Sealing
The seal ( sealing ) is a ceremony of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints , in the Temple takes place. It is presided over by a Melchizedek priesthood holder appointed by the President of the Church . The bride and groom kneel together at the altar and are married to one another by the priesthood holder.
historical development
The beginnings of Mormon marriage theology can hardly be ascertained due to the lack of contemporary historical sources. The fact that marriages outlast the earthly life of the couple can be seen in a wedding ritual from 1835. In 1839 Parley P. Pratt received a teaching that the love of one another between spouses would endure forever. The subject of polygamy , probably derived from reading the Old Testament, was combined with the motif of the seal (since 1831) derived from Mt 16:19 EU . The marriage covenant sealing made it an everlasting covenant, but only Joseph Smith himself had the authority to make such seals in the early days.
The medic, John Milton Bernhisel , held a high position in the young Mormon Church but was a bachelor. On October 26, 1843, a ritual was held in Nauvoo that made Bernhisel the eternal husband, father and brother of eleven deceased relatives and friends. On February 3, 1846, he was adopted at the altar in the “House of the Lord” by the late Prophet Joseph Smith, and he was heir to his special blessings. During his time as a Utah state politician in the 1860s, Bernhisel was married in monogamous marriage, but at the same time was connected to over a hundred deceased women in a heavenly marriage and thereby became a close heavenly relative for many members of the Mormon community. As an alternative to the biological family, the church had developed a concept of spiritual kinship that reached back to the prehistoric couple Adam and Eve and into which people who died unmarried were incorporated through adoption or heavenly marriages, so that no church member had to exist in the hereafter as an unconnected spirit.
“In short, during the lifetime of Joseph Smith, marriage changed from a lifelong relationship between a man and a woman to an eternal relationship between a man and a woman, a man and several women, and / or a person to a deceased partner. “On the Mormon Trail in 1846 it was a great advantage for the church members that they were integrated into a dense network of not only biological, but above all heavenly relationships, which also ensured support for the weakest.
Church teaching today
meaning
In the declaration “ The Family: A Proclamation to the World ” (1995) the Church emphasizes that marriage between a man and a woman is essential to the divine plan with the world: “In the premortal existence the spirit sons and daughters knew and worshiped God as their Eternal Father and accepted his plan, according to which his children could receive a physical body and have the experiences of earthly life in order to develop themselves further towards perfection and ultimately to realize their divine destiny as heirs of eternal life. Family relationships can last beyond the grave through the divine plan of happiness. Ordinances and covenants available in a sacred temple enable the individual to return to the presence of God and the family to be forever united. ”God wants as many otherworldly personalities as possible to incarnate in one earthly body can develop through the challenges of earth life. That is why marriages (with many children) are important to Mormon soteriology .
The alternative to this are marriages and families that only last during earthly life. The members of such families, according to a revelation from Joseph Smith, become angels in heaven after the resurrection, individuals without connection to their earthly families, “and these angels are spiritual servants to serve those who are one increased and one greatly greater and one eternal On the other hand, only through the covenant of marriage according to Mormon ritual is it possible to attain the highest of three degrees of “celestial glory”. The sealing can also be carried out on behalf of the deceased.
requirements
The sealing power of attorney, d. H. According to Mormon doctrine, Jesus Christ transferred to the apostles the competence to join couples in an eternal marriage (Mt 16:19). In addition to this authority, the second condition for the establishment of eternal marriage is the "right place", namely the temple.
The prerequisite for the sealing, in order to be united with all relatives - ancestors and descendants - for eternity according to Mormon doctrine, is the observance of rules and commandments, which the bishop (community leader) attests with a written recommendation to enter the temple, called a temple recommendation slip . In addition to the personal worthiness the spouses have been the endowment have received and be the man of the Melchizedek Priesthood must support.
Consequences
A woman can only be connected to one man through the sealing, whereas a man can be connected to several women (in successive marriages). When a couple is sealed together, the children from that marriage are associated with the husband. If the latter dies and the woman has other children from a second marriage, these are "born into the covenant", i.e. H. assigned to her first deceased husband.
For a couple married through the sealing, the eternal marriage continues even after the earthly divorce (possible in Mormonism) if it is not ended by the internal church cancellation of sealing in the temple.
literature
- Kathryn M. Daynes: Celestial Marriage (Eternal and Plural) . In: Terryl Givens, Philip L. Barlow (Eds.): The Oxford Handbook of Mormonism . Oxford University Press, New York 2015, pp. 334-348.
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ Kathryn M. Daynes: Celestial Marriage (Eternal and Plural) , New York 2015, pp. 334 f.
- ^ Samuel M. Brown: Early Mormon Adoption Theology and the Mechanics of Salvation . In: Journal of Mormon History Vol. 37, No. 3, Summer 2011, pp. 3–52, especially pp. 3–5. ( PDF )
- ↑ Kathryn M. Daynes: Celestial Marriage (Eternal and Plural) , New York 2015, p. 335.
- ↑ Kathryn M. Daynes: Celestial Marriage (Eternal and Plural) , New York 2015, p. 337.
- ^ The First Presidency and Council of the Twelve Apostles of Latter-day Saint Church of Jesus Christ: The Family: A Proclamation to the World .
- ^ Matthias Pöhlmann , Christine Jahn: Handbook Weltanschauungen, Religious Communities, Free Churches . Gütersloher Verlagshaus, Gütersloh 2015, p. 471f.
- ↑ Doctrine and Covenants 132: 16–16. .
- Jump up ↑ Doctrine and Covenants 131: 1–3 .
- ↑ a b Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints: The Sealing in the Temple .
- ↑ For an interpretation of this passage, see Book of Mormon , Helaman 10: 6–7: “See, you are Nephi and I am God. ... See, I give you power that whatever you seal on earth will be sealed in heaven, and whatever you will loose on earth will be released in heaven. "
- ^ Marie Cornwall, Tim B. Heaton, Lawrence Alfred Young: Contemporary Mormonism: Social Science Perspectives . University of Illinois Press, Urbana / Chicago 1994, p. 262.
- ↑ Andrea Marco Bianca: Divorce Rituals: Global Inventory and Perspectives for a Credible Practice in Church and Society . TVZ, Zurich 2015, p. 476.