Mormon ordinances/Marriage

FAIR Answers—back to home page

Mormonism and marriage

Topics

Marriage

• • As a requirement for exaltation—
    Brief Summary: Critics attack the LDS view of marriage as essential on the following grounds: 1)If marriage is essential to achieve exaltation, why did Paul say that it is good for a man not to marry? (1 Corinthians 7:1), 2)Why does the Mormon Church teach that we can be married in heaven when Jesus said in Matthew 22:30 that there is no marriage in the resurrection? 3) Since not all members of the Church are married, doesn't this mean there will be many otherwise good Mormons who will not be exalted? (Click here for full article)
    ∗       ∗       ∗
    • "Neither marry nor are given in marriage" (Click here for full article)
      ∗       ∗       ∗
    • LDS leaders on "neither marry nor are given in marriage"—
      Brief Summary: Did LDS leaders see Matthew 22:28-30 ("neither marry nor are given in marriage") as threatening the LDS doctrine of eternal marriage? Did they think it needed to be 'corrected'? (Click here for full article)
      ∗       ∗       ∗
    • Paul: it is good "not to marry"? (Click here for full article)
      ∗       ∗       ∗
    • Unmarried Latter-day Saints and others (Click here for full article)
      ∗       ∗       ∗
  • Jesus said that divorce not allowed except for fornication—
    Brief Summary: Jesus taught divorce was not acceptable unless fornication had occured. (Matthew 5:31-32) Why does the LDS church allow divorce when not for this reason? Shouldn't these people either be disfellowshipped or excommunicated? Why does the church permit re-marrying? (Click here for full article)
    ∗       ∗       ∗
  • Jews and early Christians on marriage after death—
    Brief Summary: The Jews seem to have believed in eternal marriage from at least second-temple times, since they posed the question about the woman with seven successive husbands, asking which of them would be her husband "in the resurrection" (Matt. 22:28; Mark 12:23; Luke 20:33). The concept of eternal marriage is well-attested among Jews in the medieval period and is frequently mentioned in the Zohar, which also notes that God has a wife, the Matrona ("mother"), and is known in the Talmud. In the Falasha (the black Jews of Ethiopia's text) 5 Baruch, it has Jeremiah's scribe, Baruch, being shown various parts of the heavenly Jerusalem, with different gates for different heirs. The text then says, "I asked the angel who conducted me and said to him: 'Who enters through this gate?' He who guided me answered and said to me: 'Blessed are those who enter through this gate. [Here] the husband remains with his wife and the wife remains with her husband'" (Click here for full article)
    ∗       ∗       ∗
  • Marriage as therapy?—
    Brief Summary: It is claimed that Church leaders have advocated that those with same-sex attraction marry those of the opposite sex as part of the "therapy" for overcoming their same-sex desires or inclinations. The prophets and general authorities have, in their written statements, long been clear that marriage is not to be seen as a "treatment" for same-sex attraction. (Click here for full article)
    ∗       ∗       ∗
  • Were the early apostles married—
    Brief Summary: In the early Church, it was known that the Apostles were married. Early Church leaders also spoke out against those who preached against marriage. (Click here for full article)
    ∗       ∗       ∗
  • Marriage and women—
    Brief Summary: Some critics charge that the LDS Church devalues those who are not married, degrades women, or encourages improper behavior by spouses. Some former members claim that they mistreated or neglected their families to better fulfill "Church duties." (Click here for full article)
    ∗       ∗       ∗