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Thursday, August 13, 2015

Clarification of My View and the Church's View on the Issue of Same-Gender Attraction

I was recently reminded by this article of the importance of ensuring that, when anything is stated or claimed in the public domain, all members of the Church must be certain that any views expressed in the public domain, such as blog posts like this, should ensure that Church doctrine is accurately relayed. To that end, I have included the link above to address and clarify my earlier expressed view of the Church's stance on same gender attraction. I have found another news release by the Church that further addresses this point. You will find it here. The more of this interview I read, the more convinced I became that I needed to use a link to it to clarify not only my stated position, but how the Church feels about this subject, and how they addressed many of the common questions about the Church's stance on same-gender attraction. This will not be the first time I have had to clarify something I said, and it probably won't be the last. To paraphrase a line from the original version of That Darn Cat!, "[I] have a most attractive way of putting [my] foot in [my] mouth." Now all that remains is for me to apologize if I have misrepresented the Church in my stated opinion, and to assert that both links above sum up my feelings and the Church's stance perfectly. Thank you for your understanding.

Saturday, August 8, 2015

Big Temple News

Hello, dear readers. I have two major news items relating to temples that I want to share with you today. In a blog post written on Tuesday, June 16, I shared the Church's announcement of the Concepcion Chile Temple Groundbreaking. The Church shared an item in their Newsroom on that yesterday (Friday), additionally announcing that the Tucson Arizona Temple would have its groundbreaking on October 17 as well, also at 10:00 am. Here's the interesting thing about that: It will be 10:00 am in Chile when it is 7:00 am Utah time. And when it is 10:00 am in Tucson, Arizona, it will be 9:00 am Utah time. This will make the 3rd and 4th temples that have had ground broken this year. The designs for the new temples are very unique. I invite all who are interested to check out the news release for the designs. You will find the news release by following this link. Enjoy! Construction for each of the two new temples is expected to last 2 1/2-3 years.

The Church additionally announced that, on February 15, 2016, the Jordan River Utah temple will close for extensive renovation that is expected to last until late in 2017 or early in 2018. The renovation may involve a complete overhaul of the temple, including perhaps a change in the design. The Jordan River Utah temple was dedicated in November 1981 and has the distinction of being the one and only temple of the Church that was dedicated by President Marion G. Romney, who served for over 13 1/2 years as a member of the First Presidency and was, at the time of his death in 1988, serving as President of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles.

With these exciting announcements in temple news, the status of temples has changed greatly. Below is my analyzation of temple progress. Enjoy!

26. Mexico City Mexico Temple: Scheduled to be rededicated Sunday September 13, 2015.
86. Montreal Quebec Temple: Scheduled to be rededicated Sunday November 22, 2015.
91. Suva Fiji Temple: Scheduled to be rededicated Sunday February 21, 2016.
33. Freiberg Germany Temple: Anticipated to be completed in mid-2016.
8. Idaho Falls Idaho Temple: Anticipated to be completed in late 2016.
41. Frankfurt Germany Temple: Scheduled for renovation beginning September 7, 2015.
20. Jordan River Utah Temple: Scheduled for renovation beginning February 15, 2016

Under Construction:
148. Indianapolis Indiana Temple: Scheduled to be dedicated Sunday August 23, 2015.
149. Tijuana Mexico Temple: Scheduled to be dedicated Sunday December 13, 2015.
150. Provo City Center Temple: Scheduled to be dedicated Sunday March 20, 2016.
151. Rome Italy Temple: Projected to be completed in mid-2016.
155. Hartford Connecticut Temple: Projected to be completed in mid-2016.
156. Fort Collins Colorado Temple: Projected to be completed in mid-2016.
152. Philadelphia Pennsylvania Temple: Projected to be completed in late 2016.
153. Sapporo Japan Temple: Projected to be completed in late 2016.
157. Paris France Temple: Projected to be completed in late 2016.
158. Meridian Idaho Temple: Projected to be completed in mid-2017.
159. Star Valley Wyoming Temple: Projected to be completed in mid-2017.
154. Fortaleza Brazil Temple: Projected to be completed in 2018.

Announced:
160. Cedar City Utah Temple: Preparing site for groundbreaking ceremony; groundbreaking scheduled for Saturday August 8, 2015.
161. Concepcion Chile Temple: Preparing for groundbreaking ceremony; groundbreaking scheduled for Saturday October 17, 2015.
162. Tucson Arizona Temple: Preparing for groundbreaking ceremony; groundbreaking scheduled for Saturday October 17, 2015.
166. Barranquilla Colombia Temple: Planning and approval phase; temple and site designs complete; groundbreaking pending.
163. Lisbon Portugal Temple: Planning and approval phase; land purchase finalized; groundbreaking pending.
169. Arequipa Peru Temple: Planning and approval phase; final piece of land for temple site acquired; groundbreaking pending.
165. Winnipeg Manitoba Temple: Planning and approval phase; groundbreaking pending.
168. Kinshasa Democratic Republic of the Congo Temple: Planning and approval phase; groundbreaking pending.
170. Rio de Janeiro Brazil Temple: Planning and approval phase; groundbreaking pending.
164. Urdaneta Philippines Temple: Planning and approval phase; groundbreaking pending.
167. Durban South Africa Temple: Planning and approval phase; awaiting official site announcement.
171. Abidjan Ivory Coast Temple: Planning phase; awaiting official site announcement.
172. Port-au-Prince Haiti Temple: Planning phase; awaiting official site announcement.
173. Bangkok Thailand Temple: Planning phase; awaiting official site announcement.

To make the upcoming events easier to understand, here is my list of all announced upcoming temple events in chronological order, along with what the overall status of temples will be with each change. Hope you enjoy this list as well!

Upcoming Temple Events:

2015
1. Saturday August 8—Cedar City Utah Temple Groundbreaking (147 operating, 13 under construction, 13 announced, 5 undergoing renovation)
2. Sunday August 23—Indianapolis Indiana Temple Dedication (148 operating, 12 under construction, 13 announced, 5 undergoing renovation)
3. Monday September 7—Frankfurt Germany Temple Renovation begins (148 operating, 12 under construction, 13 announced, 6 undergoing renovation)
4. Sunday September 13—Mexico City Mexico Temple Rededication (148 operating, 12 under construction, 13 announced, 5 undergoing renovation)
5 & 6. Saturday October 17—Concepcion Chile (7 AM our time) and Tucson Arizona (9 AM our time) Temple Groundbreakings (148 operating, 14 under construction, 11 announced, 5 undergoing renovation)
7. Sunday November 22—Montreal Quebec Temple Rededication (148 operating, 14 under construction, 11 announced, 4 undergoing renovation)
8. Sunday December 13—Tijuana Mexico Temple Dedication (149 operating, 13 under construction, 11 announced, 4 undergoing renovation)

2016:
1. Monday February 15, 2016—Jordan River Temple Renovation begins (149 operating, 13 under construction, 11 announced, 5 undergoing renovation)
2. Sunday February 21—Suva Fiji Temple Rededication (149 operating, 13 under construction, 11 announced, 4 undergoing renovation)
3. Sunday March 20—Provo City Center Temple Dedication (150 operating, 12 under construction, 11 announced, 4 undergoing renovation)

Hope both lists made sense. As evidenced by both lists, the Cedar City temple groundbreaking is tomorrow. I am very excited about all these temple-related events and couldn't wait to share them with you all. Hope you all are well and that you enjoyed this post. You can be sure I will post again as soon as I can after additional Church-related news becomes available. And I will also be posting another update on our personal lives sometime this weekend or as soon as I can, so stay tuned for that. Best wishes!

Wednesday, August 5, 2015

Major Church News Items

Hello, all. I am posting today for several very good reasons, and the entirety of this post will be devoted to the Church news items that crossed my radar yesterday (Tuesday) and today. That said, on to the news items!

First, the Church announced a new Commissioner of Church Education in May, but I only found out about it early this morning. Elder Kim B. Clark of the First Quorum of the Seventy replaced Elder Paul V. Johnson, also of the First Quorum, as Commissioner of Church Education effective August 1, which is the same day Elder Johnson commenced his service as First Counselor in the Europe Area of the Church. Elder Johnson had been serving as Commissioner since 2008.

The Commissioner of Church Education oversees everything related to the Church's seminary and institute programs as well as having involvement with all Church-related religious instruction at universities and colleges Elder Clark becomes the 16th man to hold this position. There have been 17 different service periods for the Church Commissioner, but one of the men who served as Commissioner, President Henry B. Eyring, served two nonconsecutive terms.

I felt kind of stupid about finding this change. The change was announced in May, but I only stumbled upon the source for it yesterday (Tuesday). I knew, in view of Elder Johnson's Area Presidency assignment, that his release as Commissioner would take place sometime around August 1, when other changes are made to Church leadership assignments. But I and other editors of Wikipedia interested in this change, didn't know where to look for information. On a hunch or gut feeling, I checked the Seminaries and Institutes of Religion website, and there, on the front page, was the source I'd been looking for. A friend who also edits Wikipedia works with the Church Educational System, and it was from him that I first learned this change was in the works, though he couldn't give specifics until today. And even he was baffled about where we might find a source to confirm Elder Clark's status as Commissioner, So I was grateful to find this source and post it on Wikipedia in all of the relevant places.

Elder Clark is well qualified to be the Commissioner. He had, previous to his call as a general authority, served as the President of BYU-Idaho. So he is well-versed in policies relating to the Church Educational System. I don't know how long he will serve in this capacity. He turned 66 just prior to his call as a general authority, and members of the First Quorum of the Seventy typically serve till around age 70. But that doesn't necessarily mean he will be released as Commissioner upon his release as a general authority. Before Elder Johnson became the Commissioner, Elder W. Rolfe Kerr had served for several months both as an emeritus general authority and Church Commissioner. So it'll be interesting to see how long he has this assignment.

The other two Church News items I wanted to post about were featured on the news yesterday (Tuesday). As part of the LDS Church's Joseph Smith Papers Project, the Church released the printer's manuscript of the Book of Mormon and information  regarding the seer stones that were used by Joseph Smith to translate the Book of Mormon. This brings the number of volumes in the project to 11. It took a collaboration between the Church and the Community of Christ (formerly RLDS Church) to bring this volume to fruition. The Church Historian and Recorder (Elder Steven E. Snow of the First Quorum of the Seventy) and his assistant (Richard E. Turley Jr.) represented the LDS Church. The Community of Chris, which holds the rights to the printing of the manuscript, was represented by President Robin Linkhart,, one of the currently 10 Presidents of the Seventy, and Lachlan Mackay, who coordinates matters relating to the Nauvoo historical sites. Both the LDS Church and the Community of Christ were pleased to collaborate on this project. Brother Turley has co-authored an article about Joseph Smith's role as a seer, and seer stones, and their role in translation and revelation. This volume of the Joseph Smith Papers Project is supposed to add to the set of what will become at least two dozen volumes that the Church will publish,

The final Church News item was about Brigham Young's house. Not the one known as the Beehive House in Salt Lake City, but a house sititng on about 1/3 of an acre in Port Byron, New York. A letter regarding the house came to the Mormon Historical Sites Foundation and was received by the foundation's vice-chairman, Richard Lambert. The letter asked if anyone would be interested in helping to purchase and restore the house. The property, seen as an eyesore to the community, was overgrown with poison ivy and weeds. A small plaque sits near the house and reads as follows: "This wood frame house built by James Pine in circa 1818 and later occupied by Brigham Young and family." Lambert learned of the house's authenticity firsthand by going to Port Byron himself. Lambert said that the house hadn't changed very much since Brigham Young and his family lived there. Lambert obtained the property and the house for $30,000. Lambert said he was hoping to find Brigham Young's initials somewhere. His additional hope is that this will provide enough of a reason for schoolchildren and Church history tours to come through Port Byron. Lambert brought the house back into the Young family, as Brigham Young is his 3rd great-grandfather. He will travel with other descendants of Brigham Young to begin the restoration process sometime next summer.

Well, it's late and I probably should be getting to bed. Just had to post about these exciting developments for the Church. Until I post again, all the best!

Monday, August 3, 2015

Happy Birthday to 4 great men this month!

I am posting for a very exciting reason. Four out of our thirteen currently serving apostles have a birthday this month. Before Elder Perry and President Packer died, it was five out of fifteen apostles, or one-third. That said, let's review who these four men are and the milestone each will experience.

With the death of Elder Perry (who would have marked 93 years August 5), the first apostolic birthday for the month is Elder Neil L. Andersen. He will be 64 on August 9. He is the most junior apostle and the second youngest apostle currently serving.

Elder Dallin H. Oaks will be 83 years old on August 12. He is currently the fifth oldest apostle and the third in apostolic seniority (which includes the First Presidency as well as the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles).

President Thomas S. Monson, who, with the deaths of Boyd K. Packer on July 3 and L. Tom Perry on May 31, is now the second oldest apostle in addition to being the most senior apostle, will celebrate his 88th birthday on August 21. He is reportedly not in very good health, but looked healthy enough and was well enough to speak at both Elder Perry's and President Packer's funeral. He apparently is no longer making journeys around the world to attend temple dedications, delegating those opportunities to his counselors, President Henry B. Eyring and President Dieter F. Uchtdorf, whether he is not able to in view of his health or simply choosing to give his counselors those opportunities. I hope he will be with us for many more years to come, but only time will tell.

The final apostle with a birthday this month is Elder Robert D. Hales, who, like Elder Oaks, turns 83 on August 24. His health has been rocky ever since his early years as a general authority. I don't know what the current status of his health is. He has missed several general conferences for his health, with the latest one being April 2011. With his health status being what it is, he only attends the conference session he is assigned to speak at, watching the rest of them at home. There's no way to know for sure, but I anticipate, in view of his health, that he may be the next apostle to pass away. I never look forward to the passing of any of the Brethren, and it will be no different with Elder Hales. Perhaps because he has had so many brushes with death, his talks have been more rich in doctrine than they would have otherwise been. He has given many talks on adversity, citing his personal experience, and many more on how to become more Christlike.

I invite any of you who may be curious about the lives of any of the brethren with birthdays this month to do more studying on them. I hope we will willingly give heed not just to the birthday brethren, but to all those men we accept as prophets, seers, and revelators. Thanks, as always, for reading these posts. Best wishes to you all!

Wednesday, July 29, 2015

Important Church News Items

Hello, all! Hope you are all doing well. I am writing early this morning (Wednesday) to highlight important news relating to the LDS Church. These items are not in order of importance or significance. I will just meander through this post and try to share all the news that has crossed my radar.

First on the list is temple progress. The Church is currently conducting an open house for the newly completed Indianapolis Indiana Temple. The open house began on Friday July 17 and will conclude on Saturday August 8 and excluded the Sundays on July 19, July 26, and August 2. A cultural celebration will be held August 22, and the dedication will take place on August 23. It is unclear who will be sent to dedicate the temple, but if I had to venture a guess, I would say it will be President Henry B. Eyring. He and President Dieter F. Uchtdorf seem to be assigned to alternating temple dedications, especially if President Thomas S. Monson is not able to get out to them. If President Eyring is assigned to that dedication, it will be only the 3rd temple he has dedicated during his time as a member of the First Presidency. It is unclear who among the now 10 members of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles will be sent to accompany the presiding authority. None of them that I know of have ties to Indiana. So I will try to keep my eye on who will be at the dedication and share that information as soon as it's available.

Additionally on the temple progress front, ldschurchnews.com reports who will presided at and oversee the groundbreakings and site dedications for the Cedar City Utah Temple on August 8 and the Concepcion Chile Temple on October 17. For the Cedar City Utah Temple groundbreaking, Elder L. Whitney Clayton of the Presidency of the Seventy (who has direct supervisory responsibility of the three geographical Church Areas in Utah) will preside, and he will be accompanied by Elder Kent F. Richards of the Second Quorum of the Seventy, who will conduct the service and who may still be serving as Temple Department Executive Director, though he may not be serving in that capcity by the time of the groundbreaking. My reason for saying that is because he is at an age and service length that may result in his release during the October General Conference, and changes in Church leadership assignments (such as the Temple Department Executive Director) are effective on August 1. No official announcement has come to confirm Elder Richards's release from that assignment, but it makes sense. For the Concepcion Chile Temple groundbreaking, Elder Walter F. González, who serves as President of the South America South Area Presidency.

I have drawn up a chronological list of upcoming temple-related events to help me see what the status of temples will change to with each event. I share that list for any and all who may be interested. Here it is!

August 8—Cedar City Utah Temple Groundbreaking (147 operating, 13 under construction, 13 announced, 5 undergoing renovation)
August 23—Indianapolis Indiana Temple Dedication (148 operating, 12 under construction, 13 announced, 5 undergoing renovation)
September 7—Frankfurt Germany Temple Renovation begins (148 operating, 12 under construction, 13 announced, 6 undergoing renovation)
September 13—Mexico City Mexico Temple Rededication (148 operating, 12 under construction, 13 announced, 5 undergoing renovation)
October 17—Concepcion Chile Temple Groundbreaking (148 operating, 13 under construction, 12 announced, 5 undergoing renovation)
November 22—Montreal Quebec Temple Rededication (148 operating, 13 under construction, 12 announced, 4 undergoing renovation)
December 13—Tijuana Mexico Temple Dedication (149 operating, 12 under construction, 12 announced, 4 undergoing renovation)
February 21—Suva Fiji Temple Rededication (149 operating, 12 under construction, 12 announced, 3 undergoing renovation)
March 20—Provo City Center Temple Dedication (150 operating, 11 under construction, 12 announced, 3 undergoing renovation)

I hope that this list has proven to be enlightening and instructive and interesting to you, my readers. With that said, on to the next news item!

The leadership of the Mormon Tabernacle Choir, which just returned from its tour in the Eastern States, has announced that they will be going on a tour of Europe next year. This is big news because they typically tour only every 2 years, and there is also the fact that this will be the first time in 18 years that the choir has toured Europe. The tour will go from Monday, June 27-Saturday July 16. The choir will visit Berlin and Nuremberg, Germany; Vienna, Austria; Zurich, Switzerland; Frankfurt, Germany; Brussels, Belgium; Rotterdam Netherlands; and Paris France. President Thomas S. Monson, who serves as an adviser to the Tabernacle Choir, is quoted as saying:

“Our goal is for the choir and its companion Orchestra at Temple Square to be a shining example of the musical arts to all the world. With the announcement of this European tour, I am delighted that these noted ensembles will have the opportunity to touch the hearts of people in multiple nations through their magnificent music. This tour will be an important step forward as the choir and orchestra continue to build bridges of friendship and understanding across the globe as ambassadors of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.”

Choir President Ron Jarrett expressed his delight about the European Tour, saying that when he became choir president, he wanted to plan many international tours for the Choir to extend their outreach and to share with a wider audience the inspiration and power that accompanies each performance of the Choir.

This will be the choir's sixth tour to European nations. The first visit was in 1955 and took the Choir to many major European cities. In 1973 they toured western and central Europe; in 1982 they were in northern Europe; in 1991 the cities of Eastern Europe welcomed the choir; and seven years later, in 1998, southern Europe was the tour location.

The Choir has toured since 1893 in venues in many states of the US, and many other countries, including major music capitals of the world such as Israel, Russia, Japan and Australia. The choir has performed at the inauguration of six US Presidents. The orchestra has toured with the choir since 2005. The choir is composed of 360 voices and, in all, there are 200 members of the Orchestra at Temple Square. The choir's weekly program, Music & the Spoken Word, has aired since 1929. It has been recognized as the world's longest continuing broadcast, being aired by over 2,000 satellite, cable, radio, and TV stations worldwide. The Choir and Orchestra are actively involved in recording projects, with the currently in-progress creation of a full-length edition of Handel's Messiah, which is anticipated to be released sometime next year.

The final news item I wanted to focus on is one I feel strongly about, but may not be well received by some readers of my blog. I will take that chance. On July 27 (Monday), the LDS Church reported that it was reevaluating their relationship with the Boy Scouts of America (BSA) after the BSA announced that, because of a vote by the National Executive Board, they would be permitting openly gay men to serve as Scout leaders. Like the Church, I was disappointed by this decision, and I don't blame the Church for considering cutting all ties to the BSA and organizing their own equivalent program for young men. The reason the Church is considering this course is that, while same-sex marriage is legal now in the United States, the Church feels that the BSA's decision is not in keeping with the Scout Oath, particularly the part about being "morally straight." Also, while the BSA has said that individual organizations still have the right to choose their own leaders (which in the Church's case would be those not identified as "homosexual"), the Church is worried that, with this ruling, they might at some future point be compelled to allow Scout leaders for Church-affiliated Scout troops whose standards are not in harmony with Church teachings. The Church issued the following statement, which directly addresses their response to this ruling:

"The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is deeply troubled by today’s vote by the Boy Scouts of America National Executive Board. In spite of a request to delay the vote, it was scheduled at a time in July when members of the Church’s governing councils are out of their offices and do not meet. When the leadership of the Church resumes its regular schedule of meetings in August, the century-long association with Scouting will need to be examined.The Church has always welcomed all boys to its Scouting units regardless of sexual orientation. However, the admission of openly gay leaders is inconsistent with the doctrines of the Church and what have traditionally been the values of the Boy Scouts of America.

"As a global organization with members in 170 countries, the Church has long been evaluating the limitations that fully one-half of its youth face where Scouting is not available. Those worldwide needs combined with this vote by the BSA National Executive Board will be carefully reviewed by the leaders of the Church in the weeks ahead."

As one who was in the Scouting program and is an Eagle Scout myself, I wish that this ruling had been different or had come at a time when Church leaders could meet and appropriately discuss it and evaluate what impact this ruling would have on the LDS Church's relationship with the BSA. I honestly don't know what kind of program the Church would create for young men that would be equivalent to the Boy Scout program, but I'm sure that if ties are cut to the BSA, the Church will come out with something equally as profitable to LDS young men and those called to be their leaders.I am grateful that the Church is still remaining firm on its stance about same-gender attraction and marriage, and I look forward to seeing what develops in light of this disappointing ruling.

I would like to make one additional statement about my view of same-gender attraction and marriage. Many people have said that the LDS Church and its' membership should show love, and that the Church's current stance on homosexuality is not in keeping with what Jesus would teach. I disagree. I know that our Heavenly Father and his Son, Jesus Christ, love all their spirit children (in the case of the Father) or spirit siblings (in the case of the Son). Christ was all about loving everyone. His incomparable atonement is evidence of His love for all of us who have ever been or will ever be. But at no time during his mortal ministry did he condone or excuse the transgression of His Father's commandments. Many cite the example of the woman taken in adultery as an example of Christ condoning or excusing sin. But what He said was, "Neither do I condemn thee. Go thy way and sin no more." In other words, he was saying, in essence, "You don't deserve to be stoned. I cannot excuse your behavior, and there will be penalties for it at some point, but that will be meted out by me, and I promise I will be just. You will be better off if you don't repeat this transgression." I believe that is the Lord's message to everyone who commits a transgression at any point in their lives. And I freely recognize that all of us "have sinned and come short of the glory of God." Were it not so, there would be no need for the Savior or our Heavenly Father's Plan of Salvation, Redemption, and Happiness.

Further, remember that the Lord himself has said, "I, the Lord, cannot look upon sin with the least degree of allowance." I believe what the ancient and modern prophets have said in reference to the following scripture in Romans 1:24-27: "Wherefore God also gave them up to uncleanness through the lusts of their own hearts, to dishonour their own bodies between themselves:

"Who changed the truth of God into a lie, and worshipped and served the creature more than the Creator, who is blessed for ever. Amen.

"For this cause God gave them up unto vile affections: for even their women did change the natural use into that which is against nature:

"And likewise also the men, leaving the natural use of the woman, burned in their lust one toward another; men with men working that which is unseemly, and receiving in themselves that recompence of their error which was meet."

If not homosexuality, what could this scripture possibly be referring to? Again, that's from the biblical apostle Paul, not just an LDS Church leader. Anyone who believes the Bible cannot in good conscience condone, excuse or support homosexual behavior, nor can they claim that those with homosexual tendencies were simply "born that way." To so say is to deny the godly doctrine of agency, the ability to choose. The Lord has never and will never take away that power of choice from anyone, but at the same time, He will hold each of us accountable for any conduct that violates His laws. That has been and ever will be the Church's stance. Some have made the mistaken assumption that simply because the doctrine of polygamy was rescinded and because the blacks were in 1978 granted the priesthood that, in due course, the Church will accept homosexuality. But I know this will not happen.

The basic doctrines, founded upon scripture, that the Church embraces, will never change. No man could change them, and, as Wilford Woodruff observed, anyone who tries to lead the Church astray will be removed by the Lord from their positions of authority in the Church. The importance of the doctrine on the family cannot be overstated. And I am and ever will be supportive of the Church's doctrines and practices, for I have come to know for myself that they are absolutely true and in harmony with the Lord's will. I share this post with you and bear my testimony of the importance of these truths set forth herein, and give my firm witness that we will only be blessed as we follow the Lord's doctrines as set forth in scriptures and in the words of our modern day prophets, seers, and revelators. This is my witness and testimony, which I share with all my heart in the sacred name of our Advocate with the Father, who cannot excuse, condone or support sin and earnestly pleads with us to keep His commandments and live as He would have us live, even our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, Amen.