The Most Comforting Doctrine Joseph Smith Taught.

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On my mission, I loved teaching the doctrine of eternal families. After all, that is why my mother joined the Church. But inevitably after teaching about how families can be together forever in the Celestial Kingdom, someone would ask the million-dollar question, “What happens if I do everything right and one of my kids goes to the other kingdom, how can our family be together?” And for the longest time, my only reply was “God is a loving Father, I don’t know what He will do, but rest assured you will be ok with it.” I did not know everything but I knew enough to walk by faith.

The Power of Sealings.

Halfway through my mission, I found the answer to this question. The answer to this question is actually a better understanding of the very sealing powers that make an eternal family even possible. In the April 1929 General Conference, Orson F. Whitney expounded on the doctrine of temple sealings, I quote him:

“The Prophet Joseph Smith declared—and he never taught a more comforting doctrine—that the eternal sealings of faithful parents and the divine promises made to them for valiant service in the Cause of Truth, would save not only themselves, but likewise their posterity. Though some of the sheep may wander, the eye of the Shepherd is upon them, and sooner or later they will feel the tentacles of Divine Providence reaching out after them and drawing them back to the fold. Either in this life or the life to come, they will return. They will have to pay their debt to justice; they will suffer for their sins; and may tread a thorny path; but if it leads them at last, like the penitent Prodigal, to a loving and forgiving father’s heart and home, the painful experience will not have been in vain. Pray for your careless and disobedient children; hold on to them with your faith. Hope on, trust on, till you see the salvation of God.”

Orson F. Whitney, in Conference Report, Apr. 1929, p. 110.

Hope For Wayward Children.

For anyone with a wayward child, this truly must be the most comforting doctrine! That if they hold true to their covenants one day God will reach out to their children to draw them home. Now it is important to understand that this does not overrule their agency. Expounding on this quote President Faust taught in the April 2003 general conference:

“A principle in this statement that is often overlooked is that they must fully repent and ‘suffer for their sins’ and ‘pay their debt to justice.’ I recognize that now is the time ‘to prepare to meet God’ [Alma 34:32]. If the repentance of the wayward children does not happen in this life, is it still possible for the cords of the sealing to be strong enough for them yet to work out their repentance? In the Doctrine and Covenants we are told,
‘The dead who repent will be redeemed, through obedience to the ordinances of the house of God,
And after they have paid the penalty of their transgressions, and are washed clean, shall receive a reward according to their works, for they are heirs of salvation’ [D&C 138:58–59].”

 James E. Faust, “Dear Are the Sheep That Have Wandered,” Ensign,May 2003, 62.

From President Faust, we learn that agency, including its consequences, is in full effect. We learn that the faithful keeping of the sealing covenant by parents does not save their kids, but rather parents who are faithfully keeping their sealing covenants are promised that the Lord will use extraordinary means to bring them home (without violating their agency). Elder David A. Bednar in March 2014 Ensign expounded on President Faust’s comments and this doctrine when he taught:

The influence of parents who honor covenants and obey commandments indeed can have a decisive spiritual impact upon children who stray by activating the tentacles of divine Providence—in ways that have not been revealed fully and are not understood completely. However, righteous parental influence (1) does not replace in the life of an individual the need for the redeeming and strengthening power of the Atonement of Jesus Christ, (2) does not overrule the consequences of the unrighteous exercise of moral agency, and (3) does not negate the responsibility of an individual as an agent “to act … and not to be acted upon” (2 Nephi 2:26).

David A. Bednar, “Faithful Parents and Wayward Children,” Ensign, March 2014.

Inheritance Spent.

When this doctrine is first understood one might be tempted to think, “Eat, drink, and be merry ” (2 Nephi 28:7), and our we can repent and be exalted later. This is a false idea. President Faust warned against this notion by illustrating part of the parable of the Prodigal Son that we often overlook.

“We remember that the prodigal son wasted his inheritance, and when it was all gone he came back to his father’s house. There he was welcomed back into the family, but his inheritance was spent. [See Luke 15:11–32.] Mercy will not rob justice, and the sealing power of faithful parents will only claim wayward children upon the condition of their repentance and Christ’s Atonement. Repentant wayward children will enjoy salvation and all the blessings that go with it, but exaltation is much more. It must be fully earned. The question as to who will be exalted must be left to the Lord in His mercy. ”

 James E. Faust, “Dear Are the Sheep That Have Wandered,” Ensign, May 2003, 62.

Yes, if someone repents with full purpose of heart in this life they can be exalted, but let us be wary of Satan’s lie that we can procrastinate our repentance till the next life and still enjoy the reward reserved for the faithful. Whereas through repentance and the sealing power you may be enabled to go to the Celestial Kingdom to be with your righteous parents, if you want the blessings of eternal life then one must live worthy of exaltation.

Conclusion.

Because in the church we strive to teach people the requirements for exaltation, not just salvation, this doctrine is not always properly emphasized. But emphasized or not, the comfort to parents of wayward children that this doctrine brings is immeasurable. So teach your kids the requirements of exaltation, keep your covenants, and hold fast to the promises of keeping your covenants!

Here are some amazing quotes on this topic:

“Let the father and mother, who are members of this Church and Kingdom, take a righteous course, and strive with all their might never to do a wrong, but to do good all their lives; if they have one child or one hundred children, if they conduct themselves towards them as they should, binding them to the Lord by their faith and prayers, I care not where those children go, they are bound up to their parents by an everlasting tie, and no power of earth or hell can separate them from their parents in eternity; they will return again to the fountain from whence they sprang”

Brigham Young (quoted in Joseph Fielding Smith, Doctrines of Salvation, comp. Bruce R. McConkie, 3 vols. [1954–56], 2:90–91).

“If you succeed in passing through these trials and afflictions and receive a resurrection, you will, by the power of the Priesthood, work and labor, as the Son of God has, until you get all your sons and daughters in the path of exaltation and glory. This is just as sure as that the sun rose this morning over yonder mountains. Therefore, mourn not because all your sons and daughters do not follow in the path that you have marked out to them, or give heed to your counsels. Inasmuch as we succeed in securing eternal glory, and stand as saviors, and as kings and priests to our God, we will save our posterity”

Lorenzo Snow (in Collected Discourses, comp. Brian H. Stuy, 5 vols. [1987–92], 3:364).

“It is not uncommon for responsible parents to lose one of their children, for a time, to influences over which they have no control. They agonize over rebellious sons or daughters. They are puzzled over why they are so helpless when they have tried so hard to do what they should. It is my conviction that those wicked influences one day will be overruled. … We cannot overemphasize the value of temple marriage, the binding ties of the sealing ordinance, and the standards of worthiness required of them. When parents keep the covenants they have made at the altar of the temple, their children will be forever bound to them”

Boyd K. Packer “Our Moral Environment,” Ensign, May 1992, 68.

Here are some amazing conference talks/Ensign articles on this topic:

Our Moral Environment by Boyd K. Packer
Dear Are the Sheep That Have Wandered by James E. Faust
Blessing our families through our covenants by Kathleen H. Hughes
Faithful Parents and Wayward Children by David A. Bednar