God-Centered Homes For Children...

President N. Eldon Tanner: ¶

The Tabernacle Choir will now sing, "Lo, My Shepherd Is Divine," ¶

following which President Hugh B. ¶

Brown of the First Presidency will speak to us. ¶

Singing: "Lo, My Shepherd Is Divine," the Tabernacle Choir. ¶

President N. Eldon Tanner: ¶

Our first speaker this morning will be President Hugh B. Brown, first counselor in the First Presidency of the Church. ¶

President Brown. ¶

President Hugh B. Brown Of the First Presidency God-centered homes for children An editorial in the Church News section of the Deseret News last night suggested a theme for this morning. It refers to the home and the family, where parents and children live together in very intimate relationship, where they work and play together, sing and pray together, and occasionally weep together in one another's arms. ¶

I quote from the editorial: ¶

"A stabilized home, in which religious instruction forms a major part, is the only real answer to juvenile delinquency. ¶

"This is the consensus of opinion of scholars who have made a serious study of the causes and prevention of delinquency. ¶

"These scholars say that parents and children alike must be taught how to live together as a family: their home must be 'God-centered,' and must be associated with a Church which provides an uplifting, character-building program for youth." ¶

When God created or organized the heavens and the earth in accordance with eternal law, he placed man upon the earth. Noting that it was not good for man to be alone, he provided a helpmeet for him. In Genesis 2:23-24 we read, "And Adam said, This is now bone of my bones, and flesh of my flesh: she shall be called Woman, . . . ¶

"Therefore shall a man leave his father and his mother, and shall cleave unto his wife. . . ." ¶

Thus it is seen that God instituted marriage in the very beginning. He made man, male and female, in his own image and likeness and designed that they should be united together in sacred bonds of marriage and declared that one is not perfect without the other. ¶

Marriage, the family, and the home are among the most important subjects of our whole theological doctrine, and as the family is the basic and fundamental unit of the Church and of society, its preservation and its righteous needs should take precedence over all other interests. ¶

A family may be defined as a group of people of various ages, united by agreement and covenant, living together in the most intimate relationship. In such a society children learn that certain things are right and others are wrong. They grow from stage to stage of confidence, skill, affection, understanding, and responsibility. In other words, they build character. A family is a project in group living in which the thing to do and the thing not to do are absorbed through precept, example, and practice. ¶

In His image The purpose of this life, and indeed the purpose of existence, is that man might grow into greater likeness of his Maker. We do not derogate from the Creator any of the attributes that orthodox Christianity accords him. ¶

Rather, we worship him as a personal God who is all powerful, all knowing, and, in fact, perfect, our Heavenly Father. We point out, moreover, that we, as his children, are the only creations of the Father to be blessed with his image. It follows that under the divine law of "like begets like," our progress through the eternities may be limitless. We take seriously and literally the injunction of the Savior to be perfect even as our Father in heaven is perfect. The essential institution to obtain this perfection, which is necessary to enable us to re-enter our Father's presence and be happy there, is the eternal family unit. ¶

Charge to parents Parents are charged with the responsibility to teach the undoubted truth that there is no principle more widely seen in all nature and more sternly enforced, from the infinitesimal electron to the incomprehensible galaxies in outer space, than this: "Not only liberty, but law prevails." ¶

The words freedom and rig/its have a magic sound in the ears of young people, but sometimes they translate them into self-indulgence and selfgratification. The time to start putting them into focus is before the impact of dawning personality has created habits in the children that will have to be vanquished someday either by selfdiscipline or by the discipline of the law. ¶

The Chief Justice of the Ontario (Canada) Supreme Court said recently that the violent juvenile crimes do not reflect on the great body of young people, but they do reflect on the manner in which the adult population is discharging its responsibility. The warden of one of our largest prisons said, "This institution is filled with spoiled children." ¶

I do not wish to speak today so much on juvenile delinquency as I want to talk to those primarily responsible for it. The group that is creating most of our trouble is, for the most part, a product of undisciplined homes and irresponsible parents. The trouble begins in the home, and ultimately it will have to be corrected in the home. ¶

Obviously, it is better to prevent the problem of delinquency from arising rather than to invoke the law to cure its effects. ¶

I quote from a recent letter sent out by the Royal Bank of Canada discussing this important subject: ¶

Youth in world in turmoil "Today's young people have lived their lives from infancy in a world of turmoil. Uncertainties crowd upon them as they see adults bent upon violence and destruction. ¶

"What we call civilization has moved so fast that the structure and instincts of man have not kept up. ¶

Ideological battles are also raging in the political world. Men and women, and boys and girls, must still face the profoundly individual issues of life and the vital interpersonal relationship of parent and child." ¶

Young people need rules to guide them and standards by which to judge themselves. The home takes its rightful and eminent place in preparing children for life when basic principles are quietly but firmly announced and lived up to. The final test is not how amenable young people are to compulsion of the law, but how far they can be taught to obey self-imposed law in the interest of family solidarity. ¶

The time has come to cease emphasizing the gadgets of every-day living and to set over against them the imperishable qualities of honesty, integrity, unselfishness, purity of thought and action, and respect for law. ¶

To the child, with his short perspective, life is all foreground, composed of persons who feed, coddle, chastise, and sometimes abandon him. These people are responsible not only for immediate care but for all the years of his life, because they help build his personality at the same time they nourish and protect his body. In a good family the child grows up in an atmosphere of mutual respect. He participates in wholesome, unselfish, democratic practices; and in the nature of things, he will project all these into his wider adult life. ¶

The child does not want a do-asyou-please, permissive world; it makes him confused and unhappy. He wants a stable, reliable wall around him, defining his world, giving him a large free area, but telling him exactly how far he can go. ¶

Youth needs respect for rights of others ¶

This wall can be built of such things as respect for the property rights of others, respect for elders, observance of the conventions that lubricate social life. If children are not being taught these things, they are being handicapped. As R. P. Smith said, "The reason these kids are getting into trouble with cops is because cops are the first people they meet who say and mean it 'y°u can't do that.' " It goes without saying that parents who seek respect for their precepts must, as the principle of the law of equity puts it, "come with clean hands." ¶

Children quickly detect insincerity. ¶

In the transmission of ideas and of culture, in the building of character and the qualities needed in this changing world, the family of today must be the burden bearer and the path breaker. It recognizes children as being more important than things, ideas as more precious than gadgets, and personal worth the touchstone by which all other values are tested. ¶

Youth needs memories of affection, justice, virtue, discipline Parents of today should give their children some memories to guide them — memories of love in family life in which justice was upheld, affection unstintingly given, discipline tenderly but firmly explained, and fine example habitually displayed. We do not believe that self-discipline is best developed in a monastic life, in a desert, or in a cave, but rather in the home. All the virtues toward which we are striving are only really obtainable within society and are best obtainable within the building blocks of that society — that is, within the family unit. ¶

The Lord instructed Adam as to the basic purpose of marriage. As we read in Genesis, "So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them. ¶

"And God blessed them, and God said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it." (Gen. 1:27-28.) Marriage was intended from the beginning to be eternal. This is evidenced by the fact that the first known form of human government started with Adam and Eve, who, according to the scriptures, were united by God himself. This was before there was any death; therefore, the words "until death do you part" would have been meaningless. After the Fall they added children to their family, and together they comprised an eternal unit. ¶

The family organization is patriarchal in nature and is patterned after the one in heaven itself, as referred to by the Apostle Paul in Ephesians 3:14-15: "For this cause I bow my knees unto the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, "Of whom the whole family in heaven and earth is named." ¶

Respect for fatherhood and family The very essence of divine government is fatherhood and the recognition of the family relationship. The Church itself exists to exalt the family, and the family concept is one of the major and most important of the whole theological doctrine. In fact, our very concept of heaven itself is the projection of the home into eternity. Salvation, then, is essentially a family affair, and full participation in the plan of salvation can be had only in family units. ¶

One of the first commandments given to Adam and Eve was to multiply and replenish the earth and subdue it. This injunction has never been revoked. When the father and mother and children are sealed together by the same divine authority as was given to Peter, celestial marriage commences an eternal family. Christ said to Peter: "And I will give unto thee the keys of the kingdom of heaven: ¶

and whatsoever thou shalt bind on earth shall be bound in heaven; and whatsoever thou shalt loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven." (Matt. ¶

16:19.) All who are faithful to the teachings of the gospel will continue as a family into the highest degree of the celestial kingdom and will be crowned with immortality, eternal life, and eternal increase. ¶

Divinely ordained home ¶

President Lorenzo Snow gave an intimation of what eternal marriage meant: "A man and a woman in the other life, having celestial bodies, free from sickness and disease, glorified and beautified beyond description, standing in the midst of their posterity, governing and controlling them, administering life, exaltation and glory, world without end." And President Joseph F. Smith told us, "The very foundation of the Kingdom of God, of righteousness, of progress, of development, of eternal life, and eternal increase in the Kingdom of God is laid in the divinely ordained home." ¶

The leaders of the Church have, from the beginning, taught faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, and we acknowledge him as our Savior and Redeemer. It is our duty to teach this to our children — teach them to respect their neighbors, their seniors, their teachers; teach them to respect old age, to venerate their parents, and to help all who are helpless and needy; teach them to honor all who preside over them in church or civic government; teach them to honor the laws of God and be loyal to their country, loyal to principles of righteousness; and, because they are children of God, teach them to be loyal to the royal spirit that is in them. ¶

The action and reaction of family life will rub off from our personalities those abrasive and anti-social characteristics that hinder our functioning as individuals in society. Nowhere else can such intimate and close association be had. Certainly this polishing process is best accomplished in the crucible of family life. ¶

President Lyndon B. Johnson, speaking at Howard University last year, warned us that at the root of much of the social malaise that is gripping our country is the breakdown of the family unit among important groups within our nation. ¶

Home and family bases for society We repeat, marriage and the family are the basic and fundamental units of our society. Dr. Paul C. Glick, the census bureau's expert on marriage, says: "The more I study the subject, the more apparent it becomes that marriage is regarded as — and is — the happiest, healthiest, and most desirable state of human existence. We live longer and are healthier if we are married. Marriage is the central fact of our lives." ¶

But we must insure that this way of life contains the basic requirements and fulfills the fundamental purposes of that family life if it is to continue throughout the eternities. Within the family the parents may find an inspiring challenge to magnificent accomplishment and contribution: that is, to mold an immortal spirit, to teach eternal precepts, and to instill discipline and obedience in the mind of a child. Dr. Adam S. Bennion pointed out: "The family is by far the most important single institution in our commonwealth, and happy indeed is the man, who, when he closes his desk at night, has before him the gladsome picture of the sparkling family group with which he shortly will have the evening meal. Family bonds are gilt-edged investments. If you wish to check me on this, ask the man who owns them." ¶

Laws and customs represent only the external or social aspects of marriage. ¶

These externals do not reach the inwardness and depth of the problem that the individual person confronts upon the advent of his marriage. From the great poems, novels, plays, and books of history and biography, we find the psychological and emotional aspects of marriage have been discussed in all ages. From these and thousands of case histories, we are impressed by the fact that marriage is at all times, in every culture and under the widest variety of circumstances, one of the supreme tests of human character. ¶

Stress and conflict in personal relations Here we are faced with a consideration of the relation of men and women in and out of marriage, and the relation of parents and children when crises are met. Tensions and conflicts between love and duty, between reason and passion, from which no individual can entirely escape, are among the most serious of the problems that all must confront. This is a subject that touches every man, woman, and child, both psychologically and morally. Sometimes it is tragic, but often it is happy and blessed. Here is an opportunity for men and women everywhere to measure up to one of the greatest responsibilities of life. ¶

It is hoped that this brief and sketchy outline may call to the attention of members of the Church their responsibilities as members of family units, in which they have opportunity to cooperate in the great and continuing work of our Heavenly Father. It is hoped also that our friends who are attending this conference in person or by means of radio and television may get a clearer outline of the Church's doctrine with respect to the home and the eternity of the marriage covenant that is so fundamentally a part of the restored gospel. ¶

Man is precious in the sight of God Potentially, man is more precious in the sight of God than all the planets and suns of space. Incomprehensibly grand as are the physical creations of the earth and space, they have been brought into existence as a means to an end; they are the handiwork of God; man is his son. The supreme purpose of creation is, in his own words, "to bring to pass the immortality and eternal life of man." (Moses 1:39.) ¶

Thus we emphasize the dignity of the individual, his supreme importance in the family unit and in society, his potential unfolding into a Godlike status, and eventually his exaltation in the celestial kingdom. We pray for divine guidance to this end in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen. ¶