One day a woman approached Jesus with a very pressing, personal question.
She had been widowed several times.
But after having so many husbands, she wasn’t sure which one she’d be with in the afterlife. So she came to Jesus.
What was his response?
(A) whichever one you get sealed to in the LDS temple
(B) don’t worry about it, it will all get worked out in the next life
(C) “There is no marriage in the resurrection” (Matt 22:30, Mark 12:25, Luke 20:34-36)
That’s 3 witnesses quoting Jesus himself.
If you look in the LDS institute manual, it will say “correct, there are no new marriages performed in heaven. But earthly marriages may continue.”
This explanation has an obvious flaw. Read the context of the scripture again — this was concerning earthly marriage! She was not asking to get married in heaven.
Her earthly marriage(s) will not continue in heaven.
So then the LDS church will fall back on the Bible not being reliable.
Except the parts they want to cherry pick to back up their doctrine — suddenly those parts are reliable.
Not to mention, the JST was supposed to be the solution to this “reliability” problem. And guess what? The JST does not correct any of these 3 witnesses to Jesus teaching there’s no marriage in heaven.
If you don’t find the Bible to be reliable, you gotta throw the whole thing out. Don’t have it in your cannon, don’t say you believe it, don’t use it.
And then you can’t call yourself Christian because the Bible is the core book Christianity is based on. And Christians are people who believe the Bible is the word of God.
So, your choices are: (a) be part of a sect that denies the Bible (i.e., the original scripture containing first hand accounts of Christ), or (b) be a Jesus loving, Jesus trusting Christian.
…and believe that He is enough.
…and trust that His plan for us in heaven may not include the kind of human companionship we are used to, but partnering with HIM as HIS BRIDE is so much better!!
I don’t want any of this to sound unkind but yes, this is direct. Not just the LDS church but other branches including “Numo” are made or broken on this issue, these 3 Bible passages. Yes, so much hinges on this. So this is your chance to feel some healthy cognitive dissonance and consider what Jesus may have really taught, and consider the evolving doctrine of a certain “prophet of the Restoration” who confirmed it once and then taught against it later.
I’m not saying this isn’t a difficult doctrine to wrestle with. But it’s a very significant doctrine because this is the hinge point where we decide if we believe the Bible or not. And if you don’t believe this part of the Bible, then how can you believe any of it? So this issue will collapse your faith in the Bible, or it will be a call for you to surrender to some unknowns and perhaps give up a favorite belief that could be an issue of idolatry, if you put that belief ahead of God’s word.
All I Possess 