Have you ever considered the difference between a
temple marriage and an eternal marriage?
In my younger years, I thought that they were the same thing, but I as I
matured I realized they are different. A
"temple marriage" is one performed in the temple; an "eternal
marriage" is one that lasts forever.
A marriage performed for eternity in the temple
is a necessary step along the way to having an eternal marriage. A temple marriage opens the door to
exaltation in the celestial kingdom. In
the temple, through the power of the priesthood, men and women can be married
for eternity, not just until death. Any children
born to a couple that has been "sealed" in the temple would then be
"born in the covenant," meaning that they could be sealed together as
a family forever.
After a husband and wife have been sealed in the
temple, they must keep the covenants they made in the temple and live the laws
of the gospel. By keeping those
covenants and living the principles of the gospel, they can achieve an eternal
marriage. Those who live for eternal
marriage will realize great blessings here on earth as well as in the next
life.
Some members of The Church of Jesus Christ of
Latter-day Saints do not understand the importance of being married in the
temple. They may believe that
"eternity" is too far in the future to be a cause of concern or they
may think that temple marriage is not for everyone. They may simply consider it as
unimportant. In the following story, one
such young woman described her journey to understanding why temple marriage is
so important for each of us.
Chris and her husband were first married in a
civil ceremony conducted by their branch president. Later Chris said of that ceremony: "I remember nothing of what was said
except the final words: `as long as you
both shall live.' We were in love and
the fact that we had not been married in the temple seemed unimportant."
At the time Chris did not plan on ever being
married in the temple. She said: "I had joined the Church five years
earlier and had received several lessons concerning the importance of temple
marriage. But … eternity seemed such a
long way off…. I also felt temple marriage
was for the `elite' of the Church, not for someone like me who was still
stumbling about with a youthful testimony."
Five months after the wedding, Chris and her
husband discovered that they were expecting their first child. This blessed event changed her way of
thinking. I had a similar experience in
having my thinking changed once I was responsible for a tiny human being; I
became converted to the importance of having food available to feed her and got
serious about food storage!
Chris said:
"My greatest jolt about the nearness of eternity came … when I
discovered that we were expecting our first child. I felt nauseated, thrilled, humbled, and
terrified all at the same time. As the
months passed, a deep love for that little person inside of me began to grow
and fill my very being. As this love
grew, so did the reality that I wanted this child to be ours for all eternity….
"My love for my husband was also blossoming
beyond anything I had ever imagined….
The words `as long as you both shall live' began to haunt me. Eternity was creeping ever closer, and I
wanted our happiness to last forever."
The members of the ward [parish] where Chris and
her husband lived often went on trips to the temple. Chris later recorded how she felt when she
could not go with them: "I was
learning that unless I made the covenants that are part of the temple ceremony,
I would be on the outside looking in for the rest of eternity."
After Chris decided that she wanted to marry her
husband in the temple, her outlook on life changed. "All of my thoughts became centered
around what I would have to do to be worthy of entering the temple," she
said. Chris was very fortunate that her
husband was willing to prepare for temple marriage also.
"Finally, one year and two days after our
civil marriage, my wonderful husband and I knelt across the altar from each
other in the Ogden
Temple
"Four weeks later, our first beautiful baby
was born in the covenant. Never had we
seen such a living miracle, and she was ours for eternity.
"Over 16 years have passed since that day in
the Ogden Temple
"I cherish being able to return often to the
temple. Within its walls I am reminded
that I now possess all I need to be truly happy - forever." Chris Geilman, "As Long As You Both
Shall Live," New Era, Jan. 1994,
9-11)
Many people consider marriage to be only a social
custom or a legal agreement between a man and a woman that they will live
together. Others consider it to be
"just a piece of paper." Still
others see marriage as being old fashioned, outdated, and unnecessary.
To
members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, marriage is much
more. Our Heavenly Father ordained
marriage from the very beginning when Adam and Eve were in the Garden of Eden. "Therefore
shall a man leave his father and his mother, and shall cleave unto his
wife: and they shall be one flesh" (Genesis
2:24).
God
continued to give this same instruction to different prophets. To Moses, God gave the same commandment: "Therefore
shall a man leave his father and his mother, and shall cleave unto his wife;
and they shall be one flesh" (Pearl
God
renewed this instruction in a revelation given to the Prophet Joseph Smith in
March 1831: "And again, verily I say unto you, that whoso forbiddeth to marry
is not ordained of God, for marriage is ordained of God unto man"
(Doctrine and Covenants 49:15).
In
our day this commandment was included in "The Family - A Proclamation to
the World." https://www.lds.org/topics/family-proclamation
This proclamation was read by President Gordon B. Hinckley as part of his
message at the General Relief Society Meeting held September 23, 1995, in Salt
Lake City, Utah, and it begins with this statement: "We, the First Presidency and the
Council of the Twelve Apostles of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day
Saints, solemnly proclaim that marriage between a man and a woman is ordained
of God and that the family is central to the Creator's plan for the eternal
destiny of His children."
One
of the main reasons for getting married in the temple is because we love our
families and want to be with them forever.
If we want to be with our spouse, our children, and our children's
children for eternity, we must be married for eternity.
God
has a plan for the eternal happiness of His children, and He told us about His
plan before we came to earth. We
understood that our life on earth would be for a short time; we understood that
we needed to come to earth to get our physical bodies and experience in making
good choices and doing good works. We
understood that there would be a judgment day, and then we would be assigned
our eternal destinations. Those
destinations are known as kingdoms - Celestial, Terrestrial, and
Telestial. We understood that the
greatest blessings would come through being qualified for the highest degree of
the Celestial Kingdom
The
gospel of Jesus Christ teaches the requirements to attain the Celestial Kingdom
"In the celestial glory there are three heavens or
degrees;
"And in order to obtain the highest, a man must
enter into this order of the priesthood [meaning the new and everlasting
covenant of marriage];
"And if he does not, he cannot obtain it.
"He may enter into the other, but that is the end
of his kingdom; he cannot have an increase" (Doctrine and Covenants 131:1-4). I know
that those who are married in the temple and live worthily can receive
exaltation in the highest degree of the Celestial Kingdom
President Spencer W. Kimball made the following
statement: "Marriage is perhaps the
most vital of all the decisions and has the most far-reaching effects for it
has to do not only with the immediate happiness, but eternal joys. It affects not only the two people involved,
but their children and … their children's children down through the latest
generations.
"In selecting a companion for life and for
eternity, certainly the most careful planning and thinking and praying and
fasting should be done to be sure that of all the decisions, this one must not
be wrong….
"We recommend then that all boys and girls
from their infancy up plan to be married only in the temple, to keep their
lives spotless so that this can be accomplished" (The Matter of Marriage [address delivered at the Salt Lake
Institute of Religion, 22 Oct. 1976], 4-5).
Parents and leaders in The Church of Jesus Christ
of Latter-day Saints teach the rising generation to aspire to a higher form of
marriage. Children and youth are taught about
the temple and the importance of preparing for temple marriage by obedience,
thought, and prayer.
President Howard W. Hunter, fourteenth President
of the Church, made the following statement:
"I invite the Latter-day Saints to look to
the temple of the Lord as the great symbol of your membership. It is the deepest desire of my heart to have
every member of the Church worthy to enter the temple…. The things that we must do and not do to be
worthy of a temple recommend are the very things that ensure we will be happy
as individuals and as families.
"Let us be a temple-attending people. Attend the temple as frequently as personal
circumstances allow" (Ensign,
Nov. 1994, 8).
We are encouraged to have pictures of the temple
in our homes and to visit the temple grounds with our children. We do our best to help our posterity to live
righteous lives and prepare for temple marriage. We teach our children about temples in
numerous ways. An example is a song
entitled "Families Can Be Together Forever" (words written by Ruth
Muir Gardner with music written by Vanja Y. Watkins; Hymns, No. 300).
I have a fam'ly here on earth. They are so good to me.
I want to share my life with them through all
eternity.
Families
can be together forever
Through
Heav'nly Father's plan.
I always want to be with my own family,
And
the Lord has shown me how I can.
The Lord has shown me how I can.
While I am in my early years, I'll prepare most
carefully,
So I can marry in God's temple for eternity.
Families can be together forever
Through Heav'nly Father's plan.
I always want to be with my own family,
And the Lord has shown me how I can.
The Lord has shown me how I can.
The temple was an important part of my life long
before I was old enough to enter it. I
remember going on trips with my family from eastern Utah
to the Salt Lake Valley Salt
Lake Temple
Serving in the temple as a teenager helps us prepare
to be married in the temple later. Temple
To
obtain a temple recommend, we must have an interview with our bishop [or branch
president] to determine whether or not we are worthy to enter the temple. The bishop has the responsibility to
determine our worthiness, and he asks some basic questions, such as the
following: 1) Do you have a testimony of
Heavenly Father, Jesus Christ, and the Holy Ghost? 2) Do you sustain the prophet and other
Church leaders? 3) Do you strive to keep
the commandments? 4) Do you treat your
family members with love and respect? 5)
Do you attend your Church meetings? 6) Are
you honest with those around you? 7) Do
you keep the Word of Wisdom? 8) Are you
morally clean? 9) Do you pay a full
tithe?
It is not an easy thing to quality for exaltation
in the highest degree of the celestial kingdom, but it is possible. To qualify, a husband and wife must have a
temple wedding ceremony plus develop celestial character traits. The continued righteousness of those married
in the temple is as important as the marriage ceremony itself.
Eternal marriage brings peace, comfort, and true
happiness. The temple is the most
beautiful place for a marriage to take place as well as being the most
important place. I am grateful for the
temple and its blessings in my life. I
am grateful for the promise that we can be together forever with our family
members. I encourage you to become
temple worthy and receive that promise.
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