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The Eternal Family: A Plain and Precious Part of the Plan of Salvation Daniel K Judd The family is central to the creator’s plan for the eternal destiny ofhis children. . . . In the premortal realm, spirit sons and daughters knew and worshiped God as their Eternal Father and accepted His plan by which His children could obtain a physical body and gain earthly experience to progress toward perfection and ultimately realize their divine destiny as heirs ofeternal life. F rom the beginning, God organized the human family and revealed that marriage and family rela- tionships are intended to be eternal. Latter-day proph-ets have taught that while Adam and Eve were sealed in marriage for time and all eternity, the time would come when the doctrine of the eternal family would be lost to mankind. President Spencer W. Kimball observed, “Eternal marriage was known to Adam and others of the prophets, but the knowledge was lost from the earth for many centuries” (Kimball, 1964, pp. 25). The prophet Isaiah, writing in the eighth century before the birth of Jesus Christ, described these periods of apostasy when he recorded, “The earth also is defiled under the inhabi-tants thereof; because they have transgressed the laws, changed the ordinance, broken the everlasting covenant” (Isaiah 24:5; see also D&C 84:19–27). In a prophetic description of the centuries of doctrinal darkness that would follow the death of Jesus Christ, the Book of Mormon prophet Nephi envisioned: They have taken away from the gospel of the Lamb many parts which are plain and most pre-cious; and also many covenants of the Lord have they taken away. And all this have they done that they might pervert the right ways of the Lord, that they might blind the eyes and harden the hearts of the children of men (1 Nephi 13:26–27). Nephi also added that “because of these things which are taken away out of the gospel of the Lamb, an exceedingly great many do stumble, yea, insomuch that Satan hath great power over them” (1 Nephi

13:29). The distortion and eventual loss of the doctrine of the eter-nal family is no doubt a part of what the Prophet Joseph Smith was describing when he observed, “Our Father in Heaven organized the human family, but they are all disorganized and in great confusion” (Watson, 1971, p. 530). The loss of the doctrine and covenant of eternal marriage has confused the great majority of the inhabit-ants of the world concerning the eternal nature of the family and has led many to believe that such relation-ships are not part of God’s plan for the salvation and eternal destiny of His children. Beginning with the teachings of Joseph Smith, latter-day prophets have proclaimed to the world that God’s holy priesthood and the sacred keys that allow marriages and families to be sealed together for time and all eter-nity have been restored to the earth. The Prophet Joseph Smith taught, “It is in the order of heavenly things that God should always send a new dispensation into the world when men have apostatized from the truth and lost the priesthood” (Roberts, 1965, p. 478–479). In 1995, President Gordon B. Hinckley reiterated the doctrine of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints concerning eternal marriages and families when he taught in the proclamation that the divine plan of happiness enables family rela-tionships to be perpetuated beyond the grave. Sacred ordinances and covenants available inholy temples make it possible for individuals to return to the presence of God and for families to be united eternally (¶ 3). President Hinckley also described the central role of the family in God’s plan for the salvation of His chil- dren, when he stated: We, the First Presidency and the Council of the Twelve Apostles of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter- day Saints, solemnly proclaim that mar-riage 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 (¶ 1). The major purpose of this chapter is to help the reader comprehend the significance of the restoration of the doctrine of the eternal family. It also provides a

doctrinal framework designed to help the reader better understand the gospel principles regarding the plan of salvation and applications found in “The Family: A Proclamation to the World.” This chapter begins with a discussion of the premortal origin of the plan of salvation, and then fol-lows with doctrines of the Creation of man, the Fall of Adam and Eve, and the Atonement of Jesus Christ, and their applications to marriage and family relationships. The Plan of Salvation Not only was the doctrine of the eternal family lost to mankind in the centuries following the deaths of Jesus Christ and His Apostles, but the doctrine of the pre-mortal existence of the soul was also taken from the earth. The doctrine of premortal existence was restored through the Prophet Joseph Smith, affirming that prior to mortal birth each person born on earth first existed as a spirit son or daughter of heavenly parents (¶ 2; see also Abraham 2:22–23, Jeremiah 1:5; John 1:1–8). President Joseph F. Smith taught, “Man, as a spirit, was begotten and born of heavenly parents, and reared to maturity in the eternal mansions of the Father prior to coming upon the earth in a temporal body” (Smith, Winder, & Lund, 1909, p. 80). During this premortal period, a grand council was held where God, our Heavenly Father, presented “the plan of salvation” (Moses 6:62) to all of His children (see Abraham 3:21–28 and Moses 4:1–4). The plan presented by our Father included many of the doctrines involved in the plan of salvation, including the doctrine of eternal families and the Atonement of Jesus Christ. In this council, we learned that “the plan of redemption” (Alma 12:25) required a Savior to “take upon him the pains and the sicknesses of his people” (Alma 7:11) as well as “the sins of his people” (Alma 7:13), thus allowing those who would live and die, sin and repent, to eventually return and dwell in the presence of God. Lucifer, another of God’s spirit children, made a selfish and vain attempt to usurp the role of savior, but it was Jesus Christ, the Firstborn of the Father’s spirit children (Colossians 1:15; D&C 93:21), who was chosen to carry out God’s plan. At some point, those who supported “the great

plan of the Eternal God” (Alma 34:9) were promised that they would have the opportunity and responsibility to live in and perpetuate family relationships. We also learned that each of us would have missions to perform, such as being a son, daughter, sister, brother, husband, wife, mother, or father. We learned that understanding and fulfilling these roles was a part of our divine destiny. President Joseph F. Smith reminded us: To do well those things which God ordained to be the common lot of all man-kind, is the truest greatness. To be a successful father or a successful mother is greater than to be a successful general or a successful statesman. One is universal and eternal greatness, the other is ephemeral (Smith, 1986, pp. 285). Creation, Fall, and Atonement “The great plan of happiness” (Alma 42:8) presented by our Heavenly Father in the premortal council was and is divinely designed “to bring to pass the immortality and eternal life of man” (Moses 1:39). While containing the whole of the gospel, “the plan of redemption” (Alma 12:25) is founded upon three major doctrines: (a) The Creation of the earth and of all mankind, (b) the Fall of Adam, Eve, and their posterity, and (c) the Atone-ment of Jesus Christ. As a member of the Seventy, Elder Merrill J. Bateman stated the following in summarizing the familial nature of the Father’s plan: The creation of the earth, the fall of Adam, and the atonement of Christ are essential elements or pillars in the Father’s plan for the progression and development of his children—both as individualsand as families. . . . These three doctrinal pillars of the plan of salvation are intimately involved in the creation of new eternal families and their extension into the eternities (Bateman, 1998, p. 26). In addition to the Creation, Fall, and Atonement being literal, historic events, each are doctrines that have direct application to our personal lives. We each have experienced the Creation both spiritually and physically. Our heavenly parents created our spirit bodies in the premortal realm (¶ 2; see also Abraham 2:22–23). Our earthly parents provided our

physical bodies and we were born into mortality (see Moses 3:5–7). Each of us experiences the Fall as we are born into a fallen world and are separated from God’s presence (Alma 12:22). We also experience the Fall as we face the realities of our fallen natures and suffer the consequences of our own sins and mistakes, as well as those of others (D&C 93:38–39). We learn of and receive the blessings of the Atonement of Jesus Christ as we repent of our sins, are healed from our infirmities, and eventually experience the resurrection of our physical bodies (Alma 7:11–12, 1 Corinthians 15:21–22). The doctrines of the Creation, Fall, and Atonement can also serve as metaphors as each can have interpre-tive application to many of the significant events in our lives. Each of us experiences periods of creation, such as the beginning of a marriage, the birth of a child, beginning a new school year or semester, receiving a new Church calling, starting a new job, or beginning any other important process. These periods of creation are generally times when we are optimistic and hopeful concerning the future. Times of creation are generally followed by times when we experience a “fall” as we are confronted with adversity, affliction, and opposition. Our optimistic idealism about the future often turns into recognition of the difficult reality of the present. It is important to remember that these difficult times of fallenness can be followed by experiences of healing and reconciliation as we come to understand our need for a Savior and embrace the Atonement of Jesus Christ. Consider the example of a young couple in the begin-ning of their relationship, when they are experiencing a Garden of Eden–like existence. In a metaphorical sense, the grass is green, the water is clear, and the sky is blue—everything in their relationship appears to be idyllic. At some point in their relationship, however, they (like Adam and Eve) are destined to experience opposition. It is a part of the Lord’s plan for them to experience the Fall as opposition and adversity comes and affliction follows. Their challenge and opportunity then becomes, as individuals and as a couple, to actively seek reconciliation and healing through the Atonement of Jesus Christ ( Judd, 1998, pp. 121–147). Social scientists have also recognized

that marriages, families, and most relationships often pass through stages of growth in their development. Miller, Wack- man, Nunally, and Miller acknowledged, “The impor-tant relationships we have in life go through transitions” (1988, p. 239). This group of marriage and family schol-ars coined the term visionary to describe the beginning, or what has been termed in this chapter as the cre-ation, of a relationship. They used the term adversarial to describe the times of disillusionment, or what this chapter describes as the fall that is commonly experi-enced in marriages and families. Vital is the term they use to describe what this chapter terms as atonement to describe how a couple or others can learn to reconcile their differences. The Creation and Our Divine Origins and Destiny The scriptures clearly teach that all human beings are created in the image of God (see Moses 2:26–27 and Genesis 1:26–27). As stated in the proclamation, “each is a beloved spirit son or daughter of heavenly parents, and as such, each has a divine nature and destiny” (¶ 2). From this brief statement, we learn several profound truths: We were created by God; we were created in the image of God; we have heavenly parents—a Father and a Mother; we are literally the spirit offspring of God; our spirit creation includes identity as male or female; we have a divine destiny. While there is much we do not know about the spe-cifics of the Creation, latter-day prophets have taught that we have both divine origin and divine potential. In 1909, President Joseph F. Smith and his counselors in the First Presidency, John R. Winder and Anthon H. Lund, issued a statement that included the following: Man is the child of God, formed in the divine image and endowed with divine attributes, and even as the infant son of an earthly father and mother is capable in due time of becoming a man, so the undevelopedoffspring of celestial parentage is capable, by experi-ence through ages and aeons, of evolving into a God (Smith, Winder, & Lund, 1909, p. 81). As mentioned, many doctrines were lost to the earth through apostasy, including the eternal nature of

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