2025 marks the 30th anniversary of “The Family: A Proclamation to the World” from The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. This document teaches that marriage between a man and a woman and the creation of families are central parts of God’s plan.
In Part two of a two-part series, Church News editor Ryan Jensen explores the principles taught in “The Family Proclamation.”
This episode features quotes from Church leaders who testify that all are a part of God’s great family and that He has a plan of happiness for His children.
Listen to this episode of the Church News podcast on Apple Podcasts, Amazon, Spotify, bookshelf PLUS, YouTube or wherever you get podcasts.
Transcript:
Jon Ryan Jensen: This podcast was recorded prior to the passing of President Russell M. Nelson, 17th President of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Some edits have been made to note his passing, and some interviews include remarks made before his death.
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President Russell M. Nelson: An understanding of God’s great plan of happiness, however, fortifies our faith in the future. His plan provides answers to ageless questions: Are all our sympathies and love for each other only temporary? No! God has revealed the eternal nature of celestial marriage and the family as the source of our greatest joy. Our family is the focus of our greatest work and joy in this life; so will it be throughout all eternity, when we can “inherit thrones, kingdoms, principalities, ... powers, dominions, ... exaltation and glory” (Doctrine and Covenants 132:19). These priceless blessings can be ours if we set our houses in order now and faithfully cling to the gospel.
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Jon Ryan Jensen: This is Jon Ryan Jensen, editor of the Church News. Welcome to the Church News podcast. Today, we are taking you on a journey of connection as we discuss news and events of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
Throughout the month of September 2025, Church News has marked the 30th anniversary of “The Family: A Proclamation to the World” with a series of articles, videos and podcasts.
We conclude this commemoration with the second part of a two-part series featuring quotes about the family from prophets, apostles and other leaders of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
In this episode, we will continue to explore the blessings of family and the principles found in “The Family Proclamation.” We will hear how, regardless of specific family circumstances, individuals can learn from and apply Christlike principles to bring joy into our lives.
This powerful document, known by many in the Church as “The Family Proclamation,” teaches that marriage between a man and a woman and the creation of families are central parts to God’s plan.
Let’s review that proclamation again, as shared originally by then-President of the Church, President Gordon B. Hinckley, in 1995.
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President Gordon B. Hinckley: We, the First Presidency and the Council of the Twelve Apostles of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, solemnly proclaim that marriage between a man and a woman is ordained of God and that the family is central to the Creator’s plan for the eternal destiny of His children.
All human beings — male and female — are created in the image of God. Each is a beloved spirit son or daughter of heavenly parents, and, as such, each has a divine nature and destiny. Gender is an essential characteristic of individual premortal, mortal, and eternal identity and purpose.
In the premortal realm, spirit sons and daughters knew and worshipped God as their Eternal Father and accepted His plan by which His children could obtain a physical body and gain earthly experience to progress toward perfection and ultimately realize his or her divine destiny as an heir of eternal life. The divine plan of happiness enables family relationships to be perpetuated beyond the grave. Sacred ordinances and covenants available in holy temples make it possible for individuals to return to the presence of God and for families to be united eternally.
The first commandment that God gave to Adam and Eve pertained to their potential for parenthood as husband and wife. We declare that God’s commandment for His children to multiply and replenish the earth remains in force. We further declare that God has commanded that the sacred powers of procreation are to be employed only between man and woman, lawfully wedded as husband and wife.
We declare the means by which mortal life is created to be divinely appointed. We affirm the sanctity of life and of its importance in God’s eternal plan.
Husband and wife have a solemn responsibility to love and care for each other and for their children. “Children are an heritage of the Lord” (Psalms 127:3). Parents have a sacred duty to rear their children in love and righteousness, to provide for their physical and spiritual needs, to teach them to love and serve one another, to observe the commandments of God and to be law-abiding citizens wherever they live. Husbands and wives — mothers and fathers — will be held accountable before God for the discharge of these obligations.
The family is ordained of God. Marriage between man and woman is essential to His eternal plan. 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. Successful marriages and families are established and maintained on principles of faith, prayer, repentance, forgiveness, respect, love, compassion, work and wholesome recreational activities. 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. Disability, death or other circumstances may necessitate individual adaptation. Extended families should lend support when needed.
We warn that individuals who violate covenants of chastity, who abuse spouse or offspring, or who fail to fulfill family responsibilities will one day stand accountable before God. Further, we warn that the disintegration of the family will bring upon individuals, communities and nations the calamities foretold by ancient and modern prophets.
We call upon responsible citizens and officers of government everywhere to promote those measures designed to maintain and strengthen the family as the fundamental unit of society.
7:33
Jon Ryan Jensen: For 30 years, members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints have heeded the call to promote and protect the family as the fundamental unit of society, and we have seen the fruits of that labor.
In his April 2004 general conference message, then-Elder Russell M. Nelson of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, and now current President of the Church, taught that others in government and civic roles around the world recognize and appreciate the sacred and practical nature of the family. He taught that while those individuals see the fruits of the Church’s teachings, they also need to understand the roots that nurture and allow the fruit to develop.
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President Russell M. Nelson: Our religion is known by the fruit of its branches. Recently I met with government officials from a land far from here who were deeply impressed with the Church and its efforts throughout the world. They liked our teachings about the family and wanted copies of our proclamation to the world and guidebooks for family home evening. They wanted to know more about our welfare program and humanitarian help.
We complied as we could and then shifted attention from what we do to why we do it. I explained with an analogy to a tree. “You are attracted by various fruits of our faith,” I said. “They are plentiful and powerful. But you cannot savor this fruit unless you know the tree that produces it. And you cannot understand the tree unless you comprehend its roots. With our religion, you cannot have the fruits without the roots.” This they understood.
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Jon Ryan Jensen: Understanding “The Family Proclamation” is the first step to living and defending the principles it outlines. This can be challenging for those who feel that perhaps their life has not gone according to plan.
President Bonnie L. Oscarson, then Young Women general president, acknowledged this reality in a general conference message during the general women’s session of general conference in March of 2015. She encouraged women to defend and stand by “The Family Proclamation” and its teachings and to look forward to its blessings, even if life has not gone the way they expected it to.
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President Bonnie L. Oscarson: Sisters, few of us will ever have to face an angry mob, but there is a war going on in this world in which our most cherished and basic doctrines are under attack. I am speaking specifically of the doctrine of the family. The sanctity of the home and the essential purposes of the family are being questioned, criticized and assaulted on every front.
When President Gordon B. Hinckley first read “The Family: A Proclamation to the World” 20 years ago this year, we were grateful for and valued the clarity, simplicity and truth of this revelatory document. Little did we realize then how very desperately we would need these basic declarations in today’s world as the criteria by which we could judge each new wind of worldly dogma coming at us from the media, the internet, scholars, TV and films, and even legislators. The proclamation on the family has become our benchmark for judging the philosophies of the world, and I testify that the principles set forth within this statement are as true today as they were when they were given to us by a Prophet of God nearly 20 years ago. Each of us has a part to play in the plan, and each of us is equally valued in the eyes of the Lord.
During this 20th anniversary year of “The Family Proclamation,” I would like to issue a challenge for all of us as women of the Church to be defenders of “The Family: A Proclamation to the World.” Just as Marie Madeline Cardon courageously defended the missionaries and her newly found beliefs, we need to boldly defend the Lord’s revealed doctrines describing marriage, families, the divine roles of men and women, and the importance of homes as sacred places — even when the world is shouting in our ears that these principles are outdated, limiting or no longer relevant. Everyone, no matter what their marital circumstance or number of children, can be defenders of the Lord’s plan described in “The Family Proclamation.” If it is the Lord’s plan, it should also be our plan.
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Jon Ryan Jensen: The Lord’s plan and purpose leaves room for growth, changes and even forgiveness because of the power of the reality of the Atonement of Jesus Christ.
In October 2012, then-Elder Dallin H. Oaks of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles reminded us of this reality. He acknowledged that not all marriages and family relationships are or will be perfect, but that as we follow the sacred call to “protect the children,” we can seek after the ideal family life whenever possible.
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President Dallin H. Oaks: Our Church leaders have taught that looking “upon marriage as a mere contract that may be entered into at pleasure … and severed at the first difficulty … is an evil meriting severe condemnation,” especially where “children are made to suffer.” And children are impacted by divorces. Over half of the divorces in a recent year involved couples with minor children.
Many children would have had the blessing of being raised by both of their parents if only their parents had followed this inspired teaching in the family proclamation: “Husband and wife have a solemn responsibility to love and care for each other and for their children. … Parents have a sacred duty to rear their children in love and righteousness, to provide for their physical and spiritual needs, and to teach them to love and serve one another.” The most powerful teaching of children is by the example of their parents. Divorcing parents inevitably teach a negative lesson.
There are surely cases when a divorce is necessary for the good of the children, but those circumstances are exceptional. In most marital contests, the contending parents should give much greater weight to the interests of the children. With the help of the Lord, they can do so. Children need the emotional and personal strength that come from being raised by two parents who are united in their marriage and their goals. As one who was raised by a widowed mother, I know firsthand that this cannot always be achieved, but it is the ideal to be sought whenever possible.
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Jon Ryan Jensen: President Nelson taught again recently in his April 2023 general conference message “Peacemakers Needed” about seeking the ideal whenever possible, both within and without our family homes.
14:48
President Russell M. Nelson: Civility and decency seem to have disappeared during this era of polarization and passionate disagreements. Vulgarity, faultfinding, and evil speaking of others are all too common. Too many pundits, politicians, entertainers and other influencers throw insults constantly. I am greatly concerned that so many people seem to believe that it is completely acceptable to condemn, malign and vilify anyone who does not agree with them. Many seem eager to damage another’s reputation with pathetic and pithy barbs.
Anger never persuades. Hostility builds no one. Contention never leads to inspired solutions. Regrettably, we sometimes see contentious behavior even within our own ranks. We hear of those who belittle their spouses and children, of those who use angry outbursts to control others, and of those who punish family members with the “silent treatment.” We hear of youth and children who bully and of employees who defame their colleagues.
My dear brothers and sisters, this should not be. As disciples of Jesus Christ, we are to be examples of how to interact with others — especially when we have differences of opinion. One of the easiest ways to identify a true follower of Jesus Christ is how compassionately that person treats other people.
The Savior made this clear in His sermons to followers in both hemispheres. “Blessed are the peacemakers,” He said. (Matthew 5:9; see also 3 Nephi 12:9.)
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Jon Ryan Jensen: The Savior has made it clear that all are invited unto Him. In April 2021 general conference, Elder Gerrit W. Gong of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles shared this open invitation — that members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints should make “room in the inn” for others, including single members and friends of the Church.
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Elder Gerrit W. Gong: We rejoice that God loves His children in our different backgrounds and circumstances, in every nation, kindred and tongue, with room for all in His Inn.
Over the past 40 years, Church members have become increasingly international. Since 1998, more Church members have lived outside than inside the United States and Canada. By 2025, we anticipate as many Church members may live in Latin America as in the United States and Canada. The gathering of Father Lehi’s faithful descendants is fulfilling prophecy. Faithful Saints, including in the pioneer corridor, remain a reservoir of devotion and service for the worldwide Church.
Also, the majority of adult Church members are now unmarried, widowed or divorced. This is a significant change. It includes more than half our Relief Society sisters and more than half our adult priesthood brothers. This demographic pattern has been the case in the worldwide Church since 1992 and in the Church in the United States and Canada since 2019.
Our standing before the Lord and His Church is not a matter of our marital status but of our becoming faithful and valiant disciples of Jesus Christ. Adults want to be seen as adults and to be responsible and contribute as adults. Disciples of Jesus Christ come from everywhere, in every shape, size, hue, age, each with talents, righteous desires and immense capacities to bless and serve. We seek daily to follow Jesus Christ with faith unto repentance and enduring joy.
During this life, we sometimes wait upon the Lord. We may not yet be where we hope and wish to be in the future. A devout sister says: “Waiting faithfully upon the Lord for His blessings is a holy position. It must not be met with pity, patronizing or judgment but instead with sacred honor.” In the meantime, we live now, not waiting for life to begin.
Isaiah promises, “They that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint” (Isaiah 40:31).
Our Good Samaritan promises to return. Miracles occur when we care for each other as He would. When we come with broken hearts and contrite spirits, we can find voice in Jesus Christ and be encircled in His understanding arms of safety. Sacred ordinances offer covenant belonging and “the power of godliness” to sanctify inner intent and outward action.
As we create room in His Inn, welcoming all, our Good Samaritan can heal us on our dusty mortal roads. With perfect love, our Father and His Son, Jesus Christ, promise “peace in this world, and eternal life in the world to come” (Doctrine and Covenants 59:23).
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Jon Ryan Jensen: As we create room in His Inn for singles, single-member households, widows, widowers and families of varying types, we are reminded of the innate and powerful capacity we all have to be caretakers.
In a general Relief Society meeting in October general conference of 2001, then-second counselor in the Relief Society general presidency, Sister Sheri L. Dew, bore her testimony in a message titled “Are We Not All Mothers?” She taught that all carry the familiar responsibility of loving and leading the rising generation.
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Sister Sheri L. Dew: Motherhood is not what was left over after our Father blessed His sons with priesthood ordination. It was the most ennobling endowment He could give His daughters, a sacred trust that gave women an unparalleled role in helping His children keep their second estate. As President J. Reuben Clark Jr. declared, motherhood is “as divinely called, as eternally important in its place as the priesthood itself.”
Nevertheless, the subject of motherhood is a very tender one, for it evokes some of our greatest joys and heartaches. This has been so from the beginning. Eve was “glad” after the Fall, realizing she otherwise “never should have had seed” (Moses 5:11). And yet, imagine her anguish over Cain and Abel. Some mothers experience pain because of the children they have borne; others feel pain because they do not bear children here. About this, Elder John A. Widtsoe was explicit: “Women who through no fault of their own cannot exercise the gift of motherhood directly may do so vicariously.”
For reasons known to the Lord, some women are required to wait to have children. This delay is not easy for any righteous woman. But the Lord’s timetable for each of us does not negate our nature. Some of us, then, must simply find other ways to mother. And all around us are those who need to be loved and led.
Eve set the pattern. In addition to bearing children, she mothered all of mankind when she made the most courageous decision any woman has ever made and with Adam opened the way for us to progress. She set an example of womanhood for men to respect and women to follow, modeling the characteristics with which we as women have been endowed: heroic faith, a keen sensitivity to the Spirit, an abhorrence of evil and complete selflessness. Like the Savior, “who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross” (Hebrews 12:2), Eve, for the joy of helping initiate the human family, endured the Fall. She loved us enough to help lead us.
As daughters of our Heavenly Father, and as daughters of Eve, we are all mothers, and we have always been mothers. And we each have the responsibility to love and help lead the rising generation.
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Jon Ryan Jensen: Part of the mission of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is to unite families through family history and temple work. This “uniting” or “gathering” is done through sacred temple work for ourselves and for those who have died and are beyond the veil of mortality.
President Henry B. Eyring, then first counselor in the First Presidency, taught about this need of the “gathering of the family of God” in an April 2017 general conference message.
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President Henry B. Eyring: I refer to the gathering of the family of God. To describe this gathering, it may be best to begin before we were born, before what the Bible calls “the beginning” (Genesis 1:1). At that time, we lived with Heavenly Father as His spirit children. This is true of every person who has ever lived on earth.
You see, the names “brother” and “sister” are not just friendly greetings or terms of endearment for us. They are an expression of an eternal truth: God is the literal Father of all mankind; we are each part of His eternal family. Because He loves us with the love of a perfect Father, He wants us to progress and advance and become like Him. He ordained a plan by which we would come to earth, in families, and have experiences that would prepare us to return to Him and live as He lives.
He wants His children to come to earth, following the eternal pattern of families that exists in heaven. Families are the basic organizational unit of the eternal realms, and so He intends for them also to be the basic unit on earth. Though earthly families are far from perfect, they give God’s children the best chance to be welcomed to the world with the only love on earth that comes close to what we felt in heaven — parental love. Families are also the best way to preserve and pass on moral virtues and true principles that are most likely to lead us back to God’s presence.
Now, only a very small minority of God’s children obtain during this life a complete understanding of God’s plan, along with access to the priesthood ordinances and covenants that make the Savior’s atoning power fully operative in our lives. Even those with the best of parents may live faithfully according to the light they have but never hear about Jesus Christ and His Atonement or be invited to be baptized in His name. This has been true for countless millions of our brothers and sisters throughout the world’s history.
Now, some may consider this unfair. They may even take it as evidence that there is no plan, no specific requirements for salvation — feeling that a just, loving God would not create a plan that is available to such a small proportion of His children. Others might conclude that God must have determined in advance which of His children He would save and made the gospel available to them, while those who never heard the gospel simply were not “chosen.”
But you and I know, because of the truths restored through the Prophet Joseph Smith, that God’s plan is much more loving and just than that. Our Heavenly Father is anxious to gather and bless all of His family. While He knows that not all of them will choose to be gathered, His plan gives each of His children the opportunity to accept or reject His invitation. And families are at the heart of this plan.
Many of your ancestors did not receive those ordinances. But in the providence of God, you did. And God knew that you would feel drawn to your ancestors in love and that you would have the technology necessary to identify them. He also knew that you would live in a time when access to holy temples, where the ordinances can be performed, would be greater than ever in history. And He knew that He could trust you to accomplish this work in behalf of your ancestors.
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Jon Ryan Jensen: Family relationships are important on earth, and as members of the Church, we believe that those relationships continue beyond the grave as people are true to sacred covenantal sealings made in the house of the Lord.
The late Elder Robert D. Hales, then of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, taught about the sacred nature and eternal natures of families in an October 1996 conference talk.
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Elder Robert D. Hales: The family relationships we have here on this earth are important, but they are much more important for their effect on our families for generations in mortality and throughout all eternity.
By divine commandment, spouses are required to love each other above all others. The Lord clearly declares, “Thou shalt love thy wife with all thy heart, and shalt cleave unto her and none else” (Doctrine and Covenants 42:22). The proclamation states: “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. [By divine design,] mothers are primarily responsible for the nurture of their children.” By divine design, husband and wife are equal partners in their marriage and parental responsibilities. By direct commandment of God, “parents have a sacred duty … to teach [their children] to love and serve one another, to observe the commandments of God and to be law-abiding citizens [in the countries where they reside].”
Because of the importance of the family to the eternal plan of happiness, Satan makes a major effort to destroy the sanctity of the family, demean the importance of the role of men and women, encourage moral uncleanliness and violations of the sacred law of chastity, and to discourage parents from placing the bearing and rearing of children as one of their highest priorities.
So fundamental is the family unit to the plan of salvation that God has declared a warning that those “individuals who violate covenants of chastity, who abuse spouse or offspring, or who fail to fulfill family responsibilities will one day stand accountable before God [their Maker]. The disintegration of the family will bring upon individuals, communities and nations the calamities foretold by ancient and modern prophets.”
While our individual salvation is based on our individual obedience, it is equally important that we understand that we are each an important and integral part of a family and that the highest blessings can be received only within an eternal family. When families are functioning as designed by God, the relationships found therein are the most valued of mortality. The plan of the Father is that family love and companionship will continue into the eternities.
Being one in a family carries a great responsibility of caring, loving, lifting and strengthening each member of the family so that all can righteously endure to the end in mortality and dwell together throughout eternity. It is not enough just to save ourselves. It is equally important that parents, brothers and sisters are saved in our families.
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Jon Ryan Jensen: Elder David A. Bednar of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles taught about the plan of happiness in October 2017. He said it is important to understand our pre-earth reality of living with our Heavenly Father as His spirit children, and His desires for us to learn while living our mortal life.
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Elder David A. Bednar: Our Heavenly Father’s great plan of happiness includes the doctrine, the ordinances, the covenants, and the exceeding great and precious promises whereby we can become partakers of the divine nature. His plan defines our eternal identity and the pathway we must follow to learn, change, grow and ultimately dwell with Him forever.
As explained in “The Family: A Proclamation to the World”: “All human beings — male and female — are created in the image of God. Each is a beloved spirit son or daughter of heavenly parents, and, as such, each has a divine nature and destiny. … In the premortal realm, spirit sons and daughters knew and worshipped God as their Eternal Father and accepted His plan by which His children could obtain a physical body and gain earthly experience to progress toward perfection and ultimately realize their divine destiny as heirs of eternal life.”
God promises His children that if they follow the precepts of His plan and the example of His Beloved Son, keep the commandments and endure in faith to the end, then by virtue of the Savior’s redemption, they “shall have eternal life, which gift is the greatest of all the gifts of God” (Doctrine and Covenants 14:7). Eternal life is the ultimate exceeding great and precious promise.
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Jon Ryan Jensen: Woven throughout “The Family Proclamation” is the responsibility of spending time with the family, from teaching Christlike principles, praying together, working together and also participating in wholesome recreational activities. As the Church’s old public service announcements used to say, “Family. Isn’t it about time?”
The late President M. Russell Ballard of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles taught of that need for time and communication by facilitating family councils. He spoke of that pattern in an April 2016 general conference message, teaching that communication is key to strengthening family relationships and smoothing conflicts.
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President M. Russell Ballard: Children desperately need parents willing to listen to them, and the family council can provide a time during which family members can learn to understand and love one another.
Alma taught, “Counsel with the Lord in all thy doings, and he will direct thee for good” (Alma 37:37). Inviting the Lord to be part of our family council through prayer will improve our relationships with each other. We can, with Heavenly Father and our Savior’s help, become more patient, thoughtful, helpful, forgiving, understanding, as we pray for help. With Their help, we can make our homes a little bit of heaven here on earth.
A family council that is patterned after the councils in heaven, filled with Christlike love and guided by the Lord’s Spirit will help us to protect our family from distractions that can steal our precious time together and protect us from the evils of the world.
Combined with prayer, a family council will invite the presence of the Savior, as He promised: “For where two or three are gathered together in my name, there [I am] in the midst of them” (Matthew 18:20). Inviting the Spirit of the Lord to be part of your family council brings blessings beyond description.
Finally, please remember that a family council held regularly will help us spot family problems and root them out very much more quickly. They will give each family member a feeling of worth and importance; and most of all they will assist us to be more successful and happy in our precious relationships, within the walls of our own homes. May our Heavenly Father bless all of our families as we counsel together is my humble prayer in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ.
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Jon Ryan Jensen: While communication is key to more successful relationships, Church leaders are conscious that no family is perfect.
President Jeffrey R. Holland, acting president of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles spoke about this fact in a 2021 RootsTech message. He said God and Church leaders have love for all of us in every situation and encouraged us to use the term “celestial family” instead of “traditional family,” reminding us of the promised blessings when we strive to think celestial in every aspect of our lives.
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President Jeffrey R. Holland: Now, don’t be fooled by what you have seen today. No family is perfect, and certainly life has not spared ours; its moments of grief and pain and trial. But maybe in spite of that — or even because of that — those moments have forged even stronger ties as we unitedly relied on each other and on the Lord.
We know there are many of you who, for whatever reason, struggle with the idea of what is often termed the “traditional family” or the “perfect family.” Perhaps abuse has darkened the brightness of what might have been a celestial home. Perhaps divorce has left you on your own, searching for answers about the past and protection for the future. Perhaps you are prayerfully and patiently still waiting for the blessing of being united to your own eternal companion, or having children you cannot yet bear. For our faithful LGBT friends, perhaps your heart and mind are struggling to find hope and peace, your place in the eternal picture. Please, all of you, know this:
We see all of you, and we love all of you. If you will be faithful and keep your covenants with the Lord, I promise you that every opportunity and every blessing enjoyed by others will be afforded you in the Lord’s divine timetable. And I mean every opportunity and every blessing. No matter when in the unfolding of our eternal lives those future blessings are given to you, you are now and you will be then part of a family.
Now, try if you can — and I know you can — avoid getting tripped up by the phrase “traditional family,” and instead replace it with a phrase like “eternal family.” With an eternal perspective comes understanding that we are all part of one big family — the family of God. That is why we call each other brother and sister.
Imagine a world where people understood our true family tie to one another. What civility would we cultivate? What division would we avoid? What love would we let warm our devotion and divine connection to one another?
Now hear me out on this crucial point: I promise you that it is engaging in our personal family history and the temple experience it leads to that we discover the reality of our eternal relationship as brothers and sisters in the family of God. That great realization can repair family rifts, if there be any. It can heal bruised hearts, if there be any. And it can unify otherwise strained relationships, if there be any. All in an undeniably powerful way. If we understood this truth, how we would treat one another differently. How we would lift up hands that hang down and strengthen feeble knees.
Let’s not just call each other brother and sister. Let’s show one another what it means when we realize we are one big eternal family. That will change overnight many of the thoughts and the deeds and our actions.
41:03
Jon Ryan Jensen: We end this two-part podcast special commemorating the 30th anniversary of “The Family: A Proclamation to the World” in the words of Church leaders with a quote from then-Elder Russell M. Nelson of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles in October 2001. Now-President Nelson declared the priceless blessings of families and invited a stronger understanding of God’s plan of happiness for us all.
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President Russell M. Nelson: An understanding of God’s great plan of happiness, however, fortifies our faith in the future. His plan provides answers to ageless questions: Are all our sympathies and love for each other only temporary — to be lost in death? No! Can family life endure beyond this period of mortal probation? Yes! God has revealed the eternal nature of celestial marriage and the family as the source of our greatest joy.
Brethren and sisters, material possessions and honors of the world do not endure. But your union as wife, husband and family can. The only duration of family life that satisfies the loftiest longings of the human soul is forever. No sacrifice is too great to have the blessings of an eternal marriage.
To qualify, one needs only to deny oneself of ungodliness and honor the ordinances of the temple. By making and keeping sacred temple covenants, we evidence our love for God, for our companion and our real regard for our posterity — even those yet unborn. Our family is the focus of our greatest work and joy in this life; so will it be throughout all eternity, when we can “inherit thrones, kingdoms, principalities, … powers, dominions, … exaltation and glory” (Doctrine and Covenants 132:19).
These priceless blessings can be ours if we set our houses in order now and faithfully cling to the gospel.
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Jon Ryan Jensen: Thank you for listening to the Church News podcast. I’m your host, Church News editor Jon Ryan Jensen. I hope you learned something today about The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and had your faith in the Savior increase by looking through the Church News window as a living record of the Restoration. Please subscribe, rate and review this podcast so it can be accessible to more people. And if you enjoyed the messages we shared today, please share the podcast with others. Thanks to our guests; to my producer, KellieAnn Halvorsen; and to others who make this podcast possible. Join us every week for a new episode. Find us on your favorite podcasting channels or with other news and updates about the Church on TheChurchNews.com or on the Church News app.
