In an attempt to critique Latter-day Saint soteriology, Jerald and Sandra Tanner wrote the following:
Sealing in Spite of Sin
The Doctrine and Covenants 132:26 clearly teaches that after a man is sealed in the temple, he can commit any sin except murder, and still come forth in the first resurrection to enter into exaltation. The only stipulation that being that he must be destroyed in the flesh and turned over to the buffetings of Satan. However, after this is over he will rise in the first resurrection to his exaltation. Verse 26 reads as follows:
Verily, verily, I say unto you, if a man marry a wife according to my word, and they are sealed by the Holy Spirit of promise, according to mine appointment, and he or she shall commit any sin or transgression of the new and everlasting covenant whatever, and all manner of blasphemies, and if they commit no murder wherein they shed innocent blood, yet they shall come forth in the first resurrection, and enter into their exaltation; but they shall be destroyed in the flesh, and shall be delivered unto the buffetings of Satan unto the day of redemption, saith the Lord God.
Joseph Smith told William Clayton that “nothing but the unpardonable sin can prevent you from inheriting eternal life for you are sealed up by the power of the priesthood unto eternal life, having taken the step necessary for that purpose. The unpardonable sin is to shed innocent blood, or be accessory thereto.” (History of the Church, Vol. 5, page 391)
The Apostle Orson Pratt said that “the Saint who has been sealed unto eternal life and falls into transgression and does not repent, but dies in his sins, will be afflicted and tormented after he leaves this vale of tears until the day of redemption; but having been sealed with the spirit of promise through the ordinances of the house of God, those things which have been sealed upon his head will be realized by him in the morning of the resurrection.” (Journal of Discourses, Vol. 2, page 260)
To say that once a person has received certain temple ceremonies he can live like he pleases and yet receive salvation is not only shocking in the moral sense, but also contrary to the teachings of both the Bible and the Book of Mormon. In the Book of Mormon we read:
And he that endureth not unto the end, the same is he that is also hewn down and cast into the fire, from whence they can no more return because of the justice of the Father. (Book of Mormon, 3 Nephi 27:17)
And no unclean thing can enter into his kingdom, therefore nothing entereth into his rest save it be those who have washed their garments in my blood, because of their faith, and the repentance of all their sins, and their faithfulness unto the end. (Ibid., 3 Nephi 27:19)
In direct contradiction to these teachings the Mormon Apostle Orson Pratt said:
If we transgress, we shall have to suffer for that transgression here in the flesh; and after we lay our bodies down, we shall suffer in the spirit-world, until we have suffered enough for our sins, unless we have shed innocent blood . . . if we should be cut off in the flesh and sent down to be punished in the spirit-world, and there be buffeted by those spirits, and still retain our memories, we can say these sufferings will not endure for ever, but we shall enjoy all that has been put upon our heads, and, through the Priesthood, and signs and tokens that have been revealed, come forth in the first resurrection, and pass by the sentinels and the Gods that stand to keep the way to eternal lives. And if these be thrones, dominions, principalities, and powers, we shall come in possession of them, for this is the promise of the Almighty. (Journal of Discourses, Vol. 8, page 106) (Jerald and Sandra Tanner, Mormonism: Shadow or Reality? [5th ed.; Salt Lake City: 1987, 2008], 457)
This article will be a full refutation of this particular argument.
Posthumous Purgation of Sins
Scripture, both biblical and uniquely Latter-day Saint, affirms that there will be those who will have to suffer in the hereafter until they will be cleansed/purged of sins. I have discussed this in great detail in another article, so for those who wish to delve into this particular topic, be sure to check out:
Does D&C 132:26 teach a form of Antinomianism?
While the Tanners wish to give the impression that D&C 132:26 teaches one can sin freely (except commit murder), they will be exalted. Notwithstanding, no Latter-day Saint commentator on this text teaches this. Consider the following texts from the Doctrine and Covenants that teaches other sins, not just murder, will result in one not being exalted and/or one must engage in continuing faithfulness and complete and sincere repentance if/when they do fall:
For they are the vessels of wrath, doomed to suffer the wrath of God, with the devil and his angels in eternity; concerning whom I have said there is no forgiveness in this world nor in the world to come--Having denied the Holy Spirit after having received it, and having denied the Only Begotten Son of the Father, having crucified him unto themselves and put him to an open shame. (D&C 76:33-35)
A person who "breaketh [the] covenant [of the priesthood] after he hath received it, and altogether turneth therefrom, shall not have forgiveness of sins in this world nor in the world to come. (D&C 84:41; cf. 132:28)
And again, verily I say unto you, if a man marry a wife by my word, which is my law, and by the new and everlasting covenant, and it is sealed unto them by the Holy Spirit of promise, by him who is anointed, unto whom I have appointed this power and the keys of this priesthood; and it shall be said unto them-- Ye shall come forth in the first resurrection; and if it be after the first resurrection, in the next resurrection; and shall inherit thrones, kingdoms, principalities, and powers, dominions, all heights and depths-- then shall it be written in the Lamb's Book of Life, that he shall commit no murder whereby to shed innocent blood, and if ye abide in my covenant, and commit no murder whereby to shed innocent blood, it shall be done unto them in all things whatsoever my servant hath put upon them, in time, and through all eternity; and shall be of full force when they are out of the world; and they shall pass by the angels, and the gods, which are set there, to their exaltation and glory in all things, as hath been sealed upon their heads, which glory shall be a fulness and a continuation of the seeds forever and ever. (D&C 132:19)
The blasphemy against the Holy Ghost, which shall not be forgiven in the world nor out of the world, is in that ye commit murder wherein ye shed innocent blood, and assent unto my death, after ye have received my new and everlasting covenant, saith the Lord God; and he that abideth not this law can in nowise enter into my glory, but shall be damned, saith the Lord. (D&C 132:27)
As Brian Hales wrote on this verse:
Written 12 July, 1843, the revelation on celestial marriage received limited private circulation during the next eleven months prior to the martyrdom. The earliest allegation that Joseph Smith could secure unconditional salvation for his followers was published seven months after the revelation in the Warsaw Message on February 7, 1844. An unidentified author of the “Buckeye’s Lamentation for Want of More Wives” mocked the idea, attributing it to the Prophet: “He [Joseph Smith]’ll bless you all your lives / He’ll seal you up, be damned you can’t / No matter what you do / If that you only stick to him / He swears He’ll take you through” (“Buckeyes’s Lamentation for Want of More Wives,” Warsaw Message, 1, no. 47 [February 7, 1844]:1). Four months later, William Law criticized Joseph Smith in the Nauvoo Expositor, accusing him of teaching of “unconditional sealing up to eternal life” (“Resolutions,” Nauvoo Expositor, 1, no. 1 [June 7, 1844]: 2. See also Lyndon W. Cook, William Law, 22).
Interpretations such as these are not unexpected but become problematic when Joseph Smith’s other teachings regarding agency, accountability, obedience, and exaltation are considered. He also taught from his revelations and the scriptures: “For I the Lord cannot look upon sin with the least degree of allowance” (D&C 1:31; see also Alma 45:16). If Joseph Smith or an ordinance could provide unconditional salvation, then thereafter God would have to look upon new sins with allowance. Similarly, other revelations stated: “If you keep not my commandments you cannot be saved in the kingdom of my Father” (D&C 18:46). “Inasmuch as ye keep not my sayings, which I give unto you, ye become transgressors; and justice and judgment are the penalty which is affixed unto my law” (D&C 82:4). Unconditional salvation contradicts such scriptures given by the Prophet.
Importantly, there is no evidence that Nauvoo polygamists believed that plural marriage or eternal monogamist marriage guaranteed salvation. As observed above, Sarah Ann Whitney, Lucy Walker, and Helen Mar Kimball and their families did not view themselves as unconditionally saved once they were sealed to Joseph Smith. Similarly, on May 16, 1843, the Prophet told Benjamin F. Johnson: “Nothing but the unpardonable sin can prevent him [Johnson] from inheriting eternal glory for he is sealed up by the power of the Priesthood unto eternal life having taken the step which is necessary for that purpose” (George D. Smith, ed., An Intimate Chronicle, 102, May 16, 1843). However, there is no indication that Johnson considered himself unconditionally saved as a consequence of that promise or his sealing ordinances (Dean R. Zimmerman, ed., I Knew the Prophets: An Analysis of the Letter of Benjamin F. Johnson to George F. Gibbs, Reporting Doctrinal Views of Joseph Smith and Brigham Young, 44; Benjamin F. Johnson, My Life’s Review, 96). In addition, Joseph Hovey and his wife, Martha Ann Webster Hovey, were sealed in the Nauvoo Temple on January 16, 1846, and became partakers of the blessings offered in Section 132 including verse 26. Martha Ann passed away months later on September 16, and her husband then recorded his desire to remain worthy to rejoin her in heaven: “If I am faithful I anticipate meeting her and embracing her when she comes forth in the morning of the resurrection . . . My daily prayer is that I may hold out until the end and enjoy the glories of the Celestial Kingdom with her and reign with my brethren throughout all eternity” (Joseph Grafton Hovey, Journal, MS 1576. Digitized version at http://www.boap.org/LDS/Early-Saints/JHovey.html [accessed January 29, 2010]). Before leaving Illinois in 1846, hundreds of other Latter-day Saints had been sealed in eternal marriages, both monogamous and polygamous. Nothing in historical documents from that era suggest that participants believed that the ordinance guaranteed exaltation or that any leader taught that it did.
In 1855, Heber C. Kimball taught that ordinances alone could not save anyone:
Some will come with great zeal and anxiety, saying, “I want my endowments; I want my washings and anointings; I want my blessings; I wish to be sealed up to eternal lives; I wish to have my wife sealed and my children sealed to me;” in short, “I desire this and I wish that.” What good would all this do you, if you do not live up to your profession and practise your religion? Not as much good as for me to take a bag of sand and baptize it, lay hands upon it for the gift of the Holy Ghost, wash it and anoint it, and then seal it up to eternal lives, for the sand will be saved, having filled the measure of its creation, but you will not, except through faith and obedience.” (Heber C. Kimball, October 6, 1855, Journal of Discourses, 3:124)
Additionally, if it were taught in Nauvoo or later in Utah that the ordinance of eternal marriage brought unrestricted salvation, undoubtedly this possible benefit would have been discussed more widely. Such an astronomical guarantee would probably have been valued more highly than even the eternal husband-wife relationships the ordinance sealed. After the revelation was published in 1852, potential converts might have flocked to Church membership in order to garner that benefit while religious critics would have aggressively mocked the idea. Neither phenomenon is identified in the late Illinois and Utah periods of Mormon history. Brian C. Hales, Joseph Smith's Polygamy, Volume 3: Theology [Salt Lake City: Greg Kofford Books, 2013], 203-5)
This is mirrored by other Latter-day Saint commentators on this verse:
Hyrum M. Smith and Janne M. Sjodahl, Doctrine and Covenants Commentary:
26. Any sin or transgression] This verse has been greatly misunderstood and by some grossly abused. Unfortunately there are some who seem to think that after they are married for time and all eternity, the Lord, in this passage, grants them immunity against sin, as long as they do not shed innocent blood or deny the Holy Ghost. It should be remembered that the Lord taught during his ministry this same doctrine as given in the Doctrine and Covenants. (Matt. 12:31-32.) He has never granted to any person the privilege of sinning wilfully and then obtaining the reward of faithfulness without repentance. John said:
"If any man see his brother sin a sin which is not unto death, he shall ask, and he shall give him life for them that sin not unto death. There is a sin unto death; I do not say that be should pray for it." (I. John 5:16.)
In this passage we are taught that all manner of sin which is forgivable on repentance, or "not unto death," may be forgiven on repentance, but some sins may call for a most dreadful punishment even then—the destruction in the flesh and being turned over to the buffetings of Satan until the day of redemption. This punishment is most severe. The Lord has not at any time contradicted Himself and he has said: "And no unclean thing can enter into his kingdom; therefore nothing entereth into his rest save it be those who have washed their garments in my blood, because of their faith, and the repentance of all their sins, and their faithfulness unto the end. (III. Nephi 27:19.) The wilful sinners who remain in their sins, "shall return unto God, and behold his face, and remain in their sins." (II. Nephi 9:38. Compare Mormon 9:3-4.)
Garrett and Robinson, vol. 3 of A Commentary on the Doctrine and Covenants:
26. They shall be destroyed in the flesh, and shall be delivered unto the buffetings of Satan. Every man and woman who comes to earth and receives the gospel of Jesus Christ is expected to remain true to their covenants, to endure faithfully to the end of their mortal lives. In this life, we seek constantly, through the blessings of the atonement of Jesus Christ and the powers of the Holy Ghost, to have our sins remitted and to stand clean before the Almighty. But none of us lives without error or misdeeds. That is true for the newest member of the Church as well as for seasoned members who have passed the tests of mortality and received the sweet assurance that their salvation is secured. Though not stated in this verse, it clearly implies that the individual who sins will repent and return to the gospel path. Thinking Latter-day Saints cannot suppose that they can sin willfully, remain in their sins, and go on to their exaltation.
To be sure, one who has received the assurance of eternal life has received the greater light, and thus sinning against that light brings a greater condemnation (see D&C 82:3). President Joseph Fielding Smith warned: "Verse 26, in section 132 is the most abused passage in any scripture. The Lord has never promised any soul that he may be taken into exaltation without the spirit of repentance. While repentance is not stated in this passage, yet it is, and must be, implied. . . . .
"I call attention to these two things. If covenants are broken and enormous sins are committed, but not unto death, there are certain punishments to be inflicted. The mere confession is not enough; the sinners are: 1—to 'be destroyed in the flesh'; and 2—to 'be delivered unto the buffetings of Satan unto the day of redemption.'
"Who in the world is so foolish as to wish to sin with the hope of forgiveness, if such a penalty is to be inflicted? No one but a fool! To be 'destroyed in the flesh' means exactly that. We cannot destroy men in the flesh, because we do not control the lives of men and do not have power to pass sentences upon them which involve capital punishment. In the days when there was a theocracy on the earth, then this decree was enforced. What the Lord will do in lieu of this, because we cannot destroy in the flesh, I am unable to say, but it will have to be made up in some other way.
" . . . Then to be turned over to the buffetings of Satan unto the day of redemption, which is the resurrection, must be something horrible in its nature. Who wishes to endure such torment? No one but a fool! I have seen their anguish. I have heard their pleadings for relief and their pitiful cries that they cannot endure the torment. This was in this life. Add to that, the torment in the spirit world before the redemption comes—all of this, mark you, coming after severe and humble repentance!" (Smith, Doctrines of Salvation, 2:95–97)
Joseph Fielding Smith on the meaning of “Innocent Blood”
. . . Shedding innocent blood is spoken of in the scriptures as consenting to the death of Jesus Christ and putting him to shame. For those who have had the witness of the Holy Ghost, fighting with wicked hate against his authorized servants is the same, for if this is done to them, it is also done against him. For men who have had the light of the Holy Ghost to turn away and fight the truth with murderous hate, and those who are authorized to proclaim it, there is no forgiveness in this world, neither in the world to come. (Improvement Era, July 1955, p. 494)
When a man commits a sin unto death, he is banished from spiritual life. The shedding of innocent blood is one such sin and blasphemy against the Holy Ghost another. The enemies of the Prophet Joseph Smith carried him off to Carthage and put him and his brother to death. Deliberately murdering the servants of God is the shedding of innocent blood. (Doctrines of Salvation, vol. 2)
Richard O. Cowan, Answers to Your Questions About the Doctrine and Covenants
Those who are to be exalted cannot "shed innocent blood." In verse 27 the Lord defines that those who commit this offense in effect "assent unto my death, after ye have received my new and everlasting covenant." They "crucified him unto themselves and put him to an open shame" (D&C 76:35).
All other sins may be forgiven, and the individual may still enter into their exaltation, but only on conditions of sincere repentance.
Bruce McConkie, Mormon Doctrine, p. 110
Without question, one of the most misunderstood (and misquoted) verses of scripture is D&C 132:26. Some members of the Church have wrested the scriptures to the point where they have concluded that a temple marriage alone (which they equate with being sealed by the Holy Spirit of Promise) will assure them of an exaltation, in spite of "any sin of the new and everlasting covenant whatever, and all manner of blasphemies." When it is fully understood, however, that the marriage ceremony performed in the House of the Lord—though performed by worthy priesthood bearers granted sacred sealing powers—is a conditional ordinance, a rite whose eventual blessings are contingent upon the faithfulness (in years to come) of the participants, then v. 26 is recognized as being consistent with other related principles—obedience, endurance to the end, and appropriate reward. Verse 26 has reference to those who have received the new and everlasting covenant of marriage, have complied with all its conditions, and have passed the tests of mortality. These are they who, paraphrasing Joseph Smith, have lived by every word of God, and are willing to serve the Lord at all hazards. They have made their callings and elections sure to eternal life. (Teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith, pp. 149-50) Persons who attain to this level of righteousness "are sealed up against all manner of sin and blasphemy except the blasphemy against the Holy Ghost and the shedding of innocent blood.
Quote-Mining Orson Pratt
As is their usual modus operandi, the Tanners leave a lot of important text out of their quotation from the Journal of Discourses. In the two sermons the Tanners quote from Orson Pratt, Pratt does not teach “easy-believism” for those who have been sealed in the Temple, but instead, stressed the importance of persevering to the end and the need for on-going (true) repentance.
In his sermon from April 7, 1855, Pratt said:
But we have no promise, unless we endure in faith unto the end; whether we live few or many years upon the earth, we must endure through all the trials, tribulations, difficulties, and persecutions which the Lord sees fit in His infinite wisdom to cause us, as individuals, or as a people, to wade through; we must endure them, and hold steadfast to the faith, if we would inherit the crowns of eternal lives that are promised to the faithful.
In speaking of this, I will qualify my language by saying, that the Saint who has been sealed unto eternal life and falls into transgression and does not repent, but dies in his sin, will be afflicted and tormented after he leaves this vale of tears until the day of redemption; but having been sealed with the spirit of promise through the ordinances of the house of God, those things which have been sealed upon his head will be realized by him in the morning of the resurrection. But it is my desire and my constant prayer that I may so live, that When I depart from this life—when I lay down this mortal body, (if I am called upon to lay it down before the coming of our Lord,) I may enter into the paradise of rest, and not only conquer Satan, and have power over him here, but have power over him and all his hosts hereafter. These are my feelings, these are my desires, and this is my prayer.
What am I willing to do to accomplish this? I will tell you what I feel willing to do. I am willing to do everything the Lord requires at my hands, so far as I understand His will concerning me. What is property? what is gold? what is silver? what are houses and inheritances, or any of the riches of this world, compared with the riches of eternal life? Have I anything that I have obtained by my own wisdom, or by my own exertions, independent of the hand and providences of the Almighty? No, I have not. The earth is the Lord's, and the fulness thereof is His. I am in His hands, and all that I have is in His hands; and if the servants of God require it, if God desires all that I have, it is on hand, at any moment. These are my feelings; and should not these be the feelings of all the Latter-day Saints? (Voice, "Yes.") (JOD 2:260)
In this sermon from June 24, 1860, Pratt said:
The first speaker expressed his opinion as to the possibility of our attaining that point, or reaching that degree of perfection that will enable us to retain all the heavenly principles in our bosoms that we receive from day to day, and be able to practise upon them, and thereby overcome disease and death itself. This is all very good; but there is much to be done—many temptations to resist, and weaknesses to overcome, before we can live by the light which is in us.
If we fall into transgression and wallow in iniquity, we lose our position and our claim on the goodness and protection of our Heavenly Father; but, by a faithful adherence to the principles of virtue and righteousness, we shall prepare ourselves to come forth in the resurrection of the just, and dwell with the sanctified.
Let us shake off our imperfections and put away our follies, lift up our heads and rejoice, and call upon the name of the Lord. The promises made to us are sure, and we shall inherit them.
Consider the great blessings that have been already conferred upon us, having been sealed up by the Holy Spirit of promise to come forth with the just and inherit all things; and these have been recorded for our benefit. If we transgress, we shall have to suffer for that transgression here in the flesh; and after we lay our bodies down, we shall suffer in the spirit-world, until we have suffered enough for all our sins, unless we have shed innocent blood. For those who have committed that sin there is no forgiveness in this world, nor in that which is to come.
Here is something that is permanent; here is a chance to take hold of the word of the word of God, as described by Lehi. It is our privilege to hold fast and hold on to them. And if we should be cut off in the flesh and sent down to be punished in the spirit-world, and there be buffeted by those spirits, and still retain our memories, we can say these sufferings will not endure for ever, but we shall enjoy all that has been put upon our heads, and, through the Priesthood, and signs and tokens that have been revealed, come forth in the first resurrection, and pass by the sentinels and the Gods that stand to keep the way to eternal lives. And if there be thrones, dominions, principalities, and powers, we shall come in possession of them, for this is the promise of the Almighty.
This is like an anchor to our souls; this is something to rejoice in beyond this world. It lays hold of eternal lives; it lays hold of eternal exaltations, of eternal thrones, of eternal authority and power to reign in the kingdom of God for ever and ever.
This is the kind of authority and blessing that is calculated to satisfy mankind in relation to the things of God, and nothing else will. (JOD 1:105-6)
The following from Harold B. Lee seems rather a propos:
In an explanation of what it means to be sealed by the Holy Spirit of promise, one of our brethren said this:
"While we receive eternal blessings at the hands of the priesthood which has the right to seal on earth and it shall be sealed in the heavens, this revelation clearly states that it must be sealed by the Holy Spirit of promise also. A man and woman may by fraud and deception obtain admittance to the House of the Lord and may receive the pronouncement of the holy priesthood, giving to them so far as lies in their power these blessings.
We may deceive men but we cannot deceive the Holy Ghost, and our blessings will not be eternal unless they are also sealed by the Holy Spirit of promise. The Holy Ghost is one who reads the thoughts and hearts of men, and gives his sealing approval to the blessings pronounced upon their heads. Then it is binding, efficacious, and of full force." (Melvin J. Ballard, "Three Degrees of Glory.") (Harold B. Lee, Conference Report, October 1970, p. 105)
In his 1996 October General Conference talk, Robert D. Hales, in refuting the popular but very mistaken idea that a temple sealing ceremony is all that is needed to establish an eternal marriage (as if it is a form of “super-glue”) also refutes this antinomian interpretation of D&C 132:26:
As taught in this scripture, an eternal bond doesn’t just happen as a result of sealing covenants we make in the temple. How we conduct ourselves in this life will determine what we will be in all the eternities to come. To receive the blessings of the sealing that our Heavenly Father has given to us, we have to keep the commandments and conduct ourselves in such a way that our families will want to live with us in the eternities. (Robert D. Hales, "The Eternal Family," Ensign [November 1996], p. 65, emphasis added)
On a related issue of whether a sealing will result in the children of that marriage never being lost, consider the following from Joseph Fielding McConkie which refutes such:
Question
Do those who have entered into the new and
everlasting covenant of marriage have the promise that they will not lose any
of their children?
Answer
The idea of a risk-free system of salvation
or an absolute assurance that none of a certain group will be lost sounds
dangerously like the proposition made by Lucifer in the Grand Council of heaven
whereby the salvation of all was to be assured. This does not mean, however,
that there is not an inheritance of faith and blessing that we can bequeath to
our children. Spiritual birthrights can be handed from generation to
generation, just as physical or temporal inheritances can be handed down
through the generations.
Perhaps the principle is most easily
demonstrated by way of contrast. Let us ask, Can bitterness and opposition to
the kingdom of God bequeath a negative inheritance to a person's children? In
the dedicatory prayer of the Kirtland Temple, the Prophet asked the Lord to
make bare his arm in protecting his people from enemies who had done much to
afflict them. He prayed, "May thine anger be kindled, and thine
indignation fall upon them, that they may be wasted away, both root and branch,
from under heaven" (D&C 109:52). In response to that plea, we read in
a subsequent revelation, "not many years hence, . . . they [the
persecutors] and their posterity shall be swept from under heaven, saith God,
that not one of them is left to stand by the wall." Of those who swore
falsely against the Lord's anointed the revelation stated: "They shall not
have right to the priesthood, nor their posterity after them from generation to
generation" (D&C 121:15, 21).
Surely, if the blood of those who fought
against the Lord is to be remembered from generation to generation, so the
posterity of the faithful will be remembered in the blessings of the Lord.
Again revelation sustains such a conclusion. In the dedicatory prayer of the
Kirtland Temple we find the Prophet making this appeal for the faithful:
"We ask thee, Holy Father, to establish the people that shall worship, and
honorably hold a name and standing in this thy house, to all generations and
for eternity; that no weapon formed against them shall prosper; that he who diggeth
a pit for them shall fall into the same himself; that no combination of
wickedness shall have power to rise up and prevail over thy people upon whom
thy name shall be put in this house" (D&C 109:24-26).
Consider the language used to describe the
return of the keys, or the authority, by which the eternal family unit is
formed: "Elias appeared, and committed the dispensation of the gospel of
Abraham, saying that in us and our seed all generations after us should be
blessed" (D&C 110:12). Surely the promise of blessings to future
generations spoken of here would embrace their own posterity. Indeed, it was
through their posterity that future generations were to be blessed.
In the revelations of the Restoration,
parents are explicitly commanded to plant faith and gospel understanding in the
hearts of their children (see D&C 68:25-28; 93:40). Despite their best
efforts, some children will choose to stray from their parents' teachings and
example. Though their hearts will ache, faithful parents, whose children are
heirs of the covenant but who have wandered, have reason to hope. Joseph Smith
taught, "When a seal is put upon the father and mother, it secures their
posterity, so that they cannot be lost, but will be saved by virtue of the
covenant of their father and mother" (Teachings
of the Prophet Joseph Smith, 321).
Elder Orson F. Whitney taught: "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"
(in Conference Report, April 1929, 110). (Joseph Fielding McConkie, Answers: Straightforward Answers to Tough
Gospel Questions [Salt Lake City: Deseret Book, 1998], 72-74)
Orson Pratt, in a sermon dated February 16, 1851, delivered on
board the Ellen Maria and recorded by George D. Watt said the following about
King David, the sin against the Holy Ghost, and the “sealing principle, being
sealed upon unto the day of redemption” (cf. D&C 132:26):
There are certain sins which are
called the sins against the Holy Ghost, and there are other sins that are not
sins against the Holy Ghost. Well now, supposing a person does not not [sic]
repent, who has not sinned against the Holy Ghost, [but rather] continues to
commit sins, and does this through the weakness of his nature, and will not repent.
They will have to be punished in the eternal world, in the same manner as they
who sin against the Holy Ghost. I might mention, for instance, David. We all
know the great transgression into which he fell. He was a man who possessed
light and knowledge. He understood the commandments of God. The Holy Spirit had
been imparted to him, He had been filled with the spirit of prophecy, and yet,
in the face, the eyes of all this, he fell through a temptation. It is was not
done maliciously. [He] fell through a temptation that did not expose him to the
unpardonable sin, but he placed himself in a condition [that] he could not be
forgiven in this life. No, for he not only committed adultery, but [he] also
placed Uriah in a situation to be murdered. This placed David in a condition
[that he] could not receive a forgiveness of that sin in this world; he had to
be punished in the eternal worlds for that transgression. [We read in] 2 Acts a
quotation concerning David: Thou wilt not leave my soul in hell, neither suffer
thy Holy One to see corruption. He assumes, then, that David’s soul was to be
cast down to hell, but saw that he would eventually be redeemed from hell, but
saw that he would eventually be redeemed from hell. But if he had sinned
against the Holy Ghost, there could not have been any redemption from for committing [that sin]. [The]
Apostle Peter says that Peter [Written: Peter; obvious intent: David]
had not ascended unto heaven; his spirit had been separated from his body [for]
more than a thousand years. Where was he all this time? He was suffering the
penalty of his transgression. I want the Latter-day Saints to understand this:
there are some sins, [that] if we do them, we [may may?] have to humble
ourselves before the Lord, ever so much, in the eternal worlds. We have to be
punished for those sins.
Says one, [do] you believe in
redemption for man in an iniquity? Yes. The Lord is a being that constructs his
plan upon a remarkably magnanimous principle. His plans extends into all worlds
and into all eternity. But there are certain creatures that the plan of redemption
never can reach: the devil and his angels, and those that become his son by
sinning against the Holy Ghost. Redemption never can reach these creatures
throughout all the ages of eternity. But others, like with David, after they
have been punished in the eternal world sufficiently long, redemption will
reach them. Their souls will not be left in hell.
Another instance besides David,
[but] before I refer to this, I will make a few remarks upon a certain
principle that perhaps some of the Saints be ignorant of. The sealing
principle, being sealed upon unto the day of redemption. It is not every one
that attains [to] this principle. There is a certain way, and a certain
ordinance, and a certain authority that is necessary to be exercised by the restoration
of the priesthood, that this may be secured unto men. In ancient times, some of
the people of God attained this. The Corinthians and Ephesians had rendered
themselves proved in the sight of God. They had kept his commandments [and]
walked in obedience to his ordinances. They had attained to the sealing power
of the holy priesthood, [which] had been placed upon their head by proper authority.
Now, after a person has obtained this power, suppose they fall into
transgression? After that, what [are] the consequences? They must be punished
for it. Can you bring any example? Certain[ly; there is a] case in the Corinthian
church. That church had obtained this seal, and after it had been placed upon
[them], some of them fell into a gross transgression: they committed
fornication. Paul writes an epistle to them: what [did he] say about that
person? Did he say that such a person, if he repented, should obtain
forgiveness? No, he says in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, when you are
gathered together, and my Spirit, to deliver such a one unto Satan for the
destruction of the flesh, [that the] spirit [may be] saved in the day of the
Lord Jesus. [This is a] curious kind of doctrine. He had not much charity,
according to the ideas of this generation. He knew that, after the sealing
power was upon his head, after having been sealed, [there was] no forgiveness
for him in this life. [He] exhorted that such a one be delivered to Satan etc.
What [would] become of the spirit? Until the day of the Lord Jesus, [it would] be
in torment in [the] flesh. The devil [would] have power over him in this life,
but at the same time to have power over his spirit when that day come, the day
even spoken of by the prophet, a thousand years of rest, the day of the Lord.
One day with the Lord is as a thousand [with man]. It is the seven[th] thousand
years, the millennium period. When that day comes, the Corinthians that had
been delivered over to Satan, their spirits [will] all [be] upon [them and they
will] be saved in that day.
This ought to be a warning to the
Latter-day Saints, lest they fall into these great sins. There is a
responsibility placed upon [them] to be more strictly upright, honest, [and]
obedient to the commandments of God than any other people upon the face of the
whole earth. Suppose [that] after we have obtained some of the blessings of the
everlasting covenant, which you will yet have to receive, for that is the
object of the Lord [in] gather[ing] his people together, which they never could
receive scattered abroad through the nations, blessings that pertain to the
last dispensation of [the] fullness of times, and ordinances that are to be
revealed, in order to prepare a people for the day of the Lord, for the millennium
period of glory and peace. When you become acquainted with these ordinances, if
you should then turn away from righteousness and commit fornication, or any of those
enormous sins, the Lord will deal with you very differently than he would with
mankind [in general] for the same sins, after so much information and light has
been given to the saints of the Most High. (Liverpool to Great Lake City:
The 1851 Journal of Missionary George D. Watt, ed. LaJean Purcell Carruth
and Ronald G. Watt [Lincoln, Nebr.: University of Nebraska Press, 2022], 122-25)
Conclusion
As with so many of their criticisms, the Tanners pack many errors and quote-mines into a very small space. Notwithstanding, as we have seen here, not only are they guilty of abusing sources, they are also guilty of wrenching Latter-day Saint Scripture and Theology out of context in an attempt to portray being sealed in the temple as a license to commit, with the exception of murder, any heinous sin. Apart from being a false charge against Latter-day Saint theology, it also demonstrates a complete lack of intellectual integrity and honesty.
