I had a question about sealing and such. If a person is sealed to their spouse and then their spouse dies, are they able to sealed again? And if they are sealed again, isn’t that a form of polygamy? I’m currently studying the Latter-day Saints and was curious about this. Thank you!
One Response to “I had a question about sealing and such. If a person is seal…”
Bruno Rubio
2008-07-13 05:22:50
Hi friend,
In Mormon theology, there are great similarities between "marriage," wherein a man and woman are joined for this life, and "sealing," wherein two people are joined for the eternities, so much so that "sealings" are often called "eternal marriages." Both involve people coming together to exercise the creative powers God has given them. There are some subtle differences between the two, however. Sealing by its very nature involves multiple people. The principle purpose of sealing is to bind all people--earthly families, generations, and ultimately the entire human race--together as one. Husbands can be sealed to wives, and children can be sealed to parents. In some rare cases in the past, even unrelated people have been sealed together. The ultimate goal really is to complete the chain of sealing clear back to Adam, so that every human being has a sealed relationship with every other. This is not the purpose of marriage, where only two people, a man and a woman alone, are bound together as one for this life only.
A good example of this difference can be found in early Mormon history, where even married women at times chose to be sealed to a prophet, often posthumously. These "sealings" were not marriages in any reasonable sense of the word. They likely were seen merely as ways to join the human family together. When a man marries multiple women, we rightfully call it polygamy. When a man is sealed to multiple women, which is not really the same as marriage to multiple women, polygamy doesn't quite capture it. It's perhaps a subtle semantic difference, but I think a theologically important one.
Current church policy does not allow a man to be sealed to two living women, but if his first wife dies, he can be sealed to his second. Likewise, if a woman has two husbands in this life, she can be sealed to them both posthumously.
In Mormon theology, there are great similarities between "marriage," wherein a man and woman are joined for this life, and "sealing," wherein two people are joined for the eternities, so much so that "sealings" are often called "eternal marriages." Both involve people coming together to exercise the creative powers God has given them. There are some subtle differences between the two, however. Sealing by its very nature involves multiple people. The principle purpose of sealing is to bind all people--earthly families, generations, and ultimately the entire human race--together as one. Husbands can be sealed to wives, and children can be sealed to parents. In some rare cases in the past, even unrelated people have been sealed together. The ultimate goal really is to complete the chain of sealing clear back to Adam, so that every human being has a sealed relationship with every other. This is not the purpose of marriage, where only two people, a man and a woman alone, are bound together as one for this life only.
A good example of this difference can be found in early Mormon history, where even married women at times chose to be sealed to a prophet, often posthumously. These "sealings" were not marriages in any reasonable sense of the word. They likely were seen merely as ways to join the human family together. When a man marries multiple women, we rightfully call it polygamy. When a man is sealed to multiple women, which is not really the same as marriage to multiple women, polygamy doesn't quite capture it. It's perhaps a subtle semantic difference, but I think a theologically important one.
Current church policy does not allow a man to be sealed to two living women, but if his first wife dies, he can be sealed to his second. Likewise, if a woman has two husbands in this life, she can be sealed to them both posthumously.