Valerie - Yes, your question is a valid one. I am a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (commonly called Mormon). We believe that the family unit is an eternal unit; that is, we are families in this life and we will be a family in the next life if we live worthily of that blessing. We believe we can be reunited with other family members who live worthy lives and continue as a family unit. We believe there is still a parent -child relationship that continues eternally....that family members are linked in an eternal chain. However, we believe that some ordinances are only performed on earth - like baptism, endowment and the sealing which creates the eternal link. These ordinances are done in temples and are sacred to us. We do not believe that because we perform these ordinances, that individuals are compelled to accept them. Our right to choose is a God-given right and we can choose to accept or reject these ordinances as well. If a person does not believe in these temple ordinances, then they would be meaningless. If a person believes they are groundless, then these dates attached to them are meaningless dates. For further information on our beliefs you might want to link to familysearch.org - and then there are some links from there about our beliefs. Hope this answers your question. Lois ===== My personal website: http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.com/~virginiawesttooregon The complete database of our family history: http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.com/~familylibrary/ __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Send FREE Valentine eCards with Yahoo! Greetings! http://greetings.yahoo.com