Temple Marriage Question

[ChadTalbot]

I know this is an oddball question, but would it be possible, or has anyone ever been married in the temple and sealed, but not been married civilly?

[Gwen]

the church requires you to be married according to the laws of the land before being sealed.

[confuzzled]

Not sure if I understand the question but I was married in the temple....so I didn't have a "civil" marriage.

[Wingnut]

Do you mean sealed in the temple but not actually married, or do you mean married and sealed wat the same time without a civil marriage ceremony first?

[JThimm88]

Temple sealings are considered lawful marriages, as well as a sealing for all eternity, so basically it covers all bases here and in the afterlife. My husband and I were sealed and the officiator who sealed us not only has the authority to seal our marriage into eternity, but also has the right certifications/qualifications to also perform civil marriages outside of the temple if need be.

[Gwen]

Originally Posted by confuzzled

Not sure if I understand the question but I was married in the temple....so I didn't have a "civil" marriage.

but you were civilly married before the sealing ceremony so technically you were married before being sealed. to be civilly married all you need are the signatures of the ppl being married an a legally qualified witness on the marriage license. that marriage license is then sent back to the appropriate county officials and it's registered in their files with the date it was signed. you should have a marriage certificate from the county/state you were married in as well as a sealing certificate from the church.

when i married/sealed in the temple we went to the temple pres office, gave him the marriage license, living ordinance recommend, etc. he took a few min to review it all, called us back in and with the witnesses that were to attend the sealing present gave us the marriage license to sign. we did all the official legal stuff right there (he signed it after we did). looking back i really think it was all to casual in my opinion. once that was signed we went into the rest of the temple and did all the sealing stuff. so we were legally married before being sealed. it's really 2 different things if you break it down.

[JThimm88]

Originally Posted by Gwen

but you were civilly married before the sealing ceremony so technically you were married before being sealed. to be civilly married all you need are the signatures of the ppl being married an a legally qualified witness on the marriage license. that marriage license is then sent back to the appropriate county officials and it's registered in their files with the date it was signed. you should have a marriage certificate from the county/state you were married in as well as a sealing certificate from the church.

when i married/sealed in the temple we went to the temple pres office, gave him the marriage license, living ordinance recommend, etc. he took a few min to review it all, called us back in and with the witnesses that were to attend the sealing present gave us the marriage license to sign. we did all the official legal stuff right there (he signed it after we did). looking back i really think it was all to casual in my opinion. once that was signed we went into the rest of the temple and did all the sealing stuff. so we were legally married before being sealed. it's really 2 different things if you break it down.

That is true -- I definitely forgot about the marriage license. Getting ours is an experience I'd like to keep out of my mind for a while -- we had to go to downtown Chicago with terrible traffic, and we almost couldn't find the office!

[ChadTalbot]

Originally Posted by Gwen

the church requires you to be married according to the laws of the land before being sealed.

That answers my question, which I apologize for because I really wasn't sure how to word it. I was wondering if you could be sealed by the church without being "married in the world."

I recently had a very big falling out with the bulk of my friends I had before joining the church, all over the wonderful prop 8. My personal view is that civil marriage is a joke. I can go pick up some stranger I've never met and hit a drive thru window in Vegas and drive away married. That doesn't constitute a sacred institution to me. So I started to wonder if you could be sealed by the church without having a civil marriage.

[john doe]

It seems to me that back in the old days, people were getting sealed to people they weren't married to a lot. I have heard of stories of multiple people, both men and women, being sealed to Joseph Smith. I don't have references to that though, and don't feel the need to expend the energy to research it either. That practice has since gone away.

[ChadTalbot]

Originally Posted by john doe

and don't feel the need to expend the energy to research it either.

Didn't mean to disturbed you.