{"id":4240,"date":"2007-11-16T19:19:29","date_gmt":"2007-11-16T23:19:29","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/timesandseasons.org\/?p=4240"},"modified":"2007-11-18T13:38:19","modified_gmt":"2007-11-18T17:38:19","slug":"children-are-not-optional","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/timesandseasons.org\/index.php\/2007\/11\/children-are-not-optional\/","title":{"rendered":"Children Are Not Optional"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Several women I know and like recently signed on to an anti-President-Beck&#8217;s-talk <a href=\"http:\/\/whatwomenknow.org\/whatwomenknow\/index.html\">statement<\/a>.<!--more--><\/p>\n<p>A signed rebuke to a General Conference talk shows a basic lack of understanding of how the Church does (and should) function.  As far as the content of their statement, most of the petition is fine (if a little self-assuredly PC and guilty of missing the mark) but largely irrelevant to President Beck&#8217;s talk.  Whatever.  But I was surprised that these women would sign their names to this line:<\/p>\n<p><strong>We reverence the responsibility to choose how, when, and whether we become parents. <\/strong><\/p>\n<p>(Bold in the original.)<\/p>\n<p>I&#8217;m all over the &#8220;when.&#8221;  <\/p>\n<p>&#8220;How&#8221; makes me a little nervous.  <\/p>\n<p>But unless the signers understand something different than I do by &#8220;whether,&#8221; then I think that their statement is not in harmony with the established teachings of the Church. In the context of a temple-married LDS couple, children are not optional.<\/p>\n<p>I&#8217;m going to channel m&#038;m for a minute here:<\/p>\n<p>\u00e2\u20ac\u0153To the first man and woman on earth, the Lord said, \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Be fruitful, and multiply\u00e2\u20ac\u009d (Moses 2:28; see also  Gen. 1:28;  Abr. 4:28). This commandment was first in sequence and first in importance.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<br \/>\n&#8211;Elder Dallin H. Oaks, \u00e2\u20ac\u0153The Great Plan of Happiness,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d Ensign, Nov. 1993, page 72f.<\/p>\n<p>\u00e2\u20ac\u0153Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d a commandment that has never been rescinded.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<br \/>\n&#8211;Elder M. Russell Ballard, \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Answers to Life\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s Questions,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d Ensign, May 1995, page 22f.<\/p>\n<p>\u00e2\u20ac\u0153(Gen. 1:28). That commandment has never been altered, modified, or canceled.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<br \/>\n&#8211;President Ezra Taft Benson, Conference Report, April 1969, pages 10-15f.<\/p>\n<p>\u00e2\u20ac\u0153(Gen. 1:28). This injunction has never been revoked.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<br \/>\n&#8211;President Hugh B. Brown, Conference Report, October 1966, pages 101-105f.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;We declare that God&#8217;s commandment for His children to multiply and replenish the earth remains in force.&#8221;<br \/>\n&#8211;The Family:  A Proclamation to the World<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Several women I know and like recently signed on to an anti-President-Beck&#8217;s-talk statement.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4240","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-corn"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/timesandseasons.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4240","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/timesandseasons.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/timesandseasons.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/timesandseasons.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/timesandseasons.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4240"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/timesandseasons.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4240\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/timesandseasons.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4240"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/timesandseasons.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4240"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/timesandseasons.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4240"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}