Why Marriage, Why Family

By Elder D. Todd Christofferson, April 2015 General Conference

"This is, to use the words of Dietrich Bonhoeffer, the “office” of marriage, the “post of responsibility towards … mankind,” that this divine institution “from above, from God” occupies. It is the “link in the chain of the generations” both here and hereafter—the order of heaven."

4/20/15, Monday,2:39pm @ Hello

Brandon, Welcome to a new week. @ I haven't been able to get up and get going today. I kept falling asleep in my recliner listening to the Saturday pm session of conference. I have probably listened 10 times. It is the 2^nd session I have absorbed. The first one was the General Priesthood session. You are wonderful and are loved by the way! @ The talk that seems the most potentially offensive to me and you is Christofferson's. Did you feel like it didn't apply to you or that oh, not this again? I did. But I journaled about my marriage/ single feelings last week and I feel much more at peace. I even asked myself, “Is this something I need to make an appointment with my psychotherapist, Mark Clayton about? @“The first principles of man are self-existent with God. God himself, finding he was in the midst of spirits [or intelligences] and glory, because he was more intelligent, saw proper to institute laws whereby the rest could have a privilege to advance like himself. … He has power to institute laws to instruct the weaker intelligences, that they may be exalted with himself” (Teachings of Presidents of the Church: Joseph Smith [2007], 210). THIS IS MIND BOGGLING. WHO COULD IMAGINE SUCH A THING? BUT TO JS IT WAS COMMON PLACE, JUST MADE SENSE, HE JUST KNEW IT, IT HAD BEEN REVEALED TO HIM. WOAH, WAS HE EVER GIFTED!! MORE THAN ANY PROPHET SINCE AND PERHAPS MORE THAN ANY PROPHET PREVIOUS. HAVE YOU NOTICED WE DON'T ADD TO THE DOCTRINE AND COVENANTS NOR PEARL OF GREAT PRICE VERY OFTEN. WHAT HAPPENED? ANS: JOSEPH DIED. : ( @9. The Prophet Joseph Smith offered this summary statement: “The design of God before the foundation of the world was that we should take tabernacles [bodies], that through faithfulness we should overcome and thereby obtain a resurrection from the dead, in this wise obtaining glory, honor, power, and dominion.” WOW. FOR REAL? DO YOU BELIEVE THIS?The Prophet also stated: “We came to this earth that we might have a body and present it pure before God in the celestial kingdom. The great principle of happiness consists in having a body. The devil has no body, and herein is his punishment. He is pleased when he can obtain the tabernacle of man, and when cast out by the Savior he asked to go into the herd of swine, showing that he would prefer a swine’s body to having none. All beings who have bodies have power over those who have not” (Teachings: Joseph Smith, 211). WHO DID THAT COME FROM BRANDON? JOSEPH SMITH HIMSELF. SO WHAT KIND OF QUESTIONS COULD WE ASK AND ANSWER USING THAT PARAGRAPH? 1) CAN THE DEVIL BE HAPPY? WHY OR WHY NOT? 2) WHAT DOES OUR BODY DO OR HAVE THAT IS TIED TO HAPPINESS? A. WE HAVE OUR 5 SENSES, B. WE CAN LOVE EACH OTHER AND MAKE BINDING LOYALTY COMMITMENTS, C. WE HAVE ANCESTORS AND CAN HAVE DESCENDANTS THAT WE CAN LOVE AND BELONG TO, D. WE MIGHT BE ABLE TO RAISE OTHERS UP LIKE UNTO OURSELVES, LIKE HF IS, AT SOME POINT IN THE FUTURE, E, WE GET TO SEE WHAT WE ARE REALLY MADE OF AFTER HAVING OUR MEMORY ERASED AND BEEN BORN INTO A WORLD SPIRITUALLY DEAD, F. WE GET TO EXPERIMENT AND START FROM SCRATCH AND SEE WHAT INFLUENCE WE CAN HAVE AND WHAT WE CAN LEARN TO DO AND BE. 3) HOW AM I GOING TO PRESENT MY BODY PURE BEFORE GOD IN THE CELESTIAL KINGDOM? YOU MEAN I AM GOING TO HAVE TO OVERCOME MY ADDICTIONS? AND SELFISHNESS? 4) WHY IS CAIN A KING OVER SATAN? 5) HOW MANY OTHERS WILL BE IN SATAN'S KINGDOM OF MISERY FOR EVER? : ( @13. See 2 Nephi 2:15–18; Alma 12:24; Doctrine and Covenants 29:39; Moses 4:3. Joseph Smith said: “All persons are entitled to their agency, for God has so ordained it. He has constituted mankind moral agents, and given them power to choose good or evil; SOME PEOPLE DO NOT HAVE MUCH AGENCY. LIKE YOU, BRANDON, BUT HOW WELL ARE YOU USING THE AGENCY YOU DO HAVE? WHAT ARE YOU SEEKING AFTER? HOW DO YOU PACIFY YOURSELF? HOW ARE YOU SERVING OTHERS? YOU COULD ALWAYS WRITE US AND DRAW FOR US AND MEMORIZE FOR YOURSELF. to seek after that which is good, by pursuing the pathway of holiness in this life, which brings peace of mind, and joy in the Holy Ghost here, and a fulness of joy and happiness at His right hand hereafter; or to pursue an evil course, going on in sin and rebellion against God, thereby bringing condemnation to their souls in this world, and an eternal loss in the world to come.” The Prophet also noted: “Satan cannot seduce us by his enticements unless we in our hearts consent and yield. Our organization is such that we can resist the devil; if we were not organized so, we would not be free agents” WE WILL RECEIVE AS WE “WILL” AS WE WISH. THOSE THINGS WE HAVE SOUGHT! (Teachings: Joseph Smith, 213). Even those who do not repent are redeemed from spiritual death by the Atonement in the sense that they come again into the presence of God for the Final Judgment RELIEF, THAT MAKES MORE SENSE TO ME. (see Helaman 14:17; 3 Nephi 27:14–15). @19. People may be loyal to one another in nonmarital relationships, and children can be born and raised, sometimes quite successfully, in other than a married two-parent family environment. NOTICE BRANDON HOW HE PUTS THE OPPOSITION TO REST! HE STATES IT. AND THEN . . .But on average and in the majority of cases, evidence of the social benefits of marriage and of the comparatively superior outcomes for children in families headed by a married man and woman is extensive. On the other hand, the social and economic costs of what one commentator calls “the global flight from the family,” weigh increasingly on society. Nicholas Eberstadt catalogs the worldwide declines in marriage and childbearing and the trends regarding fatherless homes and divorce and observes: “The deleterious impact on the hardly inconsequential numbers of children disadvantaged by the flight from the family is already plain enough. So too the damaging role of divorce and out-of-wedlock childbearing in exacerbating income disparities and wealth gaps—for society as a whole, but especially for children. Yes, children are resilient and all that. But the flight from family most assuredly comes at the expense of the vulnerable young. That same flight also has unforgiving implications for the vulnerable old.” @ THE PREVIOUS QUOTES CAME FROM HIS FOOTNOTES. DID YOU NOTICE WHO HE MOSTLY DEPENDED ON? THIS NEXT PART IS FROM HIS TALK. @This is, to use the words of Dietrich Bonhoeffer, the “office” of marriage, the “post of responsibility towards … mankind,” that this divine institution “from above, from God” occupies. It is the “link in the chain of the generations” both here and hereafter—the order of heaven. THE OFFICE OF MARRIAGE, THE CALLING OF MARRIAGE, WHAT AN INTERESTING NEW IDEA. @A family built on the marriage of a man and woman supplies the best setting for God’s plan to thrive—the setting for the birth of children, who come in purity and innocence from God, and the environment for the learning and preparation they will need for a successful mortal life and eternal life in the world to come. I LOVE THINKING THAT THIS WORLD WILL PASS AWAY BUT OUR FAMILIES WILL NOT. THEY ARE ETERNAL, UNLESS OF COURSE MEMBERS CHOOSE THE LONELY PATH. PURITY AND INNOCENCE FROM GOOD IS THE PURE TRUTH! I HAVE GRANDKIDS, MY MEMORY WITHOUT THE RESPONSIBILITY IS RENEWED! A critical mass of families built on such marriages is vital for societies to survive and flourish. REMINDS ME OF LOT SEARCHING FOR 10 RIGHTEOUS. NO LUCK! That is why communities and nations generally have encouraged and protected marriage and the family as privileged institutions. It has never been just about the love and happiness of adults. @The social science case for marriage and for families headed by a married man and woman is compelling.19 And so “we warn that the disintegration of the family will bring upon individuals, communities, and nations the calamities foretold by ancient and modern prophets.”20 NOW WE KNOW WHAT WILL BRING THE CALAMITIES! But our claims for the role of marriage and family rest not on social science but on the truth that they are God’s creation. It is He who in the beginning created Adam and Eve in His image, male and female, and joined them as husband and wife to become “one flesh” and to multiply and replenish the earth.21 DON'T YOU HAVE DOUBTS ABOUT THIS? HOW CAN ONE GO TO SCHOOL WHERE THAT IS NEVER TAUGHT, BUT MAN'S PHILOSOPHIES ARE TAUGHT INSTEAD AND EXPECT SOCIETY TO BELIEVE GOD? IT MAKES US WONDER DOESN'T IT! THAT IS WHY WE NEED TO TEACH AND SPIRITUALLY FEED OURSELVES. THE PLAN OF GOD WILL NOT BE COMING FROM THE WORLD. FROM THE WORLD WE GET THE TEACHINGS OF MAN AND THE DEVIL. HOW COULD THERE REALLY HAVE BEEN A FLOOD? HOW COULD MOSES LEAD THE ISRAELITES ACROSS THE RED SEA ON DRY GROUND AND THEN HAVE THE EGYPTIANS DROWNED. ARE THERE REALLY SUCH THINGS AS MIRACLES? HOW CAN I STRENGTHEN MY FAITH?Each individual carries the divine image, but it is in the matrimonial union of male and female as one that we attain perhaps the most complete meaning of our having been made in the image of God—male and female. TOGETHER THEY MAKE ONE WHOLE. AND UNITY IS REQUIRED AND GOD'S PLAN PROVIDES THE PERFECT END TO ANY COMPROMISES WE FORM. Neither we nor any other mortal can alter this divine order of matrimony. It is not a human invention. YES! Such marriage is indeed “from above, from God” and is as much a part of the plan of happiness as the Fall and the Atonement. OK, BRANDON, ARE YOU FEELING DISCOURAGED YET? DON'T WORRY, ALLOWANCES WILL BE COMING UP. @In the premortal world, Lucifer rebelled against God and His plan, and his opposition only grows in intensity. THE WORD PLAN NEVER APPEARS IN THE OLD OR NEW TESTAMENT! DO YOU THINK SOME PLAIN AND PRECIOUS THINGS MAY HAVE BEEN REMOVED? He fights to discourage marriage and the formation of families, and where marriages and families are formed, he does what he can to disrupt them. MY OLDEST DAUGHTER SAYS OUR HOME WAS SURELY NOT A HEAVEN ON EARTH! He attacks everything that is sacred about human sexuality, tearing it from the context of marriage with a seemingly infinite array of immoral thoughts and acts. WHAT? NO WAY. THIS IS SOMETHING SACRED AND PERSONAL. HE WOULDN'T USE THIS PRECIOUS DRIVE WOULD HE? He seeks to convince men and women that marriage and family priorities can be ignored or abandoned, or at least made subservient to careers, other achievements, and the quest for self-fulfillment and individual autonomy. I HEARD DANAH BOYD ON NPR LAST WEEK AND GOT UP AND STUDIED HER FOR A COUPLE OF HOURS IN THE EARLY MORNING. I WAS CAPTURED BY HER VOICE AND VOCABULARY AND SPEED OF TALKING AND THINKING. BUT I WAS SO SADDENED TO SEE SHE HAD HER SECOND SON IN JAN'15 WITHOUT A HUSBAND. Certainly the adversary is pleased when parents neglect to teach and train their children to have faith in Christ and be spiritually born again. HOW CAN THEY WHEN THEY HAVE A FAULTY INTRUMENT? HOW DID PEOPLE EVER BELIEVE THE BIBLE? HOW DID THEY SACRIFICE FOR IT? YES IT TEACHES GOOD THINGS TO DO AND BE BUT IT NEVER TELLS WHY! THERE IS NO PLAN! HEAVEN AND HELL, THAT'S A LITTLE EMPTY ISN'T IT? GLORY BE WE HAVE THE OTHER SCRIPTURES! BTW, DID YOU NOTICE THAT IT ONLY TOOK 84 YEARS AFTER CHRIST'S VISIT TO AMERICA BEFORE REBELLIOUS GROUPS BRANCHED OFF. AND DID YOU NOTICE THAT THEY STARTED UP A WHOLE BUNCH OF DIFFERENT CHURCHES? WHY? THEY ALREADY HAD THE TRUE CHURCH? Brothers and sisters, many things are good, many are important, but only a few are essential. @To declare the fundamental truths relative to marriage and family is not to overlook or diminish the sacrifices and successes of those for whom the ideal is not a present reality. THIS IS YOU AND ME. Some of you are denied the blessing of marriage for reasons including a lack of viable prospects, same-sex attraction, physical or mental impairments, or simply a fear of failure that, for the moment at least, overshadows faith. Or you may have married, but that marriage ended, and you are left to manage alone what two together can barely sustain. Some of you who are married cannot bear children despite overwhelming desires and pleading prayers. @Even so, everyone has gifts; everyone has talents; everyone can contribute to the unfolding of the divine plan in each generation. Much that is good, much that is essential—even sometimes all that is necessary for now—can be achieved in less than ideal circumstances. So many of you are doing your very best. And when you who bear the heaviest burdens of mortality stand up in defense of God’s plan to exalt His children, we are all ready to march. INTERESTING With confidence we testify that the Atonement of Jesus Christ has anticipated and, in the end, will compensate all deprivation and loss for those who turn to Him. No one is predestined to receive less than all that the Father has for His children. BRANDON, SOME OF THE DEATH RECORDS I INDEX IN ITALIAN HAVE UP TO HALF DIE AS CHILDREN. THERE IS GOING TO BE ONE HECK OF A MARRIAGE RECEPTION/PARTY ON THE OTHER SIDE WHEN THEY ALL GET CONNECTED/MARRIED! WE FEEL SO ALONE UNMARRIED/SINGLE ON THIS EARTH BUT HF HAS A PLAN. AND IT MAY BE LONG AND PAINFUL IN THIS LIFE BUT WE ARE LIVING IN THE LAST DAYS, AND WE ARE SPECIAL TO BE CHOSEN FOR THIS GENERATION, AT LEAST THAT IS WHAT THE PROPHETS SAY. SO WHO WOULDN'T WANT TO MARRY US ON THE OTHER SIDE? @One young mother recently confided to me her anxiety about being inadequate in this highest of callings. I felt that the issues that concerned her were small and she needn’t worry; she was doing fine. But I knew she only wanted to please God and to honor His trust. I offered words of reassurance, and in my heart I pleaded that God, her Heavenly Father, would buoy her up with His love and the witness of His approval as she is about His work. IN MY HEART I PLEADED THAT GOD. . . SEE HOW HONEST HE IS! HE DID NOT SAY THAT AFTER SHE LEFT HE KNELT DOWN TO PRAY FOR HER. HE DID IT RIGHT THEN WHILE HE VISITED WITH HER! WE CAN DO THAT. WE DON'T HAVE TO WAIT. WE CAN PLEAD IN OUR HEART RIGHT WHILE IT IS HAPPENING! @That is my prayer for all of us today. May we each find approval in His sight. May marriages flourish and families prosper, and whether our lot is a fulness of these blessings in mortality or not, may the Lord’s grace bring happiness now and faith in sure promises to come. YOU AND I NEED TO HAVE FAITH IN THE SURE PROMISES TO COME! @ ~ ~ ~ 4:15PM GBY-BLTPJS, vj @brandon l tom perry joseph smith

AdventureBill

Wednesday, April 29, 2015

3 blind mice

Monday, April 20, 2015

d todd christofferson april'15 bps 27

Why Marriage, Why Family