SEALING POWER & TEMPLE BLESSINGS.
“The introductory events of the Restoration revealed a correct understanding of the Godhead, emphasized the importance of the Book of Mormon, and anticipated the work of salvation and exaltation for both the living and the dead. This inspiring sequence is instructive about the spiritual matters of the highest priority to Deity.” -Elder Bednar
From Joseph Fielding Smith:
"Some members of the Church have been confused in thinking that Elijah came with the keys of baptism for the dead or of salvation for the dead. Elijah’s keys were greater than that. They were the keys of sealing, and those keys of sealing pertain to the living and embrace the dead who are willing to repent.”
"Parents must be sealed to each other, and children to parents in order to receive the blessings of the celestial kingdom. Therefore our salvation and progression depends upon the salvation of our worthy dead with whom we must be joined in family ties. This can only be accomplished in our Temples."
"The sealing power unites for eternity husbands and wives when they enter into marriage according to the eternal plan. It is the authority by which parents obtain the claim of parenthood concerning their children through all eternity."
"The Lord has given us privileges and blessings, and the opportunity of entering into covenants, accepting ordinances that pertain to our salvation beyond what is preached in the world, beyond the principles of faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, repentance from sin and baptism for the remission of sins and the laying on of hands for the gift of the Holy Ghost: and these principles and covenants are received nowhere else but in the temple of God."
"Temple work is so interwoven with the plan of salvation, that one cannot exist without the other."
"We should think (of our dead) as living; and the living proxy but represents them in receiving the blessings which they should have received and would have received in this life had they been living in a gospel dispensation. Therefore every dead person for whom work is done in the temple is considered to be living at the time the ordinance is given."
"The doctrine of salvation for the dead establishes the fact that God is no respecter of persons; that every soul is precious in His sight; and that all men will, in fact and in reality, be judged according to their works"
"This doctrine gives us a clearer concept of the purposes of the Lord toward his children. It shows his abundant and unlimited mercy and love to all who obey him, aye, even to those who are rebellious, for in his goodness he will grant great blessings even unto them."
"There is no work equal to that in the temple for the dead in teaching a man to love his neighbor as himself."
"There is no work connected with the gospel that is of a more unselfish nature than the work in the House of the Lord….It is a work that enlarges the soul of man, broadens his views regarding the welfare of his fellowman, and plants in his heart a love for all the children of our Heavenly Father."
QUESTIONS TO CONSIDER:
What does this doctrine teach us?
How can it change us?
Have you found these things to be true?
How might these ideas influence the way you serve in the temple?
What does it say to you about God’s trust in you?
How can these teachings relate to our relationships with family members?
Can you think of how the Savior has stood as proxy for you? How does that effect your view of being proxy for someone in the temple?
No comments:
Post a Comment