Sealings

Editor's note: "Scenes from Saints" is a series of articles highlighting interesting facts from the second volume of Saints. This is the third article in the series.Part one shares facts about the building of the St. George, Logan, and Salt Lake temples,and part two shares facts about early missionary work. Articles will be posted weekly during November and December 2020. You can purchase both volumes ofSaintsthrough Deseret Bookor read and listen to the volumes on the Gospel Library app under the “Restoration and Church History” section.

Moments before the 190th Semiannual General Conference concluded, President Russell M. Nelson announced six new temples that will be built in Tarawa, Kiribati; Port Vila, Vanuatu; Lindon, Utah; Greater Guatemala City, Guatemala; São Paulo East, Brazil; and Santa Cruz, Bolivia.

In an article in the September Ensign, Sister Aburto testifies of the power of healing found in the temple and shares how that power provided healing in her own life.

September 24, 2019, is now the best day of my life. That afternoon, I was married and sealed to my smart, fun, and beautiful wife, Madison. In the months prior to our wedding, we worked on planning the entire day out, making sure not to miss a single detail. One of these details was choosing who the witnesses at our sealing would be. Knowing that our witnesses had to be men, I asked my dad and my wife asked her dad. They both agreed, and our sealing was as amazing as we could have ever hoped.

President Russell M. Nelson of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints announced a historic policy change Wednesday morning allowing women and children to serve as witnesses during sacred ordinances. For baptisms outside the temple, any baptized member of the Church can serve as a witness. For baptisms for the dead, any member of the Church, including women and young Church members, holding a limited-use temple recommend can serve as a witness. For sealing ordinances, any endowed member of the Church with a current temple recommend can serve as a witness.

The following excerpt originally appeared on LDS Living in October 2015.

“One evening while performing proxy sealings in the temple, the sealer interrupted the flow of names and ordinances in beautifully unexpected ways.”

In a major change to a century of Latter-day Saint wedding tradition and policy, members who marry in a civil ceremony no longer face an automatic year-long wait before they can be eligible for a temple sealing, an ordinance that allows a marriage to continue after death.

When prophets encourage us to perform temple ordinances for our ancestors, this includes all the necessary ordinances of salvation. However, some young single adults might avoid sealings, thinking they are relevant only to those who are married. But that’s not true! There are blessings unique to the sealing ordinance that can help us right now if we will participate.

Each temple is a house of learning. There we are taught in the Master’s way. His way differs from modes of others. His way is ancient and rich with symbolism. We can learn much by pondering the reality for which each symbol stands. Teachings of the temple are beautifully simple and simply beautiful. They are understood by the humble, yet they can excite the intellect of the brightest minds.

Many of us go to the temple today the way Adam and Eve first offered sacrifices—simply because we are commanded, without knowing why. Simple obedience is certainly better than not performing the ordinances at all. But the Lord who sent that angel must have wanted Adam and Eve to know why they performed the ordinances—and I believe He wants us to know why we do.

The life story of Newel and Lydia’s son Jesse Knight raises a familiar but provocative question: How far will the temple’s sealing power reach out to rescue the wandering children and grandchildren of faithful, temple-married parents? Some Church members believe that eventually, regardless of when or how far some of their posterity may stray, the sealing power will bring them back. The answer to their question rests on the central issue of agency. It may help to ask it this way: If God extends redeeming grace and exalting power through the full blessings of Christ’s Atonement and the priesthood ordinances, why must each of us still engage the process so willingly?

This is a part of a new LDS Living series where we will be highlighting the Church gospel topics essays, which provide insights into often challenging gospel topics and help Church members “seek learning, even by study and also by faith.”

Thanks to the Deseret News for making us aware of this story.

Recently, the national wedding website TheKnot featured Bryce Harper and Kayla Varner's elegant wedding, complete with a reception held in a barn they constructed on a polo field just for the event.

Did you know that all the way back in 1977, President Kimball outlined a "never-failing formula" for every couple to build a successful, satisfying, and eternal marriage? Read it for yourself!

What a sweet, faith-promoting explanation of what temples really mean to Latter-day Saints, and what a good way to clear up misconceptions: "Binding families together, in happiness, for eternity—that’s what really happens in temples." Please share!

MR says: What does the temple mean to you? How can you see this beautiful house of God in a new way?

Conference Talk:

Have you ever driven past a Mormon temple and wondered what happens inside?

While serving as a stake president, I interviewed a 30-something couple and their two young boys for a first-time temple recommend. They were about to become an eternal family, but for their youngest son, the price for that privilege was everything. The youngest son was fidget-appropriate for a 5-year-old. As I interviewed his parents, Jimmy couldn’t take the motionless moments any longer. He leaped from his mother’s lap, smacking his head on the corner of my desk.