Preserve the family

After our awesome San Francisco trip, we were able to relax on Sunday. It was really interesting because in church they had a combined third hour meeting all about Proposition-8 about a constitutional ammendment for a marriage between a man and a woman. I've never been in a church meeting that talked about political issues. It was very interesting because they talked about the preservation of the family and the need to vote and contribute money so that they can win this proposition. They quoted from the following articles which would be very good for everyone to read:

1. Elder Holland's talk entitled General Patterns and Specific Lives. In this article he talks about the pattern established by the Lord for his children. Many times in the church we tend to avoid talking about the family pattern (man, woman and children in the home) because we don't want to offend or we want to be sensitive to other's needs. Individual families may have different situations, but the ideal family is a man and wife rearing children in love and righteousness--that is the pattern. Please read the article because it is so good.

2. The Divine Institution of Marriage
This article is found on the "newsroom" page of lds.org and was written specifically in response to legalizing gay marriages and Proposition-8. In it, it talks about the reprocusions that will happen if the traditional family unit is redefined.

3. Same-gender attraction Q&A with Elder Oaks.

Even though I can't vote from Proposition 8 because I'm no longer a California resident, I can do my part by becoming informed about the issues in my own state. If this does not pass in California, then unfortunately the other states will most likely follow suit. One of the men in the Sunday school who is a sealer in the temple got up and was saying how when abortion became legalized in the States, many doctors lost their licenses and were involved in lawsuits because they refused to perform abortions. Likewise, many registered to perform marriage ceremonies (i.e. sealers in the temple) could lose that ability to perform marriages if they do not also perform them for gay couples. LDS social services may have to be shut down if they discriminate against gay couples who want to adopt. These are just some of the side effects that could happen.

Now more than ever the family is being attacked. Satan has become very good at blurring the good vs. evil boundaries. Evil doesn't seem to be all that black and white anymore, but light and dark shades of gray.