Saturday, February 1, 2014

The Family: A Proclamation to the World Part II

I'd like to continue writing about this 18.5 year old proclamation. This blog post will be about the first part of the third-to-last paragraph. The first post discusses a different part of the same paragraph.
The family is ordained of God. Marriage between man and woman is essential to His eternal plan. 
I know that families are the structure that God has given us to help us through this life. There are many benefits to family life, not the least of which is how much parents learn from attempting to raise children. Raising children can help you learn by putting someone else ahead of yourself and by giving you experiences that are hard to find elsewhere*.

We try to follow Christ; His entire life and sacrifice were putting everyone ahead of Himself. He thought and worked for our needs, not His. As parents we do this in weak and imperfect ways, but it can help us learn a bit about His love.

I think I can offer a simple example about the learning experiences of raising children. Children misbehave, and tantrums are especially hard to deal with; one often feels like using the harshest discipline available to force the child to stop immediately. However, tantrums are often motivated by being tired, scared, hungry, needing a diaper change, or something more than just misbehaving. An exhausted child often can't behave well, and in many cases yelling makes it worse. In many cases the best solution is to solve the underlying problem. Eventually, this can help us realize that even when we know we are right we often shouldn't lord it over those who are wrong, because this is usually unproductive and incorrect.

Children are entitled to birth within the bonds of matrimony, and to be reared by a father and a mother who honor marital vows with complete fidelity.
This is an intriguing quote. We live in a very individualistic world, preoccupied with the rights (or entitlements) of the individual. The list of things society says we have a right to is ever-growing, including at times the ridiculous. Some parts of society will say its our right to eat out, have the best cable television package, and drive an expensive car for example. However, this sentence speaks of the rights of the children brought into this world.

Every child is entitled to be born to married, loving parents who are faithful to each other and their children. Imagine a world filled with individuals that honored this right of children above individualistic rights. Certainly, being a faithful member of a family requires many sacrifices, including some that are very difficult. All those who decide to entitle their families with this blessing will experience tremendous joy in their family, and will know of the unspeakable blessing that a family is in their lives.



*Obviously, not everyone has the chance to raise children in this life. My understanding of the plan of salvation is that we will all have the experiences in this life that we need to prepare us to receive exaltation in God's Kingdom. It can be extremely painful to realize that God won't give us something we desperately want, but I believe in an Infinite Atonement that will eventually correct every inequality.

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