https://www.lds.org/topics/family-proclamation
The first paragraph reads, "We, the first presidency and the Council of the Twelve Apostles of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, solemnly proclaim that marriage between a man and a woman is ordained of God and that the family is central to the Creator’s plan for the eternal destiny of His children."
Helpful Readings:
Elder Henry B. Eyring, "The Family"
Elder Robert D. Hales, "The Eternal Family"
Elder Tad Callister, "Our Identity and Destiny"
My Thoughts:
"The Family" - Henry B. Eyring
I love when Eyring says that when we are tempted to make eternal life our hope instead of our determination, we need to think about the end goal. It should be our motivation. It's just hard to remember all the time. We are all so quick to forget. I know I am and it makes me really mad at myself sometimes. Families only exist in the highest degree of the celestial kingdom. I didn't know that for sure until reading this now. I know that is where I want to be. I didn't know that to employ the powers of procreation only as husband and wife, is not limiting but, rather, expanding and exalting. But that makes sense now that I think about it because when you marry inside the covenant and have children in it as well, you are creating your own forever with your own family and that never ends or goes away.
"The Eternal Family" - Robert D. Hales
I absolutely love that Elder Hales states in his talk "By divine commandment, spouses are required to love each other above all others" and follows it up with saying "The Lord clearly declares, 'Thou shalt love thy wife with all thy heart, and shalt cleave unto her and none else.'" This is what keeps people married. It also makes sense that Satan would want to do all he can to destroy the family because it is the central unit to the plan of happiness. I'm discovering new ways that he schemes against the family every day, though. It just starting making sense, though, why the punishment is so severe for violating the law of chastity and for adultery. God is very protective of the family and those things destroy the family. I didn't know that we are supposed to "save the rest of our families." That just leads to questions like what if they didn't want your help being saved? I feel like that's the case for some people in my family that have fallen away from the church.
"Our Identity and Destiny" - Tad Callister
I didn't know that infants weren't perfect. I thought there were. I also didn't know that inspired things could come from poets as well. I thought that prophets were the only people that could have/share thoughts like that. I love that Callister talked about science and how it supports our beliefs as well. I am a firm believer in that because God abides by His own laws. Therefore, there is more science to learn since it doesn't make complete sense yet when proven by the limited scientific knowledge we have now.
