Question
Dear Gramps,
I sure hope that you can answer my question. My husband of 29 years has decided to leave me. My question is when he divorces me, what happens to the sealing of me and my children, if he gets a temple divorce?
Hopeful
Answer
Dear Hopeful,
1. In the first place it is important to consider that the most powerful force in the universe is the word of God. When He speaks, even matter obeys. We are told that
What I the Lord have spoken, I have spoken, and I excuse not myself; and though the heavens and the earth pass away, my word shall not pass away, but shall all be fulfilled, whether by mine own voice or by the voice of my servants, it is the same. (D&C 1:38)
The sealing ordinances in the temple invoke the words of God. However, the sealing of wives to husbands is conditional. It depends upon their faithfulness. If one of the parties is not faithful to the covenants entered into in the marriage ordinance, it is no longer valid, and that union is not of force when they are out of the world.
The sealing of children to parents, however, is not conditional. If you look in the May 1992 issue of the Ensign, on page 66, Elder Boyd K Packer quotes an article by Orson F. Whitney citing Joseph Smith’s affirmation that all children who are sealed to parents in the temple will inherit the celestial kingdom. If their own parents are not worthy to inherit exaltation, the children will be sealed to other, worthy parents.
Now, what if only one partner in a marriage is unfaithful? All of the blessings promised to the faithful partner will be fulfilled, because God’s word is sure and never fails. So the faithful partner, either in this life or in the next, will be sealed to a worthy companion, and the children born under the covenant to that faithful parent will remain as that faithful parent’s children throughout eternity.
Gramps
