Chad's romantic prose also describes the moment when he and Lori were sealed at the temple. The story doesn't say who sealed them. It happened around the first day of the Mesa PAP conference, which started on November 16 2018.
Just to be clear, they were not sealed together as a couple. That would have been impossible as The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints does NOT practice polygamy and both Chad and Lori were at that time still married to other people. Furthermore, there are very strict guidelines and regulations in place that they never would have been able to get past in order to have an actual and legitimate temple sealing.
First, it might be helpful to the reader to know that there are several types of "temple recommends." These include:
26.1
Types of Temple Recommends
A current temple recommend allows a member to enter all temples. Priesthood leaders ensure that members receive the correct recommend for their circumstances. There are three types of recommends:
1. Limited-use recommend. These recommends are for unendowed members. They are issued through Leader and Clerk Resources (LCR). For more information, see
26.4.
2. Recommend for living ordinances. These recommends are for members receiving their own endowment or being sealed to a spouse. They are issued from recommend book 2. The recommend for living ordinances is attached to a regular temple recommend (described below). The temple retains the living ordinance recommend when the ordinance is performed. The member retains the regular recommend and uses it when returning to the temple.
3. Temple recommend. These recommends are for members who have previously been endowed. They are issued from recommend book 1. They authorize a member to participate in all temple ordinances for the deceased. They are also used when an endowed member is sealed to living or deceased parents or children. For more information, see
26.5.
1. The limited-use recommend is for unendowed members of the Church (typically the youth) and only grants access to limited areas of the temple, such as for performing baptisms for the dead. Chad and Lori would not have had this type of recommend, nor would it allow them into areas of the temple necessary for performing sealings.
2. The recommend for living ordinances is the temple recommend that is necessary for any person to receive ordinances for themselves (including being sealed together as a couple). This is a one time use recommend which is absolutely required to perform a living ordinance, and is turned over to the temple once the ordinance is performed. In addition, you also need to have a current temple recommend (the third type) to use the recommend for living ordinances. The living ordinance recommend is the one that Chad and Lori would have had to get in order to be sealed together. It would have been utterly impossible for them to get this recommend for a number of reasons (including the simple fact that they were still married to their own spouses). In order to get this type of recommend Chad would have needed to clear it with both his Bishop and Stake President, and Lori would have needed to do the same with her Bishop and Stake President. As they were both still married to their own spouses at the time then doing so would have immediately been grounds for excommunication proceedings for all parties involved since polygamy is not tolerated within the Church.
3. The third recommend is the standard use temple recommend. This type of recommend is the one everyone uses any time they go to the temple. This recommend allows the holder to enter the temple and (subsequent to receiving their own ordinances) perform vicarious temple work for deceased ancestors. This recommend would allow Chad and Lori to participate in sealings for deceased ancestors (which are very similar but distinctly different than living sealings) but in no way could they be sealed together as a living couple themselves as it is a different ceremony requiring a different recommend.
Based on what Chad describes, and what I know of temple work, it is my firm belief that Chad and Lori went into the temple to perform sealings for deceased ancestors and then pretended that sealing was their own when in fact it wasn't. In essence they were playing make believe. The best comparison I can think to make is it would be like a page boy and flower girl at a wedding pretending like they were getting married instead of the bride and groom for whose wedding they were in attendance. In no way was it legally or even morally justified. Worse even, because Chad and Lori were already married to other people and their playing make believe with each other is a violation of the trust of their own families and a breaking of the commandments of God and the marriage covenants they had already made.
All JMO.
) that "Spoonful of Sugar" song starts playing in my head each time I read an update that MM is at the detention center.
