And Here We Go

So from here on out, I am going to be dissecting a document that is very important to my church's point of view on marriage and eternal families. It is called, The Family: a Proclamation to the World.

So First we need to talk about the significance in word choice that they used in the first paragraph (which is our main focus in this post). First they talk about who is addressing us: The First presidency and Twelve Apostles. It is important that they let us know who is addressing us so that we can see they are a united front on this issue of marriage, but also to show us that this proclamation comes from divinely inspired leaders of our church: the Prophet and his 12 Apostles. Also, they use the word "solemnly" in front of proclaim. And the question is- why? I think it is to make clear how seriously they are going to take this topic: they do not think marriage is a matter to take lightly. Meaning great thought and care was put into this proclamation.

Next is to look up a word that not a lot of people know the definition to- and that is the word "ordained" which has a two-fold meaning. First, it can mean to confer holy orders on, but it can also mean to order or decree something officially. So why would they use that word specifically here? to let us know that this message is not only divinely inspired, but it was to be given to us through men that we believe can have direct contact with Christ and have the authority to give us a clear understanding of what He expects of us as it pertains to our families.

Now time for a comparison of a decree made a long time ago, and the one we have today. Joseph Smith's revelation was "marriage is ordained of God unto man" and that was it- which for its time, was profound enough. However- we live in an ever-changing world, and even just the word "man" today can have many different means- including the sexual orientation of genders. So God saw that this would cause confusion for his followers in later years, and had adding more specific details like "between a man and woman" so that there would be no contention among His children as to what He was trying to tell us about marriage and it's importance.

I think family is central to God's plan, because that is what He wants from all of us- to be one big happy family: so how do you do that? By following His outline for what a proper family is, and be able to return to live with Him in His presence, as well as with our family in happiness. And I think that doubles as what His plan for our eternal destiny for us is as well. And I find that really beautiful and something wonderful to work towards in this lifetime.