Question
Gramps,
Several years after our marriage, my wife and I were sealed in the temple and our three children sealed at that time. We later had a daughter born under the covenant. She has become inactive in the church but is very well read and only watches other church preachers on TV. As far as I know she did not request her records be removed. My question is will she still be part of our celestial family due to her inactivity?
William
Answer
William,
My heart truly has compassion for your circumstance and your desire for your daughter. When we are sealed to our children, our greatest hope is that our children will be with us in the Celestial Kingdom, more so that they will be exalted themselves. To answer your question I will share a few quotes form past prophets and apostles:
Orson F. Whitney:
“The Prophet Joseph Smith declared-and he never taught more comforting doctrine-that the eternal sealings of faithful parents and the divine promises made to them for valiant sevice int he Cause of Truth, would save not only themselves, but likewise their posterity. Though some of the sheep may wander, the eye of the Shepherd is upon them, and sooner or later they will feel the tentacles of Divine Providence reaching out after them and drawing them back to the fold. Either in this life or in the life to come, they will return. They will have to pay their debt to justice; they will suffer for their sins; and may tred a thorny path; but if it leads them at last, like the penitent Prodigal, to a loving and forgiving father’s heart and home, the painful experience will not have been in vain. Pray for your careless and disobedient children; hold on to them with your faith. Hope on, trust on, till you see the salvation of God” (in Conference Report, Apr. 1929, 110)
President James E. Faust:
“Repentant wayward children will enjoy salvation and all the blessings that go with it, but exaltation is much more. It must be fully earned. The question as to who will be exalted must be left to the Lord in His mercy.” (Conference Report, April 2003,p. 68)
President Joseph Fielding Smith:
“Children born under the covenant, who drift away, are still the children of their parents; and the parents have a claim upon them; and if the children have not sinned away all their rights, the parents may be able to bring them through repentance, into the celestial kingdom, but not to receive the exaltation.” (Doctrines of Salvation, 2:91)
In a simple answer from these words it appears that the binding power of a sealing may possibly bring a wayward child into the Celestial kingdom with their family, and thus receive salvation with God, however the ability to be exalted may or may not have been lost, and is solely the judgment of the Lord and His mercy.
Gramps
