This week in my
classes I feel like the overall theme was the world is deteriorating the
family. We studied many trends that are sweeping nations all over the world
that are leading people away from families. These trends include increased
amounts of people participating in premarital sex, more women are having
out-of-wedlock childbirths, more people are living alone, more people are
choosing to cohabitate, more people are delaying marriage, decreased fertility
(women are having less children), the average household size is decreasing,
more mothers are working while they have children living at home (especially
for women with children under the age of six), and divorce is still present in
our societies. I know that families are central to God’s plan. Families are
essential in our journey to our return to our Heavenly Father. Sister Julie B Beck has said, “the plan of
happiness and the plan of salvation was a plan created for families… without
the family, there is no plan; there is no reason for it.” President Henry B
Eyring has also said, “the family unit is not only fundamental to society and
to the Church, but to our hope for eternal life.” Elder Robert D Hales said, “because
of the importance of the family to the eternal plan of happiness, Satan, makes
a major effort to destroy the sanctity of the family, demean the importance of
the role of men and women, encourage moral uncleanliness and violations of the
sacred law of chastity, and to discourage parents from placing the bearing and
rearing of children as on the their highest priorities.” As you look at the
worldly trends you can see that Satan is working hard to demean the family.
Here are some of
the effects of the crumbling of families around the world. Paul R Amato, a Professor
of Family Sociology and Demography at PennState with a Ph.D. in Behavioral
Science, did some meta-analyses of the effects living in different types of
families had on children’s cognitive, emotional, and social well-being. He
found that the best family environment for children to be raised in was in a
home that had both of the child’s biological parents who were happily married
to one another. Children in divorced families, those who were born outside the
bonds of marriage, children living in discordant two parent families, step
families, or single-parent families all had some risk of cognitive, emotional,
and/or social risks or problems when compared to children who grew up with both
their parents in their families. There was actually less risk for children who
had had a parent die than those in non-traditional families. Many gay and
lesbian couples are pushing for legalized marriages and unions and want the
right to adopt children. The world says these people are in love and that there
is no effect on the children who are raised in these families. In class we
looked at a study that had evidence that these children suffered risks similar
to other children who live in non-traditional families. I know that “children
are entitled to birth within the bonds of matrimony, and to be reared by a
father and mother who honor marital vows with complete fidelity” (The Family a
Proclamation to the World). Elder David A Bednar said, “By divine design, both
a man and a woman are needed to bring children into mortality and to provide
the best setting the rearing and nurturing of children.” This next quote is
from The Divine Institution of Marriage, which is a statement from the church
newsroom. “Marriage is far more than a contract between individuals to ratify
their affections and provide for mutual obligations. Rather, marriage is a
vital institution for rearing children and teaching them to become responsible adults…
in almost every culture marriage has been protected and endorsed by governments
primarily to preserve and foster the institution most central to rearing
children and teaching them the moral values that undergird civilization…The
complementarity of male and female parenting styles is striking and of enormous
importance to a child's overall development.” Throughout the world there are decreases
in fertility: In The Family a Proclamation to the World it states, “God’s
commandment for His children to multiply and replenish the earth remains in
force.” We still need to have children. These next two quotes show the
importance we have in raising our families in the gospel. President Spencer W
Kimball, talking about before we came to earth, said, “you understood that you were to act in
partnership with God in providing bodies for other spirits equally anxious to
come to the earth for righteous purposes. And so you will not postpone
parenthood.” President Brigham Young said, “There are multitudes of pure and holy spirits
waiting to take tabernacles, now what is our duty?—To prepare tabernacles for
them; to take a course that will not tend to drive those spirits into the
families of the wicked, where they will be trained in wickedness, debauchery,
and every species of crime. It is the duty of every righteous man and woman to
prepare tabernacles for all the spirits they can.”
I
know that the Family is of God. Before we came to this earth we lived as a
family with a Heavenly Father and a Heavenly Mother. I know we rejoiced when we
heard that we would have the opportunity, on earth, to become parents. I know
there are spirits waiting to become part of my earthly family. I know that
through faith the Lord will help me and my husband raise a righteous family.
This link is to a video about the joy they have received from having children.
