PROVO, UTAH
Latter-day Saint women should be defenders of right and truth and seen as lights in a world where the family is under attack, Sister Julie B. Beck said May 1.
"We are in those times, when we are the ones who must preserve our families amidst the gathering of evil around us," said Sister Beck, Relief Society general president.
Speaking during a general session of Women's Conference at BYU, Sister Beck said women can protect their families by clearly keeping their focus on the temple and the blessings of eternal life.
"We see decline everywhere," she said, noting that marriage rates are down, and there is an increase in unmarried couples living together. Divorce, abortion and out-of-wedlock births have increased, and low birthrates are reported and dropping every day, she added.
"Children are less valued and families are less valued," she said. "Families are about 'us' and 'we.' The doctrines we are hearing preached by the world today are about 'I' and 'me.'?"
Quoting from a 1980 address by President Spencer W. Kimball, Sister Beck said there are those "who would define the family in such a nontraditional way that they would define it out of existence."
"We of all people should not be taken in by the specious arguments that the family unit is somehow tied to a particular phase of development a moral society is going through.
"We are free to resist those moves which downplay the significance of the family and play up to the significance of selfish individualism. We know that families are eternal.
"We know that when things go wrong in the family, things go wrong in every other institution in society. ... Many of the social restraints that in the past have helped to reinforce and to shore up the family are dissolving and disappearing. The time will come when only those who believe deeply and actively in the family will be able to preserve their families in the midst of the gathering evil around us."
Sister Beck said Christian women should never forget that "anti-Christ teachings and principles are always anti-family" and that "anti-family teachings and policies are also anti-Christ."
"We know and believe and testify of Christ. We are baptized into a covenant with Him, and we support and sustain His doctrine and His theology."
Sister Beck said she is so grateful for her parents, who were intentional about preparing their family by having family prayer, scripture study, family home evening, and encouraging their children to get an education, serve missions and work hard.
Part of the responsibility of Latter-day Saint "women who know" is to bear children and make time for their family — even at the expense of their children's other activities. Quoting President Kimball, she said, "It is an act of supreme selfishness for a married couple to refuse to have children when they are able to do so."
Sister Beck also offered great empathy to women to want to bear children but cannot. "I think there is a special sadness for these sisters who desire to bring children into this world but who do not have this blessing."
Another responsibility of Latter-day Saint women is to prepare their families for the blessings and ordinances of the temple, she said.
Many families are suffering because of the prevalence of pornography, she said. "Sisters, fight, fight," she said to those whose families are suffering as a result of pornography.
Finally, she asked women to hold family home evening and to find a way for their family to sit down for family meals. "It is OK for a wife to cook for her husband. It is one way of expressing love. The world wouldn't teach that, but the gospel does."
Sister Beck declared, "The Lord said, 'This is my work and my glory to bring to pass the work and eternal glory of men.' For that the worlds were created, we were created."
Because women know that, Sister Beck said, they are involved in God's work every day. "It changes everything. It changes the way we think. It changes our decisions. It changes the way we dress. It changes the way we talk. It changes the way we live."
That means Latter-day Saint women have to be intentional about everything they do, she said. "Our life isn't just happenstance. We know where we are going and what we have to do."
This is a faith-based work, Sister Beck emphasized. "It is not a social organization. It is not a fad. We have to call upon our faith."
