Editing Mormonism and polygamy (section)

=== Multiple sealings when a prior spouse has died ===
	
In the case where a man's first wife dies, and the man remarries, and both of the marriages involve a [[sealing (Latter Day Saints)|sealing]], LDS authorities teach that in the afterlife, the man will enter a polygamous relationship with both wives.<ref>[[Charles W. Penrose]], ''"Mormon" Doctrine Plain and Simple, or Leaves from the Tree of Life'', 1897, Salt Lake City, p.66 ("In the case of a man marrying a wife in the everlasting covenant who dies while he continues in the flesh and marries another by the same divine law, each wife will come forth in her order and enter with him into his glory."); [[Joseph Fielding Smith]], [[Bruce R. McConkie]], ed., ''Doctrines of Salvation'', 1956, vol. 2, p. 67 (Smith, who was sealed to two different women, stated, "[M]y wives will be mine in the eternity."); [[Harold B. Lee]], ''Deseret News 1974 Church Almanac'', p. 17 ("My lovely Joan was sent to me: So Joan joins Fern/That three might be, more fitted for eternity./'O Heavenly Father, my thanks to thee'.").</ref> Current apostles [[Russell M. Nelson]] and [[Dallin H. Oaks]] are examples of such a case.<ref>"When I was 66, my wife June died of cancer. Two years later I married Kristen McMain, the eternal companion who now stands at my side." [https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/ensign/2003/10/timing?lang=eng "Timing"], ''[[Ensign (LDS magazine)|Ensign]]'', October 2003.</ref>
	
Under LDS Church policy, a man whose sealed wife has died does not have to request any permission beyond having a current temple recommend and an interview with his bishop to get final permission for a living ordinance, to be married in the temple and sealed to another woman, unless the new wife's circumstance requires a cancellation of sealing. However, a woman whose sealed husband has died is still bound by the original sealing and must request a cancellation of sealing to be sealed to another man (see next paragraph for exception to this after she dies). In some cases, women in this situation who wish to remarry choose to be married to a subsequent husband and are not sealed to them, leaving them sealed to their first husband for eternity.
	
As of 1998, however, women who have died may be sealed to more than one man. In 1998, the LDS Church created a new policy that a woman may also be sealed to more than one man. A woman, however, may not be sealed to more than one man while she is alive. She may only be sealed to subsequent partners after both she and her husband(s) have died.<ref name="CHOI">LDS Church, ''[[Church Handbook of Instructions]]'', (LDS Church, Salt Lake City, Utah, 1998) p. 72. "A deceased woman may be sealed to all men to whom she was legally married during her life. However, if she was sealed to a husband during her life, all her husbands must be deceased before she can be sealed to a husband to whom she was not sealed during life."</ref> Thus, if a widow who was sealed to her first husband remarries, she may be sealed by proxy to all of her subsequent husband(s), but only after both she and the subsequent husbands have died. Proxy sealings, like proxy baptisms, are merely ''offered'' to the person in the afterlife, indicating that the purpose is to allow the woman to choose the right man to be sealed to.<ref>{{Cite web |title=38. Church Policies and Guidelines |url=https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/manual/general-handbook/38-church-policies-and-guidelines?lang=eng |access-date=2024-08-25 |website=www.churchofjesuschrist.org |language=en}}</ref> This caveat is necessary to comply with Jesus's teaching in [[Mark 12#The resurrection and marriage|Mark 12]], wherein he teaches the law of marriage with regards to the question of widows remarrying.
	
In the twenty-first century, church leadership has taught that doctrinal knowledge about the nature of family relations in the afterlife is limited and there is no official church teaching on how multiple marriages in life play out in the afterlife beyond trust in God that such matters will work out happily.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Oaks |first=Dallin H. |date=November 2019 |title=Trust in the Lord |url=https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/ensign/2019/11/17oaks?lang=eng |journal=[[Ensign (LDS magazine)|Ensign]] |publisher=[[The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints]]}}</ref>