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The sealing men and women as children to prominent Latter-day Saint leaders

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Questions

Was the early practice of sealing men and women as children to prominent LDS leaders an example of changes in Latter-day Saint belief?

To see citations to the critical sources for these claims, click here

Answer

The Saints' understanding of the Law of Adoption has grown and expanded. They are not ashamed to say that they now understand more clearly. Indeed, they insist upon such a perspective and rejoice in it. The Saints also continue to believe that the Lord " will yet reveal many great and important things pertaining to the Kingdom of God." Articles+of+Faith 1:9

This is not a change in LDS belief: the Church still believes that all mankind must be sealed into an unbroken chain, a great eternal family. But, the Church understands more clearly how the Lord wishes this to be accomplished—via proxy sealing of children to parents as far as is possible. Sealing beyond that will await the Millennial years of the Lord.

If prophets cannot expand our understanding of key matters such as this, and modify them as circumstances require, what use are they? Critics should cease trying to impose their inerrantist expectations on the Church.

Detailed Analysis

Joseph Smith was exceedingly anxious to have the Saints sealed—since few of the Church members had ancestors within the young Church, they often chose to seal themselves to prominent Church leaders such as Joseph Smith or Brigham Young. The key understanding was that an unbroken chain of sealing was required, to bind the whole world into a single human family.

President Wilford Woodruff explained how he and other Church presidents had felt about the matter:

I have not felt satisfied, neither did President Taylor, neither has any man since the Prophet Joseph who has attended to the ordinance of adoption in the temples of our God. We have felt that there was more to be revealed upon the subject than we had received. Revelations were given to us in the St. George Temple, which President Young presented to the Church of God. Changes were made there, and we still have more changes to make, in order to satisfy our Heavenly Father, satisfy our dead and ourselves. I will tell you what some of them are. I have prayed over this matter, and my brethren have. We have felt as President Taylor said, that we have got to have more revelation concerning sealing under the law of adoption."

President Woodruff then announced to the General Conference and particularly to the presidents of the four temples in Utah that he had gone "before the Lord" to know who he should be adopted to and that the "Spirit of God" instructed him that he should be sealed to his natural father. Prior to this time it had been the practice to be sealed to the "prophets and apostles" in the Church. President Woodruff now pronounced the prior practice an incorrect procedure and called upon the membership of the church to accept as a revelation this announcement, which incidentally he had previously presented to his counselors and to the Quorum of Twelve Apostles. ^[1]

The Church believes in modern prophets, which would be a superfluous fixture of the Church were it not for the belief in on-going revelation:

For behold, thus saith the Lord God: I will give unto the children of men line upon line, precept upon precept, here a little and there a little; and blessed are those who hearken unto my precepts, and lend an ear unto my counsel, for they shall learn wisdom; for unto him that receiveth I will give more; and from them that shall say, We have enough, from them shall be taken away even that which they have.(2 Nephi 28꞉30)

Critics—often coming from a fundamentalist perspective—assume that nothing should change in the Church. But, the Church is a revealed religion that believes in on-going revelation. The Saints consider change in practice and expansion of doctrinal understanding to be a strength, not a weakness. Those who want no change in their religious practice or understanding will likely be disappointed in the Church of Jesus Christ.

There may also have been some important reasons for understanding the Law of Adoption differently in previous times. The Saints' understanding of adoption in Brigham Young's day contributed to the solidarity and interdependence that helped them cross the plains to Utah—the Saints' understanding of the "law of adoption" as a social order helped them to survive. ^[2] When circumstances allowed them to expand their understanding, this was revealed to the prophet.

Historical background

The idea of sealings has undergone a number of changes over time, as we have had new revelation, and as our notion has been developed and better understood. This is a drawing of the Celestial Kingdom along with its description published by Apostle Orson Hyde in 1847, which shows how members and leaders were thinking about the matter then:

Orson Hyde wrote (in the Millennial Star):

The above diagram shows the order and unity of the kingdom of God. The eternal Father sits at the head, crowned King of kings and Lord of lords. Wherever the other lines meet, there sits a king and a priest unto God, bearing rule, authority, and dominion under the Father. he is one with he Father, because his kingdom is joined to his Father's and becomes part of it. … The most eminent and distinguished prophets who have laid down their lives for their testimony (Jesus among the rest), will be crowned at the head of the largest kingdoms under the Father, and will be one with Christ as Christ is one with his Father; for their kingdoms are all joined together, and such as do the will of the Father, the same are his mothers, sisters, and brothers. ... It will be seen by the above diagram that there are kingdoms of all sizes, an infinite variety to suit all grades of merit and ability. The chosen vessels unto God are the kings and priests that are placed at the head of these kingdoms. These have received their washings and anointings in the temple of God on this earth; they have been chosen, ordained, and anointed kings and priests, to reign as such in the resurrection of the just. Such as have not received the fullness of the priesthood, (for the fullness of the priesthood includes the authority of both king and priest) and have not been anointed and ordained in the temple of the Most High, may obtain salvation in the celestial kingdom, but not a celestial crown. Many are called to enjoy a celestial glory, yet few are chosen to wear a celestial crown, or rather, to be rulers in the celestial kingdom."^[3]

Ehat and Cook wrote of this diagram in their discussion of Joseph Smith's Nauvoo-era teachings:

According to the teachings that the Prophet gave in private (but which he only hinted at in this discourse [13 August 1843]), to be heir to Abraham's promise that he would head an innumerable posterity, each individual and his children must be sealed for time and eternity. If this sealing was performed, he taught, the covenant relationship would then continue throughout eternity. The Prophet taught, moreover, that such a patriarchal priesthood of kings and priests would have to be established by sealing children and parents back through Abraham to Adam in order to fulfill the mission of Elijah (Malachi 4:5-6). When this was accomplished, the order within the highest degree of the Celestial Kingdom would then be eternally set. Probably no clearer statement of Joseph's theology regarding this concept can be found than what is given in an editorial by Orson Hyde.^[4]

Notes

1. ↑ Messages of the First Presidency, edited by James R. Clark, Vol. 3, (Salt Lake City: Bookcraft, 1966), 251 (emphasis added). GospeLink GL direct link
2. ↑ Richard E. Bennett, We'll Find the Place: The Mormon Exodus 1846–1848 (Salt Lake City, Utah: Deseret Book, 1997), 77–83. ISBN 1573452866. GL direct link
3. ↑ Orson Hyde, "A Diagram of the Kingdom of God," Millennial Star 9 (15 January 1847), 23-24.
4. ↑ Andrew F. Ehat and Lyndon W. Cook, The Words of Joseph Smith: The Contemporary Accounts of the Nauvoo Discourses of Joseph Smith, 2nd Edition, (Salt Lake City: Deseret Book, 1996), 297.

Further reading and additional sources responding to these claims