Family Proclamation to the Family - Part 2

Back in May I posted about a new class that I was taking through BYU-I.  I am now finishing up my class and am a better person for it.  I have enjoyed my time being able to learn from modern-day prophets, apostles, and other church leaders.  My testimony of the family has been strengthened as I have read almost 50 articles that better help me understand the role of the family in God's eternal plan for us.

Here are several of my favorite quotes related to The Family:

A Proclamation to the World.

"Parents have the vital responsibility to help their children prepare to return to Heavenly Father. Parents fulfill this responsibility by teaching their children to follow Jesus Christ and live His gospel." LDS Church Handbook

"And the fullness of the gospel is found in the temples—in temple ordinances and covenants and their eternal role. That is the full gospel." Sister Julie B. Beck

"No instrumentality or organization can take the place of the home or perform its essential functions." Elder David A. Bednar

"The man and the woman contribute differently but equally to a oneness and a unity that can be achieved in no other way. The man completes and perfects the woman and the woman completes and perfects the man as they learn from and mutually strengthen and bless each other." 

Elder David A. Bednar

"Woman was made of a rib out of the side of Adam: not of his feet to be trampled upon by him, but of his side to be equal with him, under his arm to be protected, and near his heart to be loved." Matthew Henry

"Same-sex marriage cannot be regarded simply as the granting of a new "right." It is a far-reaching redefinition of the very nature of marriage itself. It marks a fundamental change in the institution of marriage in ways that are contrary to God's purposes for His children and detrimental to the long-term interests of society." Newsroom.lds.org

"As Church members strive to protect marriage between a man and a woman, they should show respect, civility, and kindness toward others who have different points of view." Newsroom.lds.org

"Although it may not be a welcome insight, you will grow more rapidly through challenge and trail than from a life of ease and serenity with no disturbing elements." Elder Richard G. Scott

"A woman's moral influence is nowhere more powerfully felt or more beneficially employed than in the home." Elder D. Todd Christofferson

Former Young Women general president Margaret D. Nadauld taught: “The world has enough women who are tough; we need women who are tender. There are enough women who are coarse; we need women who are kind. There are enough women who are rude; we need women who are refined. We have enough women of fame and fortune; we need more women of faith. We have enough greed; we need more goodness. We have enough vanity; we need more virtue. We have enough popularity; we need more purity.”

"The most important of the Lord's work you will ever do will be within the walls of your own home." Harold B. Lee

"True manhood is not always measured by the fruits of one's labors but by the labors themselves – by one's striving." Elder D. Todd Christofferson

"The woman, by her very nature, is also co-creator with God and the primary nurturer of the children. Virtues and attributes upon which perfection and exaltation depend come naturally to a woman and are refined through marriage and motherhood..." President Boyd K. Packer

"Obedience give us greater control over our lives, greater capacity to come and go, to work and create." Elder D. Todd Christofferson

"When we as Latter-day Saints talk about marriage, we are talking about a holy, celestial order. We are talking about a system out of which can grow the greatest love, joy, peace, happiness, and serenity known to humankind. We are talking about creating a family unit that has the potential of being everlasting and eternal, a family unit where a man and a wife can go on in that relationship to all eternity, and where mother and daughter and father and son are bound by eternal ties that will never be severed. We are talking about creating a unit more important than the Church, more important than any organization that exists on earth or in heaven, a unit out of which exaltation and eternal life grow; and when we talk about eternal life, we are talking about the kind of life that God our Heavenly Father lives." Elder Bruce R. McConkie

"Many people today marry as hirelings. And when the wolf comes, they flee. This idea is wrong. It courses the earth, turning parents' hearts away from their children and from each other." 

Elder Bruce C. Hafen

"He [Satan] exaggerates the need for having space, getting out, and being left alone. Some people believe him-and then they wonder why they feel alone." Elder Bruce C. Hafen

"There is a difference between church-attending, tithe-paying members who occasionally rush into the temple to go through a session and those members who faithfully and consistently worship in the temple." David A. Bednar

"I strongly urge you and those who advise you to face up to the reality that for most marriage problems, the remedy is not divorce but repentance. Often the cause is not incompatibility but selfishness. The first step is not separation but reformation." Elder Dallin H. Oaks

"A good marriage does not require a perfect man or a perfect woman. It only requires a man and a woman committed to strive together toward perfection." Elder Dallin H. Oaks

"If you have received temple ordinances but do not now visit the temple, even when there is one nearby, with all the tenderness of my heart I invite you to come back to the temple. There are many reasons. It is a place of peace, solitude, and inspiration. Regular attendance will enrich your life with greater purpose. It will permit you to provide deceased ancestors the exalting ordinances you have received. Go to the temple. You know it is the right thing to do. Do it now." Elder Richard G. Scott

"Clearly God's greatest concern regarding mortality are how one gets into this world and how one gets out of it." Elder Jeffrey R. Holland

"Human intimacy is a kind of sacrament, a very special symbol. For our purpose, a sacrament could be any one of a number of gestures or acts or ordinance that unit us with God and His limitless powers." Elder Jeffery R. Holland

"Guilt is to our spirit what pain is to our body." Elder David A. Bednar

"You can't please God without upsetting Satan.....individuals who do wrong want you to join them because they feel more comfortable in what they are doing when others do it also." 

Elder Richard G. Scott

"All beings who have bodies have power over those who have not. The devil has no power over us only as we permit him; the moment we revolt at anything which comes from God, the devil takes Power.” Joseph Smith

"Homemaking is to make the environment necessary to nurture our children toward eternal life, which is our responsibility as parents. And that homemaking is as much for fathers as it is for mothers." Elder Dallin H. Oaks

President David O. McKay declared: “Motherhood is the greatest potential influence either for good or ill in human life. The mother’s image is the first that stamps itself on the unwritten page of the young child’s mind. It is her caress that first awakens a sense of security; her kiss, the first realization of affection; her sympathy and tenderness, the first assurance that there is love in the w o r l d . . . . Motherhood consists of three principal attributes or qualities: namely,

 (1) the power to bear, (2) the ability to rear, (3) the gift to love."

"In our theology and in our practice, the family and the Church have a mutually reinforcing relationship. The family is dependent upon the Church for doctrine, ordinances, and priesthood keys. The Church provides the teachings, authority, and ordinances necessary to perpetuate family relationships to the eternities." Elder Dallin H. Oaks

"They [Mothers] know that if they are not pointing their children to the temple, they are not pointing them toward desired eternal goals. These mothers have influence and power." Sister Julie B. Beck

"The love of God does not supersede His laws and His commandments, and the effect of God's love and commandments does not diminish the purpose and effect of His love. The same should be true of parental love and rules." Elder Dallin H. Oaks

"God does not intervene to forestall the consequences of some persons’ choices in order to protect the well-being of other persons—even when they kill, injure, or oppress one another—for this would destroy His plan for our eternal progress." Elder Dallin H. Oaks

"Sin, even if legalized by man, is still sin in the sight of God." Elder Nelson

"When we respond to our accusers as the Savior did, we not only become more Christlike, we invite others to feel His love and follow Him as well." Elder Robert D. Hales

"We need to teach our daughters to aim for the ideal but plan for contingencies." 

Sister Bonnie L. Oscarson

"We are all under the Savior's command to love and care for each other and especially for the weak and defenseless." Elder Dallin H. Oaks

Elder Robert D. Hales teaches 4 cornerstones of religious freedoms.

1. Freedom to Believe

2. Freedom to share our faith and our beliefs with others.

3. Freedom to form a religious organization, a church, to worship peacefully with others.

4. Freedom to live our faith.

He also talks about 3 ways to safeguard these sacred freedoms.

1. Become informed

2. Join with others who share our commitment.

3. Be a good example of what you believe – in word and deed.

"The gospel of Jesus Christ is a plan that show us how to become what our Heavenly Father desires us to become." Elder Dallin H. Oaks

"When we face such situations in complex social issues in a democratic society, it can be very challenging and, to some, confusing. Young people may ask about this position taken or that policy made by the Church, saying: “Well, we don’t believe we should live or behave in such and such a way, but why do we have to make other people do the same? Don’t they have their free agency? Aren’t we being self-righteous and judgmental, forcing our beliefs on others, demanding that they act in a certain way?” In those situations you are going to have to explain sensitively why some principles are defended and some sins opposed wherever they are found because the issues and the laws involved are not just social or political but eternal in their consequence."

 Elder Jeffery R. Holland

This final quote has been something that has weighed heavy on my mind and heart.  I have prayerfully asked for the answer to the very question posed in this quote.  It was the last article that I read for this class, when the answer came.  I know that my Heavenly Father hears my prayers and more importantly answers them!