I believe a family is far more fluid than any of us realize. Jesus alluded to the fluidity of it all when He said, "Who is my father, mother, child?" The answer is that they are those who keep the commandments. In other words, we are bound by a value set, far more than a blood connection.
In the eternities, we will be connected to those who are valiant enough to rise with us to where we will go, worlds without end. People have the crazy idea that they will just get resurrected and go with someone that they were tied thru to marriage in this life - yet did nothing in this life to "set the hook" and assure that their position or argument had any validity.
I remember a conversation with the wife of a guy who died (faithful in his Covenants) and who gave his life in the service of his fellows in Vietnam. This gal had the idea that she was going to waltz into heaven and just link up with him and live like nothing had gone down in the 45 years since his death. Although there was a child out of wedlock, apostasy from the truth, crazy stuff like drug use and so much else which partially led to the moral corruption of her children at home (kids in rehab, etc etc for the kind of stuff she was touting to them - pot and alcohol). NOT a good example of moral living since his death.
Here is the rub. The person who departs early is kind of "locked in" to where they were at when they died - and then there is progression and service and goodness on the other side of the veil. IF the person who remains, spends their days in hedonistic pursuits of bi-sexualism, monster breaches of the Word of Wisdom and so much else - and then tells their kids and grand-kids that this kind of stuff is perfectly fine (instead of bending the knee and confessing our Lord and Savior and at least admitting that they are weak and have fallen - and that the descendants should NEVER go there like they did), then I think there will be a MASSIVE gulf that will separate that person from the one who departed early. And from any of their descendants. There was a reason the pathological master of ALL lies was cast out - along with a third of the host who could not see the piece of work for what he is.
So - where I am going with all this? We can be adopted into a blood line (Abraham's - or Jesus' - or Joseph's or any of the other greats) based on performances and covenants. We choose daily now, whom we will associate with forever. And yes, there is repentance and mighty changes of heart - but it requires a mountain of work for that change to take hold and become integral to us.
I have become aware of people who are of amazing caliber who have remained unmarried for various reasons - and it is absurdity to assume that the person who has squandered (wanted to say pissed) away their mortal probation will just waltz in and take what they do NOT merit - when there are MANY out there who have been deprived of goodness because there were not enough suitable opportunities for marriage in this life. It makes my logical mind want to explode when I think about it, quite frankly.
God will not be mocked - nor will good principle, nor will logic, nor will the person who departed early. The hedonist simply will have no claim on them. Period. And so, in the welding of that family chain all the way back to Adam, links will be left out. All over the place. The link simply will be welded to the next viable one back - and so on and so on. The chain most likely will be much shorter than it was originally when the whole ball of wax started rolling with Adam and his good wife.
Here is some of the excellent commentary that got me thinking and pontificating on the subject....:
Joseph Smith was reluctant to carry it out and teach it to the people, even quoting scriptures from the Book of Mormon that spoke against it. Finally an angel with a drawn sword commanded him to teach and promote this practice to the people. An excerpt from "Plural Marriage in Kirtland and Nauvoo" under the www.lds.org site states:
When God commands a difficult task, He sometimes sends additional messengers to encourage His people to obey. Consistent with this pattern, Joseph told associates that an angel appeared to him three times between 1834 and 1842 and commanded him to proceed with plural marriage when he hesitated to move forward. During the third and final appearance, the angel came with a drawn sword, threatening Joseph with destruction unless he went forward and obeyed the commandment fully.
The fluidity will be different to be sure. We have to keep in mind that plural marriage is a far different animal than either polygamy or polyandry. For now I'll stick with the covenants required for this day and time.
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