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Spoken Word

PARAGRAPH 8

 

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.

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We warn that individuals who violate covenants of chastity,

  • “Because a physical body is so central to the Father’s plan of happiness and our spiritual development, Lucifer seeks to frustrate our progression by tempting us to use our bodies improperly... The very tool he does not have is thus the primary target of his attempts to lure us to spiritual destruction.

 

"Violating the law of chastity is a grievous sin and a misuse of our physical tabernacles. To those who know and understand the plan of salvation, defiling the body is an act of rebellion and a denial of our true identity as sons and daughters of God.  As we look beyond mortality and into eternity, it is easy to discern that the counterfeit companionship advocated by the adversary is temporary and empty.”  Elder David A. Bednar, "We Believe in Being Chaste," Ensign, May 2013.
 

  • “We declare that one who uses the God-given body of another without divine sanction abuses the very soul of that individual, abuses the central purpose and processes of life, “the very key” to life, as President Boyd K. Packer once called it. In exploiting the body of another—which means exploiting his or her soul—one desecrates the Atonement of Christ, which saved that soul and which makes possible the gift of eternal life. And when one mocks the Son of Righteousness, one steps into a realm of heat hotter and holier than the noonday sun. You cannot do so and not be burned.”  Elder Jeffrey R. Holland, “Personal Purity," Ensign, November 1998.

 

  • “Where once women’s higher standards demanded commitment and responsibility from men, we now have sexual relations without conscience, fatherless families, and growing poverty. Equal-opportunity promiscuity simply robs women of their moral influence and degrades all of society. In this hollow bargain, it is men who are “liberated” and women and children who suffer most.”  Elder D. Todd Christofferson, “The Moral Force of Women,” General Conference, October 2013, also Ensign, November 2013.

  
who abuse spouse or offspring,
 

  • "We hear disturbing reports of parents or guardians who are so far removed from the Spirit of Christ that they abuse children.  Whether this abuse is physical, verbal, or the less evident but equally severe emotional abuse, it is an abomination and a serious offense to God.  Jesus left no question about the seriousness of harming children in any way when he said, 'But whoso shall offend one of these little ones which believe in me, it were better for him that a millstone were hanged about his neck, and that he were drowned in the depth of the sea.'" M. Russell Ballard, Teach the Children, General Conference, April 1991.

  • “When we speak plainly of divorce, abuse, gender identity, abortion, parental neglect, we are thought by some to be way out of touch or to be uncaring. Some ask if we know how many we hurt when we speak plainly. Do we know of marriages in trouble, of the many who remain single, of single-parent families, of couples unable to have children, of parents with wayward children, or of those confused about gender? Do we know? Do we care?  Those who ask have no idea how much we care; you know little of the sleepless nights, of the endless hours of work, of prayer, of study, of travel—all for the happiness and redemption of mankind…  Because we do know and because we do care, we must teach the rules of happiness without dilution, apology, or avoidance. That is our calling.”  President Boyd K. Packer, “The Father and the Family”, General Conference, April 4, 1994.

 

  • “Parents or other caregivers or teachers or peers who demean, bully, or humiliate children or youth can inflict harm more permanent than physical injury.  Making a child or youth feel worthless, unloved, or unwanted can inflict serious and long-lasting injury on his or her emotional well-being and development.  Young people struggling with an exceptional condition, including same-gender attraction, are particularly vulnerable and need loving understanding - not bullying or ostracism.”  Elder Dallin H. Oaks, “Protect the Children” Ensign, November 2012.  

 

  • “Children are also victimized by marriages that do not occur.  Few measures of the welfare of our rising generation are more disturbing than the recent report that 41 percent of all births in the U.S. were to women who were not married.  Unmarried mothers have massie challenges, and the evidence is clear that their children are at a significant disadvantage when compared with children raised by married parents.”   Elder Dallin H. Oaks, “Protect the Children” Ensign, November 2012.  

 
or who fail to fulfill family responsibilities will one day stand accountable before God.

  • “The Lord expect[s] for a father and a mother to rear their children. Certainly any who deprive their children of a parent will have some very stiff questions to answer. The Lord used parents in the plural and said if children were not properly trained “the sin be upon the heads of the parents.” (D&C 68:25.) That makes it a bit hard to justify broken homes. Numerous of the divorces are the result of selfishness. The day of judgment is approaching, and parents who abandon their families will find that excuses and rationalizations will hardly satisfy the Great Judge.”   President Spencer W. Kimball, "God Will Not Be Mocked," Ensign, November 1974.
     

  • “Anti-Christ is anti-family. Any doctrine or principle our youth hear from the world that is anti-family is also anti-Christ. It’s that clear. If our youth cease to believe in the righteous traditions of their fathers as did the people described in Mosiah 26, if our youth don’t understand their part in the plan, they could be led away.”  Julie B. Beck, “Teaching the Doctrine of the Family,” Address given to seminary and institute of religion teachers on August 4, 2009, Ensign, March, 2011.

 

  • "There is no lack of clarity in what the Lord has told us. We cannot shirk. He has placed the responsibility directly where it belongs, and he holds us accountable with regard to the duties of parents to teach their children correct principles and of the need to walk uprightly before the Lord—and there is no substitute for teaching our children by the eloquence of example."  President Spencer W. Kimball, “Families can be Eternal,” Ensign, November 1980.

Further, we warn that the disintegration of the family will bring upon individuals, communities, and nations the calamities foretold by ancient and modern prophets. 
 

  •  “You may wonder if it is worth it to take a courageous moral stand in high school or to go on a mission only to have your most cherished beliefs reviled or to strive against much in society that sometimes ridicules a life of religious devotion. Yes, it is worth it, because the alternative is to have our “houses” left unto us “desolate”—desolate individuals, desolate families, desolate neighborhoods, and desolate nations.

 

So here we have the burden of those called to bear the messianic message. In addition to teaching, encouraging, and cheering people on (that is the pleasant part of discipleship), from time to time these same messengers are called upon to worry, to warn, and sometimes just to weep (that is the painful part of discipleship). ..  Unfortunately, messengers of divinely mandated commandments are often no more popular today than they were anciently…”  Elder Jeffrey R. Holland, “Cost and Blessings of Discipleship,” Ensign, May 2014.

 

  • “We are engaged in a battle with the world. In the past, the world competed for our children’s energy and time. Today, it fights for their identity and mind. Many loud and prominent voices are trying to define who our children are and what they should believe. We cannot let society give our family a makeover in the image of the world. We must win this battle. Everything depends on it.”  Elder Bradley D. Foster of the Seventy, “It’s Never Too Early and It’s Never Too Late,” Ensign, Nov. 2015, 50.

 

  • "That society which puts low value on marriage sows the wind and, in time, will reap the whirlwind—and thereafter, unless they repent, bring upon themselves a holocaust." Elder Boyd K. Packer, “Marriage,” Ensign, May 1981.

 

  • "As we have said on previous occasions, certainly our Heavenly Father is distressed with the increasing inroads among his children of such insidious sins as adultery and fornication and homosexuality, lesbianism, abortion, alcoholism, dishonesty, and crime generally, which threaten the total breakdown of the family and the home…"   President Spencer W. Kimball, "Fortify Your Homes Against Evil," Ensign, May 1979.

  • "Society without basic family life is without foundation and will disintegrate into nothingness."  President Spencer W. Kimball, “Families can be Eternal,” Ensign, November 1980.

  • "A worried society now begins to see that the disintegration of the family brings upon the world the calamities foretold by the prophets."  Chapter 17 [Preserve and Protect the Family] of "Teachings of the Presidents of the Church:  Howard W. Hunter"

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Further Commentary

 

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