and His blessings. If your friends reject God’s plan yet you accept it, consider that your acceptance of God will put you in a greater position to bless those friends. It’s like you being able to read while your peers cannot – it will help you to help them. It is a well established doctrine that those of higher kingdoms do and will have power to bless thsoe in lower. Do not think that a ‘seperate kingdom’ will bar you from association. Rather, you will have joys in the higher realms that you adore and participate in, and will as often as you wish, enjoy relationships you also cherished in life, even if they chose not to participate in the higher things you enjoy. There is also some opportunity for advancement, as determined by God.)
The adopted child, if it choses to belong to the holy order of God’s kingdom as governed by God’s priesthood and administered by priests and priestesses in the holy order, that adopted child will be considered a full heir to all the blessings which all the other children of that family receive, including a full membership and inheritance in that family kingdom, as lead by the King Priest thereof, in conjunction with the Queen Priestess thereof, in the House of Israel forever.
This adoption of a child into a priesthood family is similar to the adoption which we inherit as Christians, being joined into the eternal kingdom of Jesus Christ. We are all born children of God, but we must choose and be elected to be a member of God’s eternal kingdom, which includes his eternal presence. All priesthood families operate under the direction of Jesus Christ, who rules over the kingdom of God forever.
Next let us consider the privileges of married persons within and without the laws of God. Those who reject sealing covenants may indeed see and enjoy one another’s presence in ‘heaven.’ They may even be angels, happily serving the gods forever, on their anticipated clouds and harps, and see each other from time to time as they go about these errands. They might even meet for dinner on a regular basis. However, these persons, not being sealed by the everlasting covenant and spirit of promise (having rejected the offer to participate therein), will have no authority or permission to join themselves in holy matrimony, nor partake of any of the sacred sacraments related unto that holiest of relationships. The fact of the cessation of these specific type of bonds as a consequence of unfaithfulness has been repeatedly taught by the prophets.
Formally married persons will have no authority or power to procreate, nor to govern any posterity in the kingdom of God. They will have no increase. They will not reach the fullness of happiness reserved for those of the highest level of the celestial kingdom, reserved for those who accept and respect the holy covenants of matrimony in the house of the Lord. Marriage was never just about having fun time with someone you get along with – it was about imitating the gods in the process of eternal unity and creation, worlds without end.
Participation in marriage and childbearing is the great privilege of life, and how we treat these opportunities is the great test of life. Family is inherently holy. Those drawn to it are inherently holy. If our hearts are pure (and family life helps refine ourselves), we will receive the message of the gospel by holy angels (messengers, mortal or immortal) as soon as they deliver the message of the gospel (in this life or the next) in its purity. Family life gives us opportunities to develop a good heart, and a good heart prepares a person to receive the gospel of Jesus Christ in its fullness. The irreplicable experience of creating and raising children is the unique privilege of the holy saints of god in all eternity, and the children of these exalted beings are sent to earth to be tested to see if they will join the family of the gods, and have these singular privileges forever.
Family life is the summary of what it means to be a god. God has specifically asked that we call him by his preferred and truest title, “Father” (implying creation, provision and love in perfect harmony). (Naturally that includes Mother as we pull back the vail and see that sacred heaven mirrors sacred earth at its best. Nature is not so confusing. The God of nature is not so confusing either.) The God of nature has a kingdom of order wherein he raises up His children and sends them to an earth where they can apply (from memory of the heart and instructions from his spirit and servants) his teachings in the family unit. Having a family in this life is the great privilege of God’s children to sample what his Eternal Life is like, and for those who honor it (as demonstrated by their goodness toward their fellows) family life is the high (highest) promise to embrace forever.
So no, the Latter-day Saints are not cruel in their admonitions for the people’s of the earth to gather into their fold so they can be “with their families forever.” You can do that by the grace of God, whose children we all are. But what they will miss out on is the fullness of the family blessings, which are ONLY accessible in the kingdom of God, and that kingdom is a house of order, worlds without end. Let all the peoples of the earth seek god, and He will lead them to the kingdom of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, and initiate them into the holy order of the priesthood in the House of the Lord. This is, as Joseph Smith taught, an invitation NOT to leave behind any good thing you have, but an opportunity to get so, so much more! God intends to bring us all, as many as will, into this happy eternal order. Creating family relationships of marriage and parenthood are the great privilege of life, let us give them the eternal respect they deserve by entering into the order and kingdom of God, and thereby exalt those relationships to all they can be!
In light of these offered privileges, is it any doubt that we beg our children to marry in the faith in the temples of God? Is it any doubt that we beg our children to keep the faith? There is so much more God has to offer to those who will have Him as their God, and be His people, than what the world has to offer. Will we sell our eternal birthrights for the equivalent of a mess of porridge? The fleeting pleasures aren’t worth it. Yes, the life of a saint includes some trials, but the riddle is solved, the mystery is ended, the Devil has no power, when we hear the preaching of the elders of the Church, and respond the the truth! You can have the bread and circuses of Babylon (which of course bring pleasure for a season), or the worlds and eternal lives of the gods (which bring higher and deeper and never-ending pleasure)! Pay the little price, God is good and merciful to them that love Him, He will lead you along, and help in the hour of need!
