Understand the Role of Family

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Instructions

Understand the Role of Family

1. So you've done a ton of research (See? We told you it was important) and you keep coming across all of these proclamations about family. Mormons are focused on family. It's that simple. The roles of the family are clearly defined to new members:
   * Men are the spiritual head of the household and are responsible for financially providing for the family.
   * Women are considered the moral backbone of the family and are expected to care for the children. That's no small feat, since many Mormon families form their own baseball teams.
   Now, before the feminist readers get ticked off, the Church makes it clear that a husband and wife are equal partners. The Church also instructs Mormon families to spend at least one evening a week together, for what is creatively called "Family Home Evening." While these evenings are not structured by the Church, most families use this time to play games, listen to the Mormon Tabernacle Choir and do genealogy (a very popular Mormon pastime). It's very Beaver Cleaver-esque, but Mormons believe it helps keep a family bonded.
   Another way the family is emphasized is through practices that can only occur at a Mormon temple. Mormon families believe that, by going to the temple, they can make and keep sacred covenants that will allow a family to be sealed together. This means that, even in death, a family will remain together. It is very difficult to get a sealing reversed, so even if a husband and wife ultimately divorce, there is no guarantee that the Church will break the seal. Sealing is a very serious practice in the Mormon Church and, like baptism, should never be undertaken as a whim.

Next: Be Prepared to Deal With Prejudice

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Resources

• Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints
• Answerbag on Mormonism

[kingsfold]

on 5/6/2009 (6) Finally, it should also be mentioned that couples who marry and are sealed, and then later divorce, will not somehow be forced to remain together in the afterlife. The Scriptures teach that sealing is a three-way covenant between God and the married couple, and if any of the three do not uphold their part of the covenant, that the sealing will no longer be in force. ---------- Otherwise, a very good (and kind of fun) article.

[kingsfold]

on 5/6/2009 (5) There are other statements in the article, like �many Mormon families form their own baseball teams� (I lived in Utah until I was 25 and I�ve never met one of these �family baseball teams�) or �most families use this time to� listen to the Mormon Tabernacle Choir,� that kind of made me chuckle. It may imply to readers that forming a family team is somehow mandatory, or that church members *only* listen to the Choir, which is not true in either case. (I understand that these phrases were not intended to be relied upon, but I just don�t want someone to get the wrong idea.)

[kingsfold]

on 5/6/2009 (4) Also, tithing is 10%. Period. You either pay a full tithe or you don't. I suspect that most don't. Everyone will have to reconcile their own beliefs on tithing with what they actually give, but it isn't a "rule of thumb," it's a commandment. And more than "be[ing] expected to contribute something," converts are expected (and promise in their baptismal interview) to pay a full tithe of 10%.

[kingsfold]

on 5/6/2009 (3) The unique thing about this Church is that in order to endure such a turbulent world with faith intact, its members are continually required to look to God Himself, through his prophet here on earth, as the source of morality, whether they agree with his statements or not. At the same time, I understand that this is a significantly purist view, and that to some, it would sound like I'm advocating blind obedience, which I'm not. I'm simply saying that everyone should, as primary children sing, "Follow the Prophet," and pray to Heavenly Father for themselves for a confirmation that his words are God's will.

[kingsfold]

on 5/6/2009 (2) As such, if you can accept the principle of modern revelation, as well as the *possibility* that the Church could be led by a living prophet (as it was before, by Moses or Jeremiah or Malachi or Peter), you can come to a knowledge for *yourself* that the Church's teachings are true, even if you don't currently believe in (or agree with) them. Conversely, it is neither wise nor even possible to learn *all* of the teachings of the Church before baptism. My [sad] experience has been that those who join the Church simply because they agree with Church teachings quickly fall away when (1) those teachings are adjusted and updated for a changing world or (2) they learn something new that they don't agree with.