re mormon beliefs about bastards erh tesla njit edu writes could anyone enlighten me on how the mormon church views children born out of wedlock in particular i m interested to know if any stigma is attached to the children as opposed to the parents all children are born pure i e without sin however most saints would view a pregnancy outside of marriage as an occasion of mourning some church members would be much more judgmental but that is their problem in situations where welfare assistance is provided through our church bishops usually require that the family be making some effort to live the gospel standards and provide for themselves however there are occasions when assistance is provided because of the children in the home as a former bishop of mine said children are always worthy before god i m especially keen to learn if there is or is not any prohibition in the mormon faith on bastards entering heaven or having their names entered in the big genealogical book the mormons keep in salt lake city i am not sure what you mean by the term bastards in this context latter day saints believe that through the temple ordinances the family unit may be preserved in eternity if you use genealogical material or software produced by the church you may notice a section for temple ordinances within that section there should be a spot for signifying bic which stands for born in the covenant the children born to couple sealed married within the temple are born in the covenant and are eligible to be part of that eternal family unit children born to other couples whether in a civil marriage or not would have to be sealed to their parents after their marriage is solemnized for eternity supposing a child were born to a woman out of wedlock he or she could be sealed to his or her parents at a later date or adopted into any eternal family unit which may include one of the birth parents if this is an issue on which the official position has changed over time i m interested in learning both old and new beliefs e mail or posting is fine all information or pointers are appreciated i can t say if this principle of adoption was revealed at the same time as the sealing ordinances but it has been accepted for the years i have been in the church i would tend to discount any admonitions from the church authorities against having children out of wedlock because even though there are provisions within the lord s plan to recover what we have done wrong the church does not want to give anyone the impression we can sin and repent at our leisure a idler
