Elder J. Ballard Washburn speakson eternal marriage, families REXBURG, Idaho—Elder J. Ballard Washburn, a former member of the Second Quorum of the Seventy, spoke on the importance of eternal marriage in his devotional address Tuesday. He began by posing a question: “What is the most important thing you will do in this life?” He shared his answer: “To enter the order of the priesthood that opens the doors to exaltation.” Elder Washburn explained that our goal should be exaltation in the celestial kingdom and that just as baptism is the gateway to the celestial kingdom, eternal marriage is the gateway to exaltation in the celestial kingdom. “You men can become elders without someone by your side. You can become high priests alone. . . . You cannot hold the priesthood necessary for exaltation alone. Only a man and a woman together can hold the priesthood necessary for exaltation,” Elder Washburn said. “There’s great significance in that fact. The most glorious principle of the gospel is eternal marriage.” He then posed a second question: “If the most important thing you will do in this life is to enter this order of this priesthood, namely eternal marriage, what is the purpose of eternal marriage? Why does it have such a prominent place in God’s plan for his children?” After reading from Genesis 1:26-28, he explained that “replenishing” or “filling” the earth is part of the marriage covenant made in the temple. “When I first started practicing medicine, it was a rare thing for a woman to come to me and say, “Dr. Washburn, what can I do so I won’t have children?” . . . 30 years later when I quit practicing medicine, except for some good, faithful Latter-day Saint mothers, it was a rare thing to have a woman who didn’t come wanting to know how she could keep from having children so she wouldn’t have the responsibility and the “burden” of having children,” he said. Satan’s plan is rampant throughout the world and encourages people not to get married, not have children and to limit the number of children, Elder Washburn said. He quoted President David O. McKay, who said, “Next to eternal life, the most precious gift that our Father in Heaven can bestow upon man is His children.” “Two great important things are priesthood and motherhood. A man can’t the fullness of the priesthood without his sweetheart by his side. A woman can’t have a baby alone. Only a man and a woman together can enjoy these greatest blessings that Heavenly Father has for us: priesthood, motherhood,” Elder Washburn said. He encouraged single sisters without the opportunities of marriage or motherhood to have patience and promised that any sister who will be faithful and true, who will go to the temple and keep her covenants, will someday stand at the side of a man who she loves with all her heart and that she will have all the blessings that any sister in Zion will ever have. He also talked about divorce, the root of which is selfishness. He explained that the solution to marriage problems is not divorce but repentance.
“[It’s not my place] to tell you how many children you should have. … That’s
no one’s business but the Lord’s. But I am here to tell you that you can’t
listen to the devil and his philosophy to not marry and not have a family.
The very essence of the gospel is the family. . . . Your feeling about little
children is a true reflection about your feelings about Jesus Christ.” # # # |
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