Finding Happiness, The Moral Force of Woman, Marriage is Essential

Richard Scott, finding Happiness

We had to read a few articles this week for Unit 2 and we covered some very important topics that are the base of the LDS Religion.  Here are a few quotes from my favorites of the talks from the week.

Elder Scott start his talk off about an experience he had while sleeping.  He was searching for his wife but found himself surrounded by terribly unhappy people who were telling him he would never find his wife, and even if he did, she was not the same anymore.  Here is a link to read the full article.

"I realized that I was surrounded with evil individuals who were completely unhappy, with no purpose save that of frustrating the happiness of others so that they too would become miserable."

"A confining, controlling, destructive influence that can be overcome by faith in and obedience to truth.  Our Father’s love, his perfections, and his perfect righteousness are absolute guarantees that we will ever exist as an individual entity, an intelligence clothed with spirit and body with latent divine capacities that mature and flower through obedience to his plan and his commandments."

"I am confident you have the intention of doing all of the right things. Yet I wonder, are you doing them as fully and as completely as you are capable of doing?"

"By the choices you make, you can surround yourself with individuals and influences that will constantly aid you in your determination to live the commandments of God. In so doing you will receive the fullness of blessings possible from his comprehensive plan of happiness conditioned to your specific needs."

"Although it may not be a welcome insight, you will grow more rapidly through challenge and trial than from a life of ease and serenity with no disturbing elements. The intent of your Father in Heaven is to lift you from where you are to where he knows you will have eternal purpose and unspeakable happiness. By using the talents, abilities, and latent capacities developed in the pre-mortal existence, he will lead you through growth experiences here on earth.  We cannot comprehend, we cannot appreciate adequately the price he paid nor what this selfless, sinless, perfect being has done for us in total obedience to his Father’s will."

Todd Christopherson, The Moral Force of Women

This was a terrific article that expounds on the importance of Women and the roll we play on this earth.  

"Former Young Women general president Margaret D. Nadauld taught: “The world has enough women who are tough; we need women who are tender. There are enough women who are coarse; we need women who are kind. There are enough women who are rude; we need women who are refined. We have enough women of fame and fortune; we need more women of faith.
We have enough greed; we need more goodness. We have enough vanity; we need more virtue. We have enough popularity; we need more purity.”10 In blurring feminine and masculine differences, we lose the distinct, complementary gifts of women and men that together produce a greater whole."

 Marriage is Essential to His Eternal Plan, David A. Bednar

This was my favorite article from this weeks reading, it gets rid of all gray area for any members of the church who's faith might be struggling over eternal families.  Here is a link to read the full article.

"Righteous marriage is a commandment and an essential step in the process of creating a loving family relationship that can be perpetuated beyond the grave. The natures of male and female spirits complete and perfect each other."

 “Gender is an essential characteristic of individual pre-mortal, mortal, and eternal identity and purpose” 4 and in large measure defines who we are, why we are here upon the earth, and what we are to do and become. For divine purposes, male and female spirits are different, distinctive, and complementary."

 "Alone, neither the man nor the woman could fulfill the purposes of his or her creation.

 By divine design, both a man and a woman are needed to bring children into mortality and to provide the best setting for the rearing and nurturing of children."

 "Home with a loving and loyal husband and wife is the supreme setting in which children can be reared in love and righteousness and in which the spiritual and physical needs of children can be met. those same characteristics are vital to the rearing, nurturing, and teaching of children.

 Principle 1: The importance of eternal marriage can be understood only within the context of the Father’s plan of happiness."

  "The doctrine of the plan leads men and women to hope and prepare for eternal marriage, and it defeats the fears and overcomes the uncertainties that may cause some individuals to delay or avoid marriage. A correct understanding of the plan also strengthens our resolve to steadfastly honor the covenant of eternal marriage. Our individual learning, our teaching, and our testifying in both the home and at church will be magnified as we ponder and more fully understand this truth.

Principle 2: Satan desires that all men and women might be miserable like unto himself.

The Father’s plan is designed to provide direction for His children, to help them become happy, and to bring them safely home to Him. Lucifer’s attacks on the plan are intended to make the sons and daughters of God confused and unhappy and to halt their eternal progression. The over arching intent of the father of lies is that all of us would become “miserable like unto himself ” (2 Ne. 2:27), and he works to warp the elements of the Father’s plan he hates the most. Satan does not have a body, he cannot marry, and he will not have a family. And he persistently strives to confuse the divinely appointed purposes of gender, marriage, and family. Throughout the world, we see growing evidence of the effectiveness of Satan’s efforts."

"The ultimate blessings of love and happiness are obtained through the covenant relationship of eternal marriage."

 "As a husband and wife are each drawn to the Lord (see 3 Ne. 27:14), as they learn to serve and cherish one another, as they share life experiences and grow together and become one, and as they are blessed through the uniting of their distinctive natures, they begin to realize the fulfillment that our Heavenly Father desires for His children. Ultimate happiness, which is the very object of the Father’s plan, is received through the making and honoring of eternal marriage covenants."

 "We are ordinary people who must accomplish a most extraordinary work."

The Divine Institution of Marriage

This was an article from our class reading, which can't be linked so here are a few important quotes.

 "God’s purposes for establishing marriage have not changed. One purpose of this document is to reaffirm the Church’s declaration that marriage is the lawful union of a man and a woman.

A fourth purpose of this document is to reaffirm that Church members should address the issue of same-sex marriage with respect and civility and should treat all people with love and humanity.

Marriage is sacred and was ordained of God from before the foundation of the world. Jesus Christ affirmed the divine origins of marriage: “Have ye not read, that he which made them at the beginning made them male and female, and said, For this cause shall a man leave father and mother, and shall cleave to his wife: and they twain shall be one flesh?” Matthew 19:4–5

Extensive studies have shown, however, that a husband and wife who are united in a loving, committed marriage generally provide the ideal environment for protecting, nurturing, and raising children.  This is in part because of the differing qualities and strengths that husbands and wives bring to the task by virtue of their gender.  But as Elder Dallin H. Oaks has observed, “Tolerance does not require abandoning one’s standards or one’s opinions on political or public policy choices. Tolerance is a way of reacting to diversity, not a command to insulate it from examination.”

"The Savior taught that we should love the sinner without condoning the sin. In the case of the woman taken in adultery, He treated her kindly but exhorted her to “sin no more.”[12] His example manifested the highest love possible.  In addition to using the argument of tolerance to advocate redefining marriage, proponents have advanced the argument of “equality before the law.” No mortal law, however, can override or nullify the moral standards established by God. Nor can the laws of men change the natural, innate differences between the genders or deny the close biological and social link between procreation and marriage."

"Strong, independent families are vital for political and religious freedom."