One Mann's Viewpoint

The Family: A Proclamation of Action The Family: A Proclamation to the World outlines the purposes of family and the divine roles of a fathers, mothers, husbands, and wives. It lays out clearly how to organize the family and how to make the family experience the most enjoyable. The last and final paragraph of the proclamation serves as a call to arms, inviting everyone to support the words in the proclamation because they are the words of God. It reads... WE CALL UPON responsible citizens and officers of government everywhere to promote those measures designed to maintain and strengthen the family as the fundamental unit of society. How can the everyday "joe" like you and me promote these measures to strengthen the family. One of the most important things we can do is begin living the council that we gain from the proclamation. By living it, the people around you will begin to see the difference and ask themselves what you are doing differently. We can also all promote

The Family: A Proclamation on Accountability The 8th paragraph of "The Family: A Proclamation to the World" holds within it a warning. The Lord knew that when families operated appropriately the results could be beautiful, but he equally understands the destruction that can come to people's lives when their family situation is less than ideal. Knowing this, the majority of the proclamation is about how families should act at the ideal level. This paragraph is a warning when life is not ideal. The 8th paragraph reads...  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. Further, we warn that the disintegration of the family will bring upon individuals, communities, and nations the calamities foretold by ancient and modern prophets. Accountability to God means that we will be judged for our actions in the family.  Violating covenant

Sexual Purity: The Website Throughout this semester of school at BYU-Idaho I have taken a religion course based around the importance of eternal families. While in the class, I was assigned a group as well as a subject to which we created a website. Our topic was sexual purity! Our finished webiste's link is... https://reallovewaits4u.weebly.com/ Initially I was excited about the prospect of studying sexual purity, but worried that in the stage of life I am in there isn't much I could apply to my own self. I had only recently been married and a large aspect of sexual purity is abstaining from sex before marriage. I came to learn that purity comes in more forms that this. Being sexually pure is not something that ends after marriage, but rather continues for the rest of our lives. It is a marker of how we think about others, especially our spouse. It has to do with what we allow into our minds, choosing consciously to allow holy things into our minds. This happens as we c

The Family: A Proclamation on Family Responsibility Each paragraph of "The Family: A Proclamation to the World" focuses on an important aspect of God's plan with which the family is always at the center. The seventh paragraph is no different. This paragraph outlines how a happy family life can be established, as well as the important roles that a father and mother take on. It reads... THE FAMILY is ordained of God. Marriage between man and woman is essential to His eternal plan. 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. Happiness in family life is most likely to be achieved when founded upon the teachings of the Lord Jesus Christ. Successful marriages and families are established and maintained on principles of faith, prayer, repentance, forgiveness, respect, love, compassion, work, and wholesome recreational activities. By divine design, fathers are to presi

The Family: A Proclamation on Marriage and Parenthood  The Family: A Proclamation to the World shares some of the most important doctrines to The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. The sixth paragraph dives deeper into the importance of marriage in its effects on children. It also shares the importance of raising children and the responsibility placed on parents in this regard. It reads... HUSBAND AND WIFE have a solemn responsibility to love and care for each other and for their children. “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. Husbands and wives—mothers and fathers—will be held accountable before God for the discharge of these obligations. One of the first principles outlined in this paragraph

Utilizing Media to Teach Media can be a very useful tool for telling a story or creating a dialog that is deeper than only words. Often when music, video, and photos are used it can help the reader to visualize and therefore feel the words. Anyone who has seen the harry potter movies likely cannot now read the books without seeing those actors faces in their minds in place of the characters they read. This is because our minds create the story in we read with images and feelings.  For the past several weeks, I have been working with a group of students at my college to develop a website. The website, called  https://reallovewaits4u.weebly.com/ , is all about looking at the different perspective in the world on the topic of procreation and sexual purity. The goal of the website is to help readers learn more about the subject, and with their knowledge be able to make better choices for their themselves, their children, and their future. One thing the website is lacking is photos

The Family: A Proclamation on Procreation The Family: A Proclamation to the World uses its words carefully and for members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints it is considered revelation. In the same way apostles of old met together after the saviors ascended into heaven to discuss the church, apostles today do the same. After prayer and deliberation, to make sure it was truly the Lords will, they released this proclamation. Not just as a standard to show the beliefs of their church, but to show the true will of God. That is why each word was chosen carefully to be as clear and simple to understand as possible. The 4th and 5th paragraphs on the proclamation discuss how God views procreation and marriage. A topic that I am sure he does not want misunderstood. It reads... THE FIRST COMMANDMENT that 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 th

The Family: A Proclamation on Happiness Part 3 The third paragraph of "The Family: A Proclamation to the World" focuses its contents on the journey that we all are going through. From the beginning of our existence to our hopeful end back in heaven. It reads... In the premortal realm, spirit sons and daughters knew and worshiped God as their Eternal Father and accepted His plan by which His children could obtain a physical body and gain earthly experience to progress toward perfection and ultimately realize his or her divine destiny as heirs of eternal life. The divine plan of happiness enables family relationships to be perpetuated beyond the grave. Sacred ordinances and covenants available in holy temples make it possible for individuals to return to the presence of God and for families to be united eternally. I love this paragraph because it begins by outlining who we are before we even come to earth. Have you ever wondered why your identical twins have such

The Importance of Evaluating Your Life This week I wanted to take a minute and evaluate how my life is going. I thought it would be a good opportunity for everyone who is reading this Blog to do the same.  Hmm... things about my life right now. I am currently happily married, living in a great apartment, adding money to our bank account each month after expenses, and getting fairly good grades. In terms of marriage, financial, and my job, I would say that I am doing pretty good. There are still some definite areas of my life that I still struggle with. I struggle with balancing schoolwork with the rest of my responsibilities, I struggle with staying spiritual and making time to pray and study my scriptures, and I struggle with staying in good contact with my family, mostly my parents and siblings.  The great thing about evaluating your life is that it gives you the opportunity to think deeply on where you can improve and then make a plan to address those issues. For me the

The Family: A Proclamation on Gender! "The Family: A Proclamation To The World" addresses several important facets of human kind. It addresses the importance of the family, the different roles that a father and mother should play, and many other important opinions that relate to the family. The best part of the proclamation is that the information within it is not just mere opinion, it is fact. It is revelation from an all-knowing, all-loving God given to his children to help them get through the world today without as much confusion. In the second paragraph of the proclamation it addresses gender. It reads...  "ALL HUMAN BEINGS—male and female—are created in the image of God. Each is a beloved spirit son or daughter of heavenly parents, and, as such, each has a divine nature and destiny. Gender is an essential characteristic of individual premortal, mortal, and eternal identity and purpose." One the first things that this paragraph addresses is that all

The Sacred Powers of Procreation (Sexual Purity Before and After Marriage) The topic I wish to discuss this is week this the importance of sexual purity, and how sacred the powers of procreation really are. My first impressions when I began to think on this topic were all the trials that people go through when they do not view sex in a respectful or sacred way. From having a baby out of wedlock to infidelity in marriage, there can be some serious issues that can occur when we do not value the importance of appropriate chastity. I was glad that this is subject I know something about, having been married and been able to see how our views before and after marriage is equally important.  Really to me, sexual purity is all about what we do, how we think, and eventually who we are. It is more than avoiding sex until we are married, it is learning to understand and control the natural urges given to bring people together. Learning how important and sacred that sex can be under the

The Family: A Proclamation To You "The Family: A Proclamation To The World" is a list of beliefs for members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. It addresses everything from where we came from before this life to the responsibilities of each Father and Mother. It even shares our beliefs on how God intended a marriage and family to look. Today the proclamation may be considered controversial, as it leaves no gray area as to how the Lord would have us live. In our day however, the definition of marriage, and family roles is shifting on such a sandy surface that it is sure to collapse eventually. The interesting thing about the proclamation to the world, is that is was given in 1995, years before much of these modern day conflicts became truly controversial. The Family: A Proclamation To The World is revelation from God that I full heartedly believe. I know that if the words in this document were followed, then much heartbreak could have been avoided.  W

Why Start Blogging? Starting a blog is never the easiest thing to do, in fact its easier for each of us to just keep our opinions to ourselves. The only issue with this is that there would be very little learning. Imagine if the great inventions of the world were never shared. The Wright brothers would have never shown the world we could fly airplanes, Graham Alexander Bell would have never taught us that we could talk over the phone, and Marcellus Gilmore Edson would have never introduced the world to peanut butter. Each of these inventions have literally shaped our world, but life would have been very different if these opinions, ideas, and thoughts were never shared. Blogging is a tool that we can all use to share.  As members of the Lord's Church, The Church of Jesus Christ of Later Day Saints, blogging allows us an opportunity to share our beliefs with the world. We are all missionaries and it is important to stand up for what we believe, but to do so in a positive wa