Editing Christian views on marriage (section)

==== The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints ====
{{See also|Marriage in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints|Mormonism and polygamy}}
In the teachings of [[the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints]] (LDS Church), [[celestial marriage|celestial (or eternal) marriage]] is a [[Covenant (Latter Day Saints)|covenant]] between a man, a woman, and [[God in Mormonism|God]] performed by a [[priesthood (Mormonism)|priesthood]] authority in a [[Temple (LDS Church)|temple]] of the church.<ref name = gospelprinciples/> Celestial marriage is intended to continue forever into the [[afterlife]] if the man and woman do not break their covenants.<ref name = gospelprinciples>[https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/manual/gospel-principles/chapter-38-eternal-marriage "Chapter 38: Eternal Marriage"], ''[[Gospel Principles]]'' (Salt Lake City, Utah: LDS Church, 2011).</ref> Thus, eternally married couples are often referred to as being "[[Sealing (Mormonism)|sealed]]" to each other. Sealed couples who keep their covenants are also promised to have their posterity sealed to them in the afterlife.<ref name = gospelprinciples/> (Thus, "families are forever" is a common phrase in the LDS Church.) A celestial marriage is considered a requirement for [[exaltation (Latter Day Saints)|exaltation]].<ref name = gospelprinciples/>

In some countries, celestial marriages can be recognized as civil marriages; in other cases, couples are civilly married outside of the temple and are later sealed in a celestial marriage.<ref>''[[Handbook (LDS Church)|Handbook 1: Stake Presidents and Bishops]]'' (Salt Lake City, Utah: LDS Church, 2010) § 3.5.</ref> (The church will no longer perform a celestial marriage for a couple unless they are first or simultaneously legally married.) The church encourages its members to be in good standing with it so that they may marry or be sealed in the temple. A celestial marriage is not annulled by a civil divorce: a "cancellation of a sealing" may be granted, but only by the [[First Presidency (LDS Church)|First Presidency]], the highest authority in the church. Civil divorce and marriage outside the temple carries somewhat of a stigma in the Mormon culture; the church teaches that the "gospel of Jesus Christ—including repentance, forgiveness, integrity, and love—provides the remedy for conflict in marriage."<ref>[https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/topics/divorce "Gospel Topics: Divorce"], churchofjesuschrist.org.</ref> Regarding marriage and divorce, the church instructs its leaders: "No priesthood officer is to counsel a person whom to marry. Nor should he counsel a person to divorce his or her spouse. Those decisions must originate and remain with the individual. When a marriage ends in divorce, or if a husband and wife separate, they should always receive counseling from Church leaders."<ref>''[[Handbook (LDS Church)|Handbook 1: Stake Presidents and Bishops]]'' (Salt Lake City, Utah: LDS Church, 2010) § 7.2.5.</ref>

In church temples, members of the LDS Church perform vicarious celestial marriages for deceased couples who were legally married.