💞 Sealed… But Still Free: What Really Happens When Our Children Walk Away
💞 Sealed… But Still Free: What Really Happens When Our Children Walk Away
I’ve sat across from too many parents with wet eyes and breaking hearts.
And I’ve been one of them.
It’s a question that can keep you up at night:
“We raised them in the gospel.
We were sealed in the temple.
So… why did they leave? And what happens now?”
The LDS Church has a way of making this sound simple —
offering a quote here, a promise there —
but truth is rarely simple, and the real hope is much bigger than the institutional version.
📉 The Pain Is Real — And It’s Everywhere
Even the Church’s own 2008 data admitted it:
Only about 3 in 10 young single adults in North America were still active.
Internationally, it’s even lower.
But this isn’t about numbers.
It’s about people you love.
It’s about chairs at the table that used to be full.
It’s about prayers that feel like they bounce back in silence.
📜 The Quote That Gets Passed Around
There’s a Joseph Smith quote that shows up in talks, funerals, and lesson manuals —
the one about sealing parents not losing their children.
But Elder Bednar has admitted the “famous” version is incomplete.
The full record — from Howard and Martha Coray — adds something the LDS spin usually leaves out:
Children must repent and choose obedience.
That’s not as tidy.
It’s also true.
⚖️ Agency Is the Law of Heaven
The Book of Mormon doesn’t leave wiggle room:
“Men will be punished for their own sins.” (Mosiah 18:26)
“Do not suppose… that ye shall be saved in your sins.” (Alma 11:37)
The Nemenhah Records agree:
“The Lord does not compel any man, but He invites all to partake… and they may choose to come, or choose not to come, according to their own will.” ✔
“Teach your children in the ways of the covenant, and their hearts shall remember in a day of turning.” ✔
Covenants are not chains — they are invitations.
And every child, no matter how they were raised, must choose for themselves.
🌟 My Son’s Story — And the Scripture That Backs It
This isn’t abstract for me.
One of my dear sons was a faithful, rising star in the LDS Church.
Before his mission, he did something almost unheard of —
he served as an Elders Quorum President at BYU.
He went on to become a branch president overseas,
all while faithfully keeping a journal — now for nearly forty years.
And then, after a lifetime of service and loyalty,
he walked away from the Church.
One day he told me:
“Dad, now I have time.
Now I have time to follow what Christ teaches.”
And the Nemenhah would say:
“When a man departs from the traditions of men and turns his face toward the Holy One,
then is his heart free to do what the Spirit teaches him… and his footsteps are established in the Way.” ✔
He didn’t leave the faith.
He left the noise.
And in the quiet, he found the Shepherd’s voice again.
🌍 The Hope the LDS Narrative Can’t Contain
Joseph Smith’s King Follett discourse was expansive:
Christ’s atonement reaches nearly all.
Repentance can happen here or in the spirit world.
Only those who knowingly, willfully reject Him after knowing Him fully are cut off forever.
And the Nemenhah echo it:
“The Lord shall search the highways and the byways, and He shall gather whomsoever will come,
whether they be of this fold or of another… for the flock is His, and He will not lose them for want of seeking.” ✔
That’s a hope far greater than “they’ll come back to Church someday.”
It’s the hope that they will come to Him —
whether or not they sit in the pew you think they should.
💖 What Sealing Really Does
Sealing isn’t a celestial rope to drag someone against their will into heaven.
It’s a divine connection point — a covenant claim that allows Heaven to keep working on them.
The Nemenhah describe it this way:
“Your covenants are a memorial before the Lord… and in the day of their trouble, your children shall remember and call upon His name.” ✔
It gives the Lord more “legal ground” to send angels, dreams, and nudges.
But the Book of Mormon warns plainly:
Even restored people can fall away.
In the end, Zion will be built by the remnant — those who hear His voice and come.
🕊️ So Keep Hoping — And Keep Pointing to Him
If your child leaves the Church,
it’s not the end of the story.
Picture Christ walking beside them in the far country.
Picture your prayers as arrows of light.
Picture the sealing as Heaven’s permission to keep reaching out.
And remember what my son said:
“Now I have time to follow what Christ teaches.”
Sometimes the way home isn’t the way you thought.
But the Shepherd knows every path.
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https://thetrueremnantblog.blogspot.com/2025/07/when-incense-is-taken-away-how-we-lost.html
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