Rel C 200

for the propagation of the human race, and for the expression of that kind of love between man and wife that makes for true oneness.

Spencer W. Kimball

married couples have a less fulfilling sex life than people who remain single.

False

The more unified spouses are in all areas of their lives, the more intimate their relationship will be.

Wendy Watson Nelson

Sexual relations are in mortality one of the ultimate expressions of our divine nature and potential and a way of strengthening emotional and spiritual bonds between husband and wife

David A. Bednar

4 levels of Pornography involvement

1. Inadvertent exposure

2. Occasional Use

3. Intensive use

4. Compulsive use

Sacred Decisions

Private decisions to be mad between a husband and wife and the Lord

Abortion

Abortion is not considered to be the same as murder but like unto it

Reasons for abortion

1. Pregnancy resulted from forcible rape or incest

2. A competent physician determines that the life or health of the mother is in serious jeopardy

3. a competent physician determines that the fetus has severe defects that will not allow the baby to survive beyond birth

Nearly all legislation pertaining to abortion considers the duration of gestation. The human mind has presumed to determine when “meaningful life” begins. In the course of my studies as a medical doctor, I learned that a new life begins when two special cells unite to become one cell, bringing together 23 chromosomes from the father and 23 from the mother. These chromosomes contain thousands of genes. In a marvelous process involving a combination of genetic coding by which all the basic human characteristics of the unborn person are established, a new DNA complex is formed. A continuum of growth results in a new human being. Approximately 22 days after the two cells have united, a little heart begins to beat. At 26 days the circulation of blood begins. To legislate when a developing life is considered “meaningful” is presumptive and quite arbitrary, in my opinion.

Russell M. Nelson

“Was the person who took his life mentally ill?…Did he or she somehow not understand the seriousness of the act? Was he or she suffering from a chemical imbalance?”

M. Russell Ballard

Successful marriages and families are established and maintained on principles of

faith, prayer, repentance, forgiveness, respect, love, compassion, work, and wholesome recreational activities.

Express love — and Show it

David A. Bednar

Bear Testimony — and live it

David A. Bednar

Abuse - verbal and unintentional

Jeffery R. Holland

dependence and Interdependence

Eve was Adam’s “help meet” (Genesis 2:18) not a servant or subordinate.

The amount of children-and-parent time absorbed in the good activities of private lessons, team sports, and other school and club activities also needs to be carefully regulated. Otherwise, children will be overscheduled, and parents will be frazzled and frustrated. Parents should act to preserve time for family prayer, family scripture study, family home evening, and the other precious togetherness and individual one-on-one time that binds a family together and fixes children’s values on things of eternal worth.

Dallin H. Oaks - what children really want for dinner is YOU, time with you

Types of Family Councils

1. a general family council consisting of the entire family

2. an executive family council consisting of mother and father

3. a limited family council consisting of parents and one child

4. a one-on-one family council consisting of one parent and one child

   M. Russell Ballard

Five questions in Marriage

1. When was the last time I sincerely praised my companion, either alone or in the presence of our children?

2. When was the last time I thanked, expressed love for, or earnestly pleaded in faith for him or her in prayer?

3.When was the last time I stopped myself from saying something I knew could be hurtful?

4. When was the last time I apologized and humbly asked for forgiveness--without adding the words “but if only you had” or “but if only you hadn’t”?

5. When was the last time I chose to be happy rather than demanding to be “right”?

Linda K. Burton

Live in your home so that you’re brilliant in the basics, so that you’re intentional about your roles and responsibilities in the family. Think in terms of precision not perfection.

Julie B. Beck

Be aware of spontaneously occurring opportunities to teach the gospel

David A. Bednar

Certainly the overarching and undergirding principle is that the discipline of children must be motivated more by love than by punishment.

James E. Faunt - Their level of affection and their level of expectation

Parents should be vigilant and spiritually attentive to spontaneously occurring opportunities to bear testimony to their children. Such occasions need not be programmed, scheduled, or scripted.

David A. Bednar

Parenting and hypocrisy

James E. Faust

“I am satisfied that money is the root of more trouble in marriage than all other causes combined." 

Gordon B. Hinckley

Joyfully living within our means, being content with what we have, avoiding excessive debt, and diligently saving and preparing for rainy-day emergencies

Robert D. Hales

PRINCIPLES OF PROVIDENT LIVING

1. Husbands and wives should counsel together and use family councils to make financial decisions.

2. The foundation of provident living is the law of the tithe.

3. Be an example with the payment of fast offerings. (A fast offering is at least the cost of the two consecutive meals from which we fast each month.)

4. Establish a family budget and involve children.

Robert D. Hales

the five principles of economic constancy

N. Eldon Tanner, 1979

• pay an honest tithe 

• live on less than you earn

• learn to distinguish between needs and wants 

• develop and live within a budget 

• be honest in financial affairs

The world would take people out of the slums. Christ takes the slums out of the people, and then they take themselves out of the slums

Ezra Taft Benson

Behold, I gave unto him that he should be an agent unto himself; and I gave unto him commandment, but no temporal commandment gave I unto him, for my commandments are spiritual; they are not natural nor temporal, neither carnal nor sensual.

D&C 29:35

“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.”

Bonnie L. Oscarson

"There are three principles taught in the proclamation which I think are especially in need of 'steadfast defenders'"

You may not be experiencing  exactly what the proclamation describes, but it is the Lord’s pattern and we should strive to realize it best we can.” 

Bonnie L. Oscarson

"There are three principles taught in the proclamation which I think are especially in need of 'steadfast defenders'"

Bonnie L. Oscarson

The Church does NOT

• Endorse, promote or oppose political parties, candidates or platforms.

• Allow its church buildings, membership lists or other resources to be used for partisan political purposes.

• Attempt to direct its members as to which candidate or party they should give their votes to. This policy applies whether or not a candidate for office is a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

• Attempt to direct or dictate to a government leader.

The Church DOES

• Encourage its members to play a role as responsible citizens in their communities, including becoming informed about issues and voting in elections.

• Expect its members to engage in the political process in an informed and civil manner, respecting the fact that members of the Church come from a variety of backgrounds and experiences and may have differences of opinion in partisan political matters.

• Request candidates for office not to imply that their candidacy or platforms are endorsed by the Church.

• Reserve the right as an institution to address, in a nonpartisan way, issues that it believes have significant community or moral consequences or that directly affect the interests of the Church.

Church members should support laws that uphold their beliefs, but also be sensitive to the views of minorities.

For persons who believe in absolute truth, tolerance for behavior is like a two-sided coin. Tolerance, or respect, is on one side of the coin, but truth is always on the other. You cannot possess or use the coin of tolerance without being conscious of both sides."

Dallin H. Oaks

Be selective and wise

When believers in Jesus Christ take their views of truth into the public square, they must seek the inspiration of the Lord to be selective and wise in choosing which true principles they seek to promote by law or executive action. they should refrain from seeking laws or administrative action to facilitate beliefs that are distinctive to believers.

RELIABLE SOURCES FOR DOCTRINE

1. Current, correlated publications. 

2. Cumulative teachings of current General Authorities and Officers of the Church.

3.  The United Voice of the First Presidency and Twelve Apostles.

4. Harmonized doctrines in the Scriptural Canon.

5. The doctrine of Christ.

CRITERIA FOR MEASURING DOCTRINE

1. Is it an eternal principle?

2. Does it represent the united voice of the First Presidency and the Twelve Apostles?

3. Is it essential to our salvation?

[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 Hinckley

MALACHI’S PROPHECY - Malachi 4:5-6

5 Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the Lord:

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.

Our theology begins with heavenly parents. Our highest aspiration is to be like them.“

Dallin H. Oaks

INGREDIENTS FOR AGENCY

1. Eternal Law

2. Opposition

3. Knowledge of good and evil

4. The power to choose

“We of all people, brothers and sisters, should not be taken in by the specious arguments that the family unit is somehow tied to a particular phase of development a moral society is going through. We are free to resist those moves which downplay the significance of the family and which play up the significance of selfish individualism. We know the family to be eternal.”

Spencer W. Kimball

“The family is not an accident of mortality. It existed as an organizational unit in the heavens before the world was formed; historically, it started on earth with Adam and Eve, as recorded in Genesis. Adam and Eve were married and sealed for time and all eternity by the Lord, and as a result their family will exist eternally."

Robert D. Hales

REQUIREMENTS FOR FAITH 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.

“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. McCokie

 "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

WHAT IS THE ATONEMENT?

1. The Garden of Gethsemane

2. The Cross of Calvary

3. The Ministry in the Spirit World

4. The Resurrection

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.

Jeffery R. Holland

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.

Jeffery R. Holland

Helaman 14:15

For behold, he surely must die that salvation may come; yea, it behooveth him and becometh expedient that he dieth, to bring to pass the resurrection of the dead, that thereby men may be brought into the presence of the Lord.

THE PRACTICAL EFFECTS OF THE ATONEMENT

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