Romans 8: 16 The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God: Psalms 82: 6 I have said, Ye are gods; and all of you are children of the most High. Psalms 89: 26 He shall cry unto me, Thou art my father, my God, and the rock of my salvation. Galatians 1: 3 Grace be to you and peace from God the Father, and from our Lord Jesus Christ,

Our Father sent us here to: 1. Gain Experience 2. Live by faith 3. Achieve joy in this life, and 4. Qualify for joy in the next life with Him Let’s look at the model he set up to help us achieve this….

The only way to get here is with a mother and a father. The model is for at least those two people to love, protect, and help each person along the way. Siblings are an additional bond and support. The choices of those parents make all the difference!

Satan understands the power of strong families, and therefore is unleashing all his efforts to destroy the family. Society is recognizing the consequences of listening to these lies Science eventually catches up to the truth

The world said: If it feels good, do it It’s all about you (the individual) You need to “find yourself” I’m not hurting anyone The Prophet, David O. McKay ( ) “No other success can compensate for failure in the home.” What would the world look like today if we listened?

“The U.S. is steadily separating into a two-caste system with marriage and education as the dividing line. In the high-income third of the population, children are raised by married parents with a college education; in the bottom-income third, children are raised by single parents with a high school degree or less.” Marriage: America’s Greatest Weapon Against Child Poverty, by Robert Rector, page 4 It is NOT about money! “Science eventually catches up to the truth.”

We, the First Presidency and the Council of the Twelve Apostles of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, solemnly proclaim that marriage between a man and a woman is ordained of God and that the family is central to the Creator’s plan for the eternal destiny of His children. 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.

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.

In Temples we seal couples and families and link generations for eternity

Malachi 4: 5-6 Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the Lord: And he shall turn the heart of the fathers to the children, and the heart of the children to their fathers, lest I come and smite the earth with a curse. (If it were not so, the whole earth would be utterly wasted at his coming.) JSH 1:39

“When members of the Church are troubled or when crucial decisions weigh heavily upon their minds, it is a common thing for them to go to the temple. It is a good place to take our cares. In the temple we can receive spiritual perspective. There, during the time of the temple service, we are ‘out of the world.’ Sometimes our minds are so beset with problems, and there are so many things clamoring for attention at once that we just cannot think clearly and see clearly. At the temple the dust of distraction seems to settle out, the fog and the haze seem to lift, and we can ‘see’ things that we were not able to see before and find a way through our troubles that we had not previously known. The Lord will bless us as we attend to the sacred ordinance work of the temples. Blessings there will not be limited to our temple service. We will be blessed in all of our affairs.” Boyd K. Packer, President of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles

Child poverty is an ongoing national concern, but few are aware of its principal cause: the absence of married fathers in the home. According to the U.S. Census, the poverty rate for single parents with children in the United States in 2008 was 36.5 percent. The rate for married couples with children was 6.4 percent. Being raised in a married family reduced a child’s probability of living in poverty by about 80 percent. Calculated from data in U.S. Bureau of the Census, American Community Survey, 2006–2008, at nuId=datasets_2&_lang=en. nuId=datasets_2&_lang=en

A study of families with the same race and same parental education shows that children from single- parent homes (vs. intact families) are: More than twice as likely to be arrested for a juvenile crime. [20] Twice as likely to be treated for emotional and behavioral problems. [21] Roughly twice as likely to be suspended or expelled from school. [22] 33% more likely to drop out of high school. [23] 3 times more likely to end up in jail by age 30. [24] Girls are twice as likely to have a child out of wedlock. [25]

[19]Throughout this paper, the term “intact married family” refers to the biological father and biological mother of the child, united in marriage. [20]Chris Coughlin and Samuel Vuchinich, “Family Experience in Preadolescence and the Development of Male Delinquency,” Journal of Marriage and Family, Vol. 58, No. 2 (1996), pp.491–501. [21]Deborah A. Dawson, “Family Structure and Children’s Health and Well-Being: Data from the 1988 National Health Interview Survey on Child Health,” Journal of Marriage and Family, Vol. 53, No. 3 (August 1991), pp. 573– 584. [22]Wendy D. Manning and Kathleen A. Lamb, “Adolescent Well-Being in Cohabiting, Married, and Single- Parent Families,” Journal of Marriage and Family, Vol. 65, No. 4 (2003), pp. 876–893. Data from Add Health study. See also Dawson, “Family Structure and Children’s Health and Well-Being: Data from the 1988 National Health Interview Survey on Child Health.” [23]Timothy Biblarz and Greg Gottainer, “Family Structure and Children’s Success: A Comparison of Widowed and Divorced Single-Mother Families,” Journal of Marriage and Family, Vol. 62 (May 2000), pp. 533–548. [24]Cynthia C. Harper and Sara S. McLanahan, “Father Absence and Youth Incarceration,” Journal of Research on Adolescence, Vol. 14, No. 3 (2004), pp. 369–397. Data from National Longitudinal Study of Youth, the 1979 cohort (NYLS79). [25]Martha S. Hill, Wei-Jun J. Yeung, and Greg J. Duncan, “Childhood Family Structure and Young Adult Behaviors,” Journal of Population Economics, Vol. 14, No. 2 (2001), pp. 271–299.