LDS FAMILY PROCLAMATION CRITIQUE
THE FAMILY
A PROCLAMATION TO THE WORLD
THE FIRST PRESIDENCY AND COUNCIL OF THE TWELVE APOSTLES OF THE CHURCH OF JESUS CHRIST OF LATTER-DAY SAINTS
We, the First Presidency and the Council of the Twelve Apostles of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (1),
solemnly proclaim that marriage between a man and a woman is ordained
of God and that the family is central to the Creator’s plan for the
eternal destiny of His children (2).
All human beings—male and female—are created in the image of God. (3) Each is a beloved spirit son or daughter of heavenly parents, and, as such, each has a divine nature and destiny (4). Gender is an essential characteristic of individual premortal, mortal, and eternal identity and purpose (5).
In the premortal realm, spirit sons and daughters knew and worshipped God as their Eternal Father (6)
and accepted His plan by which His children could obtain a physical
body and gain earthly experience to progress toward perfection (7) and ultimately realize their divine destiny as heirs of eternal life (8). The divine plan of happiness enables family relationships to be perpetuated beyond the grave (9). Sacred ordinances and covenants available in holy temples (10) make it possible for individuals to return to the presence of God (11) and for families to be united eternally (12).
The first commandment that God gave to Adam and Eve pertained to their potential for parenthood as husband and wife (13). We declare that God’s commandment for His children to multiply and replenish the earth remains in force (14).
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 (15).
We declare the means by which mortal life is created to be divinely
appointed. We affirm the sanctity of life and of its importance in
God’s eternal plan (16).
Husband and wife have a solemn responsibility to love and care for each other and for their children (17).
“Children are an heritage of the Lord” (Psalm 127:3). Parents have a
sacred duty to rear their children in love and righteousness, to
provide for their physical and spiritual needs, and to teach them to
love and serve one another, observe the commandments of God, and be
law-abiding citizens wherever they live (18). Husbands and wives—mothers and fathers—will be held accountable before God for the discharge of these obligations (19).
The family is ordained of God (20). Marriage between man and woman is essential to His eternal plan (21).
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 (22). Happiness in family life is most likely to be achieved when founded upon the teachings of the Lord Jesus Christ (23).
Successful marriages and families are established and maintained on
principles of faith, prayer, repentance, forgiveness, respect, love,
compassion, work, and wholesome recreational activities (24).
By divine design, fathers are to preside over their families in love
and righteousness and are responsible to provide the necessities of
life and protection for their families. Mothers are primarily
responsible for the nurture of their children (25).
In these sacred responsibilities, fathers and mothers are obligated to
help one another as equal partners. Disability, death, or other
circumstances may necessitate individual adaptation. Extended families
should lend support when needed (26).
We warn that individuals who violate covenants of chastity, who abuse
spouse or offspring, or who fail to fulfill family responsibilities
will one day stand accountable before God (27).
Further, we warn that the disintegration of the family will bring upon
individuals, communities, and nations the calamities foretold by
ancient and modern prophets (28).
We call upon responsible citizens and officers of government (29) everywhere to promote those measures designed to maintain and strengthen the family as the fundamental unit of society (30).
This proclamation was read by President Gordon B. Hinckley as part of
his message at the General Relief Society Meeting held September 23,
1995, in Salt Lake City, Utah.
1) The era of apostles was over in the first century AD.
Now, therefore, you are no longer strangers and foreigners, but fellow
citizens with the saints and members of the household of God, having
been built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ
Himself being the chief cornerstone, in whom the whole building, being
fitted together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord, in whom you also
are being built together for a dwelling place of God in the Spirit.
Ephesians 2:19-22
Note: The foundation was laid 2,000 years ago and the roof is going on now.
2) Salvation is central to God’s plan for mankind.
And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the
Son of Man be lifted up, that whoever believes in Him should not perish
but have eternal life. For God so loved the world that He gave His only
begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have
everlasting life. For God did not send His Son into the world to
condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved. John
3:14-17
3) All people are created as a minor trinity in the image of God.
Now may the God of peace Himself sanctify you completely; and may your
whole spirit, soul, and body be preserved blameless at the coming of
our Lord Jesus Christ. 1 Thessalonians 5:23
4) There is only one God eternally who is the savior of mankind.
“You are My witnesses,” says the LORD, “And My servant whom I have
chosen, that you may know and believe Me, and understand that I am He.
Before Me there was no God formed, nor shall there be after Me. I, even
I, am the LORD, and besides Me there is no savior.” Isaiah 43:10-11
5) Humans were created on the earth not in the spirit realm.
“For ask now concerning the days that are past, which were before you,
since the day that God created man on the earth, and ask from one end
of heaven to the other, whether any great thing like this has happened,
or anything like it has been heard.” Deuteronomy 4:32
6) Humans were created on the earth not in the spirit realm.
This is the book of the genealogy of Adam. In the day that God created
man, He made him in the likeness of God. He created them male and
female and blessed them and called them Mankind in the day they were
created. Genesis 5:1-2
7) Mankind is saved by God and does not progress into eternity.
When
His disciples heard it, they were greatly astonished, saying, “Who then
can be saved?” But Jesus looked at them and said to them, “With men
this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.” Matthew
19:25-26
8) Mankind is saved through faith by Jesus Christ.
But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were
still sinners, Christ died for us. Much more then, having now been
justified by His blood, we shall be saved from wrath through Him. For
if when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God through the death of
His Son, much more, having been reconciled, we shall be saved by His
life. Romans 5:8-10
9) Marriage ceases after this lifetime.
The same day the Sadducees, who say there is no resurrection, came to
Him and asked Him, saying: “Teacher, Moses said that if a man dies,
having no children, his brother shall marry his wife and raise up
offspring for his brother. Now there were with us seven brothers. The
first died after he had married, and having no offspring, left his wife
to his brother. Likewise, the second also, and the third, even to the
seventh. Last of all the woman died also. Therefore, in the
resurrection, whose wife of the seven will she be? For they all had
her.” Jesus answered and said to them, “You are mistaken, not knowing the
Scriptures nor the power of God. For in the resurrection, they neither
marry nor are given in marriage, but are like angels of God in heaven.
Matthew 22:23-30
10) Temples are not needed for salvation in Jesus Christ.
For we are God’s fellow workers; you are God’s field, you are God’s
building. According to the grace of God, which was given to me, as a
wise master builder I have laid the foundation, and another builds on
it. But let each one take heed how he builds on it. For no other
foundation can anyone lay than that which is laid, which is Jesus
Christ. Now if anyone builds on this foundation with gold, silver,
precious stones, wood, hay, straw, each one’s work will become clear;
for the Day will declare it, because it will be revealed by fire; and
the fire will test each one’s work, of what sort it is. If anyone’s
work which he has built on it endures, he will receive a reward. If
anyone’s work is burned, he will suffer loss; but he himself will be
saved, yet so as through fire. Do you not know that you are the temple
of God and that the Spirit of God dwells in you? If anyone defiles the
temple of God, God will destroy him. For the temple of God is holy,
which temple you are. 1 Corinthians 3:9-17
11) Believers are saved back into the presence of God by Jesus Christ.
But God has chosen the foolish things of the world to put to shame the
wise, and God has chosen the weak things of the world to put to shame
the things which are mighty; and the base things of the world and the
things which are despised God has chosen, and the things which are not,
to bring to nothing the things that are, that no flesh should glory in
His presence. But of Him you are in Christ Jesus, who became for us
wisdom from God—and righteousness and sanctification and redemption—
that, as it is written, “He who glories, let him glory in the LORD.” 1
Corinthians 1:27-31
12) Family members who reject Jesus Christ will not be with believers.
“For I have come to set a man against his father, a daughter against
her mother, and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law’; and a
man’s enemies will be those of his own household.’ He who loves father
or mother more than Me is not worthy of Me. And he who loves son or
daughter more than Me is not worthy of Me. And he who does not take his
cross and follow after Me is not worthy of Me. He who finds his life
will lose it, and he who loses his life for My sake will find it.”
Matthew 10:35-39
13) The first commandment given was not to know evil.
Then the LORD God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to
tend and keep it. And the LORD God commanded the man, saying, “Of every
tree of the garden you may freely eat; but of the tree of the knowledge
of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it
you shall surely die.” Genesis 2:15-17
14) Satan wants us to know evil and think we can be gods.
Now the serpent was more cunning than any beast of the field which the
LORD God had made. And he said to the woman, “Has God indeed said, ‘You
shall not eat of every tree of the garden’?” And the woman said to the
serpent, “We may eat the fruit of the trees of the garden; but of the
fruit of the tree, which is in the midst of the garden, God has said,
‘You shall not eat it, nor shall you touch it, lest you die.’” Then the
serpent said to the woman, “You will not surely die. For God knows that
in the day you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like
God, knowing good and evil.” Genesis 3:1-5
15) Marriage is between a biological male and female.
And the LORD God caused a deep sleep to fall on Adam, and he slept; and
He took one of his ribs and closed up the flesh in its place. Then the
rib which the LORD God had taken from man He made into a woman, and He
brought her to the man. And Adam said: “This is now bone of my bones
and flesh of my flesh; She shall be called Woman, because she was taken
out of Man.” Therefore, a man shall leave his father and mother and be
joined to his wife, and they shall become one flesh. Genesis 2:21-24
16) Human life is wonderfully made by God while Satan destroys.
For You formed my inward parts; You covered me in my mother’s womb. I
will praise You, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made; Marvelous are
Your works, and that my soul knows very well. Psalms 139:13-14
17) Marriage should resemble the relationship between Jesus Christ and the church.
Wives, submit to your own husbands, as to the Lord. For the husband is
head of the wife, as also Christ is head of the church; and He is the
Savior of the body. Therefore, just as the church is subject to Christ,
so let the wives be to their own husbands in everything. Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ also loved the church and
gave Himself for her, that He might sanctify and cleanse her with the
washing of water by the word, that He might present her to Himself a
glorious church, not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing, but that
she should be holy and without blemish. So, husbands ought to love
their own wives as their own bodies; he who loves his wife loves
himself. Ephesians 5:22-28
18) Parents and children have responsibilities before God.
Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right. “Honor your
father and mother,” which is the first commandment with promise: “that
it may be well with you and you may live long on the earth.” And you,
fathers, do not provoke your children to wrath, but bring them up in
the training and admonition of the Lord. Ephesians 6:1-4
19) Believers are to love their children and be sound in faith.
But as for you, speak the things which are proper for sound doctrine:
that the older men be sober, reverent, temperate, sound in faith, in
love, in patience; the older women likewise, that they be reverent in
behavior, not slanderers, not given to much wine, teachers of good
things— that they admonish the young women to love their husbands, to
love their children, to be discreet, chaste, homemakers, good, obedient
to their own husbands, that the word of God may not be blasphemed.
Titus 2:1-5
20) Marriage is for protection against evil conduct.
Now concerning the things of which you wrote to me: It is good for a
man not to touch a woman. Nevertheless, because of sexual immorality,
let each man have his own wife, and let each woman have her own
husband. Let the husband render to his wife the affection due her, and
likewise also the wife to her husband. The wife does not have authority
over her own body, but the husband does. And likewise, the husband does
not have authority over his own body, but the wife does. Do not deprive
one another except with consent for a time, that you may give
yourselves to fasting and prayer; and come together again so that Satan
does not tempt you because of your lack of self-control. 1 Corinthians
7:1-5
21) Faith in Jesus Christ is essential to God’s plan of salvation for mankind.
But God, who is rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He
loved us, even when we were dead in trespasses, made us alive together
with Christ (by grace you have been saved), and raised us up together,
and made us sit together in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, that
in the ages to come He might show the exceeding riches of His grace in
His kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. For by grace you have been
saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God,
not of works, lest anyone should boast. Ephesians 2:4-9
22) Disciples of Jesus Christ will value salvation over family.
Now great multitudes went with Him. And He turned and said to them, “If
anyone comes to Me and does not hate his father and mother, wife and
children, brothers and sisters, yes, and his own life also, he cannot
be My disciple. And whoever does not bear his cross and come after Me
cannot be My disciple. Luke 14:25-27
23) Disciples of Jesus Christ will value salvation over family.
Then Peter said, “See, we have left all and followed You.” So, He said
to them, “Assuredly, I say to you, there is no one who has left house
or parents or brothers or wife or children, for the sake of the kingdom
of God, who shall not receive many times more in this present time, and
in the age to come eternal life.” Luke 18:28-30
24) Faith in Jesus Christ is essential to God’s plan of salvation for mankind.
“And He said, ‘I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting. But rise and stand
on your feet; for I have appeared to you for this purpose, to make you
a minister and a witness both of the things which you have seen and of
the things which I will yet reveal to you. I will deliver you from the
Jewish people, as well as from the Gentiles, to whom I now send you, to
open their eyes, in order to turn them from darkness to light, and from
the power of Satan to God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins
and an inheritance among those who are sanctified by faith in Me.’”
Acts 26:15-18
25) Disciples of Jesus Christ will value salvation over family.
“Behold, I send you out as sheep in the midst of wolves. Therefore, be
wise as serpents and harmless as doves. But beware of men, for they
will deliver you up to councils and scourge you in their synagogues.
You will be brought before governors and kings for My sake, as a
testimony to them and to the Gentiles. But when they deliver you up, do
not worry about how or what you should speak. For it will be given to
you in that hour what you should speak; for it is not you who speak,
but the Spirit of your Father who speaks in you. Now brother will
deliver up brother to death, and a father his child; and children will
rise up against parents and cause them to be put to death. And you will
be hated by all for My name’s sake.” Matthew 10:16-22
26) Christians will preach the death of Jesus Christ for salvation.
For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing,
but to us who are being saved it is the power of God. For it is
written: “I will destroy the wisdom of the wise and bring to nothing
the understanding of the prudent.” Where is the wise? Where is the
scribe? Where is the disputer of this age? Has not God made foolish the
wisdom of this world? For since, in the wisdom of God, the world
through wisdom did not know God, it pleased God through the foolishness
of the message preached to save those who believe. For Jews request a
sign, and Greeks seek after wisdom; but we preach Christ crucified, to
the Jews a stumbling block and to the Greeks foolishness, but to those
who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the
wisdom of God. 1 Corinthians 1:18-24
27) There won’t be a second chance for evil people to repent.
Then I saw a great white throne and Him who sat on it, from whose face
the earth and the heaven fled away. And there was found no place for
them. And I saw the dead, small and great, standing before God, and
books were opened. And another book was opened, which is the Book of
Life. And the dead were judged according to their works, by the things
which were written in the books. The sea gave up the dead who were in
it, and Death and Hades delivered up the dead who were in them. And
they were judged, each one according to his works. Then Death and Hades
were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death. And anyone
not found written in the Book of Life was cast into the lake of fire.
Revelation 20:11-15
28) There are no modern prophets.
God, who at various times and in various ways spoke in time past to the
fathers by the prophets, has in these last days spoken to us by His
Son, whom He has appointed heir of all things, through whom also He
made the worlds; who being the brightness of His glory and the express
image of His person, and upholding all things by the word of His power,
when He had by Himself purged our sins, sat down at the right hand of
the Majesty on high, having become so much better than the angels, as
He has by inheritance obtained a more excellent name than they. Hebrews
1:1-4
29) God ordained government will punish evil people.
Let every soul be subject to the governing authorities. For there is no
authority except from God, and the authorities that exist are appointed
by God. Therefore, whoever resists the authority resists the ordinance
of God, and those who resist will bring judgment on themselves. For
rulers are not a terror to good works, but to evil. Do you want to be
unafraid of the authority? Do what is good, and you will have praise
from the same. For he is God’s minister to you for good. But if you do
evil, be afraid; for he does not bear the sword in vain; for he is
God’s minister, an avenger to execute wrath on him who practices evil.
Romans 13:1-4
30) Christians will preach faith in Jesus Christ through confession to salvation.
But what does it say? “The word is near you, in your mouth and in your
heart” (that is, the word of faith which we preach): that if you
confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that
God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart
one believes unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made
unto salvation. For the Scripture says, “Whoever believes on Him will
not be put to shame.” For there is no distinction between Jew and
Greek, for the same Lord over all is rich to all who call upon Him. For
“whoever calls on the name of the LORD shall be saved.” Romans 10:8-13