REL 200 - The Eternal Family

Readings:

"The family is ordained of God." (The Family: A Proclamation to the World)

Pres. Joseph F. Smith
The Sacred and Eternal Character of the Institution of Marriage
Gospel Doctrine, p. 272

... [This] institution of marriage is not a man-made institution.  It is of God.  It is honorable, and no man who is of marriageable age is living his religion who remains single.  It is not simply devised for the convenience alone of man, to suit his own notions, and his own ideas; to marry and then divorce, to adopt and then to discard, just as he pleases.  There are great consequences connected with it, consequences which reach beyond this present time, into all eternity, for thereby souls are begotten into the world, and men and women obtain their being in the world.

Marriage is the preserver of the human race.  Without it, the purposes of God would be frustrated; virtue would be destroyed to give place to vice and corruption, and the earth would be void and empty.

Neither are the relationships that exist, or should exist, between parents and children, and between children and parents, of an ephemeral nature, nor of a temporal character.  They are of eternal consequence, reaching beyond the veil ...

The man and the woman who engage in this ordinance of matrimony are engaging in something that is of such far-reaching character, and is of such vast importance, that thereby hangs life and death, and eternal increase.  Thereupon depends eternal happiness, or eternal misery.

The Prophet Joseph Smith
Living Eternal Laws and Covenants Brings the Enjoyment of Eternal Blessings
The Words of Joseph Smith, p.232

All Blessings that were ordained for man by the council of heaven were on conditions of obedience to the law thereof. No man can obtain an eternal blessing unless the contract or covenant be made in view of eternity. All contracts in view of this life only terminate with this life. ...

Those who keep no eternal Law in this life or make no eternal contract are single [and] alone in the eternal world (Luke 20-35) and are only made angels to minister to those who shall be heirs of salvation never becoming Sons of God having never kept the Law of God --i.e. eternal Law. The earthly is the image of the Heavenly shows that is by the multiplication of lives that the eternal worlds are created and occupied ...

Elder Joseph Fielding Smith
Marriage Brings Glory
The Progress of Man, p. 391

The greatest glory that can be given to man is found in the eternal covenant of marriage-- the power to become gods, even the sons of God and to possess the power to create and hold the everlasting right of increase.

The Prophet Joseph Smith
Defining the Melchizedek Priesthood
Teachings,  p. 166

... [the Melchizedek Priesthood] is the channel through which all knowledge, doctrine, the plan of salvation and every important matter is revealed from heaven.  Its institution was prior to the "foundation of this earth...", and [it] is the highest and holiest Priesthood, and is after the order of the Son of God, and  all other Priesthoods are only parts, ramifications, powers and blessings belonging to the same, and are held, controlled, and directed by it. ...

[the Melchizedek Priesthood] is the channel through which the Almighty commenced revealing His glory at the beginning of the creation of the earth, and through which He has continued to reveal Himself to the children of men to the present time, and through which He will make known his purposes to the end of time.

... the Melchizedek Priesthood ... holds the highest authority which pertains to the priesthood, and the keys of the Kingdom of God in all ages of the world to the latest posterity on the earth; ...

President Brigham Young
The Eternal Blessings and Privileges of the Melchizedek Priesthood
Discourses of Brigham Young,  p. 49

The Priesthood of God, that was given to the ancients and is given to men in the latter days, is co-equal in duration with eternity—is without beginning of days or end of life. It is unchangeable in its system of government and its Gospel of salvation. It gives to Gods and angels their supremacy and power, and offers wealth, influence, posterity, exaltations, power, glory, kingdoms and thrones, ceaseless in their duration, to all who will accept them on the terms upon which they are offered.

The Prophet Joseph Smith
The Melchizedek Priesthood and the Abrahamic Covenant
Teachings, p.171;  Journal of Discourses 6:238

... the keys of this Priesthood consisted in obtaining the voice of Jehovah ... in a familiar and friendly manner, [and in obtaining] the keys, the covenants, the power and the glory, with which [the Lord] blessed Adam at the beginning ...

This is why Abraham blessed his posterity--he wanted to bring them into the presence of God. ... In the first ages of the world they tried to establish the same thing: and there were Eliases raised up who tried to restore these very glories, but did not obtain them: but they prophesied of a day when this glory would be revealed. Paul spoke of the dispensation of the fulness of times, when God would gather together all things in one, &c.; and those men to whom these keys have been given will have to be there; and they without us cannot be made perfect.

• The blessing of becoming a great nation
• The right to bless one's posterity
• The right to bear this ministry and priesthood unto all nations
• The right to bless all the families of the earth with the blessings of salvation, even life eternal
• The right to perpetuate (i.e. maintain or claim) these rights from generation to generation

The power and authority by which the administration of any of the blessings of the Gospel of Abraham made by a righteous mortal priesthood holder--which administration is made by means of ordinances and covenants--would be recognized (or validated) in eternity.

The Orders of the Priesthood
Doctrine & Covenants 107:1, 5-8, 18-20

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Priesthood Organization in the Church (simplified)
Doctrine & Covenants 107:21-27, 30

Questions for Review

Be prepared to present your understanding about this topic to your classmates, and see if you have additional questions to ask me.  I'll be glad to answer them.