Couples Married Civilly Now Authorized for Immediate Temple Marriage

[Red Ryder]

JTG, that's how I interpreted at first. But, essentially you could be sealed in the temple the day after your civil wedding even if having sexual relations with your partner kept you from having the one and only true ceremony in the temple. Am I interpreting this correctly? Yes, that makes sense that you'll be asked the same questions but a couple could have been sleeping together during their entire courtship and not be punished to wait a year.

You’ve found the loop hole!

Couple is having premarital sex.
Plans to get married in civil ceremony.
No bishop interview required.
Plans to attend the temple the following week.
Bishop interviews and asks if they are living the law of chastity. Yes, Bishop. Having sex with the legal and lawful spouse.

[Corsair]

JTG, that's how I interpreted at first. But, essentially you could be sealed in the temple the day after your civil wedding even if having sexual relations with your partner kept you from having the one and only true ceremony in the temple. Am I interpreting this correctly? Yes, that makes sense that you'll be asked the same questions but a couple could have been sleeping together during their entire courtship and not be punished to wait a year.

The BYU Honor Code Office will be dealing with these kinds of cases. The teeth have been removed from the HCO if people can have a civil ceremony and delay the temple visit. It should be amusing to see these new stories come out of BYU. I imagine this kind of conversation:

The bishop glared at the young man across the desk. "You got a little handsy! And I have not seen any tithing from you recently. Hand over your temple recommend! You will need to tell your family and probably delay your wedding."

The young man smiled, "Yeah, I don't think so. We are getting married at my grandpa's cabin by Park City. My fiance's 5 year old sister will be the flower girl. Both families are really excited to attend."

Panic crossed the bishop's face. "But...but, you are really not worthy for a temple sealing. No bishop would agree to perform that ceremony!"

"That's OK, Bishop," the young man calmly replied. "My brother is certifed to perform civil weddings and will officiate the ceremony."

"You need to become worthy of the blessings of the temple."

"Well, Bishop," the young man replied, "what does the church offer to my fiance and me? How will our every day lives actually be improved if we become worthy for the temple?"

[jfro18]

You’ve found the loop hole!

Couple is having premarital sex.
Plans to get married in civil ceremony.
No bishop interview required.
Plans to attend the temple the following week.
Bishop interviews and asks if they are living the law of chastity. Yes, Bishop. Having sex with the legal and lawful spouse.

[wtfluff]

JTG, that's how I interpreted at first. But, essentially you could be sealed in the temple the day after your civil wedding even if having sexual relations with your partner kept you from having the one and only true ceremony in the temple.

OK, but... How is a couple going to get an interview with their bishop, an interview with their steak president, and an appointment at a temple, all the day after getting married? Not. Gonna. Happen.

[alas]

JTG, that's how I interpreted at first. But, essentially you could be sealed in the temple the day after your civil wedding even if having sexual relations with your partner kept you from having the one and only true ceremony in the temple. Am I interpreting this correctly? Yes, that makes sense that you'll be asked the same questions but a couple could have been sleeping together during their entire courtship and not be punished to wait a year.

I kind of doubt this. Fornication should be confessed to the bishop before the wedding because that is when it occurs. Then the couple would be under church discipline. But say they don’t confess, get married without anyone knowing they screwed up before the wedding, then they answer that yes they are living the law of chastity. But then there is that question at the ended about any thing that needed to be confessed in the past. I don’t remember quite how it is worded, but anything not previously repented of. That question would snag anyone who is honest about messing around before their wedding, no matter how long it has been.

So, yeah you could not mention sleeping together before the wedding, then lie on that question, but you can lie about current sin too. The questions for sealing or first endowment are...or were when I went through, more extensive than your every two year TR interview.

[Red Ryder]

JTG, that's how I interpreted at first. But, essentially you could be sealed in the temple the day after your civil wedding even if having sexual relations with your partner kept you from having the one and only true ceremony in the temple.

OK, but... How is a couple going to get an interview with their bishop, an interview with their steak president, and an appointment at a temple, all the day after getting married? Not. Gonna. Happen.

They’ll still ask the chastity questions which means people will still have to lie about it or wait any amount of time determined by the bishop via repentance process.

I don’t think anything changes really. Bishops will still control when couples go to the temple.

The only diff is the mandatory one year wait after a civil marriage is removed.

[Just This Guy]

JTG, that's how I interpreted at first. But, essentially you could be sealed in the temple the day after your civil wedding even if having sexual relations with your partner kept you from having the one and only true ceremony in the temple. Am I interpreting this correctly? Yes, that makes sense that you'll be asked the same questions but a couple could have been sleeping together during their entire courtship and not be punished to wait a year.

You’ve found the loop hole!

Couple is having premarital sex.
Plans to get married in civil ceremony.
No bishop interview required.
Plans to attend the temple the following week.
Bishop interviews and asks if they are living the law of chastity. Yes, Bishop. Having sex with the legal and lawful spouse.

How do bishops deal with this in Europe? They have had these rules for many years.

I can see it coming down to how much the bishop pries into people lives when they ask the recommend questions. "Are you living the law of Chasity?" vs. "Did you live the law of Chasity before you got married?" If they ask the latter, then they could deny the recommend and require waiting a year. I could see some bishops digging as much as they can. Especially at the BYU's. Leadership roulette at it's finest.

Add into this the church is still recommending that people still get married in the temple unless there is a family reason not to. They will still push people to skip the civil ceremony and do it under their roof.

Back in the 90's, there were rumors of BYU students who would elope to Vegas to get married and have a honeymoon over a weekend and then file for a divorce/annulment when they got back. Used it as a way to skirt the Chasity rules. Supposedly BYU was cracking down on this. How? I don't know.

[Red Ryder]

I forgot about The LV annulment.

Mormonism is just cray cray. We can’t forget these other strategies:

The poop hole loophole.
Soaking
NICMO
Et etc

[alas]

JTG, that's how I interpreted at first. But, essentially you could be sealed in the temple the day after your civil wedding even if having sexual relations with your partner kept you from having the one and only true ceremony in the temple. Am I interpreting this correctly? Yes, that makes sense that you'll be asked the same questions but a couple could have been sleeping together during their entire courtship and not be punished to wait a year.

You’ve found the loop hole!

Couple is having premarital sex.
Plans to get married in civil ceremony.
No bishop interview required.
Plans to attend the temple the following week.
Bishop interviews and asks if they are living the law of chastity. Yes, Bishop. Having sex with the legal and lawful spouse.

How do bishops deal with this in Europe? They have had these rules for many years.

I can see it coming down to how much the bishop pries into people lives when they ask the recommend questions. "Are you living the law of Chasity?" vs. "Did you live the law of Chasity before you got married?" If they ask the latter, then they could deny the recommend and require waiting a year. I could see some bishops digging as much as they can. Especially at the BYU's. Leadership roulette at it's finest.

Add into this the church is still recommending that people still get married in the temple unless there is a family reason not to. They will still push people to skip the civil ceremony and do it under their roof.

Back in the 90's, there were rumors of BYU students who would elope to Vegas to get married and have a honeymoon over a weekend and then file for a divorce/annulment when they got back. Used it as a way to skirt the Chasity rules. Supposedly BYU was cracking down on this. How? I don't know.

They ask if you have been married before, one of the later questions dealing with are you paying your alimony and child support. See, the couple would still have to lie, even if technically, they live the law of chastity, if they did the Las Vegas quicky marriage/divorce. Annulments are still a pretty complicated legal procedure, and if a judge finds you have had a marriage annulled in the past, he can ask all the nasty questions. I think the whole “go to Vegas and get married then have it annulled” was 99.9% BYU students wishful thinking.