The Eternal Family

     As members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, we believe that families are of an eternal nature. As indicated in The Family: A Proclamation to The World, "Marriage between a man and woman is ordained of God and that the family is central to the Creator's plan for the eternal destiny of his children". God is eternal, and because He so dearly loves His children, the plan of happiness includes "family relationships being perpetuated beyond the grave" through sacred covenants and ordinances made in the temple. Families can be sealed together, and united eternally.

     Let's first look at the plan of salvation. In Successful Marriages and Families, Daniel K. Judd explains that in the "pre-mortal period, a grand council was held where God, our Heavenly Father, presented the plan of salvation (Moses 6:62) to all of His children (Abraham 3:21-18 and Moses 4:1-4)." During this council, many doctrines were presented to us, including the eternal family. We learned that the plan of redemption required a Savior to take upon him the pains, sins and sicknesses of God's children (Alma 7). This permitted every physical being that was to sin and die to eventually, through repentance, return and live in the presence of God. The plan of salvation gave way for it's divine purpose: "to bring to pass the immortality and eternal life of man" (Moses 1:39). It is through this plan that we are able to fulfill our sacred missions, such as a being a son, daughter, sister, brother wife, husband, mother or father.

     One of the building blocks of the plan of salvation is the doctrine of the Creation. As we were created to reflect His image, families were also created to reflect how the family existed in the pre-mortal world. In Successful Marriages and Families, Daniel K Judd quotes Joseph Smith's teaching: "Man, as a spirit, was begotten and born of heavenly parents, and reared to maturity in the eternal mansions of the Father prior to coming upon the earth in a temporal body". From this, we can grasp the resounding truth that we have heavenly parents, and that we are "spirit offspring of God" (Successful Marriages and Families).

    As spirit offspring of God, we were endowed with a divine gender. We are spirit sons and daughters of a Heavenly Father. Our gender is "an essential characteristic of individual premortal, mortal, and eternal identity and purpose" (the Family: A Proclamation to The World). President Lorenzo Snow instructed that "As man now is, God once was; as God now is, man may be". This teaches us that as sons and daughters of God, we have the divine potential to become like Him; and only through becoming a mortal man and woman can this potential be reached. 

     The Fall of Adam and Eve made learning and growth feasible through the experiences we acquire here on Earth. If we had remained in the Garden of Eden, we would have never known the true meaning of joy as we would have never experienced the alternative - the bitter. Life in the Garden of Eden would have been stagnant and without purpose. 2 Nephi 2:25 highlights the precious outcome of the Fall: "Adam fell that men might be, and man are that they might have joy". While many religions view the Fall a negative event, we know the Fall to be vital in the bringing forth of physical life and fulfilling a commandment our Father in Heaven so boldly declared: "The first commandment 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" (The Family: A Proclamation To The World, 1995). 

    Successful Marriages and Families calls attention to a teaching from the prophet Lehi, which expands on this doctrine: "And now, behold, if Adam had not transgressed he would not have fallen, but he would have remained in the Garden of Eden ... all things which were created must have remained in the same state in which they were after were created, and they must have remained forever, and had no end. And they would have no children; wherefore they would have remained in a state of innocence, having no joy, for they knew no misery, doing no good, for they knew no sin". The Fall brought our agency to light, and thus, constantly gifts us with opportunities to choose good over evil within our own families and marriages. 

 The Atonement of Jesus Christ is the greatest love story ever told (Richard Chau). His Atonement makes "the forgiveness of sins, the resurrection of our bodies, and eternal family relationships possible" (Successful Families and Marriages). A sacred teaching from the Savior demonstrates to us how truly loving God and the Savior enables us to form a Christ-like love for our families: "And thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind, and with all thy strength: this is the first commandment. And the second is like, namely this, Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself. There is none other commandment greater than these (Mark 12:30-31)". 

    The Atonement of Jesus Christ is an immeasurable blessing in families. The Atonement has the power to heal hearts and bring families together by the means of repentance, forgiveness, faith and the direction of the Holy Ghost. 

     I am so thankful for my Heavenly Father's divine and intricate plan of happiness. I am grateful that through my understanding and application of the Plan of Salvation, the Creation, the Fall of Adam and Eve and the Atonement of Jesus Christ, my family can be eternally united and experience true joy. 

My Eternal Family