Posted on 09/01/2011 8:12:06 AM PDT by greyfoxx39
I like your tagline!
So to lds ‘sacred’ means only a few people of their choosing are able to see the NON-secret ceremonies or events. Oh, that makes a lot of sense. /s/ ;-)
The Culminating Sealing Ordinance of the Temple
No, it isn’t being sealed to your spouse on wedding day, although that is a prerequisite (preparatory and required) to receive this highest and most sacred sealing ordinance. The priesthood sealing powers of Elijah, as restored in this last dispensation (D&C 110:13-16) and vested in the presiding high priest of the Church (D&C 132:7), are truly infinite in their application, being enabled to promise eternal life and exaltation to the faithful saints while yet in this life, as Peter explained to the ancient saints (2 Pet. 1; Eph. 1:13-14). Those saints who so receive are they who are of the church of the Firstborn (D&C 76:54, 94), and who may then receive the Second Comforter (D&C 88:3-5).
The Prophet Joseph Smith declared:
After a person has faith in Christ, repents of his sins, and is baptized for the remission of his sins and receives the Holy Ghost, (by the laying on of hands), which is the first Comforter, then let him continue to humble himself before God, hungering and thirsting after righteousness, and living by every word of God, and the Lord will soon say unto him, Son, thou shalt be exalted.
When the Lord has thoroughly proved him, and finds that the man is determined to serve Him at all hazards, then the man will find his calling and his election made sure, then it will be his privilege to receive the other Comforter, which the Lord hath promised the Saints, as is recorded in the testimony of St. John, in the 14th chapter, from the 12th to the 27th verses.1
I would exhort you to go on and continue to call upon God until you make your calling and election sure for yourselves, by obtaining this more sure word of prophecy, and wait patiently for the promise until you obtain it.2
Dr. Andrew C. Skinner, currently Executive Director of The Neal A. Maxwell Institute for Religious Scholarship at BYU, provides more insight into these sacred principles in his recently published book, Temple Worship:
Another aspect of the sealing power of the priesthood is the ability of the Lord’s authorized servant to seal men and women unto eternal life, to perform an ordinance granting them eternal life once they pass beyond mortality, “to place a seal on them so that no matter what happens in the world, no matter what desolation sweeps the earth, yet they shall be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus. (D&C 88:84-85; D&C 109:38, 46; D&C 124:124; D&C 131:5; D&C 132:19, 46, 49).”3 Elder Bruce R. McConkie added this significant insight: “Since these sealing blessings are conferred by the laying on of hands of those who hold the keys of this power, it follows that John’s description of placing a seal in the forehead is not just apocalyptic imagery but a literal description of what takes place. As with other sacred things, however, the devil has a substitute seal to place; he puts a mark in the ‘foreheads’ of his followers also. (Rev. 13:16-18)”4 5
As Elder McConkie noted, this sealing is “conferred by the laying on of hands” and therefore is a different sealing than when one is first married and sealed in the temple. Being sealed to your spouse initially at the altar and its associated promised blessings (including those mentioned in D&C 132) are contingent upon enduring faithfulness and righteousness throughout one’s lifetime, whereupon one may then receive this final sealing and ordinance:
The sealing of men and women (couples) to eternal life is predicated upon continued faithfulness in mortality over time, after their temple marriage, and is not automatic or inherent in the marriage ceremony when a couple is first married in the temple, as temple instruction makes clear.
Said President Joseph Fielding Smith, “Blessings pronounced upon couples in connection with celestial marriage are conditioned upon the subsequent faithfulness of the participating parties.”6 In fact, exaltation comes as a result of proven loyalty to the Lord and his kingdom “at all hazards.”7 The Prophet Joseph Smith not only described the kind of complete devotion to righteousness that is required to receive this ultimate blessing but showed us the way.8 In 1843, after years of serving the Lord at all hazards, Joseph heard the Lord say: “For I am the Lord thy God, and will be with thee even unto the end of the world, and through all eternity; for verily I seal upon you your exaltation, and prepare a throne for you in the kingdom of my Father, with Abraham your father” (D&C 132:49).9
We might ask, “Must we receive this ordinance in mortality, or can it be administered vicariously after we have passed on?” Dr. Skinner helps us in understanding:
Regarding the rest of us, the Lord indicates in D&C 50:5 that whether such a guarantee comes before death or after mortality has concluded, it makes no difference. The result is the same--exaltation. That is why it is so important for all of us to endure faithfully, patiently, and cheerfully to the end of our mortal lives.
In a way, the temple endowment is preparation for the sealing ordinance of eternal marriage, which in turn is preparation for the promise of eternal life preparatory to the realization of exaltation.10
I would add that baptism and receiving the gift of the Holy Ghost (a type of washing and anointing) are also preparation for the temple ordinances which include initiatories (washing and anointing – D&C 124:39), which are in turn preparation for these higher sealing blessings. Undoubtedly these ordinances have a relationship to the three degrees of glory found within the celestial kingdom (D&C 131:1-5).
All I gotta say is that when a couple comes out of the church wearing different underwear than they went in with somebody got naked!
Ah, this explains the ulterior motives of Joseph Smith trying to land as many "wives" as possible! Why, of course! He was only interested in the spiritual welfare of these women who would need Joseph Smith-as-lord -- his consent to enter the celestial kingdom!
And no doubt Smith encountered some women whose "husband was away, and some one had to act proxy for him" -- at least that was the line passed down to Lds apostle Erastus Snow. And so Smith did the "spiritual" thing and performed proxy conjugal visits on behalf of the 11 husbands -- 11 wives he married as they retained two husbands at once!
Altogether now Mormons, start praising those Lds "pioneer" women of old who were sleeping with more than one husband at once whenever they returned from the "mission field" whence Smith had sent them!
Yes, I've also seen quotes from Mormon leaders referencing "servants" in the celestial kingdom. (So don't neglect the servants' quarters there as an additional degree).
I guess that depends on the "attributes" of the wife, doesn't it.
The good Lord has blessed me far beyond my deserving with the greatest wife in the world. In all areas.
All children sealed to parents in the holy temples will inherit the celestial kingdom regardless to their degree of compliance with the principles of the gospel.
________________________________________
So
since Barry Dunham-Soetoro was sealed to his Mom Stan Ann Dunham after she had her dead dunking and endowments in June 2008...
Barry gets to go to the top tier celestial kingdom and hang out with Tommy Monson, Gordon Hinckley et al...
Well aint that right there beautiful irony...
LOL
(And here I thought Jesus suffered for our sins...yet Mormon leaders like this Lds "apostle" make you suffer for them in the afterlife)
Seriously, did Constantine and the evil ne’er do wells of the Council of Nicea remove all of that confusing mormon stuff and replace it with something so simple to trick us? That’s what the mormons claim and want us to believe.
An excellently phrased bottom line.
Just think of all the Mormon post-life complexities:
Everybody initially goes to the same place (Spirit World) -- of which there are ghettoes...gotta keep the outer darkness Hitler types separated from others.
Then many go to spirit prison, where some of them "work off" their sins in this life. Others just accept the Mormon "gospel" & vicarious baptism by proxy & get bumped into a higher place -- but not where God the Father lives; and maybe not where Jesus lives.
Some are also headed for "outer darkness" -- like Mormon apostates. Hmmm...why was a place created for Mormon apostates when there were no Mormons til the late 1820s?
And then you have the "celestial kingdom." Degrees of glory even there...from the servant class on up to gods & goddesses who compete with the other Mormon gods for glory, worship, adoration & the right to be prayed to.
Temple Mormons will supposedly be these gods. But not if they are single. Or if a wife's hubby wasn't "celestial material." Or if they died too young. Or if they had black skin and didn't live in the proper restoration period (like 1830-1977).
But that's "OK." Cause you get Lds "prophets" like Joseph Fielding Smith who at times has made exceptions to the above -- to the blacks who lived in a previous dispensation...or to those who died too young...or to celestial material wives who lacked a similar spiritual-level husband.
And so here you get Mormon "prophets" who state celestial heaven criteria with such absolute-sounding statements, only for them to later make exceptions left & right.
Hmm...as you said, Szonian...all of these nuances & exceptions & class warfare MUST have been in the Council of Nicea & the Christians just took their erasers and wiped it out.
Nice to know we've got it all now in the "restoration" period. Except for one thing. None of these things were restored in the Book of Mormon, which supposedly contains the "fullness of the everlasting Gospel."
THX 1138
Groan
Actually; he merely alluded to that.
There is NO list of places where the KJV bible is 'mistranslated'.
The best that LDSism has come up with is the JST version - but they (SLC at least) do NOT consider that to be 'scripture'.
(Go figger...)
The one at #52 was written in Reformed Egyptian!
Sigh...
Using THAT old stuff again?
--MormonDude(You KNOW that that ain't SCRIPTURE!)
I was worried that my post would have been construed as this. I meant the women were wives of Jesus’s disciples and/or brothers.
Sorry, but the Justice of the Peace has beaten them to it.
they aren’t exactly segregated, sure they are separate, but if you want to listen to the other class they won’t stop you, in fact the bishopric of the ward are required to attend womens meetings
did you know in the mormon religion those who died before marriage are offered the opportunity at the resurrection?
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