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"We are grateful that this one survey reveals that about 90 percent of the temple marriages hold fast." - Spencer W. Kimball

This was big spence in his heyday.

What is the reality for temple marriages and splitting up/divorce these days?

A 1993 study gave a 13% divorce rate, which means 87% of temple marriages were succeeding at the time. A 1999 study conducted by Creighton University found that only 14% of marriages between Christians who attend the same denomination end in divorce, so the 13% for temple marriages seems reasonable to me.

Note that these statistics are lower than other studies published which only check for self-identification ("Christian," "Protestant," "Baptist," "Mormon," etc.) and don't actually try to measure for religiosity and/or temple marriage. Self-identified groups of Mormons have a divorce rate of more like 24%, which is comparable with the national average, but that obviously isn't the same thing as temple marriages.

I'm sorry I don't have a more current statistic than 1993. This isn't something researchers look into every year.

In any case, Kimball's 90% success rate statistic may have very well been correct back in the 70s when he gave it.

Monson, in one of his talks at this years conference, stated that dissolving temple dealings is something he does 'every week'.

Joseph wrote:What is the reality for temple marriages and splitting up/divorce these days?

100%

..at death

Ever heard of Google?

Sometimes temple marriage statistics are actually reporting the number of sealings that are actually canceled in the temple, rather than the number of marriages that fail. There are also "for time only" marriages perfomed in the temple that would never be canceled in the temple if they fail.

Still, it does seem that faithful Mormons marrying other faithful Mormons have quite a respectable success rate, but I doubt if its anywhere near 90%.

Simon Belmont wrote:Ever heard of Google?

Ever hear of 1 Corinthians 13:4-13?

This is making me wondr about something else. If a temple-married person resigns from the church or is ex'd, is there an official sealing cancelation done, or is it considered moot because that person is obviously not headed to the CK? That's something else that could skew the statistics (if any are kept, or if any will ever be shared).

Simon Belmont wrote:Ever heard of Google?

Ever heard of asking a question in order to provoke discussion?

It's a well-known rhetorical device that is probably covered in University-level courses.