Some Thoughts On Family, Marriage, and Empathy

Recently, the LDS Church (which Nikki and I are members of) has come under a certain amount of criticism for its public support of Proposition 8, a California ballot proposition that sought to amend California's constitution to restrict the definition of marriage to a union between a man and a woman. I've stayed mostly quiet about the subject, mostly because I feel I cannot speak for the Church. I also cannot speak for opponents of Prop 8, many of whom feel discriminated against because of the very idea of limiting who they can legally marry.

But I can speak for my family. Nikki and I are far from perfect (well, Nikki's doing pretty good, it's me that needs some work), but we have always tried to follow the example of Joshua, who declared, "As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord" (Josh. 1:8). For us, we feel it is our imperative duty to, like Joseph Smith taught, find out the will of the Lord, and then do our best to live our lives in accordance with that will. I believe in the Prophets, past and present. I believe they are the mouthpieces of the Lord on the earth, whether Isaiah, or Nephi, or Brigham Young, or Thomas S. Monson. They are the channel by which the will of the Lord is revealed to us. This conviction has been confirmed to me through diligent study and prayer, by the Spirit of that very same Lord.

That being said, I believe the Lord has revealed His plan by which all of us can progress beyond this life, becoming like Him and finding eternal happiness. This eternal progression is made possible through families. A man and a woman, sealed together by the power of the priesthood and by their love, can have children and build a familial posterity that can extend into the eternities. The Lord has said that his work and his glory is to "bring to pass the immortality and eternal life of man" (Moses 1:39). In other words, WE are the work and glory of God. I believe our posterity will be like that to us. And I believe, with all my heart, that the family is the single most important unit in the marvelous plan of our Heavenly Father. It is through families that we can eternally progress, living forever in happiness.

So, for my family, I will labor every single day to instill upon my children the value of preparing to build an eternal family. I will work tirelessly to help prepare my daughters to find worthy, good husbands. And I will work equally hard to teach my sons how to respect women, especially the precious souls they will one day beg to marry. I know they will find eternal happiness in their marriages and their families as they seek to follow the plan of our Heavenly Father. I support the principle of marriage between a man and a woman for that very reason.

That being said, I feel a great empathy for those who do not believe the same way I do. I hope that my firm belief in the sanctity of the family is not construed as prejudice against any in the homosexual community. For it is not. I have many friends, acquaintances, and even family members who believe differently than I do, and I find the grand majority of them to be kind, loving, and good people. I respect their beliefs and their decisions, and I hope they will equally respect the decisions of myself and my family. We choose to follow the Lord through what He has revealed to the men we know as His servants. That being said, we will not discriminate, demean, or judge unrighteously. We will strive every day to love and accept anyone, while at the same time staying true to our beliefs and the things we as a family know to be true.

Peace.