Mormons and Marriage

“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.

All human beings-male and female-are created in the image of God. Each is a beloved spirit son or daughter of heavenly parents, and, as such, each has a divine nature and destiny. Gender is an essential characteristic of individual premortal, mortal, and eternal identity and purpose.”

These words open a courageous proclamation issued by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints on the nature, responsibilities, and blessings of family life. This document makes clear how the Mormons view marriage.

Marriage is a sacred ordinance, planned for us by God as a way of furthering His great plans for us. He planned for men and women to marry each other, and to, if possible bear and raise children. This unselfish effort would bring the husband and wife closer together as they served each other and their children, and give them companionship and support as they work their way through mortality.

Mormons stand strongly on the principle that marriage is ordained of God and planned by Him, and therefore, because it’s sacred, it must be guarded and preserved, protected from people who want to alter this sacred ordinance or weaken it. A person who has respect for sacredness, even if his own sacredness is found elsewhere, can understand why a group of people would work hard to protect that which is sacred to them from desecration and destruction.

“27 So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them.

28 And God blessed them, and God said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it: and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth. (Genesis 1, King James Version of the Bible.)

Today, too many people treat marriage as a man-made invention, something casual and unimportant. Too many consider marriage to be something you do until you don’t want to do it anymore, and too many abandon it too easily. Too many consider it unimportant, and not even necessary in today’s world. Too many see it as something for which they can make any rules they choose.

The Mormons don’t treat marriage this way. Not only do they believe it was created by God to help us through this life, but they also believe it was created to be eternal. The marriages we create here can be, if we do what is necessary to make them so, last forever. After all, Heaven is where we’re told we will be happier than we can ever imagine. Could you be happy without those you love most in all the world? Would a loving God place such a powerful love for your family into your heart, tell you to give your family priority in this life, and then yank them away from you forever when you got to Heaven? Of course not, and so He’s promised us we can keep them forever if we live worthy of that wonderful gift and take the necessary steps.

Marriage was ordained before the world began, begins here on earth, and can continue through eternity. That places the definition of marriage, and its rules, under God’s direction. As a result, we can’t decide to change the rules ourselves. A careful reading of the Bible makes it very clear marriage was always intended by God to be between men and women, that God must be a partner in every marriage, and that marriage must be according to the commandments He set forth from the moment he created one man and one woman to begin the human family.

Sources:

The Family: A Proclamation to the World

Marriage on LDS.org

Next: Mormons and the Same-Sex Marriage Battle