Our First Parents

Dear Peoples,

In the talk “Teaching the Doctrine of the Family,” (Ensign, March 2011) Sister Julie B. Beck (former President of the General Relief Society Presidency) says: “Without the family, there is no plan; there is no reason for mortal life.” I already knew this, but the way it was said struck me. In “The Family: A Proclamation to the World,” it says “The first commandment that God gave to Adam and Eve pertained to their potential for parenthood as husband and wife.”

Just in that sentence, I see four things that are very important:

1. They had potential for parenthood.

2. They had to be husband and wife – first!

3. It was a commandment to do these things.

4. It came from all the way back when Adam and Eve were alive...that MUST mean it is important, to have been established in the beginning.

President Ezra Taft Benson (1899–1994) said, “This order...of family government where a man and woman enter into a covenant with God — just as did Adam and Eve — to be sealed for eternity, to have posterity...is the only means by which we can one day see the face of God and live.” (Ezra Taft Benson, “What I Hope You Will Teach Your Children about the Temple,” Ensign, Aug. 1985, 6) (Also in Sister Beck’s talk, previously mentioned)

I know the only way back to Him, our loving Heavenly Father is through families, sealed for time and eternity.

Sincerely, Shelbi

LDS.org