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  • Above the Great West Door of the renowned Westminster Abbey

  • in London, England, stand the statues of 10 Christian martyrs

  • of the 20th century.

  • Included among them is Dietrich Bonhoeffer,

  • a brilliant German theologian born in 1906.

  • Bonhoeffer became a vocal critic of the Nazi dictatorship

  • and its treatment of Jews and others.

  • He was imprisoned for his active opposition

  • and finally executed in a concentration camp.

  • Bonhoeffer was a prolific writer,

  • and some of his best-known pieces

  • are letters that sympathetic guards helped him smuggle out

  • of prison, later published as Letters and Papers from Prison.

  • One of those letters was to his niece before her wedding.

  • It included these significant insights

  • (quote): "Marriage is more than your love for each other.

  • ...

  • In your love you see only your two selves in the world,

  • but in marriage you are a link in the chain

  • of the generations, which God causes to come and to pass away

  • to his glory, and calls into his kingdom.

  • In your love you see only the heaven of your own happiness,

  • but in marriage you are placed at a post of responsibility

  • towards the world and mankind.

  • Your love is your own private possession,

  • but marriage is more than something personal--it is

  • a status, an office.

  • Just as it is the crown, and not merely the will to rule,

  • that makes the king, so it is marriage,

  • and not merely your love for each other,

  • that joins you together in the sight of God and man.

  • So love comes from you, but marriage from above, from God"

  • (unquote).

  • In what way does marriage between a man and a woman

  • transcend their love for one another and their own happiness

  • to become "a post of responsibility

  • towards the world and mankind"?

  • In what sense does it come "from above, from God"?

  • To understand, we have to go back to the beginning.

  • Prophets have revealed that we first existed as intelligences

  • and that we were given form, or spirit bodies, by God,

  • thus becoming His spirit children--sons and daughters

  • of heavenly parents.

  • There came a time in this premortal existence of spirits

  • when, in furtherance of His desire

  • that "we could have a privilege to advance like himself,"

  • our Heavenly Father prepared an enabling plan.

  • In the scriptures it is given various names, including

  • "the plan of salvation," "the great plan of happiness,"

  • and "the plan of redemption."

  • The two principal purposes of the plan

  • were explained to Abraham in these words:

  • "And there stood one among them that was like unto God,

  • and he said unto those who were with him:

  • We will go down, for there is space there,

  • and we will take of these materials,

  • and we will make an earth whereon these [spirits] may

  • dwell; and we will prove them herewith,

  • to see if they will do all things whatsoever the Lord

  • their God shall command them;

  • and they who keep their first estate shall be added upon; ...

  • and they who keep their second estate shall have glory

  • added upon their heads for ever and ever."

  • Thanks to our Heavenly Father, we had already

  • become spirit beings.

  • Now He was offering us a path to complete or perfect that being.

  • The addition of the physical element

  • is essential to the fulness of being and glory

  • that God Himself enjoys.

  • If while with God in the premortal spirit world,

  • we would agree to participate in His plan--or in other words,

  • keep our first estate--we would "be added upon"

  • with a physical body as we came to dwell on the earth that He

  • created for us.

  • If then, in the course of our mortal experience,

  • we chose to "do all things whatsoever the Lord [our]

  • God should command [us]," we would

  • have kept our second estate.

  • This means that by our choices we

  • would demonstrate to God and to ourselves our commitment

  • and capacity to live His celestial law

  • while outside His presence and in a physical body with all

  • its powers, appetites, and passions.

  • Could we bridle the flesh so that it became the instrument

  • rather than the master of the spirit?

  • Could we be trusted in time and eternity with godly powers,

  • including the power to create life?

  • Would we individually overcome evil?

  • Those who did would "have glory added upon their heads for ever

  • and ever"--a very significant aspect of that glory being

  • a resurrected, immortal, and glorified physical body.

  • No wonder we "shouted for joy" at these magnificent

  • possibilities and promises.

  • At least four things are needed for the success

  • of this divine plan: First was the creation of the earth

  • as our dwelling place.

  • Whatever the details of the creation process,

  • we know that it was not accidental

  • but that it was directed by God the Father

  • and implemented by Jesus Christ: "All things were made by him;

  • and without him was not any thing made that was made."

  • Second is the condition of mortality.

  • Adam and Eve acted for all who had

  • chosen to participate in the Father's

  • great plan of happiness.

  • Their Fall created the conditions

  • needed for our physical birth and for mortal experience

  • and learning outside the presence of God.

  • With the Fall came an awareness of good and evil

  • and the God-given power to choose.

  • Finally, the Fall brought about physical death,

  • needed to make our time in mortality

  • temporary so that we would not live forever in our sins.

  • Third is redemption from the Fall.

  • We see the role of death in our Heavenly Father's plan,

  • but that plan would become void without some way

  • to overcome death in the end, both physical and spiritual.

  • Thus a Redeemer, the Only Begotten Son of God, Jesus

  • Christ, suffered and died to atone

  • for Adam and Eve's transgression,

  • thereby providing resurrection and immortality for all.

  • And since none of us will have been perfectly and consistently

  • obedient to the gospel law, His Atonement

  • also redeems us from our own sins

  • on condition of repentance.

  • With the Savior's atoning grace providing forgiveness

  • of sins and sanctification of the soul,

  • we can spiritually be born again and reconciled to God.

  • Our spiritual death--our separation from God--will end.

  • Fourth and finally is the setting for our physical birth

  • and subsequent rebirth into the kingdom of God.

  • For His work to succeed to "exalt us with himself,"

  • God ordained that men and women should marry and give birth

  • to children, thereby creating, in partnership

  • with God, the physical bodies that

  • are key to the test of mortality and essential to eternal glory

  • with Him.

  • He also ordained that parents should establish families

  • and rear their children in light and truth,

  • leading them to a hope in Christ.

  • The Father commands us, "Teach these things freely unto

  • your children, saying: That ... inasmuch as ye were born

  • into the world by water, and blood, and the spirit,

  • which I have made, and so became of dust a living soul,

  • even so ye must be born again into the kingdom of heaven,

  • of water, and of the [Holy] Spirit,

  • and be cleansed by blood, even the blood of mine Only

  • Begotten; that ye might be sanctified from all sin,

  • and enjoy the words of eternal life in this world,

  • and eternal life in the world to come, even immortal glory."

  • Knowing why we left the presence of our Heavenly Father

  • and what it takes to return and be exalted with Him,

  • it becomes very clear that nothing

  • relative to our time on earth can

  • be more important than physical birth

  • and spiritual rebirth, the two prerequisites of eternal life.

  • This is, to use the words of Dietrich Bonhoeffer,

  • the "office" of marriage, the "post of responsibility towards

  • ... mankind," that this divine institution "from above,

  • from God" occupies.

  • It is the "link in the chain of generations"

  • both here and hereafter--the order of heaven.

  • A family built on the marriage of a man and a woman supplies

  • the best setting for God's plan to thrive--the setting

  • for the birth of children who come in purity and innocence

  • from God, and the environment for the learning

  • and preparation they will need for a successful mortal life

  • and eternal life in the world to come.

  • A critical mass of families built on such marriages

  • is vital for societies to survive and flourish.

  • That is why communities and nations generally

  • have encouraged and protected marriage and the family

  • as privileged institutions.

  • It has never been just about the love and happiness of adults.

  • The social science case for marriage

  • and for families headed by a married man and woman

  • is compelling.

  • And so "we warn that the disintegration of the family

  • will bring upon individuals, communities, and nations

  • the calamities foretold by ancient and modern prophets."

  • But our claims for the role of marriage and family

  • rest not on social science but on the truth

  • that they are God's creation.

  • It is He who in the beginning created

  • Adam and Eve in His image, male and female,

  • and joined them as husband and wife to become "one flesh"

  • and to multiply and replenish the earth.

  • Each individual carries the divine image,

  • but it is in the matrimonial union of male and female as one

  • that we attain perhaps the most complete meaning about having

  • been made in the image of God--male and female.

  • Nor we nor any other mortal can alter

  • this divine order of matrimony.

  • It is not a human invention.

  • Such marriage is indeed "from above, from God,"

  • and is as much a part of the plan of happiness

  • as the Fall and the Atonement.

  • In the premortal world, Lucifer rebelled

  • against God and His plan, and his opposition only

  • grows in intensity.

  • He fights to discourage marriage and the formation of families,

  • and where marriages and families are formed,

  • he does what he can to disrupt them.

  • He attacks everything that is sacred about human sexuality,

  • tearing it from the context of marriage

  • with a seemingly infinite array of immoral thoughts and acts.

  • He seeks to convince men and women--men and women--that

  • marriage and family priorities can be ignored or abandoned,

  • or at least made subservient to careers, other achievements,

  • and the quest for "self-fulfillment"

  • and individual autonomy.

  • Certainly the adversary is pleased

  • when parents neglect to teach and train

  • their children to have faith in Christ

  • and be spiritually born again.

  • Brothers and sisters, many things are good,

  • many are important, but only a few are essential.

  • To declare the fundamental truths

  • relative to marriage and family is not

  • to overlook or diminish the sacrifices and successes

  • of those for whom the ideal is not a present reality.

  • Some of you are denied the blessings of marriage

  • for reasons including a lack of viable prospects,

  • same-sex attraction, physical or mental impairments, or simply

  • a fear of failure that, for the moment at least,

  • overshadows faith.

  • Or you may have married, but that marriage ended,

  • and you are left to manage alone what two together can barely

  • sustain.

  • Some of you who are married cannot bear children despite

  • overwhelming desires and pleading prayers.

  • Even so, everyone has gifts; everyone has talents;

  • everyone can contribute to the unfolding of the divine plan

  • in each generation.

  • Much that is good, much that is essential--even sometimes all

  • that is necessary for now--can be achieved in less than ideal

  • circumstances.

  • So many of you are doing your very best.

  • And when you who bear the heaviest burdens of mortality

  • stand up in defense of God's plan to exalt His children,

  • we are all ready to march.

  • With confidence we testify that the Atonement of Jesus Christ

  • has anticipated and in the end will

  • compensate all deprivation and loss for those who turn to Him.

  • No one is predestined to receive less than all

  • that the Father has for His children.

  • One young mother recently confided to me

  • her anxiety about being inadequate

  • in this highest of callings.

  • I felt that the issues that concerned her were small

  • and she needn't worry; she was doing fine.

  • But I knew she only wanted to please God

  • and to honor His trust.

  • I offered words of reassurance, and in my heart

  • I pleaded that God, her Heavenly Father,

  • would buoy her up with His love and the witness of His approval

  • as she is about His work.

  • That is my prayer for all of us today.

  • May each of us find approval in His sight.

  • May marriages flourish and families prosper,

  • and whether our lot is a fulness of these blessings in mortality

  • or not, may the Lord's grace bring happiness now

  • and faith in sure promises to come.

  • In the name of Jesus Christ, amen.

  • Amen.

Above the Great West Door of the renowned Westminster Abbey

Subtitles and vocabulary

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B1 marriage god plan physical glory heavenly

Why Marriage, Why Family

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    Pedroli Li posted on 2016/03/12
Video vocabulary

Keywords

physical

US /ˈfɪzɪkəl/

UK /ˈfɪzɪkl/

  • adjective
  • Relating to the body as opposed to the mind.
  • Relating to things that can be seen or touched.
  • Concerning the body of a person
  • Concerning things that can be seen or touched
  • Involving bodily contact or the use of force.
  • Relating to things you can see or touch.
  • Relating to physics.
  • noun
  • Health check at the doctors' or hospital
  • A medical examination to check a person's overall health.
  • other
  • Education in sports and exercise.
life

US /laɪf/

UK /laɪf/

  • noun
  • All the living things e.g. animals, plants, humans
  • Period of time things live, from birth to death
love

US /lʌv/

UK /lʌv/

  • noun
  • Person's name
  • A very strong feeling of affection
  • The person you care very deeply about
  • Strong, deep emotional and sexual attraction
  • verb
  • To care for and like someone very strongly, deeply
  • To like doing very much; enjoy greatly
  • To feel a strong emotional and romantic attraction
bear

US /bɛr/

UK /bɛː/

  • verb
  • To accept (responsibilities or duties)
  • To give birth to a child; to produce fruit
  • To accept or suffer the weight of difficulties
  • To keep moving left or right while going forward
  • To show (sign of something)
  • To support the weight of something, e.g. a bridge
  • noun
  • Large brown animal with fur that lives in forests
  • Someone who expects stock market to fall
spirit

US /ˈspɪrɪt/

UK /'spɪrɪt/

  • noun
  • Person's strong determination or attitude
  • Unique qualities of person, place, or time
  • Part of a person thought to be moved by religion
  • Appearance or sense of a dead person
  • verb
  • To take someone away as if by magic
mortality

US /mɔrˈtælɪti/

UK /mɔ:ˈtæləti/

  • noun
  • Quality or state of being capable of dying
  • A cause of death.
  • An instance of death.
  • other
  • The state of being subject to death.
  • The state of being subject to death; the proportion of deaths to population.
  • The condition of being mortal; the state of being alive as a human being.
  • Awareness of one's own death, often leading to a sense of moral accountability.
body

US /ˈbɑdi/

UK /ˈbɒd.i/

  • noun
  • An object distinct from other objects
  • A group of people involved in an activity together
  • Main part of something
  • A person's physical self
earth

US /ɚθ/

UK /ɜ:θ/

  • other
  • A pigment or dye of a brownish or reddish-brown color, derived from iron oxides.
  • The connection of an electrical appliance to the ground.
  • The substance of the land surface; soil.
  • other
  • To cover (a plant or its roots) with earth.
  • To connect (an electrical device) to the earth.
  • noun
  • A connection to the ground that acts as an electrical conductor.
  • Wire connecting an electrical device to the ground
  • The hole in the ground that is home to an animal such as a fox or badger.
  • The planet we live on
  • Soil in which we grow plants
eternal

US /ɪˈtɚnəl/

UK /ɪ'tɜ:nl/

  • adjective
  • Endless; constant; never ending
  • Lasting or existing forever; without end.
  • Lasting or existing forever; without end.
  • Continuing without interruption; perpetual.
plan

US /plæn/

UK /plæn/

  • noun
  • Drawing of how something should be done or made
  • Detailed proposal, set of actions to do something
  • verb
  • To intend to do something in the future
  • To make a detail set of actions to do something