Hello Brothers and
Sisters. I am so thankful for the opportunity to speak today. For those of you
who don’t know who I am, my name is Rachel Douglas, and I am leaving on Wednesday
to teach the people of Costa Rica about the gospel.
Twenty years ago this
month the First Presidency released the Family: A Proclamation to the World.
This proclamation not only defends the family, it defends the very plan of
salvation that God created for us, his children. It outlines our purpose here
on this earth, his heavenly plan for us, and the heavenly unit of families.
Families are the very center on what this gospel is about. The
Family: A Proclamation to the World was designed to counter and warn against
the attacks on the family. President Gordon B Hinckley stated, “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.” For this talk I have come up with 7 basic doctrines
from the Family: A Proclamation to the World.
The first basic doctrine we can learn is that
marriage between a man and a woman is
ordained of God. Marriage is the beginning of a new family unit, and as
such it is very important. Gordon B
Hinckley stated, “When you are married, be fiercely loyal one to another.
Selfishness is the great destroyer of happy family life. If you will make your
first concern the comfort, the well-being, and the happiness of your companion,
sublimating any personal concern to that loftier goal, you will be happy, and
your marriage will go on throughout eternity.” President Monson once said, “Our
most cherished friend is our partner in marriage. This old world would be so
much better off today if kindness and deference were daily a reflection of our
gratitude for wife, for husband.” My great-grandmother recently passed away,
but I will always think of her when I think of an eternal marriage. She had
been living with my grandmother for part of the year and so I grew close to
her. As she approached the end of her life she would tell me about my
great-grandfather. Though he had passed away twenty years ago, before my
parents wedding, I grew to know and love him through her stories. She would
tell me about a dream she would have, where she was at her wedding dancing with
him, and he would sing their song in her ear. Her love for him was a testament
to me of a marriage that would go through the eternities. I knew that she loved
him as much on the day she died as on the day she married him. I saw that God
truly ordained marriage between man and woman because of how they complemented
each other and were truly happy.
The second doctrine is that the family is central to Heavenly Father’s
plan. God saw what joy we can have in families. Aren’t we all family? We
call each other brothers and sisters in the gospel, and we call our God,
Father. L Tom Perry said, “We also believe that strong traditional families are
not only the basic unit of a stable society, a stable economy, and a stable
culture of values—but that they are also the basic units of eternity and of the
kingdom and government of God.” The family is central to the Lord’s plan.
The third doctrine is that gender is an essential characteristic of
individual premortal, mortal, and eternal identity and purpose. Once when
my little sister Kirstin was in kindergarten, she had a school assignment to go
home and write what she wanted to be when she grew up and why. She cried and
cried when my parents told her that she could not be what she wanted. You see,
Kirstin wanted to be a daddy. (Don’t worry, she now knows why this is
impossible and is content to someday be a mommy instead.) Gender is an
important part of who we are. We each have a purpose based on how God created
us. In Genesis 1:26-27 it states, “And God said, Let us make man in our image,
after our likeness. So God created man in his own image, in the image of God
created he him; male and female created he them.” God created us as His sons
and daughters. He wants us to return to him and even goes as far as to say in
Moses 1:39, “For behold, this is my work and my glory—to bring to pass the
immortality and eternal life of man.” God’s entire plan for us is centered on
the fact that he wants us to learn, grow, and become exalted so that we can
return to him. As little children we sing “I am a Child of God, and He has sent
me here, Has given me an earthly home with parents kind and dear. Lead me,
guide me, walk beside me. Help me find the way. Teach me all that I must do to
live with thee someday.” God created a plan for us centered on learning within
family units to return to him. He wants us to come back to him. That is our
purpose.
The fourth basic doctrine is that the Plan of Happiness enables family
relationships to continue after death. L Tom Perry once said, “What the
restored gospel brings to the discussion of marriage and family is so large and
so relevant that it cannot be overstated: we make the subject eternal! We take
the commitment and the sanctity of marriage to a greater level because of our
belief and understanding that families go back to before this earth was and
that they can go forward into eternity.” We as latter day saints don’t just
focus on getting through life, we focus on making relationships and strong
family bonds that will last, not only until the kids are out of the house or
until ‘death do us part’, but for time and all eternity. Our perceptive on
family is unique because we understand that families can be together forever. I
have seen in my own life a testament of how this eternal perspective does
strengthen families. In my family we have had trials, as most families do. I
have learned from my family’s trials that we are eternal. We will never turn
away from each other. That marriage and family is truly the strongest bond in
the world. My parents have taught me that even though sometimes life is hard,
and sometimes it’s really hard, it is worth it to value our family above all
else. That is my testimony of eternal families. In primary we all sang,
“Families can be together forever, through Heavenly Father’s plan. I always
want to be with my own family, and the Lord has shown me how I can.” The Lord
has truly created a Plan of Happiness that centers around the family because
that is where we find joy. It is called the Plan of Happiness for a reason. He
wants us to be happy! And I have never been happier then when I spend time with
my family! Never!
The fifth basic doctrine is that God’s commandment for husbands and wives to
have children remains in force today. Little children are truly a blessing
from God and it is our responsibility to bring them into the world. My
grandchild-hungry mother would be fast to agree with Boyd K Packer when he
said, “The commandment to multiply and replenish the earth has never been rescinded!
It is essential to the plan of redemption and is the source of human
happiness.” He is right! As my mother
often reminds my sister and brother-in-law, children are a blessing and believe
me, she wants them right now!
The sixth doctrine is that God has commanded that the sacred powers of
procreation are to be employed only between a man and a woman who are legally
married. The creation of mortal life is a sacred and important part of Heavenly
Father’s plan. This is something that is being attacked a lot in our day.
One of the most important titles we have given to our Lord and Savior is the
Creator. And through Heavenly Father’s plan, we are allowed to share in his
creating power. President Boyd K Packer said, “The power of procreation is not
an incidental part of the plan, it is
the Plan of Happiness; It is the key to happiness.” In 2 Nephi 2:25 it states, “Adam fell that
man might be, and men are that they might have joy.” This profound statement
reflects the reason that we are here. Adam
fell that man might be. We know that after Eve ate the forbidden fruit she
would be cast out and separated from Adam. In this, life on earth would have
ended with Adam and Eve. And so Adam made a choice to fall, so that life could continue on this earth! So that man might
be! And God blessed us that we might have joy in this. It is the reason we are
here, and is the reason that procreation is so important. We find joy in
bringing new life into this world. You can look upon the face of every new
mother and father to see the evidence of the joy that creating a new mortal
life can bring. These children are sacred and beautiful. It is why in a world
that is growing to approve infidelity, sexual relations before marriage, and
abortions, we must stand tall and be not moved in opposing this matter. God has
stated that the creation of mortal life is sacred and I believe with all my
heart that it is so.
The seventh and last doctrine is that happiness in family life is most likely to
be achieved when founded upon the teachings of the Lord Jesus Christ. Teaching
your children of Jesus Christ and his atoning sacrifice is your responsibility
as parents. While you feed your children food to nourish their bodies so they
can grow physically big and strong, you must also spiritually feed their
spirits so that they can grow spiritually strong and steadfast. The Church has
put into effect many practices and teachings to help you teach your children of
Christ. There is family home evening, family prayer, family counsel, family
scripture study, and going to church together. I remember as a little kid
sitting down to read the Book of Mormon together and my father calling the
Gadiaton Robbers dirt bags. I remember saying family prayer every night as we
knelt in a circle. And I remember simply talking about our everyday problems in
family counsel. Though at times we did neglect to do these, I will never forget
that in fact we did do them! And I am thankful that we did, because I know that
those early years are where the roots of my testimony are. Another statement
from the Proclamation to the World is that “Successful marriages and families
are established and maintained on principles of faith, prayer, repentance,
forgiveness, respect, love, compassion, work, and wholesome recreational
activities.” I have already discussed how principles of prayer in my home
helped me as a child learning of turning to my Father in Heaven. And though all
of these are great principles, I don’t have the time to focus on them all. So I
would like to focus on three of them that I have learned the most from in my
life. Work, wholesome recreational activities, and repentance. I grew up on a
farm and so work was a principle that I learned early on. I cannot remember a
day when I was not expected to help out in some way, whether by moving
sprinkler pipe, helping my dad maintain a tractor, or picking up rocks in the
field (And yes that was indeed a job I had to do). We often worked from sun up
until late into the night. And these long days of working with my family served
to strengthen our bonds more than anything else. We grew to know that we could
count on each other, (though in a household with only one son and four
daughters the most common phrase my Dad would say was “I wish my brothers were
here”. I guess that is just a testament to the family bonds that were grown
when they worked on the farm together. Working together was hard, and I
remember yelling at my brother and sisters more on the farm than anywhere else,
I also know that those are some of my fondest memories because we were
together. Another principle that brought my family together was wholesome
recreational activities. Now, as I said before, I grew up on a farm and so some
of our activities will probably sound a little different to some of you. I
remember one day in particular when we sat in the bucket of my dad’s track hoe
and he turned in circles, going up and down, dipping into the canal. I can’t
remember having so much fun in my entire life. I also remember something we did
everyday together. At lunchtime, after working on the farm all morning, my
uncles, my father, my grandparents, and us kids would sit on my grandmother’s
floor and watch Matlock as we ate our lunches. This is a fond memory I have as
a little kid of my family simply doing fun, wholesome activities together.
These everyday activities brought my family together in that we found joy in
simply being together. To this day our annual family campout is one of my
favorite activities of the year, simply because we all get together and find
joy in that. The last principle that I have learned about a lot in my family is
forgiveness. My family has made a lot of mistakes. We have fought, and made
many dumb decisions. But I have learned that forgiveness is the only answer to
truly finding happiness in these circumstances. In seeing how my family
forgives, I have learned and have an incredibly strong testimony of the
atonement. I know the strength of the atonement because of how it heals my
family. As we repent and forgive each other, I see how Christ suffered so that
my family can be whole and full of love! He truly loves us enough to die for
us. For my family! That is what my family has taught me!
Never before has the
family come under as much attack as it does in our day. The Family: A
Proclamation to the World was written to warn us of the dangers of the attack
on the family. Near the end it states, “We warn that the disintegration of the
family will bring upon individuals, communities, and nations the calamities
foretold by ancient and modern prophets.” We must stand strong in defending the
family.
This week I studied a lot about the Plan of Salvation and I urge everyone to also study it more. Try to really understand what the Plan truly is and how much God actually loves us. Because believe me, it is a lot. As I have been studying, it has felt like I am learning everything all over again and really feeling the joy of what it means to be followers of Christ and children of God. Even though I have read and understood what the Plan of Salvation was, it felt like learning it for the first time. And I can't wait to help others feel the excitement and joy that I have felt while learning about God's plan for us.
