Your Family Can Last Forever
Jesus Christ makes it possible for us to be reunited with our families and ancestors after this life.
Families are important to God
Families are the central part of our Heavenly Father’s plan for our happiness. We are born into a family. We aspire to build strong family relationships. Home can be a place where we feel support, safety, and love. God does not want family ties to end when we die. Because of temples, we can be reunited with our families in the next life.
Until death do you part?
When members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints get married, they understand that marriage is meant to last forever. Marriage ceremonies in temples contain the words “for time and all eternity,” not “until death do you part.” But it’s not the words that make eternal marriage possible—it’s the power of God.
God’s power to join together
In the Bible, Jesus gave the Twelve Apostles the sealing power, or sealing “keys.” That power meant that marriage, and many other wonderful blessings, could last forever. The “keys” enable the marriage to be sealed or bound together forever. Nothing can break that seal except unfaithfulness to the promises we make to our spouse or to God.
When God restored His Church through Joseph Smith, He also returned the sealing power to the earth. When couples are married in a Latter-day Saint temple, the person performing the ceremony has been given permission to use that power.
Sealing power extends to children
Children born to couples married in temples are automatically “sealed” to their parents. Families who join The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints later in life can also go to the temple to be sealed together.