Eternal Families & Temple Sealing: Understanding LDS Doctrine

LDS Perspective

The doctrine of eternal families and sealing constitutes the central theological framework through which The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints understands the eternal destiny of humanity. According to "The Family: A Proclamation to the World," the family is central to the Creator's plan for the eternal destiny of His children. This doctrine teaches that marriage between a man and a woman is ordained of God and that families can be together forever through the sealing power of the priesthood exercised in holy temples. When a man and woman are married in the temple by the authority of the Melchizedek Priesthood, they are married for time and eternity, not merely until death. This ordinance creates an eternal family unit that death cannot separate, provided the couple remains faithf

Historical Perspective

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints teaches that eternal familial bonds are created exclusively through temple sealing ordinances performed by authorized priesthood holders. According to official church publications referenced in the context, couples married outside the temple see their marriages terminated at death, while those united in temple ceremonies can "progress to exaltation" and remain together eternally as husband, wife, and children (Source 2). This doctrine, heavily promoted in missionary work and church marketing under the phrase "Families Can Be Together Forever," holds that children born to sealed parents—or subsequently sealed to them—remain connected in the highest degree of the Celestial Kingdom. President Russell M. Nelson has emphasized that a "welding link