LDS Doctrine and Family Proclamation: Key Principles and Scriptural Foundations

"[W]e have felt to warn and forewarn. In furtherance of this we of the First Presidency and the Council of the Twelve Apostles now issue a proclamation to the Church and to the world as a declaration and reaffirmation of standards, doctrines, and practices relative to the family which the prophets, seers, and revelators of this church have repeatedly stated throughout its history.

Gordon B hickely

Three things about the title are worth our careful reflection. First, the subject: the family. Second, the audience, which is the whole world. And third, those proclaiming it are those we sustain as prophets, seers, and revelators. All this means that the family must be of tremendous importance to us, that whatever the proclamation says could help anyone in the world, and that the proclamation fits the Lord's promise when he said, "Whether by mine own voice or by the voice of my servants, it is the same"

-President Henry B. Eyring

6 And he shall turn the heart of the fathers to the children, and the heart of the children to their fathers, lest I come and smite the earth with a curse.

Malachi 4:5-6 (this is a conditional property thats what important)

"I am concerned about family life in the Church. We have wonderful people, but we have too many whose families are falling apart... I think [this] is my most serious concern.

Gordon B hinckely

How doctrine is determined/Reliable sources for doctrine

Current, correlated publications

Cumulative teachings of current General Authorities and officers of the church

The united voice of the first presidency and the twelve apostles

Harmonized doctrine in the scriptural canon

The doctrine of christ

The articles of Faith

Criteria for determining the validity/importance of doctrine

Is it eternal principle?

Does it represent the united voice of the first presidency and the twelve apolstele

Is it essential to our salvation?

Fallibility/Infallibility of Church leaders

Jospeh fielding smith said they would never go to the moon, he was wrong. So no they are not infalliable

What do poeple say about core teachings

Core is few and far in between - Bendar

Institution vital to ur salviotn is not hidden - packer

To single out a passage of scripture to prove a point unless it is confirmed is hazards - harold b lee

In some faith traditions, theologians claim equal teaching authority with the ecclesiastical hierarchy, and doctrinal matters may become a contest of opinions between them. Some rely on the ecumenical councils of the Middle Ages and their creeds. Others place primary emphasis on the reasoning of post-apostolic theologians or on biblical hermeneutics and exegesis. We value scholarship that enhances understanding, but in the Church today, just as anciently, establishing the doctrine of Christ or correcting doctrinal deviations is a matter of divine revelation to those the Lord endows with apostolic authority.

D. Todd Christofferson, "The Doctrine of Christ," General Conference, April 2012

"Let us here observe, that three things are necessary in order that any rational and intelligent being may exercise faith in God unto life and salvation. First, the idea that he actually exists. Secondly, a correct idea of his character, perfections, and attributes. Thirdly, an actual knowledge that the course of life which he is pursuing is according to his will."

Lectures on Faith

The father and the son "I retired to a secret place in a grove, and began to call upon the Lord; while fervently engaged in supplication, my mind was taken away from the objects with which I was surrounded, and I was enwrapped in a heavenly vision, and saw two glorious personages, who exactly resembled each other in features and likeness, surrounded with a brilliant light which eclipsed the sun at noon day."

Jopseh smith

"All men and women are in the similitude of the universal Father and Mother and are literally the sons and daughters of Deity."

1909 First Presidency Statement

"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."

Family Proclamation, 1995

"Logic and reason would certainly suggest that if we have a Father in Heaven, we have a Mother in Heaven. That doctrine rests well with me.

Gordon B hinckely

"In the heav'ns are parents single? No, the thought makes reason stare. Truth is reason; truth eternal tells me I've a mother there.

Eliza R Snow

we wnt to be like our heavenly parents

Dallin H Oaks

"The perfect revelation of God came in the meridian of time... [when] he sent his Son into the world so that all men, seeing the Son, could envision perfectly who and what the Father is. The four Gospels contain the most comprehensive revelation of God the Father of any scriptures because they show forth what kind of a being the Son is, and men knowing the Son thereby know the Father."

Elder Bruce R. McConkie, D

Three pillars of eternity

Creation, Fall, and Atonement as the foundation of our doctrine

Requirements for degrees of glory

Outer darkness - will receive a body but denied God

Telestial - Not faithful in this life, world over God

Terrestrial - Accepted the testimony but were not valiant

Celestial kingdom - entering into the new and everlasting covenant

In The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, we have a theology of the family that is based on the Creation, the Fall, and the Atonement. The Creation of the earth provided a place where families could live. God created a man and a woman who were the two essential halves of a family. It was part of Heavenly Father's plan that Adam and Eve be sealed and form an eternal family. The Fall provided a way for the family to grow. Adam and Eve were family leaders who chose to have a mortal experience. The Fall made it possible for them to have sons and daughters.

1909 Church declaration

"Over the years I have frequently taught an important principle: the end of all activity in the Church is to see that a man and a woman with their children are happy at home, sealed together for time and all eternity."

-President Boyd K. Packer

) the creation was not accidental

christofferson

"The physical Creation itself was staged through ordered periods of time. In Genesis and Moses, those periods are called days. But in the book of Abraham, each period is referred to as a time. Whether termed a day, a time, or an age, each phase was a period between two identifiable events—a division of eternity."

-President Russell M. Nelson

This earth is but one of many creations over which God presides. "Worlds without number have I created," He said. "And I also created them for mine own purpose; and by the Son I created them, which is mine Only Begotten." Grand as it is, planet Earth is part of something even grander--that great plan of God. Simply summarized, the earth was created that families might be. Scripture explains that a husband and wife "shall be one flesh, and all this that the earth might answer the end of its creation."

-Russell M. Nelson, "Creation," General Conference, April 2000

"This commandment [to "be fruitful and multiply"] was first in sequence and first in importance. It was essential that God's spirit children have mortal birth and an opportunity to progress toward eternal life."

President Dallin H. Oaks

"It is held by some that Adam was not the first man upon this earth, and that the original human being was a development from lower orders of the animal creation. These, however, are the theories of men. The word of the Lord declares that Adam was "the first man of all men" (Moses 1:34), and we are therefore in duty bound to regard him as the primal parent of our race. It was shown to the brother of Jared that all men were created in the beginning after the image of God; and whether we take this to mean the spirit or the body, or both, it commits us to the same conclusion: Man began life as a human being, in the likeness of our heavenly Father."

1909 First Presidency Declaration

Statements from Church Leaders about the Fall and what occurred

1. Eternal Law

2. Opposition

3. Knowledge of good and evil

4. The power to choose

And now, behold, if Adam had not transgressed he would not have fallen, but he would have remained in the garden of Eden. And all things which were created must have remained in the same state in which they were after they were created; and they must have remained forever, and had no end.

And they would have had no children; wherefore they would have remained in a state of innocence, having no joy, for they knew no misery; doing no good, for they knew no sin.

2 Nephi 2:22-23

For reasons that have not been revealed, this transition, or 'fall,' could not happen without a transgression-an exercise of moral agency amounting to a willful breaking of a law (see Moses 6:59). This would be a planned offense, a formality to serve an eternal purpose..."It was Eve who first transgressed the limits of Eden in order to initiate the conditions of mortality. Her act, whatever its nature, was formally a transgression but eternally a glorious necessity to open the doorway toward eternal life. Adam showed his wisdom by doing the same. And thus Eve and 'Adam fell that men might be' (2 Nephi 2:25).

Elder Dallin H. Oaks's

"[Jesus Christ's] Atonement is infinite—without an end. It was also infinite in that all humankind would be saved from never-ending death. It was infinite in terms of His immense suffering. ... It was infinite in scope—it was to be done once for all. And the mercy of the Atonement extends not only to an infinite number of people, but also to an infinite number of worlds created by Him. It was infinite beyond any human scale of measurement or mortal comprehension"

President Russell M. Nelson

There is no amorphous entity called "the Atonement" upon which we may call for succor, healing, forgiveness, or power. Jesus Christ is the source. Sacred terms such as Atonement and Resurrection describe what the Savior did, according to the Father's plan, so that we may live with hope in this life and gain eternal life in the world to come. The Savior's atoning sacrifice—the central act of all human history—is best understood and appreciated when we expressly and clearly connect it to Him.

President Russell M Nelson

Some gifts coming from the Atonement are universal, infinite, and unconditional. These include His ransom for Adam's original transgression so that no member of the human family is held responsible for that sin. Another universal gift is the Resurrection from the dead of every man, woman, and child who lives, has ever lived, or ever will live on earth.

Jeffrey R. Holland, "The Atonement," Ensign, March 2008

"The fundamental principles of our religion are the testimony of the Apostles and Prophets, concerning Jesus Christ, that He died, was buried, and rose again the third day, and ascended into heaven; and all other things which pertain to our religion are only appendages to it."

Joseph Smith

This infinite Atonement of Christ was possible because (1) He was the only sinless man ever to live on this earth and therefore was not subject to the spiritual death resulting from sin, (2) He was the Only Begotten of the Father and therefore possessed the attributes of godhood that gave Him power over physical death, and (3) He was apparently the only one sufficiently humble and willing in the premortal council to be foreordained to that service.

Jeffrey R. Holland, "The Atonement," Ensign, March 2008

Events that constitute the Atonement of Jesus Christ, and specifics about them

1. The Garden of Gethsemane

2. The Cross of Calvary

3. The Ministry in the Spirit World

4. The Resurrection

1. All that is unfair about life can be made right through the Atonement of Jesus Christ.

2. There is power in the Atonement to enable us to overcome the natural man or woman and become true disciples of Jesus Christ.

3. The Atonement is the greatest evidence we have of the Father's love for His children.

Linda K. Burton, "Is Faith in the Atonement of Jesus Christ Written in our Hearts?" Ensign May 2015