“MARRIAGE IN THE COVENANT”: AN OLD TESTAMENT LAW FIRST

1. “MARRIAGE IN THE COVENANT”: AN OLD TESTAMENT LAW FIRST

2. “How wonderful a thing is marriage under the plan of our Eternal Father, a plan provided in His divine wisdom for the happiness and security of His children and the continuity of the race. “He is our Creator, and He designed marriage from the beginning….. “Surely no one reading the scriptures, both ancient and modern, can doubt the divine concept of marriage.” Ensign, May 1991, 71 Gordon B. Hinckley

3. Marriage in the Beginning “Marriage as established in the beginning was an eternal covenant. The first man and the first woman were not married until death should part them, for at that time death had not come into the world. The ceremony on that occasion was performed by the Eternal Father himself whose work endures forever. Joseph Fielding Smith

4. “It is the will of the Lord that all marriages should be of like character, and in becoming "one flesh" the man and the woman are to continue in the married status, according to the Lord's plan, throughout all eternity as well as in this mortal life.” Doctrines of Salvation 2:71 Joseph Fielding Smith

5. “Not good for man to be alone” It was not "good" for man to be alone in the beginning, and it never was and never will be "good" for man to be alone. That man or that woman who remains "separately and singly" throughout eternity shall have lost the greatest blessing the Lord has prepared for them that love him. It is an inherent, or God-given desire, for a man when he becomes mature, to "leave his father and his mother" and "cleave unto his wife" in a companionship and union that in all righteousness should endure forever. Joseph Fielding Smith, DS 2:69-70

6. “When Eve was given to Adam, the union was an eternal one. There was no death in the world, for the fall of man came later. When the seeds of death were sown and man was banished from the presence of the Lord because of his transgression, the union previously formed was not severed.” Doctrines of Salvation 2:69 Joseph Fielding Smith Tenth President of the Church

7. “Because the daughters of Noah married the sons of men contrary to the teachings of the Lord, his anger was kindled, and this offense was one cause that brought to pass the universal flood. You will see that the condition appears reversed in the Book of Moses. It was the daughters of the sons of God who were marrying the sons of men, which was displeasing unto the Lord. The fact was, as we see it revealed, that the daughters who had been born, evidently under the covenant, and were the daughters of the sons of God, that is to say of those who held the priesthood, were transgressing the commandment of the Lord and were marrying out of the Church.” Joseph Fielding Smith Answer to Gospel Questions, 1:136

8. “One of the great evils that existed among the people was that the sons of God married the daughters of men; or, in other words, many who were connected with the Church mixed themselves up with those who were not; and thus their hearts were drawn away from God, and in the sight of God they were no better than those who rejected His servants, and consequently they perished with the disobedient and wicked.” JD 26:90-91 John Taylor Third President of the Church

9. “There is nothing that I can think of, in a religious way, that would grieve me more intensely than to see one of my boys marry an unbelieving girl, or one of my girls marry an unbelieving man. While I live, and they will hearken to my voice, you can depend upon it, none of them will ever do it, and I would to God that every father in Israel saw it just as I do, and would carry it out just as I intend to do.” Gospel Doctrine p. 279 Joseph F. Smith Sixth President of the Church

10. “I may be pardoned, since it is pretty well known everywhere, I believe, that I speak my mind if I speak at all, if I say to you, Mormon, Jew, and Gentile, believer and unbeliever, present in this congregation, I would rather take one of my children to the grave than I would see him turn away from this Gospel. Joseph F. Smith Sixth President of the Church

11. “I would rather take my children to the cemetery, and see them buried in innocence, than I would see them corrupted by the ways of the world. I would rather go myself to the grave than to be associated with a wife outside of the bonds of the new and everlasting covenant. Now, I hold it just so sacred; but some members of the Church do not so regard the matter. Some people feel that it does not make very much difference whether a girl marries a man in the Church, full of the faith of the Gospel, or an unbeliever.

12. “Some of our young people have married outside of the Church; but very few of those who have done it have failed to come to grief. I would like to see Latter-day Saint men marry Latter-day Saint women; and Methodists marry Methodists, Catholics marry Catholics, and Presbyterians marry Presbyterians, and so on to the limit. Let them keep within the pale of their own faith and church.” Gospel Doctrine, p. 279

13. “Don’t trifle away your happiness by an involvement with someone who cannot take you worthily to the temple. Make a decision now that this is the place where you will marry. To leave that decision until a romantic involvement develops is to take a risk, the importance of which can’t calculate now.” Teachings of ETB, p. 538 Ezra Taft Benson Thirteenth President of the Church

14. “I would urge you further to pray about this matter. Obtain the testimony of the truth of these things before a romantic involvement can take root. Covenant with your Heavenly Father that you will do His will. Live a clean, moral life, and be worthy of His Spirit to bless you. No sacrifice is too great to have the blessings of an eternal marriage.” Teachings of ETB, p. 538 Ezra Taft Benson Thirteenth President of the Church

15. What was the cause of the first, or one of the first, curses that came upon Israel? I will tell you. One of the first transgressions of the family called Israel, was their going to other families or other nations to select partners. This was one of the great mistakes made by the children of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, Brigham Young Second President of the Church

16. “….for they would go and marry with other families, although the Lord had forbidden them to do so, and had given them a very strict and stringent law on the subject. He commanded them not to marry among the Gentiles, but they did and would do it.” Discourses of BY, p. 196 Brigham Young Second President of the Church

17. “Our Heavenly Father wants you to date young men who are faithful members of the Church, who will be worthy to take you to the temple and be married the Lord's way. There will be a new spirit in Zion when the young women will say to their boyfriends, "If you cannot get a temple recommend, then I am not about to tie my life to you, even for mortality!" And the young returned missionary will say to his girlfriend, "I am sorry, but as much as I love you, I will not marry out of the holy temple.“ Come Listen to a Prophet’s Voice, p. 21-22 Ezra Taft Benson Thirteenth President of the Church

18. “Be careful, O ye mothers in Israel, and do not teach your daughters in future, as many of them have been taught, to marry out of Israel. Woe to you who do it; you will lose your crowns as sure as God lives.” Discourses of BY, p. 196 Brigham Young Second President of the Church

19. “You young men, fall in love with Latter-day Saint girls. And you young women, fall in love with Latter-day Saint boys. You will be happier if you do so. You will be happier because you will understand one another and appreciate one another's values, and you will be grateful all of your days if you will do that.”—From Cebu City Philippines member fireside, May 31, 1997 Ensign, July 1997, p.73 Gordon B. Hinckley Fifteenth President of the Church

20. Marriage, solemnized in the temples of the Church, is performed in the authority of that same holy priesthood, not only for this life, but for the next as well. The separation of loved ones in death is always fraught with sorrow. It would be fraught with hopelessness if there Gordon B. Hinckley Fifteenth President of the Church

21. were not some alternative to the finality of the "until death do thee part" pronouncement in most marriage ceremonies. It need not be so. Reason would deny that the Father who loves us all would tear asunder the most sacred relationship of all human experience and banish the companionship of marriage by those who love, honor, and respect one another. Gordon B. Hinckley Fifteenth President of the Church

22. “But there must be rules. There must be compliance. There must be obedience. The way is clear, made so through the exercise of the holy priesthood in these sacred temples.” Ensign, November 1985, p. 60.) Gordon B. Hinckley Fifteenth President of the Church