Is There Eternal Hope for Wayward Children?

In Book II of the God Is Not a Respecter of Persons series, Jim Boud explores doctrinal questions with profound implications for Latter-day Saints and their families. The chapter “Redeeming Lost Children” addresses one of the most personal of those questions: what hope do faithful parents have for children who turn away from the gospel?

To answer that question, Jim examines the debate surrounding the central point, or “nugget,” of a funeral sermon Joseph Smith delivered in Nauvoo on August 13, 1843. Elder Orson F. Whitney’s interpretation of the sermon went unchallenged from the time of his address in the April 1929 General Conference until 1980:

“The Prophet Joseph Smith declared—and he never taught more comforting doctrine—that the eternal sealings of faithful parents and the divine promises made to them for valiant service in the Cause of Truth, would save not only themselves, but likewise their posterity. Though some of the sheep may wander, the eye of the Shepherd is upon them, and sooner or later they will feel the tentacles of Divine Providence reaching out after them and drawing them back to the fold. Either in this life or the life to come, they will return. They will have to pay their debt to justice; they will suffer for their sins; and may tread a thorny path; but if it leads them at last [in God’s time], like the penitent Prodigal, to a loving and forgiving father’s heart and home, the painful experience will not have been in vain. Pray for your careless and disobedient children; hold on to them with your faith. Hope on, trust on, till you see the salvation of God.” [Conference Report, April 1929 at page 110.]

In 1980, two Latter-day Saint scholars published a book that challenged the accounts recorded by three individuals: Willard Richards, who kept Joseph Smith’s diary; William Clayton; and Franklin D. Richards. These three accounts of Joseph Smith’s sermon were consistent with one another, and two recorded only its central “nugget.”

The two scholars introduced a fourth account of the funeral sermon that challenged both the three previous accounts and Elder Whitney’s interpretation of them, referred to hereafter as the “New Version.” They argued that the New Version provided a more complete and accurate account of the sermon than the three earlier records.

The New Version stated that if parents were eternally sealed together, only children who had not transgressed would be sealed to them for eternity. In other words, children who died in their sins would never be part of the eternal family unit.

This interpretation created a debate among Church scholars that eventually reached one or more General Authorities. The New Version introduced several questions about what Joseph Smith actually preached in the funeral sermon.

Jim Boud has researched this controversy rigorously and compassionately. He ordered records from the Church Historian’s Office, including:

• The portion of Joseph Smith’s diary kept by Willard Richards covering several months before and after the sermon.
• Franklin D. Richards’ small pocket notebook, titled “Scriptural Items,” which included the sermon’s central point.
• The notebook containing the New Version published in 1980.

Jim also learned that he would need to visit the L. Tom Perry Special Collections Department at Brigham Young University’s Harold B. Lee Library to review William Clayton’s notes on the funeral sermon. He drove to Provo and read the entire published portion of Clayton’s diary containing his account of the sermon.

Here is a small sample of what Jim discovered through his research:

1. The three original versions of the funeral sermon are consistent with one another. Together, they provide multiple witnesses of the sermon’s central teaching.
2. The original notes behind the New Version were recopied into a notebook more than 10 years after the funeral sermon was given and after the recorders had crossed the plains and relocated to the Salt Lake Valley. The original notes were lost or destroyed, and the two scholars did not address these important facts.
3. The portion of the New Version upon which the scholars relied is inconsistent with the three original versions of the funeral sermon. It also appears inconsistent with other statements attributed to Joseph Smith within the New Version itself.
4. The person who recopied the New Version into the notebook more than 10 years later is discussed at length in the Joseph Smith Papers. This individual worked on Joseph Smith’s history, but the Joseph Smith Papers state that his “history draft” contained “departures from the earlier drafts, which, though minor, show an intention to refine the story by imposing certain editorial preferences.”
5. The Joseph Smith Papers also show that Joseph Smith decided not to include any of this individual’s work in the History of the Church. This decision raises further questions about the reliability of the later account.
6. Joseph Smith gave another address on March 10, 1844, eight months after the funeral sermon. In it, he taught the same doctrine found in the central point recorded in the three original versions.
7. The scriptures teach, “In the mouth of two or three witnesses shall every word be established.” That scriptural injunction applies in this matter.

Well, enough of this! Jim Boud’s chapter presents clear and convincing evidence that the three original recorders of the funeral sermon were correct and that Elder Whitney’s 1929 general conference address accurately interpreted the doctrine Joseph Smith taught. Parents need not lose hope for the eternal salvation of their wayward children.

God is not a magician, and wayward children must exercise their agency before they can one day be reunited with their sealed parents in the eternities. That reunion will happen according to God’s timing, not ours.

In the meantime, we can take solace from 2 Nephi 29:9: “For my work is not yet finished; neither shall it be until the end of man, neither from that time henceforth and forever.” God’s work continues beyond the limits of our present understanding.

Find out how to get your own copy of God Is Not a Respecter of Persons Parts 1 & 2.

Holly Wallace

Holly Wallace is a writer and storyteller drawn to meaningful questions and overlooked details. Her work explores Latter-day Saint life and culture through faithful inquiry, inviting readers to pause, consider, and engage more deeply with what matters most.