Matthew 16:19 and 18:18 teach that Jesus gave his disciples the power to “bind on earth as in heaven.” Early Mormons understood this as a kind of divine ratification, calling it “sealing up.” In October 1831, Joseph Smith Jr. taught that those in the High Priesthood (later called the Melchizedek Priesthood) possessed this power, and this authority to seal was later canonized in what became known as “The Lord’s Preface.”
By the Nauvoo era, Joseph Smith Jr. had become deeply preoccupied with whether relationships could persist after death. Traditional Christianity taught that in heaven all relationships would dissolve – marriages, parent-child bonds, friendships – in favor of God becoming the sole and all-encompassing fulfillment of relational need. Smith found this vision unbearable. He believed that such a heaven was not only emotionally devastating, but worse than annihilation (entirely ceasing to exist after death).
In response to this anxiety, Smith retooled sealing into a radical theological solution: people would be sealed to their loved ones to ensure that their connections endured past death. Heaven would not be a place of solitary worship, but a continuation of beloved society.
Smith famously mused:
“Let me be resurrected with the Saints whether I ascend to heaven, descend to hell, or go to any other place. If we go to hell, we will turn the devils out of doors and make a heaven of it. Where this people are, there is good society. What do we care where we are if the society be good?”
Heaven was not meant to be a location so much as a communal condition, and the Mormons in Nauvoo believed they were not merely preparing for heaven; they were actively building it. They imagined a paradise of their own making, constructed through enduring bonds of covenantal affection.
The early Mormons wanted to be as interconnected as possible, and they did not want to wait generations for their descendants to intermarry in order to achieve full relational unity. They saw only two practical methods for realizing their theological vision: marriage sealing and parent-child adoption sealing. The former led to polygamy, while the latter led to dynastic sealings to noteworthy Mormon leaders.
However, human intimacy does not confine itself neatly to spouse, parent, or child dynamic. We build kinship through friendship, devotion, caregiving, collaboration, and chosen bonds that transcend biology, romance, and gender. Seen this way, Nauvoo sealing theology was not a finished system; it was a prototype.
One of the most vivid and theologically resonant depictions of what a grand heavenly family might look like comes from Charlotte Scholl Shurtz’s article, “A Queer Heavenly Family: Expanding Godhood Beyond a Heterosexual, Cisgender Couple.” Shurtz writes:
“The heavenly family is queer. Sure, our heavenly parents are in a heterosexual relationship, but the heavenly family is bigger than just our heavenly parents. It includes parents, grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins, and even close friends.
One of our Heavenly Father’s parents is nonbinary. Heavenly Father calls them Zaza, a gender-neutral term of endearment for a parent.
Our Heavenly Mother and her brother are both straight, but their older sister (and our Heavenly Mother’s best friend) is a lesbian goddess celestially partnered with her transgender wife. They preside as gods over a world they created together.
Heavenly Father has an asexual uncle. He was never interested in marriage, but he is sealed to several close friends with whom he collaborates on creation and constantly teases. He always knows how to make you laugh if you’re feeling down.
And Heavenly Mother’s grandfather is gay. Together he and his husband have created some of the most intriguing and beautiful animals known to the extended heavenly family.
One of Heavenly Mother’s cousins is polyamorous and has three spouses. She presides over a world in partnership with her wife and two husbands, all gods together. They like being able to split up responsibilities among four people instead of two.
Of course, these are only a few members of the heavenly family. Our heavenly family is so large it would take me more than a day and a night to tell you about each member. But most importantly, no matter the differences in whom they love and choose to lead a celestial life with, all members of the heavenly family—queer or not—are welcomed and celebrated at heavenly family reunions.”
If early Mormon sealing was a sacred practice intended to reject cosmic loneliness, then a mature sealing theology must honor the full range of relationships through which humans build heaven with one another. Heterosexual and parent/child sealings must obviously still be honored, but all Queer, consensual non-monogamous, and non-romantic and non-sexual sealings should also be viewed as a manifestation of a communal heaven.
In sum, we should view the act of sealing as a testament to how that person’s company is essential to eternity being a happy place for you.