In this series (see below), students enrolled in scripture study classes have shared their thoughts, insights, and reflections on the Book of Mormon in the form of letters to someone they know. We invite you to take a look at their epiphanies and discoveries as they delve into the scriptures.

In publishing these, we fulfill their desire to speak to all of us of the relevance, power and beauty of the Book of Mormon, a second witness of Jesus Christ and complement to the Bible. The Book of Mormon includes the religious history of a group of Israelites who settled in ancient America.  (The names they use are those of prophets who taught the Book of Mormon peoples to look forward to the coming of Christ—Nephi, Lehi, Alma, Helaman, and other unfamiliar names.  We hope those names will become more familiar to you as you read their inspiring words and feel the relevance and divinity of their messages through these letters.)

Let us know if you’d like to receive your own digital copy of the Book of Mormon, and/or if these messages encourage and assist you spiritually as well.

Mormonism: Focusing Our Lives

Hey family!!

As I have been contemplating what to share with you all this week, my mind was especially caught up in contemplating the principle of happiness. It seems to be something that each one of us tries for in life. We gain our happiness in a variety of ways, sharing time with family and friends, reading a good book, playing with our children, and countless other methods. I would honestly hope that everyone who reads this message has a desire to be happy in this life.

As I was pondering the meaning of happiness, I found myself in Alma 41 in the Book of Mormon. For those of you not super familiar with this part in the Book of Mormon, it is when Alma, the prophet at the time, is talking to his rebellious son Shiblon. Shiblon has done some really bad things in his life that, at first, appeared to give him the happiness that he sought, but he quickly learned when he was taught by his father about how true happiness is attained and I feel that it has application to our lives. Alma shares in verse 10 of chapter 41 that “wickedness never was happiness.” I want you guys to ponder on that for a moment. “Wickedness never was happiness.” How many times in life have we had choices to make that appeal to us as human beings? We are confronted every day with “methods of happiness” that the world would lead us to believe as the true ways to feel better about ourselves and to gain greater satisfaction in this life. Often those ideas lead us to focus on how we can get ourselves to feel better. It leads us to focus completely on what we want and what we need. We are then tempted to do things that initially bring us pleasure, but that ultimately cause the Spirit to leave. I testify that the only true way that we can receive lasting, deep happiness is by focusing our lives on the Savior Jesus Christ and living His Gospel.

I have not been exempt to the wicked ways of the world. There have been many times when I have thought of how I can gratify myself and gain what I thought was true happiness. I quickly learned, that these were merely empty feelings that quickly faded away unless I indulged constantly in them. I know that this is not the way.

I want each of you to know that I love you and that I truly want each of you to be happy. But I know that the only way that we can truly get that happiness is by following the Lord and doing all that He asks us to do through His living prophets. I know that we are guided by living prophets and that the Lord loves each of you so much!! He wants us all to be happy and to live together forever. My prayer is that each of us will look deep inside and try to see if what we are doing in our lives is truly giving us happiness and peace. If it’s not, let us make those changes so that we can feel the Spirit in our lives and be a forever family!!!

Love you all tons!!!
Kraig

I did fulfill other goals.  I was college educated and entered the career I wanted, but family was so central.  I had a lot of wounds to heal, and damaging behaviors that had stretched over generations to bring screeching to a halt.  Mormons call people who are able to do this “Saviors on Mount Zion.”  These are they who manage to heal individuals and families and get them turned around, so they can find peace and happiness.  This is not easy.  Abuse of any sort is not a good teacher for a future parent.  It is also a murderer of self-image and confidence.

Ours was a home for adults.  Though there were three children, and we had plenty of age-appropriate toys, we were close to the same age, and our parents were much more comfortable with us when they could communicate as adults.  We were far away from extended family, so my experience with young children or babies was minimal.  Suddenly, with a new temple marriage and the prospect of an eternity with my worthy Mormon husband, I was expected to be a Mormon wife and mother.  Mormon moms who have grown up with the various programs of the LDS Church have a great advantage when raising their own families.  I had never attended a Family Home Evening except in college, which isn’t quite the same.  I had just learned to pray myself, and had never helped a child to have spiritual experiences.  I was like my parents in preferring older youth — I was a high school English teacher, not a kindergarten teacher.

We had some fun at our family home evenings.  We prayed and read scriptures together, but we were never perfect at doing these things all the time.  We had six great kids, and I often relied on my natural abilities as a teacher, since my nurturing abilities were wanting.  We tried to follow all the counsels of the Latter-day Saint prophets, and sought after the Holy Ghost as our guide.  We did some crazy things, like moving abroad with no job prospects.  But again, we were following the Spirit, and he never let us down.

Our children are now grown and most have happy families of their own.  They are able to follow the patterns we set in raising their children in love.  We taught them good manners.  We taught them compassion.  They brought home lost pets and lost friends, and we had taken them all in.  They have continued in this path.  We have been numbered among the Saints;  we have a happy family.  We want to be together forever, and can be, through the higher covenants we have all made in Mormon temples.  The bad habits of past generations have been broken, and we can look forward to better years for generations to come.  Through family history and Mormon temple work, we are also healing those who have gone before.  We have had very personal spiritual experiences to show us that this is really happening.  Life is eternal.  Healing is eternal.   All of my deepest dreams have come true because of my Mormon family.

Additional Resources:

Worship with Mormons

Inside Mormon Temples

Core Mormon Beliefs

This comes on the heels of earlier surveys indicating that 32 percent of non-LDS U.S. adults say the LDS Church is not a Christian religion, and an additional 17 percent are unsure of LDS Christianity. The theological and semantic reasons for this can be complex, but for the 1,019 self-identified Mormons who participated in the Pew survey, their theological position is clear: Mormons believe in Jesus Christ, and they consider themselves to be Christian.

“Certainly in Latter-day Saint theology is this idea that if you understand who you are, you understand that there’s a purpose in life, you understand your connection to God, that certainly has an impact on how you live your life and what you do, but also how you feel about your life and what you are doing,” said Michael Purdy of the LDS Church Public Affairs office.

For the vast majority of Latter-day Saints surveyed, those life choices have much to do with their religious beliefs. Eighty-two percent of survey respondents indicate that religion is “very important” to them, 83 percent say they pray every day and 77 percent say they attend church at least once a week. Beyond that, a stunning 69 percent of respondents fit all three descriptions, saying that religion is very important to them, that they pray every day and that they go to church every week.

“By this measure,” the report says, “Mormons exhibit higher levels of religious commitment than many other religious groups, including white evangelical Christians.”

Part of the explanation for these high numbers may be that the survey focused only on those who self-identified as Latter-day Saints.

“The method they used tended to identify people who are strongly committed,” said BYU sociologist Marie Cornwall , who advised the Pew Forum on the new survey. “They don’t have the people who are kind of marginal. But that’s okay; we just have to be careful with the way we interpret the findings.”

One such finding is the relationship between religious commitment and education among Mormons.

David Campbell, a University of Notre Dame associate professor and another adviser on the survey, noted that the more educated respondents were, the higher their levels of religious commitment.

“I was a little surprised by that,” said Campbell, who is LDS and who has extensively studied on the role of religion in the public square. “The more educated a Mormon is, the more likely they are to be wholehearted in their commitment to the church and its teachings.”

That is different from other churches, he said, where more education tends to lead to more religious skepticism.

Pew Research Center officials also noted “a significant gender gap in religious commitment, with more Mormon women than men exhibiting a high level of religious commitment (73 percent vs. 65 percent).”

According to the Pew report, a similar “gender gap” is seen among the general public. A 2007 survey found 36 percent of U.S. women exhibited a high level of religious commitment, compared with 24 percent of men.

One series of questions asked about what it means to be a good Mormon. According to the respondents, in order to be a good Mormon it is “essential” to believe Joseph Smith saw God the Father and Jesus Christ (80 percent), work to help the poor (73 percent), hold regular family home evenings (51 percent), not drink coffee and tea (49 percent) and not watch R-rated movies (32 percent).

Combining those who said “essential” with those who said “important but not essential,” the order changes a little bit: working to help the poor (97 percent), holding regular family home evenings (96 percent), believing Joseph Smith saw God the Father and Jesus Christ (93 percent), not drinking coffee and tea (81 percent) and not watching R-rated movies (79 percent).

“I think that result is rather interesting,” said Cornwall. “Mormons are known for not drinking coffee or tea and not watching R-rated movies. But compared to believing that Joseph Smith saw God and working for the poor, Mormons don’t seem to focus on the coffee and tea as much as people probably think.”

Other manifestations of religious commitment in the survey included:

The number of respondents (65 percent) who say they hold a current temple recommend (a certificate from local ecclesiastical leaders, issued every other year, indicating that an individual has permission from the church to enter LDS temples and participate in temple rites and sacraments)

The number (79 percent) who say they pay tithing (donating 10 percent of their income to the church)

The number (27 percent) who have served full-time missions for the church (this number includes 43 percent of men and 11 percent of women and varies significantly according to the age and education of the respondent, as well as whether or not the respondent was raised Mormon)

The number (82 percent) who keep food in storage for emergencies or disasters, as they have been counseled to do by LDS Church leaders (This number includes 23 percent who say they have three months’ worth, 35 percent who say they have more than three months’ worth and 23 percent who say they have less than three months’ worth)

The percentage who pay tithing is especially interesting to break down. According to the survey tabulations, “tithing is most common among Mormons with the highest levels of religious commitment (96 percent) … fully 91 percent of college graduates say they pay tithing … compared with 66 percent of those with a high school diploma or less education. And among those whose family income exceeds $30,000, 83 percent say they pay tithing, compared with 69 percent of those with incomes of less than $30,000.”

While previous surveys have clearly established LDS agreement with certain key Christian doctrines — 90 percent of Mormons believe in God, 91 percent believe the Bible is the word of God and 98 percent believe in life after death — the new survey explores Mormon confidence in points of doctrine that are unique to LDS theology. And in these points of doctrine, Mormons proved to be unified and believing. They believe overwhelmingly that God and Jesus Christ are separate physical beings (94 percent), that the president of the LDS Church is a prophet of God (94 percent), that families can be bound together eternally in temple ceremonies (95 percent) and that the Book of Mormon was written by ancient prophets and translated by Joseph Smith (91 percent).

Overall, 77 percent say they believe “wholeheartedly” in all of the teachings of the LDS Church. That number increases to 82 percent among Mormons ages 18-49, and to 85 percent among Mormons who are college graduates.

“Ultimately, I suppose other Americans will judge our church — and perhaps all churches — by their relevance in how they touch and improve human lives right here on Earth as well as what they offer in the life to come,” wrote Michael Otterson, Public Affairs director for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, in his “On Faith” blog in the Washington Post. “Meanwhile, we welcome the friendship and regard of all groups, even as we retain our commitment to a unique identity. In the end … Latter-day Saints will strive to be good Mormons, true believers, kind neighbors and faithful friends.

Pew Study Reflects Mormons’ Religious Commitment to Christ, Mormon Beliefs in Tithes and Temples

Mormons in America

Being parents is just what they always wanted. And they love it.

“Of course we have our crazy moments,” Thompson says, “but for the most part we just try to find the good things in the day and remember that they’re only going to be little for so long.”

As members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, the Thompsons believe that maintaining a strong marriage and raising and teaching children are essential keys to happiness and their most important responsibilities on earth.

In fact, 81 percent of Mormons say being a good parent is “one of the most important things in life,” according to a new survey by the Pew Research Center’s Forum on Religion & Public Life — the first survey of Mormons about Mormons, by a non-LDS research organization.

The survey of more than 1,000 self-identified Latter-day Saints from across the country asked how accepted Mormons feel in American culture, as well as their thoughts on religious practices, political issues and family roles.

The survey showed that Mormons are more likely to be married than the general population, 67 percent of the sample size compared to 52 percent of the general public.

And 85 percent of married Mormons married other Mormons. Protestants marry other Protestants 81 percent of the time and Catholics marry each other 78 percent of the time.

With an emphasis on marriage, it should come as no surprise that the Mormons surveyed also had, on average, more children (2.6) than the general U.S. population (1.8).

Thompson grew up wanting to have a large family and be a good mother, but she and her husband have struggled with infertility for nearly nine years — a trial punctuated by the joys of two different adoptions, Ellie, then the twins.

“We said when we finally get to be parents, we’re going to actually sit down and take a little more time to focus on our kids,” Thompson said, who lives in northern Utah. “I’m not saying that other people don’t do that — the perspective we have is just a little different.”

Other Latter-day Saints share the Thompson’s enthusiasm to put family first.

“Family is at the core of our faith,” says Jane Clayson Johnson, a Latter-day Saint and former anchor of CBS’s “The Early Show” who prefers the title of mom to two young children and stepmom to three older ones. “There are so many distractions today that all force us outward, away from core relationships. What our faith does is turn us back toward deep, rich, meaningful relationships in families.”

“It teaches us that families are where we find meaning,” continued Clayson from her home in Boston. “The work I do in my family is the most important work that I’ll ever do.”

Among the general public, 50 percent list being a good parent as “one of the most important things in life,” with 44 percent listing it as “very important but not most important.”

That shouldn’t be taken to mean that the average American doesn’t value marriage or family, just that they don’t “go to church every week and get told that’s what they’re supposed to do,” says Marie Cornwall, a professor of sociology at Brigham Young University. Cornwall advised the Pew Center for this survey.

“There’s nothing to suggest that family life is less valued in the United States over time,” she said, “but there’s more that suggests that people are feeling like it’s not possible for them to attain that.”

The pressure comes when a “successful” marriage is defined as having a good job, a hefty retirement account and a lovely home with a white picket fence, Cornwall said. So when people can’t achieve that in today’s tough economy, many feel like they’ve failed.

“For Mormons, there’s a spiritual aspect brought to that (definition of success),” she said, “an effort, in terms of sermons, to try and downplay the material and place more emphasis on the relationships.”

When the survey asked Mormons about working arrangements in families, nearly six out of 10 Mormons indicated they would prefer a marriage where the man works and the woman stays home to care for the home and the children.

LDS college graduates liked this marital structure more than any other subgroup, with 71 percent of them preferring the man to work and the woman to stay home.

In the general population, only 30 percent of Americans would prefer a marriage where the husband works and the wife stays home. Among religiously unaffiliated Americans, it drops to 15 percent who would pick such a scenario.

Almost four-in-10 Mormons would prefer that both parents work and both parents help with child rearing and housework.

For American Fork mom Ruth Ann Dupaix, 37, it’s not a black-or-white decision. Throughout her marriage she has both worked and stayed at home.

“The way we look at it, we try to make it a partnership,” Dupaix says. “It’s more who’s able at the time to do it best. It’s working together, a give and take.”

When she and her husband, Geoff, were first married, her job helped pay for his school. When he finished, she kept working because her employer would pay for her to complete her degree, and education was important to both of them.

Dupaix stopped working when her sixth child was born but has recently gone back to work at a local grocery store three nights a week to help fulfill a family goal to reduce their debt load.

It’s a big pay cut from the job she used to have at a bank, but it’s a more family friendly schedule.

“As part of a family you make sacrifices,” she said. “I’m gone when the kids are asleep, but I’m still here during the day when they need me.

Additional Resources:

For original source Deseret News article: Mormon family marriage focus Pew.

Mormons in America Pew Study.

My Thanksgiving memories are a blur of ordinary things — family gatherings, fall leaves, cozy fires, parades, touch football, pumpkin pie, turkey and trimmings. Flickers and flurries and fun. My memories are dotted wits.h the classic elementary school holiday crafts — tracings of tiny hands made to look like turkey feathers — and dinner table chatter. I’ll never forget the Thanksgiving our neighbor boy, who was spending the holiday with us, gave us all a lecture on the origin of the word “cornucopia” that lasted the whole meal. We ate in silence, and laughed about it afterward. What a personality, he was, an endearing one.

My Thanksgiving traditions are typical, but I’m OK with that. It seems fitting, because for me — a woman who believes in a God who grants me daily breath — Thanksgiving is a blessed opportunity to celebrate the richness and wonder of the ordinary things I usually take for granted, like waking up each day, like a healthy body that moves and functions as it should, like the people in my life who love me and forgive me when I make mistakes, like laughter and safety and sunlight. It’s the ordinary things that make up the bulk of our lives. It’s the ordinary things that make us human and bind us all together as people and as Americans.

My faith in the gospel of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, known erroneously to many as the “Mormon Church,” is at the top of my list of things to be thankful for. It shapes every part of my daily life. It defines who I am. It lifts me out of hopelessness and strengthens me in moments of weakness. My country — the United States of America — is also at the top of my list. The freedoms it stands for, including the freedom of religion, made possible the restoration of the true gospel of Jesus Christ and the birth of the religion I am blessed to be a part of today. Mormonism is a uniquely American-born faith.

It began with Jesus Christ, his twelve apostles and the organization they established in Jerusalem hundreds of years ago, but it began anew with Joseph Smith, a 14-year-old farm boy from upstate New York. In the spring of 1820, Joseph knelt in prayer in a quiet grove of trees near his home, asking God which of the many churches he should join. God the Father and His Son, Jesus Christ, appeared to Joseph in a vision, telling him that none of the churches were entirely true and whole, that perfect truth had been lost in the world. From that day onward, Joseph dedicated his life to carrying out the will of God in restoring the fullness of the gospel of Jesus Christ to the earth.

This vision and the work and sacrifice that followed it flourished because of the foundational values of the United States and the tirelessness with which Americans fight for the right to worship how, where, and what they may. This freedom and the fierceness with which it is protected are American. I am American. I am grateful to be American and grateful to celebrate America’s history and subscribe to its traditions, as “ordinary” as they may be.

______________________

For more about The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, use the following links:

Basic beliefs and real Mormons

Jesus.Christ.org

Mormon News

More resources are below.

Marriage Resources

Parenting Resources

Family Resources

Mormons believe procreation on Earth began with Adam and Eve, who were commanded by the Lord to have children so that spirits in heaven could come to the earth. A physical body is one of the greatest gifts God gives His children. Mormons believe Heavenly Father has a body of flesh and bones, and since He wants His children to become like Him, it is necessary for all men and women to have a physical body.

The ability to procreate and give life is a power that comes from the Lord. Families are the most basic and essential unit of life on Earth, and the ability to create them is equally important. He blesses His children and wants them to use this power correctly. Mormons believe the power to procreate is sacred and should only be used in marriage. In other words, men and women should not have sexual relations before they are married, or with anyone other than their husband or wife after they are married. This is what is known as the law of chastity.

In Mormonism, children are taught from a young age that their bodies are sacred gifts from God. This is a belief that is held by all members, young and old, and helps in the understanding of why Mormons do not have any sexual relations outside of the special, blessed bonds of marriage. Inside marriage the power of procreation between a husband and wife who respect each other is pure; it is a beautiful gift and sacred privilege.

Obeying the law of chastity also means not doing anything to arouse the powerful emotions that are only to be expressed in marriage. When youth in the Mormon Church begin dating seriously they are counseled to avoid any actions that will arouse these emotions in themselves or in another person. Guidelines such as avoiding passionate kissing, lying on top of another person, and touching the private, sacred parts of another person’s body are given to young men and women to prevent them from doing anything to harm their purity.

Mormons believe Satan wants men and women to break the law of chastity to keep them from returning to Heavenly Father after this life. Since the power of procreation is so sacred, when it is broken, the consequences can be harmful to one’s salvation. Mormons believe Satan uses clever ways to persuade men and women to not think of their bodies as sacred and to break the law of chastity. To counteract these evil intentions of Satan, members of the Mormon Church do all they can to strive for purity in thought, word, action, and dress.

Breaking the law of chastity is a serious sin. Mormons believe sexual sins are “an abomination in the sight of the Lord; yea, most abominable above all sins save it be the shedding of innocent blood or denying the Holy Ghost” (Alma 39:5). Breaking the law of chastity brings severe unhappiness and is difficult to repent of. Heavenly Father will forgive those who break the law of chastity, if they have faith in Jesus Christ, repent of their sins and, if they are not yet members of the Mormon Church, are baptized and become members of the His Church. This repentance process is difficult, though, and of course it is much better to avoid breaking the law of chastity in the first place.

Repentance comes through faith in Jesus Christ and the power of His atoning sacrifice. Mormons believe that one must feel truly sorry for a sin he or she has committed and ask the Lord for forgiveness in order to be cleansed by the process of repentance. In order to fully repent, Mormons must also confess serious sexual sins (such as fornication or adultery) to a priesthood authority.  Confession of certain sins is part of the repentance process.  Making restitution when possible is also part of the repentance process, and because one cannot restore lost virtue, restitution is impossible for sexual sin; this is one reason sexual sin is considered serious.

It is important to note that Mormons are firm in the belief that those who were raped or abused sexually are not guilty of breaking the law of chastity.

Mormons believe that the blessings which come from heeding the law of chastity are worth the strict and pure obedience it requires. First and foremost, the Lord blesses those who obey His commandments with whatever blessings He sees fit. Thus, Mormons feel they should obey the law of chastity merely because they are commanded to, and a child of God should humble himself before the Lord and be willing to obey all commandments. Practically, though, obedience to the law of chastity offers benefits to all men and women.  Obeying the law of chastity safeguards against sexually-transmitted diseases, which are prevalent in the world today. When kept within the bonds of marriage, sexual relations are a pure and blessed demonstration of love between a husband and wife. The knowledge that both husband and wife are faithful to each other provides an emotional security and peace before marriage and in marriage. Truly the law of chastity is viewed by Mormons as a blessing that provides a peace and love that will last forever.

Mormons believe that marriages can last forever – thus the phrase “eternal marriage.”  More formally, the eternal marriage ceremony is called a “sealing” or a “sealing ordinance.”  The bride and groom are not married in a Mormon church building, but in one of the Mormon temples. (See Inside Mormon Temples to see a “sealing room.”)

When a bride and groom are married in the temple, they are sealed together – they are married not only for this life, but for the life after.  Jesus Christ taught that “What God has joined together, let no man put asunder” (Matthew 19:6).  The idea of eternal marriage informs the Mormon’s view of death—that death is a temporary separation of loved ones; they can be together again in the eternities.  Elder James A. Cullimore said, “Marriage in the temple for time and eternity should be the goal of every member of the Church, for marriage is ordained of God. Marriage is a commandment. Marriage was instituted by divine edict.”

God promised the Prophet Joseph Smith in a revelation,”If a man marry a wife by…the new and everlasting covenant…by him who is anointed…it…shall be of full force when they are out of the world.”  Therefore, those sealed in a Mormon temple have the promise that their relationship will continue on forever.  However, they must honor the covenants they made to each another and to God when they married.  Only disobedience can break the eternal bond of a husband and wife.  It is necessary to continue in love and respect in the relationship, and to keep the commandments of Christ, enduring to the end in righteousness.  Those who are married for eternity by the proper authority and endure to the end in righteousness, repenting when necessary,  will inherit the highest level of heavenly glory.
An eternal marriage not only blesses the husband and wife, but their children.  The couple is sealed together, and any children they have are sealed to them.  An eternal marriage is not only an eternal marriage, but the basis of an eternal family.  The blessings of God will come upon each of them individually and jointly.

Remember that God told Adam and Eve to “multiply and replenish the earth.”  Marriage is companionship – beyond and above that, it is the beginning of a family.  In The Family: A Proclamation to the World it states,

“the first commandment that God gave to Adam and Eve pertained to their potential for parenthood as husband and wife. We declare that God’s commandment for His children to multiply and replenish the earth remains in force. We further declare that God has commanded that the sacred powers of procreation are to be employed only between man and woman, lawfully wedded as husband and wife. Husband and wife have a solemn responsibility to care for each other and for their children.”

What Mormons believe about marriages, indeed, is that they need to be strong, and the families need to be strong with them.  Infidelity and indifference can easily be fatal to a marriage and a family.  Family Home Evening, family prayers, family scripture reading are all strengthening activities, and every day should be a reminder that the family is eternal, the marriage is eternal – everyone should be friends, and everyone should love each other.   Elder F. Burton Howard said this about marriage,

“If you want something to last forever, you treat it differently. You shield it and protect it. You never abuse it. You don’t expose it to the elements. You don’t make it common or ordinary. If it ever becomes tarnished, you lovingly polish it until it gleams like new. It becomes special because you have made it so, and it grows more beautiful and precious as time goes by. Eternal marriage is just like that. We need to treat it just that way. I pray that we may see it for the priceless gift that it is.”

The Mormon Church places great importance on the time families spend together.  Indeed, they place so much importance on it that they set aside Monday nights for the Family Home Evening program in 1970.  No Church activities are to be scheduled on Monday nights.

Family Home Evening usually begins with a song and a prayer.  The family may also read a scripture or poem after the prayer to set the mood for the lesson.  After the lesson, the family will often participate in an activity, then close the meeting with another prayer.  Traditionally, the family will have a snack or dessert together afterwards.  Members of the family usually take turns filling different roles – like leading the music, giving prayers, teaching the lesson, or coming up with an activity.

The family has always been central to Mormon religion and life. In 1903, the then Mormon prophet (formally called the President of the LDS Church) Joseph F. Smith said that the family has a central role in teaching the gospel. A few years later, in 1909, Salt Lake City’s Granite Stake began a weekly home evening program for families. President Smith said that the stake had been inspired to start this program. The program was a success.  In 1915, President Smith asked all members to adopt the program on a monthly basis.  President Smith further said,

“We advise and urge the inauguration of a ‘Home Evening’ throughout the Church, at which time fathers and mothers may gather their boys and girls about them in the home and teach them the word of the Lord. They may thus learn more fully the needs and requirements of their families. If the Saints obey this counsel, we promise that great blessings will result. Love at home and obedience to parents will increase. Faith will be developed in the hearts of the youth of Israel, and they will gain power to combat the evil influences and temptations which beset them.”

Family time should be a time of togetherness and a time of instruction.  Family Home Evening gives parents an opportunity to teach their children both by word and by deed – by bearing testimony of their belief and also standing as examples of it.  Parents who faithfully hold Family Home Evening will show their children consistency and valiance in acting on their Mormon beliefs, rather than just professing them.  They will also show their love for their children in their willingness to set aside everything for an hour – just to spend time with them and to tend to their spiritual and emotional needs.

The Mormon church put more emphasis on Family Home Evening in 1965. Manuals with weekly lessons were published – and, in the first manual, then LDS Church President David O. McKay stated, “The problems of these difficult times cannot better be solved in any other place, by any other agency, by any other means, than by love and righteousness, and precept and example, and devotion to duty in the home.”  Parents cannot expect their children to grow up well if they neglect their spiritual instruction, or assume that just taking them to church will be enough.  Parents cannot expect their children to act differently than they themselves do.  Family Home Evening is a together time, and it is also a reminder of how families ought to love each other and spent time together – especially when the world can be unfriendly, unforgiving, and unmerciful.  The home should be a safe place where both children and parents draw strength.  Family Home Evening helps foster that.

The family is the essential and basic unit of life on Earth and in the eternities. Mormonism teaches important truths regarding the centrality of the family and its eternal destiny. Many of these truths can be found in The Family: a Proclamation to the World, which was issued by the First Presidency and the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles of the Mormon Church.

Mormons believe the most important work we can do in this life is to protect and care for our families. Mormons believe that our families are eternal. This means that if we live righteously, we can live with our families forever, even after this life. Our earthly homes should be places that allow further progression of our children, who are also children of our Heavenly Father.

Before we came to the earth, Mormonism teaches that we lived with our Heavenly Parents in a pre-mortal world with a Heavenly Father and Mother, who Church members believe are the parents of our spirits. There we prepared to come to earth in the time established by the Lord.

Jesus Christ, under the direction of our Heavenly Father, created the earth to be our mortal home. In this physical world our first parents (Adam and Eve) received the commandment to multiply and replenish the earth. The same commandment is given to all men and women, but special rules apply to using the power of procreation. Men and women need to be legally married to be able to use the sacred powers of procreation in the way that is acceptable to the Lord. Mormonism declares the supreme importance of eternal marriage, a marriage that is performed only in sacred places called temples (see Mormon Temples).

According to the doctrine of Mormonism, only when we are married for time and all eternity in a sacred temple, and we live faithful to God’s commandments until the end of our lives, are we entitled to receive the special privilege of living with our families and with God the Father and Jesus Christ.

Mormons believe Satan is attacking the family today. He knows that families are the most important key to happiness, and by attacking them he is trying to destroy that eternal joy. To combat this, Mormons believe husbands and wives should fulfill their obligations as righteous spouses and parents. The Lord will bless those who strive for family unity and love. Mormons devote their best efforts to creating homes where their children can properly grow and develop, preparing for the challenges of life and learning to rely on the promises of the Lord to all the faithful.