Blessings of Marriage

                    Families, communities, and nations are strengthened when children, teenagers, and young adults understand that marriage brings temporal and eternal blessings.  In order for the rising generation to have this understanding, parents, grandparents, leaders and teachers must teach by word and example that marriage is a blessing.  Marriage brings temporal blessings because it aids in escaping poverty, decreases crimes, and brings security and safety to women and children.  Marriage brings spiritual blessings because "families can be together forever through Heavenly Father's plan" if we follow the plan set forth by our Heavenly Father.

                    The Anchorage Alaska Stake conference was held on Easter with the theme of the Atonement and how the Atonement can heal us in every way.  In keeping with the theme, our Stake President counseled us to develop the attributes of Jesus Christ, particularly charity.  He promised us that as we become more like Jesus Christ, our marriages will become happier.

                    Elder Richard G. Scott of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints often speaks of his late wife Jeanene and expresses his great love for her.  After listening to his counsel about marriage for many years, I feel certain that he and Jeanene achieved a happy marriage; therefore, I feel that he is qualified to give counsel to us.

Elder Scott stated, "Two of the vital pillars that sustain Father in Heaven's plan of happiness are marriage and the family.  Their lofty significance is underscored by Satan's relentless efforts to splinter the family and to undermine the significance of temple ordinances, which bind the family together for eternity.  The temple sealing has greater meaning as life unfolds.  It will help you draw ever closer together and find greater joy and fulfillment in mortality" (Ensign, May 2011, 94).

                    Then Elder Scott proceeded to encourage young men of appropriate age to stop wasting "time in idle pursuits.  Get on with life and focus on getting married… serve a worthy mission.  Then make your highest priority finding a worthy, eternal companion."

                    Later Elder Scott counseled, "If you have found someone, you can form an extraordinary wonderful courtship and marriage and be very, very happy eternally by staying within the bounds of worthiness the Lord has established.

                    "If you are married, are you faithful to your spouse mentally as well as physically?  Are you loyal to your marriage covenants by never engaging in conversation with another person that you wouldn't want your spouse to overhear?  Are you kind and supportive of your spouse and children?"

                    Most of us understand that marriage and family life are both the most fulfilling of experiences as well as the greatest challenges.  There are times when we are extremely happy and other times of testing and trial.  The covenant of marriage, particularly eternal marriage, can strengthen us through the difficult times in order to move back to the happy times. 

                    Elder Scott taught, "Marriage provides an ideal setting for overcoming any tendency to be selfish or self-centered.  I think one of the reasons that we are counseled to get married early in life is to avoid developing inappropriate character traits that are hard to change."

                    After extending his condolences to those men and women who are not yet married, Elder Scott testified, "All things are possible to the Lord, and He keeps the promises He inspires His prophets to declare.  Eternity is a long time.  Have faith in those promises and live to be worthy of them so that in His time the Lord can make them come true in your life.  With certainty, you will receive every promised blessing for which you are worthy….

                    "I know what it is to love a daughter of Father in heaven who with grace and devotion lived the full feminine splendor of her righteous womanhood.  I am confident that when, in our future, I see her again beyond the veil, we will recognize that we have become even more deeply in love.  We will appreciate each other even more, having spent this time separated by the veil…."

                    

Blessings of Eternal Marriage

                    "Two of the vital pillars that sustain Father in Heaven's plan of happiness are marriage and the family.  Their lofty significance is underscored by Satan's relentless efforts to splinter the family and to undermine the significance of temple ordinances, which bind the family together for eternity.  The temple sealing has greater meaning as life unfolds.  It will help you draw ever closer together and find greater joy and fulfillment in mortality.  (See Richard G. Scott, "The Eternal Blessings of Marriage," Ensign, May 2011, p. 94.)

                    Eternal marriage has been part of the gospel of Jesus Christ since the beginning of time.  The marriage of Adam and Eve was performed by God in the Garden of Eden; since their marriage was performed by God and took place before death entered the world, they were married for eternity.  (See Genesis 2:21-24.)  Their eternal marriage is an indication that marriages can and do last forever and not just until death.

                    Adam and Eve taught the law of eternal marriage to their children and other posterity.  Through the generations of time, the posterity of Adam became so wicked that the authority to perform the sacred ordinance of eternal marriage was taken from the earth.  This authority was restored to the earth through the restoration of the gospel of Jesus Christ in the latter days.

                    To members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, marriage is more than a social custom or a legal agreement between a man and a woman to live together.  "Marriage between a man and a woman is ordained of God" declared the First Presidency.  (See "The Family:  A Proclamation to the World," Ensign, Nov. 1995, 102.)

                    Marriage is a sacred covenant, even a sacrament, and the most sacred relationship that can exist between a man and a woman.  Marriage affects our happiness here on earth as well as in the eternities and is a requirement for exaltation.  Because of the importance of marriage, we must be wise in choosing a companion and totally loyal to that companion after marriage.  Husbands and wives are equal partners in marriage who walk side by side as sons and daughters of God.  Neither the husband nor the wife is superior or inferior to the other.

                    President Howard W. Hunter taught, "Being happily and successfully married is generally not so much a matter of marrying the right person as it is being the right person."  He also taught, "The conscious effort to do one's part fully is the greatest element contributing to success." (See Ensign, May 2011, p. 68.)

                    One of the basic truths taught by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is that human beings can become like Heavenly Father by following the teachings of Jesus Christ.  Obedience to the law of eternal marriage is very important to this process.  The Lord revealed to the Prophet Joseph Smith, "In the celestial glory there are three heavens or degrees; And in order to obtain the highest, a man must enter into this order of the priesthood [meaning the new and everlasting covenant of marriage.]  And if he does not, he cannot obtain it" (Doctrine and Covenants 131:1-3).

                    For a marriage to last for eternity, it must be performed by the proper authority and in the proper place.  A marriage must be performed by one who holds the sealing power in order to receive the promised blessing of the Lord:  "If a man marry a wife by … the new and everlasting covenant … by him who is anointed, … and if [they] abide in [the Lord's] covenant, … it … shall be of full force when they are out of the world" (Doctrine and Covenants 132:19).  The proper place for an eternal marriage is one of the holy temples of our Lord - the only place where a marriage for eternity can be performed.

                    Latter-day Saint couples kneel at a sacred altar in the temple to make their marriage covenants before God and in the presence of their family and friends who have received the temple endowment.  The marriage is performed by a man who holds the holy priesthood of God and who has received the authority to perform this sacred ordinance.  Acting under the direction of God, he promises the blessings of exaltation to the couple as well as gives them instructions in how to obtain those blessings - with a reminder that all blessings depend on obedience to God's laws.

                    A marriage performed by any authority other than by the priesthood in the temple is for this life only, and the marriage partners have no claim on each other or on their children after death.  A marriage for eternity presents the opportunity for families to continue after this life.  Couples who have previously been married by civil authority may prepare themselves to go to the temple to be sealed for eternity, but a civil marriage is not a requirement for a temple marriage.

                    There are numerous blessings of an eternal marriage, both in this life and in eternity.  Blessings in this life include: 

1) Knowledge and comfort that our marriage can last forever and will not end at death except through our own disobedience.  This knowledge helps us to strive harder to make a happy, successful marriage.  2) Knowledge that our family relationships can continue throughout eternity helps us to be more careful in teaching and training our children.  This knowledge helps us to use more patience and love in dealing with family members and thus helps to make a happier home.  3) When our marriage is performed in God's ordained way, we have the right to the blessings of God upon our marriage as long as we live worthy of those blessings.

                    Heavenly blessings to enjoy include living in the highest degree of the celestial kingdom of God, being exalted as God is, and receiving a fulness of joy.  Keeping an eternal perspective has a great influence on all that we say and do.

                    President Spencer W. Kimball taught, "Marriage is perhaps the most vital of all the decisions and has the most far-reaching effects, for it has to do not only with immediate happiness, but also with eternal joys.  It affects not only the two people involved, but also their families and particularly their children and their children's children down through the many generations.  In selecting a companion for life and for eternity, certainly the most careful planning and thinking and praying and fasting should be done to be sure that of all the decisions, this one must not be wrong"  (Teachings of Presidents of the Church:  Spencer W. Kimball [2006], 193).