Reason 9: Exaltation through temple marriage is not the gospel

¹In the celestial glory there are three heavens or degrees; ²And in order to obtain the highest, a man must enter into this order of the priesthood [meaning the new and everlasting covenant of marriage]; ³And if he does not, he cannot obtain it.

Doctrine and Covenants 131:1-3 · read it at ChurchofJesusChrist.org

³⁰For in the resurrection they neither marry nor are given in marriage, but are like God’s angels in heaven.

Matthew 22:30 (WEB) · context

⁷Let’s rejoice and be exceedingly glad, and let’s give the glory to him. For the wedding of the Lamb has come, and his wife has made herself ready.”

Revelation 19:7 (WEB) · context

¹⁵And now, my dearly beloved brethren and sisters, let me assure you that these are principles in relation to the dead and the living that cannot be lightly passed over, as pertaining to our salvation. For their salvation is necessary and essential to our salvation, as Paul says concerning the fathers—that they without us cannot be made perfect—neither can we without our dead be made perfect.

Doctrine and Covenants 128:15 · read it at ChurchofJesusChrist.org

²⁷Inasmuch as it is appointed for men to die once, and after this, judgment,

Hebrews 9:27 (WEB) · context

³²For behold, this life is the time for men to prepare to meet God; yea, behold the day of this life is the day for men to perform their labors.

Alma 34:32 · read it at ChurchofJesusChrist.org

²For he says, “At an acceptable time I listened to you. In a day of salvation I helped you.” Behold, now is the acceptable time. Behold, now is the day of salvation.

2 Corinthians 6:2 (WEB) · context

¹We believe in God, the Eternal Father, and in His Son, Jesus Christ, and in the Holy Ghost.

Articles of Faith 1:1 · read it at ChurchofJesusChrist.org

²²The Father has a body of flesh and bones as tangible as man’s; the Son also; but the Holy Ghost has not a body of flesh and bones, but is a personage of Spirit. Were it not so, the Holy Ghost could not dwell in us.

Doctrine and Covenants 130:22 · read it at ChurchofJesusChrist.org

⁴Hear, Israel: Yahweh is our God. Yahweh is one.

Deuteronomy 6:4 (WEB) · context

³⁹For behold, this is my work and my glory—to bring to pass the immortality and eternal life of man.

Moses 1:39 · read it at ChurchofJesusChrist.org

²²Now the Lord had shown unto me, Abraham, the intelligences that were organized before the world was; and among all these there were many of the noble and great ones;

Abraham 3:22 · read it at ChurchofJesusChrist.org

⁷⁰These are they whose bodies are celestial, whose glory is that of the sun, even the glory of God, the highest of all, whose glory the sun of the firmament is written of as being typical. ⁷¹And again, we saw the terrestrial world, and behold and lo, these are they who are of the terrestrial, whose glory differs from that of the church of the Firstborn who have received the fulness of the Father, even as that of the moon differs from the sun in the firmament.

Doctrine and Covenants 76:70-71 · read it at ChurchofJesusChrist.org

⁸We believe the Bible to be the word of God as far as it is translated correctly; we also believe the Book of Mormon to be the word of God.

Articles of Faith 1:8 · read it at ChurchofJesusChrist.org

⁹We believe all that God has revealed, all that He does now reveal, and we believe that He will yet reveal many great and important things pertaining to the Kingdom of God.

Articles of Faith 1:9 · read it at ChurchofJesusChrist.org

⁶Don’t you add to his words, lest he reprove you, and you be found a liar.

Proverbs 30:6 (WEB) · context

¹Upon you my fellow servants, in the name of Messiah I confer the Priesthood of Aaron, which holds the keys of the ministering of angels, and of the gospel of repentance, and of baptism by immersion for the remission of sins; and this shall never be taken again from the earth, until the sons of Levi do offer again an offering unto the Lord in righteousness.

Doctrine and Covenants 13:1 · read it at ChurchofJesusChrist.org

²⁴But he, because he lives forever, has his priesthood unchangeable. ²⁵Therefore he is also able to save to the uttermost those who draw near to God through him, seeing that he lives forever to make intercession for them.

Hebrews 7:24-25 (WEB) · context

⁵¹Behold, the veil of the temple was torn in two from the top to the bottom. The earth quaked and the rocks were split.

Matthew 27:51 (WEB) · context

⁹We believe all that God has revealed, all that He does now reveal, and we believe that He will yet reveal many great and important things pertaining to the Kingdom of God.

Articles of Faith 1:9 · read it at ChurchofJesusChrist.org

²⁰being built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus himself being the chief cornerstone;

Ephesians 2:20 (WEB) · context

¹God, having in the past spoken to the fathers through the prophets at many times and in various ways, ²has at the end of these days spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed heir of all things, through whom also he made the worlds.

Hebrews 1:1-2 (WEB) · context

¹⁷It no sooner appeared than I found myself delivered from the enemy which held me bound. When the light rested upon me I saw two Personages, whose brightness and glory defy all description, standing above me in the air. One of them spake unto me, calling me by name and said, pointing to the other—This is My Beloved Son. Hear Him!

Joseph Smith—History 1:17 · read it at ChurchofJesusChrist.org

The 1832 account says, “The Lord opened the heavens upon me and I saw the Lord.” His 1838 account states, “I saw two Personages,”

The Church's own words Gospel Topics essay, "First Vision Accounts" · source

Joseph placed either the interpreters or the seer stone in a hat, pressed his face into the hat to block out extraneous light, and read aloud the English words that appeared on the instrument.

The Church's own words Gospel Topics essay, "Book of Mormon Translation" · source

As a young man during the 1820s, Joseph Smith, like others in his day, used a seer stone to look for lost objects and buried treasure.

The Church's own words Gospel Topics essay, "Book of Mormon Translation" · source

¹⁰There shall not be found with you anyone who makes his son or his daughter to pass through the fire, one who uses divination, one who tells fortunes, or an enchanter, or a sorcerer, ¹¹or a charmer, or someone who consults with a familiar spirit, or a wizard, or a necromancer. ¹²For whoever does these things is an abomination to Yahweh. Because of these abominations, Yahweh your God drives them out from before you.

Deuteronomy 18:10-12 (WEB) · context

The youngest was Helen Mar Kimball, daughter of Joseph’s close friends Heber C. and Vilate Murray Kimball, who was sealed to Joseph several months before her 15th birthday.

The Church's own words Gospel Topics essay, "Plural Marriage in Kirtland and Nauvoo" · source

Joseph Smith was sealed to a number of women who were already married.

The Church's own words Gospel Topics essay, "Plural Marriage in Kirtland and Nauvoo" · source

⁴He answered, “Haven’t you read that he who made them from the beginning made them male and female, ⁵and said, ‘For this cause a man shall leave his father and mother, and shall be joined to his wife; and the two shall become one flesh’? ⁶So that they are no more two, but one flesh. What therefore God has joined together, don’t let man tear apart.”

Matthew 19:4-6 (WEB) · context

In 1852, President Brigham Young publicly announced that men of black African descent could no longer be ordained to the priesthood

The Church's own words Gospel Topics essay, "Race and the Priesthood" · source

Today, the Church disavows the theories advanced in the past that black skin is a sign of divine disfavor or curse

The Church's own words Gospel Topics essay, "Race and the Priesthood" · source

²⁸There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free man, there is neither male nor female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus.

Galatians 3:28 (WEB) · context

The evidence assembled to date suggests that the majority of Native Americans carry largely Asian DNA.

The Church's own words Gospel Topics essay, "Book of Mormon and DNA Studies" · source

²¹Test all things, and hold firmly that which is good.

1 Thessalonians 5:21 (WEB) · context