Family Proclamation, Part 4

Families, communities, and nations are strengthened when individuals understand and live the principles contained in the inspired document known as “The Family:  A Proclamation to the World.”  The proclamation on the family is inspired counsel from living apostles and prophets and contains counsel to help strengthen marriages and families. 

The fourth paragraph of the proclamation on the family reminds us that God commanded Adam and Eve to “multiply and replenish the earth” and states that this commandment is still in force.  “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 wedding as husband and wife.”

We can read this commandment to Adam and Eve in Genesis 1:28, “And God blessed them, and God said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it:  and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth.”

Living apostles and prophets often speak about the importance of reserving human intimacy to a man and woman legally and lawfully married.  Elder Jeffrey R. Holland of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints said:  “Secondly, may I stress that human intimacy is reserved for a married couple because it is the ultimate symbol of total union, a totality and a union ordained and defined by God.  From the Garden of Eden onward, marriage was intended to mean the complete merger of a man and a woman – their hearts, hopes, lives, love, family, future, everything.  Adam said of Eve that she was bone of his bones and flesh of his flesh, and that they were to be `one flesh’ in their life together.  This is a union of such completeness that we use the word seal to convey its eternal promise….  But such a total union, such an unyielding commitment between a man and a woman, can only come with the proximately and permanence afforded in a marriage covenant, with solemn promises and the pledge of all they possess – their very hearts and minds, all their days and all their dreams.”

The law of chastity is an important law for us to know and understand, and the importance of this law cannot be overstated.  This video uses the counsel of modern prophets to teach us how to stay chaste and to find happiness and peace in our lives.

Keeping the law of chastity is important because it involves the channel through which we come to earth.  It involves the creation of the physical bodies for the spirit children of Heavenly Father to inhabit.  God’s plan for the happiness of His children involves marriage and family life; it involves a man and a woman welcoming children into their lives and into their home.  This conduit must be kept clean and pure in order to create the strongest and most capable physical body for the child.  Babies arrive in this world as pure and innocent as their spirits were in heaven.  Each baby deserves a healthy and strong body to live out his/her days on this earth.  This is the reason why God commands that the powers of procreation should be employed only by a husband and wife, legally and lawfully married.

I testify of the importance of obedience to all the commandments of God.  I know that it is important for us to obey God’s commandments concerning marriage and family in order to avoid problems, pains and suffering.  I know that we can gain the greatest happiness and joy from obedience to the law of chastity.