In our past General Conference, the First Presidency stated that our Church is family-centered. In our family-centric Church, members are encouraged to marry only in the temple, ideally when young, and to have larger families. Those belonging to active families with parents who married in the temple are idealized. Children of LGBT members cannot be blessed or baptized. God’s love is seen as conditional, depending on one’s adherence to the dictates of the prophets and apostles.
In our family-centered Church
• families with parents married in the temple who have children are the ideal. [1]
• singles or childless couples are sometimes marginalized. [2]
• heavy demands are placed on mothers, who are defined as the nurturers—and now the teachers of gospel principles—of their children. [3]
• married heterosexual couples are idealized at the exclusion of LGBT couples and members. [4]
• divine love is taught as being conditional and is based on a person’s obedience to commandments. [5]
In a Christ-centered Church, because leaders emphasize God’s unconditional, infinite love for all of His children, they value and love each member equally. Every member and person is recognized as a beloved child of God: LGBTQ, single, married, childless, divorced, widowed, never-married, active, less-active, non-members. People of all races, social classes, religions, genders, ethnic backgrounds, and sexual preferences feel welcome to attend.
• Members do not “discount, disregard, or discriminate against anyone. [6]
• No one is considered unworthy or unredeemable, including social pariahs, adulterers, sinners, mentally ill, those with doubts about their place in God’s kingdom, or those who are less active. [7]
• Speakers in Sacrament Meeting focus on the Savior and on His Atonement. [8]
• All children can be blessed,including those whose parents are LGBTQ. [9]
• Divine love is taught as being unconditional and eternal. [10]
Only when the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints becomes a Christ-centered church will all members and visitors feel welcome and valued. Classism, racism, sexism, ageism, homophobia, and inequity will end, and all will feel enfolded in the arms of God. All children will be equally valued and loved. Every child will have the opportunity to receive a blessing and to be baptized, including children of murderers, adulterers, and rapists. Children of LGBTQ families will not be excluded from being blessed or baptized. We will not teach or imply that one person is more esteemed than another, including single and married members. Members’ love for God will motivate them to want to do better and be better. Members will love others more fully and will want to follow God and to obey Him not out of fear or duty but because of their love for them.
[1] Pres. Russell Nelson said, “While salvation is an individual matter, exaltation is a family matter. Only those who are married in the temple and whose marriage is sealed by the Holy Spirit of Promise will continue as spouses after death and receive the highest degree of celestial glory, or exaltation. A temple marriage is also called a celestial marriage. Within the celestial glory are three levels. To obtain the highest, a husband and wife must be sealed for time and all eternity and keep their covenants made in a holy temple.” https://www.lds.org/general-conference/2008/10/celestial-marriage?lang=eng
[2]Pres. Dallin Oaks said, “We live in a time when many women wish to have no part in the bearing and nurturing of children. Many young adults delay marriage until temporal needs are satisfied. The average age of our Church members’ marriages has increased by more than two years, and the number of births to Church members is falling. The United States and some other nations face a future of too few children maturing into adults to support the number of retiring adults. Over 40 percent of births in the United States are to unwed mothers. Those children are vulnerable. Each of these trends works against our Father’s divine plan of salvation.” https://www.lds.org/general-conference/2018/10/parents-and-children?lang=eng
[3] President Eyring said, “You might ask, ‘How does that make faithful sisters a primary force to help the Lord pour out knowledge on His Saints?’ The Lord gives the answer in ‘The Family: A Proclamation to the World.’ You remember the words, but you may see new meaning and recognize that the Lord foresaw these exciting changes, which are now occurring. In the proclamation, He gave sisters charge to be the principal gospel educators in the family in these words: ‘Mothers are primarily responsible for the nurture of their children.’ This includes the nurture of gospel truth and knowledge.” https://www.lds.org/general-conference/2018/10/women-and-gospel-learning-in-the-home?lang=eng
[4] President Dallin Oaks said, “The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is properly known as a family-centered Church. But what is not well understood is that our family-centeredness is focused on more than mortal relationships. Eternal relationships are also fundamental to our theology. “The family is ordained of God.” Under the great plan of our loving Creator, the mission of His restored Church is to help the children of God achieve the supernal blessing of exaltation in the celestial kingdom, which can be attained only through an eternal marriage between a man and a woman (see Doctrine and Covenants 131:1–3). We affirm the Lord’s teachings that “gender is an essential characteristic of individual premortal, mortal, and eternal identity and purpose” and that “marriage between man and woman is essential to His eternal plan.” https://www.lds.org/general-conference/2018/10/truth-and-the-
[5] In a talk entitled “Divine Love, President Nelson states: “The Conditional Nature of Divine Love: With scriptural patterns of conditional statements in mind, we note many verses that declare the conditional nature of divine love for us. Examples include:
‘ If ye keep my commandments, [then] ye shall abide in my love; even as I have kept my Father’s commandments, and abide in his love.’” https://www.lds.org/ensign/2003/02/divine-love?lang=eng
President Nelson cites examples when we may not experience God’s love and suggests that, therefore, divine love is conditional.
[6] Elder Uchtdorf said, “The love God speaks of is the kind that enters our hearts when we awake in the morning, stays with us throughout the day, and swells in our hearts as we give voice to our prayers of gratitude at evening’s end.
This is the inexpressible love Heavenly Father has for us.
It is this endless compassion that allows us to more clearly see others for who they are. Through the lens of pure love, we see immortal beings of infinite potential and worth and beloved sons and daughters of Almighty God.”
Once we see through that lens, we cannot discount, disregard, or discriminate against anyone. https://www.lds.org/general-conference/2018/10/believe-love-do?lang=eng
[7] Elder Gay said, “Can any one of you imagine our Savior letting you and your burdens go unnoticed by Him? The Savior looked upon the Samaritan, the adulterer, the tax collector, the leper, the mentally ill, and the sinner with the same eyes. All were children of His Father. All were redeemable….Can you imagine Him turning away from someone with doubts about their place in God’s kingdom or from anyone afflicted in any manner? I cannot. In the eyes of Christ, each soul is of infinite worth. No one is preordained to fail. Eternal life is possible for all.” https://www.lds.org/general-conference/2018/10/taking-upon-ourselves-the-name-of-jesus-christ?lang=eng
[8] Elder Cook said, “The Sunday Church meetings will consist of a 60-minute sacrament meeting each Sunday, focused on the Savior, the ordinance of the sacrament, and spiritual messages.”
https://www.lds.org/general-conference/2018/10/deep-and-lasting-conversion-to-heavenly-father-and-the-lord-jesus-christ?lang=eng
[9] “Jesus said, Suffer little children, and forbid them not, to come unto me: for of such is the kingdom of heaven. And he laid his hands on them, and departed thence.” Matthew 19:14-15
“But little children are alive in Christ, even from the foundation of the world; if not so, God is a partial God, and also a changeable God, and a respecter to persons; for how many little children have died without baptism!” Moroni 8:12
“For none of these iniquities come of the Lord; for he doeth that which is good among the children of men; and he doeth nothing save it be plain unto the children of men; and he inviteth them all to come unto him and partake of his goodness; and he denieth none that come unto him, black and white, bond and free, male and female; and he remembereth the heathen; and all are alike unto God, both Jew and Gentile.” 2 Ne. 26: 33
“And for your salvation I give unto you a commandment, for I have heard your prayers, and the poor have complained before me, and the rich have I made, and all flesh is mine, and I am no respecter of persons.” D&C 38:16
See also Deut. 1:17; Isa. 56:7 (3–8); Acts 10:34; Eph. 6:9; Col. 3:25; Alma 1:30; Moro. 8:12.
[10] When he was a member of the First Presidency, Pres. Uchtdorf taught, “God does not look on the outward appearance.8 I believe that He doesn’t care one bit if we live in a castle or a cottage, if we are handsome or homely, if we are famous or forgotten. Though we are incomplete, God loves us completely. Though we are imperfect, He loves us perfectly. Though we may feel lost and without compassion, God’s love encompasses us completely.
“He loves us because He is filled with an infinite measure of holy, pure, and indescribable love. We are important to God not because of our résumé but because we are His children. He loves every one of us, even those who are flawed, rejected, awkward, sorrowful, or broken. God’s love is so great that He loves even the proud, the selfish, the arrogant, and the wicked.” https://www.lds.org/general-conference/2009/10/the-love-of-god?lang=eng
