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PARAGRAPH 3

 

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. 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.

In the premortal realm, spirit sons and daughters knew and worshipped God as their Eternal Father​

 

  • "The spirits of men and women are eternal (see D&C 93:29-31; see also Joseph Smith, Teaching of the Prophet Joseph Smith, sel. Joseph Fielding Smith [1976], 158, 208). All are sons and daughters of God and lived in a premortal life as his spirit children (see Numbers 16:22; Hebrews 12:9, D&C 76:24). The spirit of each individual is in the likeness of the person in mortality, male and female (see D&C 77:2; 132:63; Moses 6:9-10; Abraham 4:27). All are in the image of heavenly parents."  President Boyd K. Packer, "The Play and the Plan," CES Fireside, 7 May 1995, Kirkland, Washington.

 

  • “In our attempts to fulfill these roles properly, we have perfect role models: God our Father and his Beloved Son, Jesus Christ. Since a major purpose of our mortal existence is to become like our Heavenly Father through following the example and teachings of his Son Jesus Christ, and since eternal life with our Father will be lived in family units, the ultimate goal of a man or boy is to become an effective husband and father, and the ultimate goal of a woman or girl is to become an effective wife and mother.”  “A Parent’s Guide,” Manual, 1985, found on LDS.org.

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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. 

  • “Remarkable as your body is, its prime purpose, as stated earlier, is of even greater importance—to serve as tenement for your eternal spirit. Your spirit acquired your body and became a living soul to experience mortality and the associated trials and testing. Part of that testing is to determine if the appetites of your body can become mastered by the spirit that dwells within it.  

 

When we understand our nature and our purpose on earth and that our bodies are physical temples of God, we will realize that it is sacrilege to let anything enter that might defile the body. It is truly irreverent to let even the gaze of our precious eyesight or the sensors of our touch or hearing supply the brain with memories that are unclean or unworthy. We will cherish our chastity and avoid “foolish and hurtful lusts, which drown [us] in destruction and perdition.” We will “flee these things; and follow after righteousness, godliness, faith, love, patience, [and] meekness”—traits that edify the whole soul.”  President Russell M. Nelson, “Your Body: A Magnificent Gift to Cherish,” New Era, August 2019.
 

  • “May I quote a 1913 sermon by Elder James E. Talmage on this doctrinal point:
    We have been taught . . . to look upon these bodies of ours as gifts from God. We Latter-day  Saints do not regard the body as something to be condemned, something to be abhorred. . . . We regard [the body] as the sign of our royal birthright. . . . We recognize . . . that those who kept not their first estate . . . were denied that inestimable blessing. .. . We believe that these bodies . . . may be made, in very truth, the temple of the Holy Ghost. . . .It is peculiar to the theology of the Latter-daySaints that we regard the body as an essential part of the soul. Read your dictionaries, the lexicons, and encyclopedias, and you will find that nowhere [in Christianity], outside of the Church of Jesus Christ, is the solemn and eternal truth taught that the soul of man is the body and the spirit combined.
    [CR,October 1913, p. 117]

 

  • ...Exploitation of the body (please include the word soul there) is, in the last analysis, a exploitation of him who is the Light and the Life of the world. Perhaps here Paul’s warning 
    to the Corinthians takes on newer, higher meaning:

 
...Know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have 
of God, and ye are not your own?  For ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God’s. [1 Corinthians 6:13-20; emphasis added.

 

Our soul is what’s at stake here–our spirit and our body. Paul understood that doctrine of soul every bit as well as James E. Talmage did, because it is gospel truth. The purchase price for our fullness of joy–body and spirit eternally united–is the pure and innocent blood of the Savior of this world. We cannot then say in ignorance or defiance, “Well, it’s my life,” or worse yet, “It’s my body.” It is not. “Ye are not your own,” Paul said. “Ye are bought with a price.” Elder Jeffrey R. Holland, “Of Souls, Symbols and Sacraments”, BYU Devotional, Jan. 1988.

The divine plan of happiness enables family relationships to be perpetuated beyond the grave.
 

  • “There is another dimension to marriage that we know of in the Church. It came by revelation. This glorious, supernal truth teaches us that marriage is meant to be eternal. There are covenants we can make if we are willing, and bounds we can seal if we are worthy, that will keep marriage safe and intact beyond the veil of death.”   President Boyd K. Packer, "Marriage," Ensign, May 1981.

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 purpose of mortal families is to bring children into the world, to teach them what is right, and to prepare all family members for exaltation in eternal family relationships. The gospel plan contemplates the kind of family government, discipline, solidarity, and love that serve those ultimate goals. But even the love of family members is subject to the overriding first commandment, which is love of God (see Matt. 22:37–38), and the Savior’s directive, “If ye love me, keep my commandments” (John 14:15). As Jesus taught, “He that loveth father or mother more than me is not worthy of me: and he that loveth son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me” (Matt. 10:37).  Elder Dallin H. Oaks “Weightier Matters,” From a devotional address given at Brigham Young University on 9 February 1999.

 

  • "Oh, brothers and sisters, families can be forever! Do not let the lures of the moment draw you away from them! Divinity, eternity, and family—they go together, hand in hand, and so must we!”  President Spencer W. Kimball, "Families Can Be Eternal," General Conference, October 1980.

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The Family Proclamation Project is independent of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints

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