Elder James
A. Cullimore (Assistant to the Council of the Twelve), writing in the New Era,
addressed two questions that are still discussed today:
What happens
when a couple get a temple divorce? What happens to the children in the next
life?
As to the first question, we should
understand that there is no such thing as a temple divorce. What we refer to as
a temple divorce is in fact a cancellation of a temple sealing. When a couple
are married in the temple, they not only satisfy the law of the land as to a
legal civil marriage, but they are also called sealed for time and all eternity
in an eternal relationship.
A civil divorce nullifies the marriage so far
as the civil law is concerned, but only by a mandate of the president of the
Church can the sealing of the couple be cancelled. A cancellation of the
sealing is what we are really referring to when we talk about a temple divorce.
When one has been granted a civil divorce
after his temple sealing, he must be cleared by the First Presidency before he
can be granted a temple recommend by his bishop. After a divorce clearance has
been granted by the First Presidency, an application for a cancellation of the
temple sealing might be made to the president of the Church. Normally it is the
woman who seeks a cancellation of sealing. Since a woman cannot be sealed to
two men at the same time, she must have a cancellation of sealing from one
before she can be sealed to another.
As to the next question—What happens to the
children in the next life?—it is understood that in the case of a cancellation
of the sealing of the woman to the man, the sealing of the children to the
parents is not cancelled, since the children were born in the covenant, which
is a birthright blessing. They remain in the status of the sealing to their
parents and can never be sealed to anyone else. The decision as to the parent
with whom they will go will be determined by the Lord in the hereafter.
Regarding being born in the covenant, the General Handbook of Instructions states,
“Children bot in the covenant cannot be sealed to anyone, but belong to their
natural parents. This rule is not altered by adoption, consent of the natural
parents, request of the child after becoming of age or death of the natural
parents.”
It should be kept in mind that to be born in
the covenant is a birthright blessing, and that if in this life a child remains
worthy of celestial blessings, regardless of the actions of his parents, he is
assured of that birthright and is guaranteed eternal parentage. One’s
worthiness through living the gospel and keeping the commandments in this as in
all things is the key to eternal life. (Answers
for Young Latter-day Saints [Salt Lake City: Deseret Book Company, 1977], 81-82;
originally published in the
New Era, December 1975)