This
being the 10-year anniversary on the attack of the Twin Towers, I’ve been
watching the many stories of this event in the last couple of days.
Last
night I watched a story where Matt Lauer interviewed a 10-year old boy whose
father was a fire fighter and died trying to save others. This young boy broke down and
cried. He’d lost his father. A man he loved and looked up to. I realized that’s what families
are. They are mothers and fathers
and children who love each other.
They support and strengthen each other. They teach each other.
They are patient and forgiving.
Families are the fundamental units of society. This attack on the US was an attack on families. It tore apart hundreds of
families. I’ve seen many stories
in the past two days—“My son was only 24.” “My daughter had so much going for her.” “My husband didn’t deserve to
die.” And on and on.
Then I
thought about our world today.
Families are also being attacked but internally by unseen forces—forces
that sneak up and tear them apart emotionally.
On
September 23, 1995 Pres. Gordon B. Hinkley addressed the women of the church at
the General Relief Society Broadcast.
He entitled his remarks, “Stand Strong against the Wiles of the World.” As he concluded his remarks he said,
With so much of sophistry
that is passed off as truth, with so much of deception concerning standards and
values, with so much of allurement and enticement to take on the slow stain of
the world, we have felt to warn and forewarn. In furtherance of this we of the First
Presidency and the Council of the Twelve Apostles now issue a proclamation
to the Church and to the world as a declaration and reaffirmation of
standards, doctrines, and practices relative to the family, which the prophets,
seers, and revelators of this church have repeatedly stated throughout its
history. I now take the opportunity of reading to you this proclamation:
He then
read what we know now to be “The Family: A Proclamation to the World”. I was at the meeting.
I remember well when he said that they were issuing a proclamation to
the church and to the world that I perked right up and wanted to hear what this
was all about.
As he
concluded he said:
The strength of any nation is rooted within the walls of its
homes. We urge our people everywhere to strengthen their families in conformity
with these time-honored values.
This
proclamation is still viewed as very important and is a warning to all. The church views families as such
an important unit in society that in the new handbook, the first chapter is entitled:
“Families and the Church in God’s Plan”.
I love this chapter and would encourage all of you to go to the church’s
web site and read this chapter.
The first two sentences say, “The family is
ordained of God. It is the
most important unit in time and in eternity.” This is God’s plan, to come to
earth, gain a body, prove our worthiness to be in his presence and to keep his
commandments and ultimately return to live with him again. BUT we cannot accomplish this alone. We need the Savior and his atonement
and we need our families. The
handbook also says, “As part of our Heavenly Father’s plan, we were born into
families. He established families
to bring us happiness, to help us learn correct principles in a loving
atmosphere, and to prepare us for eternal life.” It’s a training ground. I think we could say that we cannot return to God’s presence
without families. Parents
are responsible to teach their children the gospel of Jesus Christ. The church has the responsibility to
support and strengthen the family and provide the means where the gospel can be
taught. It provides the priesthood
authority to perform the ordinances of salvation and exaltation. Without the family, God’s plan does not
work. Without the family, there is
no plan.
From the Proclamation and this 1st chapter we learn several things. I
have picked out 10 things:
1.
We are children of Heavenly Father
2.
We existed with Him as spirits before this earthly life
3.
We have earthly experiences so we can progress and become more like our
Heavenly Father
4.
Marriage is between a man and a woman
5.
Marriage is an essential part of God’s plan and we can only obtain exaltation
in the highest degree of the celestial kingdom when we have faithfully lived
the gospel and are sealed in the temple to our companion & family.
6.
We are responsible to have children and to rear them in righteousness—to love
them, to develop relationships with them, to teach them about Jesus Christ—The
commandment given to Adam and Eve has not been retracted.
7.
Children have the right to be born into a family that has a mother and a
father—which means they have the right to remain in a family with that same
mother and father.
8.
Married couples should be completely faithful to each other, physically,
mentally and emotionally.
9.
Mothers and Fathers have different roles in the family, but they must work
together as equal partners to be effective.
10.
The family is the fundamental unit of society.
Sixteen
years ago, the Prophet of the church was concerned about how the world views
marriage and families. Today, our
leaders are still concerned.
Sister Beck said in an address given to seminary and institute teachers in
2009 and which was printed in the Ensign this past March:
Evidence is all around us that the family is becoming less
important. Marriage rates are declining, the age of marriage is rising, and
divorce rates are rising. Out-of-wedlock births are growing. Abortion is rising and becoming
increasingly legal. We see lower birth rates. We see unequal relationships
between men and women. . . . Many
times a career gains importance over the family.
Many of our youth are losing confidence in the institution of
families. They’re placing more and more value on education and less and less
importance on forming an eternal family. Many don’t see forming families as a
faith-based work. For them, it’s a selection process much like shopping. Many
also distrust their own moral strength and the moral strength of their peers. Because temptations are so fierce, many are not sure they can be successful in
keeping covenants.
Unfortunately
we are not only seeing these trends in the world, but we are also seeing them
in the LDS culture.
So what
does that mean to you?
This is
what this should mean—
We
cannot follow the trends of the world and how they view the family. You need to learn about and support the
doctrine of the family—read & study the proclamation. Read chapter 1 in handbook 2 found on
the church web site.
You
need to do all you can to find a mate—how do you do that? By dating, by getting yourself out
there to meet people of the opposite sex and talking to them, by being involved
in ward and stake activities, by attending church meetings, by working and
going to school.
You
need to keep your baptismal covenants and for those of you that have been to
the temple, you need to keep the covenants made in the temple—which means you
have complete sexual abstinence before marriage and are prepared to have
totally fidelity once you are married.
[Keeping those covenants all your life will greatly diminish your
chances of getting a divorce.]
You
must always strive for family unity by repenting and forgiving each other—both
in your families now and in your future families. In the handbook it states: “Just
as sin, mortal weaknesses, emotional hurt, and anger are conditions that
separate God’s children from Him, these same conditions can separate family
members from each other.” If we are a church that believes in the
atonement then we must be willing to forgive our own family members—our
children and our spouses.
You
need to be a good home teacher and visiting teacher and participate in family
home evening. What better way to
prepare yourself to teach your own children, to be prepared to strengthen them
and prepare them for a righteous life and home.
You
need to read from the Book of Mormon daily, say your prayers twice a day, follow the council in the for strength of youth pamphlet,
have a current temple recommend and use it
and act and not be acted upon. If those don’t sound familiar then I
hope it’s because your new in our stake—these are the things our stake
presidency asks us to do.
Anyone
who knows me well knows that my family is the most important thing in my
life. Kim and I have done our best
to raise our four daughters to be obedient faithful daughters of God. We set rules and boundaries we expected
them to live by as they were growing up. We treated them with respect and
expected the same in return. We
have tried to develop relationships through many activities together. We still do things together. We celebrate holidays and birthdays as
a family. Even though all but one
are married, we still have family dinner together every Sunday. It is the highlight of my week. We try to have a family vacation every
3 to 4 years. This is our
year! We are all excited and can’t
wait for our Disney-World trip in November. It is things like this that help keep our family
strong. The proclamation
says, “Successful
marriages and families are established and maintained on principles of faith,
prayer, repentance, forgiveness, respect, love, compassion,
work, and wholesome recreational activities.”
We have
got to be strong in defending families.
We have
got to set the example—we have to have children & teach them and love them.
I have a
testimony of the importance of the family.
We have
to do all we can to have strong families.
We have
to always be on the look-out for those “planes” that are sneaking up and trying to
destroy our family.
Please
stand up and defend the families throughout your life—and show the world
your testimony of families by the way you have and treat and raise your own
family.
The
Church is true.
The
doctrine of the family is the plan of happiness and salvation.
It is
through families that we can return to live with our Heavenly Father and with
those we love.
We are a
blessed people.
Our
Heavenly Father loves us so much.
