2.350 Family Matters
Show Notes
Allen Roberds dives into "The Family: A Proclamation to the World," exploring its two solemn warnings regarding individual accountability for family responsibilities and the catastrophic societal implications of family disintegration. This episode uses historical context to underscore the critical importance of the family unit for the survival and well-being of communities and nations in the modern world.
Key Points
- The Family Proclamation issues two warnings: one for individuals violating covenants and family duties, and another for the calamities brought upon communities and nations by family disintegration.
- Historically, no society has successfully existed outside of a foundational family structure, demonstrating that societies rejecting the family concept ultimately fail.
- Modern societies face unprecedented challenges where abundance contributes to declining marriage and birth rates, threatening the very existence of certain nationalities.
- Listeners are encouraged to keep sacred covenants, practice the law of chastity, fulfill family responsibilities, and actively support families within their communities and neighborhoods.
- The episode stresses that family matters profoundly to the Lord, to individuals, and to the enduring strength of all societies.
Family matters. It matters to the Lord and it matters to you, to me, and to every society that has existed on this earth.
Episode Resources
Full Transcript
In Matthew 5:13, Jesus calls us the salt of the earth, a bold reminder that our lives are meant to carry his flavor, his truth, and his love to the world. Join me each day to explore one verse of scripture and one thought, striving to stay full of savor and truly live as savory salt. Hello, my friends, it is great to have you with me.
Today let's be anxiously engaged in a good cause and bring to pass much righteousness. Did you catch the warning in "The Family: A Proclamation to the World"? Let's take a deeper and closer look at it today.
We're reading this week "The Family: A Proclamation to the World," as well as Ether chapters 12 through 15 and Moroni chapter 1. We will finish up the Book of Ether and tap into our final book. The Book of Mormon this week.
But not yet. First, we're going to take a deeper look at "The Family: A Proclamation to the World" here. It's only been a couple of days ago that we compiled for you kind of a big list of prophets' warnings to us, modern-day prophets' warnings to us.
And then here, we read the Proclamation yesterday as I went through the Proclamation word for word. And in it, did you catch the paragraph with the word "warn"? This is the word we warn twice.
Perhaps we should take a look at it. The paragraph I'm talking to you is the second-to-last paragraph in "The Family: A Proclamation to the World." It says this, "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." That's the first one. "Further, we warn that the disintegration of the family will bring upon individuals, communities, and nations the calamities foretold by ancient and modern prophets." The first warning: personal responsibility and accountability before God. The second warning: community and world accountability before God.
My friends, what does that mean for you and for me? Well, you know by now, if you've been listening at all, you know by now that I'm a history. I like world history.
I like to study history. I like to look into historical happenings and say what if, and I like to say so what. Now here, the so what part.
There is not a society in the history of the world that has existed outside of the family structure. In other words, if a society begins to push aside and reject the concept of family, it fails. It brings about its own destruction.
Now we're sitting here in a modern world with technology that is mind-blowing. The things that we are able to do, and look in six months, in a year, who knows what else we're going to be able to do. It is accelerating in an incredible fashion.
And in this abundant, incredible society, we have a first time happening in world history. I don't know if you've seen this or not, but we have countries in the world that, because of the abundance and peace in their country, families are shrinking. Because there is so much abundance, people are not getting married.
People are not having children. And the child rearing, in order for any society to exist and continue to exist, you need to average about two kids per marriage. Right?
Like that's just basic math. If you have two people, you need to be replaced by two people. And we have in the world right now, societies that are so abundant and thriving that they are rejecting the concept of family at all.
And we are facing within, say, 75-ish, 100 years. I'm not trying to be an alarmist here. I'm just observing this from a historical perspective.
We have countries that may disappear genetically, like that nationality may disappear in peace, because they simply have rejected the family. So, my friends, what does it mean for you and for me? It means that we keep our covenants that we have made in the temples of our Heavenly Father.
It means that we keep the law of chastity. It means that we take care of family members. It means that we seek to have families.
What does it mean for our communities and our neighborhoods? It means that we seek to support families in our neighborhoods and our communities. That we don't go down the realm of having so much abundance that we don't need anything else in our lives.
Family matters. It matters to the Lord and it matters to you, to me, and to every society that has existed on this earth. I am grateful for my family.
That's all for today, my friends. Lift up your hearts and rejoice. Cleave to the covenants you have made, and together we will be savory salt. For more information, visit us at www.savorysalt.org.
This transcript was generated using AI and may contain errors. I do my best to review and edit them when I can.