THE DIVINE N NATURE OF F FAMILY Its ts P Purpose, P Power - - PowerPoint PPT Presentation

THE DIVINE N NATURE OF F FAMILY

Its ts P Purpose, P Power & P Preservation

President Thomas S. Monson

“The calling of lecturer does not exist in the church. A lecturer imparts knowledge, but a teacher enables students to teach one another.”

Elder Richard G. Scott

“Assure that there is abundant participation because that use of agency by a student authorizes the Holy Ghost to instruct. It also helps the student retain your message. As students verbalize truths, they are confirmed in their souls and strengthen their personal testimonies.”

(“To Understand and Live Truth,” Address to CES Religious Educators, February 4, 2005)

President Boyd K. Packer

“It is one thing to receive a witness from what you have read or what another has said; and that is a necessary beginning. It is quite another to have the Spirit confirm to you in your bosom that what you have testified is true.”

(The Candle of the Lord, Ensign, January 1983)

The family is

• rdained of God.

It is the most important unit in time and in eternity.

(Handbook 2, section 1.1.1)

Elder David A. Bednar

We have been counseled strongly by the First Presidency to devote our best efforts to the strengthening of marriage and the home. Such instruction has never been more needed in the world than it is today, as the sanctity of marriage is attacked and the importance

• f

the home is undermined.

California ‘No Fault’ Statute ‘No Fault’ Statutes in all 50 states

“We know the statistics – that children who grow up without a father are five times more likely to live in poverty and commit crime; nine times more likely to drop out of schools, and twenty times more likely to end up in prison. They are more likely to have behavioral problems, or run away from home or become teenage parents

• themselves. And the foundations of our

community are weaker because of it.” President Barack Obama

Apostolic Church of God (June15, 2008)

The Family is Central to the Creator’s Plan for the Eternal Destiny

• f His Children

Heavenly Home

God is our Heavenly Father, and we lived in His presence as part of His family in the premortal life. There we learned our first lessons and were prepared for mortality (see D&C 138:56)

The Role of Families in God’s Plan

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.

(Handbook 2, section 1.1.4)

Family as Highest Priority

“However worthy and appropriate

• ther

demands or activities may be, they must not be permitted to displace the divinely-appointed duties that only parents and families can adequately perform.”

(First Presidency letter, Feb. 11, 1999)

Divine Design for Family

• Marriage between man and woman is essential to His

eternal plan.

• By divine design, fathers are to preside over their

families in love and righteousness and are responsible to provide the necessities of life and protection for their families.

• Mothers are primarily responsible for the nurture of

their children.

• In these sacred responsibilities, fathers and mothers

are obligated to help one another as equal partners.

• Children are entitled to birth within the bonds of

matrimony, and to be reared by a father and a mother who honor marital vows with complete fidelity.

• Happiness in family life is most likely to be achieved

when founded upon the teachings of the Lord Jesus Christ.

Marriage between a man and a woman is essential to God’s eternal plan

The nature of male and female spirits is such that they complete each other. Men and women are intended to progress together toward exaltation. . . . Exaltation in the highest degree of the celestial kingdom can be attained only by those who have faithfully lived the gospel of Jesus Christ and are sealed as eternal companions [husband and wife].

(Handbook 2, 1.3.1)

Handbook 2, 1.3.1

Elder Bruce C. Hafen

Even secular marriage was historically a three- party covenant among a man, a woman, and the

• state. Society has a huge interest in the outcome

and the offspring of every marriage. So the public nature of marriage distinguishes it from all other relationships. Guests come to weddings because, as Wendell Berry said, sweethearts “say their vows to the community as much as to

• ne another,” giving themselves not only to each
• ther, but also to the common good [of the

community]. . . .

Elder Bruce C. Hafen

[All newly married couples will face trials and opposition that will test their marriage.] Only then will they discover whether their marriage was based on a contract or a covenant. When troubles come, the parties to a contractual marriage seek happiness by walking away. They marry to

• btain benefits and will stay only as long as they’re

receiving what they bargained for. But when troubles come to a covenant marriage, the husband and wife work them through. They marry to give and to grow, bound by covenants to each other, to the community, and to God. Contract companions each give 50 percent; covenant companions each give 100 percent.

Why does Traditional Marriage Exist?

• To bring a man and a woman together as

husband and wife to be father and mother to any child their union produces.

• To encourage and hold men responsible for

the creation of a human life and the necessity

• f providing for and protecting mother and

child.

• It has been long established that a home with

a father and mother, raising the off-spring of their union, is the most stable of all familial relationships.

Why is Society involved in Marriage

• Societies through history and around the world

have recognized and protected marriage because it benefits society in a way that no other relationship does (encourages child birth and facilitates the most stable child-rearing environment).

• Marriage is society’s least restrictive means of

ensuring the well-being of children. Marital breakdown weakens civil society and the notion

• f limited government. The breakdown of family

is extremely costly to society.

Defending Traditional Marriage

• How many of you have been asked one of the

following questions?

– Why is the Church so opposed to same-sex marriage? – Why are Mormons so judgmental and prejudice toward same-sex couples? – Shouldn’t a same-sex couple have the same rights that heterosexual couples enjoy? – It doesn’t affect me, so what does it matter?

• What are the repercussions of same-sex

marriage?

David Popanoe

Rutgers University

The burden of social science evidence supports the idea that gender differentiating parenting is important for human development and the contribution of fathers to child rearing is unique and irreplaceable. We should disavow the notion that mommies can make good daddies, just as we should disavow the popular notion that daddies can make good

• mommies. The two sexes are different to the core

and each is necessary culturally and biologically for the optimal development of a human being.

Divine Design for Family

• Married (husband & wife):
• Monogamy
• Exclusivity
• Permanency
• Father as provider & protector
• Mother as primary nurturer
• Child raised by biological Father & Mother
• Gender-differentiated parenting
• Gospel – centered home

(Cleave unto spouse; become one flesh) (Law of Chastity) (Sealed for time and all eternity)

Same Gender Marriages

• Married (husband & wife):
• Monogamy
• Exclusivity
• Permanency
• Father as provider & protector
• Mother as primary nurturer
• Child raised by biological Father & Mother
• Gender-differentiated parenting
• Gospel – centered home

(Cleave unto spouse; become one flesh) (Law of Chastity) (Sealed for time and all eternity)

Children are entitled to birth within the bonds of matrimony, and to be reared by a father and a mother who honor their marital vows with complete fidelity.

What Matters to Children?

• Biological relationships matter to children
• Gender-differentiated parenting matters to

children (both father & mother).

• Stability matters:

– Credible research studies suggest the same adverse trends in single-parent, step-parent & cohabitating homes are manifest in same-sex marriages, if not more pronounced. – Over time the many assertions of normality of same-sex families will be proven inaccurate.

God’s commandment for His children to multiply and replenish the earth remains in force.

Elder Dallin H. Oaks

Knowledge of God’s plan for His children gives Latter-day Saints a unique perspective on marriage and family. . . . We know that the marriage of a man and a woman is necessary for the accomplishment

• f God’s plan. Only this marriage will provide the

approved setting for mortal birth and to prepare family members for eternal life. We look on marriage and the bearing and nurturing of children as part of God’s plan and a sacred duty of those given the opportunity to do so. We believe that the ultimate treasures on earth and in heaven are our children and our posterity.

Disability, death and

• ther circumstances may

necessitate individual adaptation.

Sacred Nature of the Home

The home is the basis of a righteous life, and no other instrumentality can take its place or fulfill its essential functions in carrying forward this God-given responsibility. (Handbook 2, section 1.4.1)

Prophet Joseph Smith

“There can be no genuine happiness separate and apart from the home, and every effort made to sanctify and preserve its influence is uplifting to those who toil and sacrifice for its establishment… There is no happiness without service, and there is no greater service than that which converts the home into a divine institution, and which promotes and preserves family life.”

THE DIVINE N NATURE OF F FAMILY

Its ts P Purpose, P Power & P Preservation