The Family: A Proclamation to the World
“The Family is Central to the Creator's Plan”
December 15 - December 21
scripture
quotes
The Inspiration for the Proclamation
<p>“The inspiration identifying the need for a proclamation on the family came to the leadership of the Church over 23 years ago. It was a surprise to some who thought the doctrinal truths about marriage and the family were well understood without restatement. Nevertheless, we felt the confirmation and we went to work. Subjects were identified and discussed by members of the Quorum of the Twelve for nearly a year. Language was proposed, reviewed, and revised. Prayerfully we continually pleaded with the Lord for His inspiration on what we should say and how we should say it. We all learned ‘line upon line, precept upon precept,’ as the Lord has promised. During this revelatory process, a proposed text was presented to the First Presidency, who oversee and promulgate Church teachings and doctrine. After the Presidency made further changes, the proclamation on the family was announced by the President of the Church, Gordon B. Hinckley. In the women’s meeting of September 23, 1995, he introduced the proclamation with these words: ‘With so much of sophistry that is passed off as truth, with so much of deception concerning standards and values, with so much of allurement and enticement to take on the slow stain of the world, we have felt to warn and forewarn.’ I testify that the proclamation on the family is a statement of eternal truth, the will of the Lord for His children who seek eternal life. It has been the basis of Church teaching and practice for the last 22 years and will continue so for the future. Consider it as such, teach it, live by it, and you will be blessed as you press forward toward eternal life.”</p>
Dallin H. Oaks, “The Plan and the Proclamation,” October 2017 General Conference
Little Did We Know
<p>“When President Gordon B. Hinckley first read “The Family: A Proclamation to the World” 20 years ago this year, we were grateful for and valued the clarity, simplicity, and truth of this revelatory document. Little did we realize then how very desperately we would need these basic declarations in today’s world as the criteria by which we could judge each new wind of worldly dogma coming at us from the media, the Internet, scholars, TV and films, and even legislators. The proclamation on the family has become our benchmark for judging the philosophies of the world, and I testify that the principles set forth within this statement are as true today as they were when they were given to us by a prophet of God nearly 20 years ago.”</p>
Bonnie L. Oscarson, “Defenders of the Family Proclamation,” April 2015 General Conference
commentaries
Family Proclamation: Historical Context
<p>“The Family: A Proclamation to the World” was first introduced by President Gordon B. Hinckley in the Relief Society session of the October 1995 general conference. President Hinckley offered this introduction to the proclamation:</p> <blockquote> <p>With so much of sophistry that is passed off as truth, with so much of deception concerning standards and values, with so much of allurement and enticement to take on the slow stain of the world, we have felt to warn and forewarn. In furtherance of this we of the First Presidency and the Council of the Twelve Apostles now issue a proclamation to the Church and to the world as a declaration and reaffirmation of standards, doctrines, and practices relative to the family which the prophets, seers, and revelators of this church have repeatedly stated throughout its history. I now take the opportunity of reading to you this proclamation.<a id="_ftnref1" class="see-footnote" title="" href="#_ftn1">[1]</a></p> </blockquote> <p>In a talk given over twenty years later, President Dallin H. Oaks, a member of the Twelve at the time the family proclamation was issued, provided a detailed explanation for how the family proclamation came into being:</p> <blockquote> <p>The inspiration identifying the need for a proclamation on the family came to the leadership of the Church over 23 years ago. It was a surprise to some who thought the doctrinal truths about marriage and the family were well understood without restatement. Nevertheless, we felt the confirmation and we went to work. Subjects were identified and discussed by members of the Quorum of the Twelve for nearly a year. Language was proposed, reviewed, and revised. Prayerfully we continually pleaded with the Lord for His inspiration on what we should say and how we should say it. We all learned ‘line upon line, precept upon precept,’ as the Lord has promised (D&C 98:12).<a id="_ftnref2" class="see-footnote" title="" href="#_ftn2">[2]</a></p> </blockquote> <p>President Oaks referred to the creation of the family proclamation as a “revelatory process” and noted that the First Presidency made “further changes” before the final document was introduced by President Hinckley.<a id="_ftnref3" class="see-footnote" title="" href="#_ftn3">[3]</a></p> <p>In the years following the proclamation’s introduction, it has become a touchstone for Latter-day Saints in a world of continuously shifting values with regard to the family. President Oaks called the family proclamation “the Lord’s reemphasis of the gospel truths we need to sustain us through current challenges to the family.”<a id="_ftnref4" class="see-footnote" title="" href="#_ftn4">[4]</a> On the proclamation’s twentieth anniversary, Bonnie L. Oscarson, the Young Women General President, noted, “Little did we realize then how very desperately we would need these basic declarations in today’s world as the criteria by which we could judge each new wind of worldly dogma coming at us from the media, the Internet, scholars, TV and films, and even legislators. The proclamation on the family has become our benchmark for judging the philosophies of the world, and I testify that the principles set forth within this statement are as true today as they were when they were given to us by a prophet of God nearly 20 years ago.”<a id="_ftnref5" class="see-footnote" title="" href="#_ftn5">[5]</a></p> <div class="footnotes"> <p class="footnote"><a id="_ftn1" class="footnote-label" title="" href="#_ftnref1">[1]</a> Gordon B. Hinckley, “Stand Strong against the Wiles of the World,” October 1995 General Conference.</p> <p class="footnote"><a id="_ftn2" class="footnote-label" title="" href="#_ftnref2">[2]</a> Dallin H. Oaks, “The Plan and the Proclamation,” October 2017 General Conference.</p> <p class="footnote"><a id="_ftn3" class="footnote-label" title="" href="#_ftnref3">[3]</a> Oaks, “The Plan and the Proclamation.”</p> <p class="footnote"><a id="_ftn4" class="footnote-label" title="" href="#_ftnref4">[4]</a> Oaks, “The Plan and the Proclamation.”</p> <p class="footnote"><a id="_ftn5" class="footnote-label" title="" href="#_ftnref5">[5]</a> Bonnie L. Oscarson, “Defenders of the Family Proclamation,” April 2015 General Conference.</p> </div>
Doctrine and Covenants Minute by Casey Paul Griffiths
Family Proclamation Paragraph 1
<p>In a CES fireside given just a month after the family proclamation was first introduced, Elder Henry B. Eyring noted that in the entire history of the Church up to 1995, the Church had only issued four proclamations. (One more has since been issued in 2020 on the two hundredth anniversary of Joseph Smith’s First Vision.) Elder Eyring then added, “Three things about the title are worth our careful reflection. First, the subject: the family. Second, the audience, which is the whole world. And third, those who proclaimed are those we sustain as prophets, seers, and revelators. That means that the family must be as important to us as anything we can consider, that what the proclamation says could help anyone in the world, and that the proclamation fits the Lord’s promise when he said, ‘Whether by mine own voice or by the voice of my servants, it is the same’ (D&C 1:38).”<a id="_ftnref1" class="see-footnote" title="" href="#_ftn1">[1]</a></p> <p>The truths in the family proclamation do not represent doctrinal tenets that are only believed by Latter-day Saints but eternal truths that apply to all men and women. The family is not seen as a useful social construct but as the basis for understanding our relationship to God and all people. In addition, marriage between a man and a woman is upheld as central to God’s plan. On this doctrine, Sister Bonnie L. Oscarson taught the following:</p> <blockquote> <p>For anyone to attain the fulness of priesthood blessings, there must be a husband and a wife sealed in the house of the Lord, working together in righteousness and remaining faithful to their covenants. This is the Lord’s plan for His children, and no amount of public discourse or criticism will change what the Lord has declared. We need to continue to model righteous marriages, seek for that blessing in our lives, and have faith if it is slow in coming. Let us be defenders of marriage as the Lord has ordained it while continuing to show love and compassion for those with differing views.<a id="_ftnref2" class="see-footnote" title="" href="#_ftn2">[2]</a></p> </blockquote> <div class="footnotes"> <p class="footnote"><a id="_ftn1" class="footnote-label" title="" href="#_ftnref1">[1]</a> Henry B. Eyring, “The Family,” CES fireside, November 5, 1995.</p> <p class="footnote"><a id="_ftn2" class="footnote-label" title="" href="#_ftnref2">[2]</a> Bonnie L. Oscarson, “Defenders of the Family Proclamation,” April 2015 General Conference.</p> </div>
Doctrine and Covenants Minute by Casey Paul Griffiths
