Members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints are a family-oriented people. They understand the value and importance of home and family life, and believe that families are forever. The valuable life lessons that are learned in a loving home, for example, help to prepare youth to more easily transition into the real world where they will be faced with day-to day challenges. It is also within the family that each member of the family learns to love others as Heavenly Father loves each of us.
Research Shows Mormons Have Larger Families
The 2014 U.S. Religious Landscape Study reported that Latter-day Saints marry more than those in any other American faith. According to the report, 66 percent of LDS adults are married as compared to 60 percent for Hindis, and 56 percent for Jews. The study also found that Mormons have the largest families.
The Pew Research Center interviewed more than 35,000 Americans allowing for a margin of error of plus or minus 0.6 percent. The new study revealed that for Mormons between the ages of 40 and 59, the average number of children born to them is 3.4. According to an article from Deseret News, “The idea behind looking at that age group is to capture what the researchers called “completed fertility.”” The average for LDS births was well above other groups such as historically Black Protestant churches where the average number of births is 2.5, and for Catholics and Evangelicals, the average is 2.3.
The study further revealed that the Christian population, in particular among the mainline Protestants and Catholics, in the U.S. has declined from 78.4 percent in 2007 to 70.6 percent in 2014. However, as the study showed, LDS Church members have held steady with 1.6 percent of the rising U.S. population in 2014, as compared to 1.7 percent in 2007. David Campbell, co-author of “American Grace: How Religion Divides and Unites Us” commented, “It’s also striking, and you see this in other national studies, that the percentage of Mormons doesn’t really change, and that’s interesting.”
The Central Role of Marriage and Family in the Church
The findings of the report align with the teachings of The Church of Jesus Christ as Latter-day Saints believe parents are co-creators with God, and that families are central to God’s plan. President Boyd K. Packer of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles has taught, “The home is the center core of the LDS Church, and the most sacred relationships in the church are in the family.” During the 185th Annual General Conference of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints held in April 2015, Elder D. Todd Christofferson of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles taught:
God ordained that men and women should marry and give birth to children, thereby creating, in partnership with God, the physical bodies that are key to the test of mortality and essential to eternal glory with Him.
The percentage of Mormons who are married has decreased since 2007 when the percentage of those married was 71 percent, and the percentage of Mormons who have never married has increased from 12 percent in 2007 to 19 percent in 2014. However, the Mormons who were surveyed, stated that they are raising more children than members of any other religious groups. On the average, Mormon adults of all ages also reported that they lived with 1.1 children as parents or guardians.
Mormon Retention Rates Attributed to Family Life
Retention rates are also attributed to healthy family lives. The study showed that historically Black Protestant churches retain 70 percent of its childhood members, whereas Evangelicals retain 65 percent, and Mormons retain 64 percent. However, those who leave the Black Protestant churches or the Evangelical churches often become affiliated with another religion, whereas those who were raised in The Church of Jesus Christ, often do not become members of a different religion if they leave the Church.
Campbell, also the co-author of “Seeking the Promised Land: Mormons and American Politics,” commented that he expects to see the number of Mormons as a percentage of the U.S. population rise based on church growth data. He also noted that it might be a sign of a potential issue with convert retention, stating that, “It’s significant it’s not dropping, but it’s not growing anywhere near the extent that you might think.” In the footnotes of Elder Quentin L. Cook’s April 2015 General Conference address he notes, “Over the last 25 years, the actual number of members leaving the church has decreased and the church has almost doubled in size. The percentage leaving is greatly reduced.”
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints exists to help families to obtain eternal blessings, the greatest of which is the ability to one day return home to Heaven to live with Heavenly Father and their families.
The United Nations has set 8 Millennium Development Goals to help the world’s poorest countries improve their situations by 2015. They include eradicating diseases, promoting gender equality and empowering women, improving maternal care and reducing child mortality rates. But conspicuously absent from these goals is the strengthening of families. The leaders of nations, it would appear, don’t seem to notice. But the religions of the world are not only taking notice, they are uniting to do something about it. Nicholeen Peck, a mother and blogger who was invited to present a symposium at this year’s U.N. Conference, wrote:
It is no secret that boundaries are being crossed and topics are being legislated at the United Nations that are not the proper role of national government let alone international government. “The family” a term we are very used to hearing is not a term that many organizations and world leaders favor now days. They think the term is too limiting. Many of these groups also don’t like the term “motherhood,” as they see it as degrading to women. …
For years now, many great people have traveled to the United Nations to impact positive change…. Great pro-family pioneers started productive conversations about the importance of life, the family and motherhood which we are still benefiting from. Currently, there are multiple organizations that are following in the footsteps of these great pioneers. In fact, there were more pro-family organizations attending the CSW conference than I realized existed! This was exciting for me. And, what was even more exciting to me was who was running these organizations. Religious people! So many faithful people from all over the world, Islamic, Catholic, Christian, Mormon and Jew are all working side by side to spread love and brotherhood/sisterhood as well as influence world leaders to support the most holy of organizations, the family. …
A nation will rise no higher than the strength of its homes. If you want to reform a nation, you begin with families, with parents who teach their children principles and values that are positive and affirmative and will lead them to worthwhile endeavors.
It is this reason that The Church of Jesus Christ and other religious faiths are joining forces to defend the family as well as to help strengthen the traditional family in many nations that are struggling to survive. If a nation will rise no higher than the strength of its homes, then we need to help those in impoverished nations improve their homes—so they can improve their nation. It is, of course, only one area of focus to help a country. But we can’t underestimate its vital role in the process of building a nation.
Our understanding of life begins with a council in heaven. There the spirit children of God were taught his eternal plan for their destiny. We had progressed as far as we could without a physical body and an experience in mortality. To realize a fulness of joy, we had to prove our willingness to keep the commandments of God in a circumstance where we had no memory of what preceded our mortal birth.
In the course of mortality, we would become subject to death, and we would be soiled by sin. To reclaim us from death and sin, our Heavenly Father’s plan provided us a Savior, whose atonement would redeem all from death and pay the price necessary for all to be cleansed from sin on the conditions he prescribed (see 2 Nephi 9:19–24).
Individual progression is fostered in the family, which is “central to the Creator’s plan for the eternal destiny of His children.” The home is to be God’s laboratory of love and service. There a husband is to love his wife, a wife is to love her husband, and parents and children are to love one another.
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. …
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. … By divine design, fathers are to preside over their families in love and righteousness and are responsible to provide the necessities of life and protection for their families. Mothers are primarily responsible for the nurture of their children. In these sacred responsibilities, fathers and mothers are obligated to help one another as equal partners.
Children are the past, the present, and the future all blended into one. They are consummately precious. Every time a child is born, the world is renewed in innocence…. Parents are responsible to provide for their children…. We are to look after their physical, their spiritual, and their emotional needs. … Nothing compares with a father who is responsible and in turn teaches his children responsibility. Nothing compares with a mother who is present with them to comfort them and give them assurance. Love, protection, and tenderness are all of consummate worth.
The family is the protective shelter into which children are born, nurtured, loved and taught. It is there that they learn their values, morals and how to treat other people. And parents and grandparents also benefit from lessons provided by the young. Elder Packer said:
When it comes to understanding our relationship with our Heavenly Father, the things my wife and I have learned as parents and grandparents that are of most worth knowing, we have learned from our children.
As a child, it’s difficult to comprehend the love that our parents have for us. But as we become mothers and fathers, we gain a greater appreciation for that unconditional love. And, as Elder Packer said, we gain deeper insight into the relationship we have with our Father in Heaven. Families serve a divine purpose here on earth.
The Power to Bind Traditional Families Together Forever
Family relationships also have a divine purpose in the eternities. A loving Heavenly Father did not intend for us to develop deep and abiding love for family members on earth only to be forever separated when we die. Rather, families are designed to be together forever, if certain conditions are met. Forever families begin in the holy temple. Temples are literally houses of the Lord, holy places of worship where a person makes sacred covenants (or two-way promises between a person and God, and the terms are set by God). To enter the temple, a person must have a valid temple recommend—which is available to members of The Church of Jesus Christ who are in good standing. In the temple, a man and woman are sealed together for eternity, provided they keep the commandments and honor their covenants. This means that their marriage does not end at death but will continue beyond the grave. This is possible through the power of the priesthood, which is the power that God gives to man to act in all things for the salvation of His children. It is the same power by which Jesus Christ organized His church on the earth and performed miracles. Only one who has the proper priesthood authority has the power that Matthew described: “Whatsoever thou shalt bind on earth shall be bound in heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven” (Matthew 16:19). The greatest joys in this life and the next are found in families. Indeed, the definition of exaltation, or eternal life, is to live in God’s presence as families. Elder Nelson taught:
Marriage is the foundry for social order, the fountain of virtue, and the foundation for eternal exaltation. Marriage has been divinely designated as an eternal and everlasting covenant. Marriage is sanctified when it is cherished and honored in holiness. That union is not merely between husband and wife; it embraces a partnership with God. … Marriage is but the beginning bud of family life; parenthood is its flower. And that bouquet becomes even more beautiful when graced with grandchildren. Families may become as eternal as the kingdom of God itself. …
Marriage was intended by the Lord to endure beyond physical death. His plan offers eternal perpetuation of the family in the kingdom of God. His plan provides temples and opportunities to officiate therein for the living and the dead. A marriage sealed there launches a husband and wife into that grand order of unity so necessary to the perfection of God’s work.
A husband and wife, sealed in the holy temple, are bound together for eternity. Any children born into the union are also bound to them. If the couple already has children, these children can be sealed to them in the temple. It is a powerful bond that will remain in force after death.
Linking Generations
God’s grand plan for His children is to have generations linked in love, by the sealing power. One husband and wife, sealed together for eternity, is but a single link in the human chain. My husband is sealed to his parents and siblings. I am sealed to my parents and siblings. Each of our siblings is sealed to his or her spouse. Our hope is that our children will be sealed to their spouses. When my husband and I were sealed together in the Salt Lake Temple, there were two mirrors across from each other. When we looked into the mirror facing us, we saw images of us stretching back for eternity. When we turned around, we saw the same image stretching back for eternity. This is symbolic of the human chain. Each of us has ancestors who came before us, and each of us has countless numbers of descendants who will follow us. We are the current link in the chain. Each one of us will, at some point in our lives—either here on earth or after we die— have the opportunity to accept or reject the teachings of Jesus Christ. Each will have the opportunity to make and keep the sacred covenants necessary to bind our families together forever. It is for this reason that members of The Church of Jesus Christ perform vicarious work in the temples of God for the dead. The ancient prophet Malachi prophesied:
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. (Malachi 4:5-6)
The vicarious ordinances we perform in temples, beginning with baptism, make possible an eternal welding link between generations that fulfills the purpose of the earth’s creation. Without this, “the whole earth would be utterly wasted at [Christ’s] coming.” Elijah has, in fact, come as promised to confer the priesthood power that turns hearts and establishes the welding links between the fathers and the children so that once again what is bound on earth “shall be bound in heaven.” When he came, Elijah declared, “The keys of this dispensation are committed into your hands; and by this ye may know that the great and dreadful day of the Lord is near, even at the doors.”
We are anxiously about the task of searching out our fathers and mothers of generations past and binding them to us and us to them. Is not this the strongest possible evidence of our conviction that Jesus Christ will come again to reign upon the earth? We know He will, and we know what He expects we will have done in preparation for His return.
When I think of the love I feel for each member of our family, I sense, to a slight degree, the love that our Heavenly Father bears for His children. … God’s love for His children is infinite. Regardless of race, nationality, or gender, He loves all of them. … Every human being who comes to this earth is the product of generations of parents. We have a natural yearning to connect with our ancestors. This desire dwells in our hearts, regardless of age.… When our hearts turn to our ancestors, something changes inside us. We feel part of something greater than ourselves. Our inborn yearnings for family connections are fulfilled when we are linked to our ancestors through sacred ordinances of the temple.
Defending the Family
The world today seeks to redefine what a family is—that a family is just any group of people of any gender who want to live together. But this isn’t true. There is no power in such a loosely defined term. The traditional family is powerful because it was instituted by God. No other family structure, no matter how well-intended, has the power to extend beyond the grave. In speaking of different options for marriage, Elder Nelson compared it to shopping. He explained:
Wise shoppers study their options thoroughly before they make a selection. They focus primarily on the quality and durability of a desired product. They want the very best. In contrast, some shoppers look for bargains, and others may splurge, only to learn later—much to their dismay—that their choice did not endure well. And sadly, there are those rare individuals who cast aside their personal integrity and steal what they want. We call them shoplifters.
The patterns of the shopper may be applied to the topic of marriage. A couple in love can choose a marriage of the highest quality or a lesser type that will not endure. Or they can choose neither and brazenly steal what they want as “marital shoplifters.”
The subject of marriage is debated across the world, where various arrangements exist for conjugal living. My purpose in speaking out on this topic is to declare, as an Apostle of the Lord, that marriage between a man and a woman is sacred—it is ordained of God. I also assert the virtue of a temple marriage. It is the highest and most enduring type of marriage that our Creator can offer to His children. … The noblest yearning of the human heart is for a marriage that can endure beyond death. Fidelity to a temple marriage does that. It allows families to be together forever.
Marriages and families that aren’t based on the Lord’s standard for marriage—which is a legal, lawful union of one man and one woman—will not stand the test of time. They also undermine the traditional family. Elder Nelson said:
Throughout the world, the family is increasingly under attack. If families fail, many of our political, economic, and social systems will also fail. And if families fail, their glorious eternal potential cannot be realized. Our Heavenly Father wants husbands and wives to be faithful to each other and to esteem and treat their children as an heritage from the Lord.
People of all faiths feel the need to defend traditional marriage because they know the divine importance of the family. While governments and civil leaders may feel the need to bow to social pressures, people of faith do not. They know that traditional marriage is the proper setting for the bearing and rearing of children. And they know that developing countries need to strengthen their own homes and families to build a stronger foundation for their nation. As Elder M. Russell Ballard, an Apostle of Jesus Christ, said:
Our communities and neighborhoods will be safer and stronger as people of all faiths work together to strengthen families. It is important to remember that all larger units of society depend on the smallest and most fundamental unit, the family. No matter who or what we are, we help ourselves when we help families.
The semi-annual General Conference of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (sometimes inadvertently called the Mormon Church) is a worldwide meeting for all members. Included in the schedule is one session for men and one for women. Each highlights the separate and distinct roles that men and women have in the gospel of Jesus Christ, in their families and in the world. The session for the men is called the Priesthood Session, as it is for boys and men ages 12 and older who are eligible to receive the priesthood (which is the power that God gives to man to act in all things for the salvation of His children). Some have questioned why there are separate meetings for men and women, and why women aren’t ordained to the priesthood. Men and women have divine, distinct and complementary roles in God’s plan for his children. As we come to know and understand God’s plan for His children, we can see that all are eligible for and entitled to the blessings provided by the power of the priesthood. Elder Neil L. Andersen, a member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles (with the First Presidency, the governing body of The Church of Jesus Christ), said:
We sometimes overly associate the power of the priesthood with men in the Church. The priesthood is the power and authority of God given for the salvation and blessing of all—men, women, and children.
A man may open the drapes so the warm sunlight comes into the room, but the man does not own the sun or the light or the warmth it brings. The blessings of the priesthood are infinitely greater than the one who is asked to administer the gift. [1]
What is the Priesthood?
Answering the question of why only men are ordained to the priesthood must begin with a definition and history of the priesthood. The priesthood is the power and authority of God on the earth. President Boyd K. Packer, an Apostle of Jesus Christ, explained:
Priesthood is the authority and the power which God has granted to men on earth to act for Him. When priesthood authority is exercised properly, priesthood bearers do what He would do if He were present. [2]
The priesthood of God has existed from before the creation of the world. Elder Robert D. Hales, an Apostle of Jesus Christ, said:
The priesthood of God is timeless. … The formation of the universe and of the world upon which we live was brought to pass—not by chance, but through the power of the priesthood. … The processes of nature that enable us to exist on this planet, the resources of this world that sustain life—all were set into motion and continue their course through the power of God’s magnificent priesthood. While most of the earth’s inhabitants do not recognize this priesthood power, all living creatures are its beneficiaries. …
It was through the priesthood that the Son of God, the Savior, Jesus Christ, established his church. … Jesus Christ atoned for the sins of all who will repent and be baptized through the power of the holy priesthood. Through the Atonement, our Savior broke the bands of death and became “the author of eternal salvation unto all them that obey him” (Hebrews 5:9). [3]
The ordinances and covenants of the gospel of Jesus Christ are administered through the power of the priesthood. When He established His Church on the earth, He ordained 12 Apostles to carry on His work after He died. But that did not last. Elder M. Russell Ballard, an Apostle of Jesus Christ, explained:
Early Christians endured the challenges of persecution and hardship. Peter and his brethren had a difficult time holding the Church together and keeping the doctrine pure. … Eventually, with the known exception of John the Beloved, Peter and his fellow Apostles were martyred. The Apostle John and members of the Church struggled for survival in the face of horrifying oppression. To their everlasting credit, Christianity did survive and was truly a prominent force by the end of the second century A.D. Many valiant Saints were instrumental in helping Christianity to endure.
Despite the significance of the ministries of these Saints, they did not hold the same apostolic authority Peter and the other Apostles had received through ordination under the hands of the Lord Jesus Christ Himself. When that authority was lost, men began looking to other sources for doctrinal understanding. As a result, many plain and precious truths were lost. [4]
Thus, the power and authority of the priesthood were taken from the earth. Paul and other ancient prophets foretold of this. (See 2 Thessalonians 2:3 and 2 Timothy 4:3-4.) But Peter spoke of the “times of refreshing” and “the restitution of all things” (Acts 3:19-21)—which was that the gospel of Jesus Christ would be restored to the earth. The gospel of Jesus Christ was restored to the earth through Joseph Smith, who was the first prophet of God in the modern days. All of the principles and ordinances of the gospel that Jesus Christ instituted when He walked the earth—including His priesthood authority—were restored through the prophet Joseph Smith.
It’s essential to understand that the priesthood is God’s power and authority—thus God dictates the terms of its use. It is neither capricious nor biased that God gave men to the right to hold the priesthood. It is part of His grand design. From the time of Adam, as Elder Hales explained, the priesthood was passed “from father to son.” [3] Today, as often as permits, the priesthood is still passed from father to son in the same manner.
The Role of Women in the Priesthood
The priesthood is the same power that Jesus Christ used when He organized His Church anciently. When He called and ordained Apostles, Jesus Christ called a lay clergy—fishermen, publicans, etc. The Church of Jesus Christ in modern days is set up the same way. Because of the divine roles that Heavenly Father designed for His children, men are given the responsibility of carrying and bearing the priesthood. Women are given the responsibility of carrying and bearing children. Each is essential in God’s plan. Women are not ordained to the priesthood, but their role in the priesthood is just as important. President Packer said:
We are sometimes charged with being unkind to the sisters in that they do not hold the priesthood and therefore do not hold the offices that the brethren do. But it is well understood that whether or not we are exalted depends upon the sister who is at our side—the wife, the mother of our children—and no holder of the priesthood would in any way depreciate or mitigate the value and power of his wife. When I hear those comments that the sisters are less than the brethren, I wish that they could see inside the heart of every worthy holder of the priesthood and understand how he feels about his wife, the mother of his children—a reverence, not quite worship but a kind of worship, a respect for the companion in life that causes it to be that he can be exalted ultimately. [5]
In The Church of Jesus Christ, women have the important role of being wives and mothers, helpmeets for their husbands and teachers of their children. The Family: A Proclamation to the World states:
By divine design, fathers are to preside over their families in love and righteousness and are responsible to provide the necessities of life and protection for their families. Mothers are primarily responsible for the nurture of their children. In these sacred responsibilities, fathers and mothers are obligated to help one another as equal partners.
Elder D. Todd Christofferson said:
A woman’s moral influence is nowhere more powerfully felt or more beneficially employed than in the home. There is no better setting for rearing the rising generation than the traditional family, where a father and a mother work in harmony to provide for, teach, and nurture their children. Where this ideal does not exist, people strive to duplicate its benefits as best they can in their particular circumstances.
In all events, a mother can exert an influence unequaled by any other person in any other relationship. By the power of her example and teaching, her sons learn to respect womanhood and to incorporate discipline and high moral standards in their own lives. Her daughters learn to cultivate their own virtue and to stand up for what is right, again and again, however unpopular. A mother’s love and high expectations lead her children to act responsibly without excuses, to be serious about education and personal development, and to make ongoing contributions to the well-being of all around them. Elder Neal A. Maxwell once asked: “When the real history of mankind is fully disclosed, will it feature the echoes of gunfire or the shaping sound of lullabies? The great armistices made by military men or the peacemaking of women in homes and in neighborhoods? Will what happened in cradles and kitchens prove to be more controlling than what happened in congresses?” [6]
The world would take this to mean that in The Church of Jesus Christ, women are somehow less than men because their focus must be the home. What the world is missing is that the home and family should be the main focus for both husbands and wives—they work together in the home and help each other.
As my oldest child, who is a son, was nearing the age of 12—which is the age at which boys who keep the commandments of God are eligible to be ordained to the priesthood—I started wondering if I had taught him enough about his upcoming responsibilities as a priesthood holder. After he was ordained to the priesthood, I talked to him about how his actions reflected on his priesthood. I also realized that I needed to teach my daughters to respect their older brother and his priesthood authority. I needed to teach my children—through words and actions—about how to honor and support the priesthood in our home. Rather than playing a supporting role, women are equal partners with their husbands in this work.
Women Have Their Own Organizations in the Church
Just as women have complementary roles to their husbands in the home, they have complementary roles in The Church of Jesus Christ. In the temples, which are holy houses of worship where men and women make sacred covenants with God, women have their own duties to perform under the umbrella of the priesthood. In the Church, women are leaders in their own organizations, which also function under the umbrella of the priesthood. The late President Gordon B. Hinckley, until his death the president of The Church of Jesus Christ, said:
Women do not hold the priesthood because the Lord has put it that way. It is part of His program. Women have a very prominent place in this Church. Men hold the priesthood offices of the Church. But women have a tremendous place in this Church. They have their own organization. It was started in 1842 by the Prophet Joseph Smith, called the Relief Society, because its initial purpose was to administer help to those in need. It has grown to be, I think, the largest women’s organization in the world… They have their own offices, their own presidency, their own board. That reaches down to the smallest unit of the Church everywhere in the world…
The men hold the priesthood, yes. But my wife is my companion. In this Church the man neither walks ahead of his wife nor behind his wife but at her side. They are co-equals in this life in a great enterprise. [7]
More than 20 years ago, Elder Ballard taught:
In a recent council meeting with the presidencies of the women’s auxiliaries, the sisters told me that very few women in the Church express any interest in wanting to hold the priesthood. But they do want to be heard and valued and want to make meaningful contributions to the stake or ward and its members that will serve the Lord and help accomplish the mission of the Church.
For example, not long ago we were talking about the worthiness of youth to serve missions. [General Relief Society] President Elaine Jack said, “You know, Elder Ballard, the sisters of the Church may have some good suggestions on how to better prepare the youth for missions…. After all, you know, we are their mothers!” [8]
Sister Sheri L. Dew, at the time a counselor in the General Relief Society presidency, offered an insightful analogy:
This summer I injured a shoulder and lost the use of an arm for weeks. I hadn’t realized how much one arm depends upon the other for balance, or how much less I could lift with one arm than two, or that there were some things I couldn’t do at all. This disability not only renewed my respect for those who deal so well with a physical limitation, but helped me realize how much more two arms working together can do.
Two are usually better than one, as our Father confirmed when He declared that “it was not good that the man should be alone” and made a help meet for Adam—someone with distinct gifts who would give him balance, help him shoulder the burdens of mortality, and enable him to do things he couldn’t do alone. For “neither is the man without the woman, neither the woman without the man, in the Lord.”
… Some will try to persuade you [women] that because you are not ordained to the priesthood you have been shortchanged. They are simply wrong, and they do not understand the gospel of Jesus Christ. The blessings of the priesthood are available to every righteous man and woman. We may all receive the Holy Ghost, obtain personal revelation, and be endowed in the temple, from which we emerge “armed” with power. The power of the priesthood heals, protects, and inoculates all of the righteous against the powers of darkness. Most significantly, the fulness of the priesthood contained in the highest ordinances of the house of the Lord can only be received by a man and woman together. [9]
The priesthood is not the men who are ordained to it. It is not a society from which women are banned. It is the power that God gives to man to bless, heal and protect all of His children.
Men and Women Have Meetings Designed Specifically for Them
My family is really excited for General Conference this April. We will celebrate a momentous milestone in our family: my husband and 13-year-old son will attend the General Priesthood Session of the General Conference of The Church of Jesus Christ at the Conference Center in Salt Lake City. The priesthood meeting is for all men and boys ages 12 and older—because they are the ones eligible to receive and administer the priesthood. This is a momentous occasion for our family because my husband and son will have the opportunity to sit at the feet of the prophet of Jesus Christ and learn, instead of watching it over live broadcast. Watching it over broadcast is great, but actually being in the Conference Center is a powerful experience. But this won’t be momentous just for the boys. For the first time, I get to take my daughters to the General Women’s Meeting (although not in the Conference Center)—as now it is for all women and girls ages 8 and up.
Why do they have one meeting for the guys and one for the girls? Certainly, both meetings will be powerful and uplifting for all. As a wife and especially as a mother, I am excited for my son to have priesthood bonding time with his dad. I am equally as excited to have my own bonding time with my daughters. In the Relief Society general meeting, we feel a sisterhood and a unity that is different from the rest of the meetings. I imagine the men also feel a brotherhood and unity in their meetings. It is a sacred bond that is necessary to strengthen these ties. It’s about helping the boys and men to become better sons, fathers, brothers and holders of the priesthood. The women’s meeting is about helping women become better wives, mothers, sisters and upholders of the priesthood.
The scriptures teach that “Neither is the man without the woman, nor the woman without the man in the Lord” (1 Corinthians 1:11). The separate meetings for men and women aren’t meant to diminish one gender role or the other. Rather, they are meant to help us better complement each other. My husband and I are better together because of our differences—not in spite of them. That is the Lord’s plan for us.
As part of a larger study on religious values, diversity, and immigration, the Public Religion Research Institute released an infographic which shows the age range of religious affiliations throughout America. Concerning the infographic, Tony Jones in his blog post on Patheos titled “Bye-Bye Millenials” stated,
Here, in living color, we see the church’s failure to engage an entire generation.
You’ll notice that it [the infographic] also undermines the evangelical claim that they’re doing better with younger generations than progressive Christians. You’ll see that’s not true. In fact, the evangelical drop is more precipitous than the mainline drop — they’ve also got further to fall. [1]
Evangelicals Experience Decrease, Other Faiths Witness Increase in Number of Millenials
While the evangelicals may be experiencing a decrease in the retention rate of the younger generations, other Christian groups are maintaining their numbers, and even in some cases, are increasing in the number of members of their congregations who are a part of the younger generations. Jana Riess in her article, “Mormons gaining ground in the 18 to 29 age group,” commented, “Black Protestants are holding steady; nonwhite Catholics are exploding; and Mormons (of all ethnicities combined) have moved from a 2% share in the 65+ age group to a 3% share among that generation’s grandkids.” [2] She also carefully notes that one of the main differences between Mormonism and other mainline religious groups is that the trend of disaffiliation within Mormonism often occurs later than sooner in life. (more…)
Whitney Permann, Brooke Stone, and Soni Muller are three musically-talented moms who love to share their faith and testimony through the gift of music. They are members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (inadvertently referred to as the “Mormon” Church by the media and others) and have had music as a part of their lives since a very early age. Together they create the beautiful melodic sounds of the group known as Mercy River.
They have been a part of the music scene for a few years, and to date they have three successful recordings on Deseret Book record label Shadow Mountain Records to their credit, “Mercy River” (May 2008), “Beautiful Dawn” (March 2010), and “Higher” (February 2012). Even though they love singing and making music, family is a big part of each of their lives – in fact, the most important part of their lives – and among them, they have 13 children.
The 2014 U.S. Religious Landscape Study reported that Latter-day Saints marry more than those in any other American faith. According to the report, 66 percent of LDS adults are married as compared to 60 percent for Hindis, and 56 percent for Jews. The study also found that Mormons have the largest families.
The findings of the report align with the teachings of The Church of Jesus Christ as Latter-day Saints believe parents are co-creators with God, and that families are central to God’s plan. President Boyd K. Packer of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles has taught, “The home is the center core of the LDS Church, and the most sacred relationships in the church are in the family.” During the 185th Annual General Conference of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints held in April 2015, Elder D. Todd Christofferson of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles taught:
Retention rates are also attributed to healthy family lives. The study showed that historically Black Protestant churches retain 70 percent of its childhood members, whereas Evangelicals retain 65 percent, and Mormons retain 64 percent. However, those who leave the Black Protestant churches or the Evangelical churches often become affiliated with another religion, whereas those who were raised in The Church of Jesus Christ, often do not become members of a different religion if they leave the Church.
Family relationships also have a divine purpose in the eternities. A loving Heavenly Father did not intend for us to develop deep and abiding love for family members on earth only to be forever separated when we die. Rather, families are designed to be together forever, if certain conditions are met. Forever families begin in the holy temple. 
The world today seeks to redefine what a family is—that a family is just any group of people of any gender who want to live together. But this isn’t true. There is no power in such a loosely defined term. The traditional family is powerful because it was instituted by God. No other family structure, no matter how well-intended, has the power to extend beyond the grave. In speaking of different options for marriage, 
