Will it all "just work out"?

[_jon]

Jesus appears to have missed the memo informing him that people would be married in the afterlife...

Luke 20:
 34And Jesus answering said unto them, The children of this world marry, and are given in marriage:

 35But they which shall be accounted worthy to obtain that world, and the resurrection from the dead, neither marry, nor are given in marriage

[_stemelbow]

A couple of examples I thought of. A young couple is newly married. They find out great news! A baby is on the way! Tragedy strikes and the husband is killed before the baby is born. Mother remarries a fine LDS man and he raises the child as his own. Does that adoptive father lose rights to the child in the afterlife? Answer: "It will all work out".

"Lose rights"? I'm just not sure what you mean by that. But rest assured it will all work out in the end(;

Second, in the late 1800's, a good man was baptised a member of the LDS church. Not quite understanding the proper authority, he baptizes his family without first gaining the proper priesthood. This is never caught and the sons go on to baptize their families, who baptize their families. Nowhere in any of this has proper priesthood power been passed along. None of the baptisms should be valid. Does the entire posterity lose their entrance to Heaven? Answer: "It will all work out".

I'm not sure why this assumption is so troubling to you. I realize LDS belief requires a lot of legalistic thinking but not all things have to be thought of as so legalistic. I think, generally, LDS feel pretty comfortable thinking there are exceptions that God will just take care of.

So, again I ask, if God has the ability to allow both fathers access to the child, completely bypassing the traditional sealing methods, or allowing the posterity to retain the priesthood which was not properly ordained, why in the world are any of these ordinations necessary anyways??

Well, just because...They are general rules but exceptions are expected since its such a big and onerous work, in some sense, its to be expected some things will get mixed up and thus we'll need to make room, at elast in our heads for exceptions. I'm still quite confused by your thinking on the child whose father died thing--"access to the child"? "completely bypassing the traditional sealing methods"? I'm not sure what you're saying here.

[_shadiq]

No doubt about interesting topic, Scottie. I think there are equivalents to this in most corners of every human society, though.

[_Scottie]

"Lose rights"? I'm just not sure what you mean by that. But rest assured it will all work out in the end(;

Well, what happens to an unsealed family in the afterlife? How would you describe it?

Second, in the late 1800's, a good man was baptised a member of the LDS church. Not quite understanding the proper authority, he baptizes his family without first gaining the proper priesthood. This is never caught and the sons go on to baptize their families, who baptize their families. Nowhere in any of this has proper priesthood power been passed along. None of the baptisms should be valid. Does the entire posterity lose their entrance to Heaven? Answer: "It will all work out".

I'm not sure why this assumption is so troubling to you. I realize LDS belief requires a lot of legalistic thinking but not all things have to be thought of as so legalistic. I think, generally, LDS feel pretty comfortable thinking there are exceptions that God will just take care of.

The trouble here is that the whole LDS church is founded on the fact that the priesthood was not properly transferred to the Catholic church by the laying on of hands by those with proper authority. If God can "just make it all work out", why was a restoration needed? Why couldn't God just give the Pope proper authority just like he would to the men in my example? Why does the LDS church make such a big deal about proper lines of authority?

So, again I ask, if God has the ability to allow both fathers access to the child, completely bypassing the traditional sealing methods, or allowing the posterity to retain the priesthood which was not properly ordained, why in the world are any of these ordinations necessary anyways??

Well, just because...They are general rules but exceptions are expected since its such a big and onerous work, in some sense, its to be expected some things will get mixed up and thus we'll need to make room, at elast in our heads for exceptions. I'm still quite confused by your thinking on the child whose father died thing--"access to the child"? "completely bypassing the traditional sealing methods"? I'm not sure what you're saying here.

The biological father of the child is sealed to the child, however tragically dies before the child is born. The new husband/step-father is not sealed to the child. The step-father raises the child as his own and the child thinks of this adoptive step-father as his Dad, yet they are not sealed. What happens in the afterlife without this sealing?

[_Scottie]

No doubt about interesting topic, Scottie. I think there are equivalents to this in most corners of every human society, though.

I think so, but the difference here is that the entire Mormon religion is founded on the precept that God CAN'T "just make it all work out". That lines of authority MUST be passed on by laying on of hands by one with proper authority. This is the whole crux of the great apostasy.

[_lostindc]

None of the above examples "will all work out." I wish I had the personality to shelve questions and concerns.

[_CaliforniaKid]

First, how do we know it will "all work out"? What if it doesn't "all work out"?

Fortunately we live in a society where it usually does all work out, because there's a social safety net to catch people who suffer misfortune.

That's thanks to the Democrats, though, not God. ;)

[_CaliforniaKid]

The leaders of her ward, and stake asked for advice from the brethren who counseled this young couple to get a sealing cancellation, which they approved.

While the young couple did not want to do this, they wanted to follow the prophet and so, while the young man was facing death, they undid their sealing.

WTF.

[_stemelbow]

Well, what happens to an unsealed family in the afterlife? How would you describe it?

Essentially everyone will be sealed to each other in the afterlife--well at elast those who inherit Celestial glory. I'm not what the big deal here is.

The trouble here is that the whole LDS church is founded on the fact that the priesthood was not properly transferred to the Catholic church by the laying on of hands by those with proper authority. If God can "just make it all work out", why was a restoration needed? Why couldn't God just give the Pope proper authority just like he would to the men in my example? Why does the LDS church make such a big deal about proper lines of authority?

because as a general rule the proper lines, the need for a restoration and priesthood, is a necessity. But the general rules also can be supplanted by God as needed to accomodate outstanding exceptions.

The biological father of the child is sealed to the child, however tragically dies before the child is born. The new husband/step-father is not sealed to the child. The step-father raises the child as his own and the child thinks of this adoptive step-father as his Dad, yet they are not sealed. What happens in the afterlife without this sealing?

If they all inherit celestial glory then I see no problems here. Not only would they have sealings to others which in essence would seal all others in the Celestial to each other, the child is no more a child in the Celestial world but an adult just like them.

[_Scottie]

Stem, this all sounds suspiciously like the gospel as interpreted by Stem.

Do you have doctrinal sources to back up anything you are saying? Where does church doctrine say that everyone in the CK will all be sealed together?