Dear Gramps,

Is it true the reason men can be sealed to more than one woman is because there
will be more women in the Celestrial Kingdom than men? If it weren’t for that
some good women would be condemned through no fault of their own, and that’s
not just.
Becky, from Broken Bow, Oklahoma

Dear Becky,
That seems to be a very simplistic solution to a concept with very sacred overtones. If there will be more women than men in the celestial kingdom I think that it would be because of the principle of eternal marriage, rather than eternal marriage being some sort of an arrangement to satisfy the inequality of the numbers of men and women. In a revelation given to the prophet in May 1843 we read—

In the celestial glory there are three heavens or degrees; And in order to obtain the highest, a man must enter into this order of the priesthood [meaning the new and everlasting covenant of marriage]; And if he does not, he cannot obtain it. He may enter into the other, but that is the end of his kingdom; he cannot have an increase (D&C 131:1-4).

The highest degree of glory in the celestial kingdom is exaltation. It is comprised only of wives and husbands sealed together for time and for all eternity. Others who have lived by all the covenants of the gospel, but have not been sealed as husband and wife, will inherit the celestial kingdom, but will not be exalted. So who knows whether there will be more women than men in the celestial kingdom?
Gramps