Family Proclamation Is Commentary?

In a Salt Lake Tribune opinion piece, author and scholar Taylor Petrey says that the Family Proclamation is just "commentary." That it is just describing the times in which it was written.

But both President Oaks and Elder Rasband stated strongly that the Proclamation to the World is "doctrine" and "revelatory." This is a perfect example of "Athens vs Jerusalem." So many now want to rid ourselves of the Proclamation or diminish its value into something like "commentary." Why? What is the push?

 Raw Transcript

So on October 3rd, the day before conference started, the Salt Lake Trabune put out an opinion piece
written by scholar Taylor G. Petri, uh, who is the author of the book Clay of or
Tabernacles of Clay. which is an uh kind of a a pride movement advocacy book. And this piece
is a pride movement advocacy. And we'll go through this opinion piece here in
the Tribune as we contrast it to what Elder Raz Rasband and President Oaks
said about the family proclamation in conference. It's very interesting. Here's the subtitle. Well, here's the
whole title, right, for for the Tribune opinion piece. It says the LDS church's
family proclamation is commentary, not revelation.
Right? It's commentary, not revelation. And here's the subtitle. The document
should be seen as part of an evolving debate. Right? Of course, he wants it to be an
evolving debate because he wants it to be loose enough that it can change to what he wants it to be, right? an
evolving debate about family, gender, and marriage that reflects the values of its era. Right? So 30 years ago, we have
just passed the 30-year mark of the family proclamation. So it's just commentary. I mean, come on. We should
come up with another proclamation on the family that today that would be
commentary of today's uh uh views, which
Mr. Petri here and the Salt Lake Tribune would say are very different. Um, but
not as far as doctrine goes, not as far as some core principles of the church go. And those things are not going to
change. They're not going to move despite your arguments in this in this piece here. Uh, by the way, this episode
is brought to you by a movie that I saw last night. It is very very good. It's
put out by Angel Studios. Uh, it is called Truth and Treason. It comes out
October 17th. That's a Friday. It is going coming out in about half of all
movie theaters across the country. It is topnotch. This is not one of those LDS
films or LDS produced films that's uh like, hey, just go see it to support it and and it's kind of good and
interesting. That's not the case here. This is top-notch acting. Really is. This is top-notch direction and
directing. And this is top-notch production all the way around. I thought it was excellent. a young teenage boy
caught in a world of Nazi Germany as a Latter-day Saint boy going to church and
they're all part of this culture of Nazi Germany. What do you see? What are the midsts of darkness around you? How do
you walk that edge of the sword be between well I'm I'm a German. uh most
everyone around me here is supporting Hitler and and still wanting to have the truth
and understanding what's happening with the Jews and and and the tyranny of
Adolf Hitler. I it's a remarkably well prodduced movie with some tension in it
that's very interesting that I thought was revealing and very important. So, go see
this movie, Truth and Treason. Uh, it is, uh, at a theater near you, Friday,
October 17th. Okay. Now, back to this. Um, so,
a commentary, not revelation. And I want to split this again here, and I do this often because I think it's an important
thing to do. What is the pride movement? What is the pride movement? There's a
very big difference between the pride movement and someone let's say that has um
a has gender dysphoria or that has samesex
attraction. That doesn't necessarily mean you're part of the pride movement. The pride movement, the identitarian
agenda is well beyond that. And that agenda is a is a movement to destroy
family and destroy identity. Period. When you get down to the fundamentals of
all this, that's exactly what it is about. And this piece here in the Salt Lake Trabune is exactly that. That's
exactly what it represents. It is it is it's not about supporting someone and
loving someone that has samesex attraction or gender dysphoria. It's about trying to push away from family,
the traditional family, trying to push away from traditional marriage, the role
of parents, and and it's, you know, in the laboratory that is a traditional family.
And that is the agenda, and it's out there everywhere. So, when someone says you're a homophobe or a transphobe, that
that is not the case. Even if you're against the Pride Movement, because that's not really what the Pride Movement is. The pride movement is right
here on display trying to interpret something very differently to downplay
the idea of traditional marriage and a traditional family. And I say downplay that means destroy
or or lower the credibility to deemphasize.
Right? So, I want to go right into these two talks here from Elder Rasband and
Elder uh our president Oaks because they're very telling and and
very important to see what how this is developed, the family proclamation and what it's trying to say. Now, I'm not
going to go into all of the specifics of the proclamation. I've done that several times. That's not what this is about.
This is what the proclamation is and what it represents. So let's go here
first to Elder Rasband out the door. By divine design, this proclamation with
its revelatory words was created to maintain and strengthen the family as
the fundamental unit of society. Okay? Now he's talking about things that are eternal here. And this is an
important thing and it goes against the argument of of of Petri in in his uh in
his opinion piece, right? This is about doctrinal issues. This is about eternal
principles. And so he's trying to show that this is a revelatory document is what he says.
Right. Let's see what else he says. Most importantly, each of us are, as the proclamation states, a beloved spirit
son or daughter of heavenly parents with a divine nature and destiny.
Okay. I want to say something here again because the pride movement fights against this and that is your identity
and president uh Nelson went over this a couple of years ago with his what I call his identity hierarchy. Right? Again the
top one is you are a child of God. You're a child of the covenant and you are a disciple of Christ. What the pride
movement says is you know that line that would be under those three identities that says no I want to take your other
identities which we all have. I want to take your samesex attraction. I want to take your your your sense that you are
of a different gender. I want to take your race, uh your economic status,
um whatever it is, right? Your ethnicity and and go in I want to take it I want to raise that up to the very top.
That's what the pride movement tries to do. That's what identitarianism is. is it wants to change the hierarchal
structure of your identity and remove those others or lower them so that
everything you see is through a filter of race or is through a filter of of uh
sexual orientation or of um loose gender, right? It it's
it's it's it's a it's a very pernitious way to attack a central idea and concept
of Christianity and of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints founded right here. Not founded but is
found right here in the family proclamation. When I was called to the
holy apostilhip in 2015, I was advised this proclamation is now
yours. your name pointing to the words council of the twel apostles in the
title is right here. Okay. Again, I want to say this. We we have a sense in some circles of the
church that we think that wow, you know, even if you're not for a change in the
proclamation, even if you're not for a change in temple marriage,
that wow, oh no, what's going to happen here? Maybe the church is bending a little bit toward this
and uh maybe people like Petri and others that uh talk about this change
and um have this great hope. There are large organizations out there within the
church uh not church sponsored but large Latter-day Saint organizations that push
this idea that all of this is going to change if we just wait a little bit longer. let these old men die off that
were involved especially with the family proclamation, then we'll get this change that we're looking for. It's so
pernitious. It's so horrible because what it does is it takes someone say a young gay man and he says, "Oh, okay.
Well, then I'm just going to go ahead and break the law of chastity anyway because
eventually God is going to say it's okay." He's going to sanction it within the church. and I can hope for that and
I can celebrate that and so I'm going to do it instead of
supporting that individual in something that follows a covenant path toward
exaltation. And so it's it's very pernicious. And you can see a number of people that are
uh that have same-sex attraction that have gone away from that, let's call it a gay lifestyle
because they are holding on to their covenants and they have a burden to bear. And many of us have a burden to
bear. But they have a specific burden to bear and they choose their covenants over
everything else. Right? So understand that as he's brought in here as an apostle, he is
told, "Own it." They are not going to change the family
proclamation. They're not going to change temple marriage. It is it is not just doctrinal
as some people say. Well, it's doctrinal, but doctrine changes. These are eternal truths.
They're eternal truths and they're not going to change. And everything about our gospel is founded on this idea of
exaltation. Right? That is the entire objective. Even the atonement of Jesus
Christ, even the atonement
is a means toward exalting man. When I say exalting, I mean helping man and men
and women become more like God. become more righteous.
The work and glory of God is to bring to pass the immortality and eternal life of
man. The work of the atonement is for that. The church is for that. They are not
going to change this. And so if you are somewhere on the fence on this and you're just not sure and
you're wondering because there are so many loud voices with social media and the internet that try and pull you in
different directions and say, "No, go ahead. Everything's going to be fine. It's okay." Don't do it. Don't do it.
Stick to the law of chastity. Stick to your temple covenant.
The Lord will bless you. Okay. Let's let's go on with Elder Rasband here. The proclamation has a
divine origin. Divine origin. So we must treat it with the reverence deserving words from God. Let me give
you some background about the proclamation as a core message of what
we believe. In 1994, a year before the proclamation was
presented, the quorum of the twel apostles discussed how society and
governments were pulling away from God's laws of family, marriage, and gender.
Okay? So, this is where it comes from. And and you're going to hear a lot of people say, "Oh, this isn't divine. It's
not revelation." Uh, this is a political message. And it is a political message
because sometimes Revelation is political. The whole Book of Mormon is political,
right? But they'll they'll try and downgrade it to something that is not divine and that does not have a divine
origin by saying it's simply a political document that where they were trying to fight against some movements that were
going on with what was first Proposition 2 in California and what was going on in Hawaii uh with same-sex marriage.
And it's true that is what was going on. That is the environment. And as Elder
Rasband said, you know, as society is moving away from the PR these principles, these eternal principles of
family and marriage, they're getting very concerned because these things are starting to be moved to a place legally
where not just policy, not just cultural uh acceptance and tolerance, but law
will be put into place. And this is still what we're fighting today. This is still what President Oaks is out trying
to fight all the time. Um, at least at least to cover the institutions, at
least maybe not individuals, but but to cover the institutions. He's still
trying to fight this. So, that's where this comes from, right? This this is this is what spurs the idea of having to
get this family proclamation put out. It it is it is what is happening in the world around us. And we want to be very
clear on what the church supports and what the doctrine of the church is. Now
I love the quote that he brings up here from President Hinckley. with so much sophistry that is passed off as truth.
With so much of deception concerning standards and values, with so much of
allurement and enticement to take on the slow stain of the world, we have felt to
warn and forewarn of standards, doctrines, and practices relative to the
family which the prophets, seers, and revelators of this church have
repeatedly stated throughout its history. throughout its history. Again,
the sophistry that we're that we're getting here is what President Hinckley called it. And it's the same thing we're
getting in this in opinion piece. It's the same thing that we get from certain uh pride advocates and identitarian
advocates that you find in inside of the church, right? Inside of the church
sometimes sitting up on your stage. And it's the sophistry is very difficult
to maneuver through. But this is bedrock eternal truth. The family, it is what we
get in Genesis, which is a a a temple liturgy essentially that we're getting with Adam and Eve.
It is man and woman being married, having kids, multiplying and
replenishing the earth. This is one of the primary purposes. It is the
purpose. And yes, some people don't have the opportunity to
uh to participate in that in this life and they're going to participate in the next. They will have that.
And everybody is invited to the gospel. Everybody is invited to the fullness of the blessings of exaltation and all of
the blessings that go along with that at some point in their eternal existence.
But the sophistry is as real today as it has ever been. It is worse today than it
has ever been. And unfortunately, as was not as much the case in 1995 within the
church, we are hearing those voices stronger and stronger of sophistry that
are trying to devalue the family proclamation that are trying to devalue traditional marriage and a traditional
uh family. When presented, the proclamation did not align with the
views of many in the world. Not then,
not now. Not now. There are those who take issue with the declaration on family, marriage, and
gender. Some suggest the church pull it back, revise, or even set the proclamation
aside. It's just commentary. The proclamation on the family is, as President Hinckley
stated, doctrine, my dear. Whoa. Okay. So, again, right here, let me let me let me go back to the title of
the Salt Lake Tribune. Here it is. Opinion. The LDS church's family proclamation is commentary, not
revelation. Commentary, not revelation. And we've been hearing throughout this whole talk
with Elder Rasband that this is a revelatory document that it is doctrine.
And again, I will say furthermore, it is it is it is chalk full of eternal truths
which does take you beyond doctrine and there will always be people that take issue with it. In fact, that group is
probably going to grow. That group is going to grow and there is going to be more and more of a
distinction. And this is going to become more and more of a lightning rod, a watershed document
that is going to have people coming down one side or on the other of it. But make no mistake again, exaltation is about
family. It's everything that the gospel teaches. All right. Then we get the concluding
speaker of conference on Sunday afternoon, President Oaks, president of the Quorum of the 12 as of this
recording. Um, and he goes right back to the family proclamation and how essential it is.
And I know that some people don't like hearing this. I know people, really good people that don't want to hear about the family proclamation because they don't
participate in it in the same way that they would like to. I get it. We are in
a broken, fallen world. And and we have an opportunity to hold
it up. We must hold up the ideal. Even if you're not part of that ideal, you
can be at some point in your life, in this life or in the next life. You will
be if that's what you choose. But even if you are not in that situation, we
must uphold the ideal. My loving brothers and sisters,
thank you for your prayers in my behalf. I have felt them.
The doctrine of the church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints centers on
the family. I'm going to stop right there. Right there. This is what he's going after right here. The doctrine of
the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints centers on the family. Now, doesn't it center on Christ? It does. Of
course it does. But when you understand the gospel, you understand that the family and the doctrine of Christ are
intertwined and they are inseparably connected. You cannot you cannot extract one from
the other because the whole purpose the fullness of the atonement is for us to
attain exaltation. Right? That is the whole purpose of the atonement which is
the good news which is the gospel. The gospel the good news is that you can
obtain exaltation and exaltation is a family affair. You cannot pull those
apart. Essential to our doctrine on the family is the temple.
The ordinances received there enable us to return as eternal families to the
presence of our heavenly father. As of the April 2025 general conference,
President Russell M. Nelson. Okay. Now, he's talking about temples here because they are also part of this
whole idea of family and not just your own personal family, but the entire family of God. You when you go back and
look at the restoration, what was missing, right? You before Joseph Smith ever even
gets the gold plates, right? Be before he begins translating the Book
of Mormon, what is given to him? What is talked? What what what is
what what does Moroni quote for him? He quotes Malachi 4 along with three also
parts of it at least. But he quotes the last two verses of Malachi 4 which interestingly are the last two
verses of the Old Testament, right? The the hearts of the fathers turning to the children, the hearts of
the children turning to the father. So before anything ever gets started, before the Book of Mormon gets moving,
before the church is organized, it is this is the purpose of everything.
The ceilings and and the work that is done in the temple are manifestations in
a physical body that we can do by proxy to help others
obtain what they need to obtain for exaltation. It's not like, "Wow, well, you didn't do this, so therefore you're
not going to be exalted." No. The point is is that there has to be a physical manifestation. It's like baptism.
You need some type of a physical manifestation in a live physical body to
demonstrate the act of acceptance. It it is
it is crucial. It is vital. It is a requirement to have these things done.
And before Joseph Smith moves on with everything else, Moroni is already revealing this. And if you think about
your temple experiences, you go through it from from what would be baptism and and
uh baptism and and confirmation and then
moving in through the washing and anointing, the endowment, and then the ceilings,
right? then then you're talking about a family affair there. That's what the whole thing moves toward. It all moves
toward this idea of a family being sealed together.
That's the covenant path. You don't root that out and say, "Well, this is just commentary. This is just a
fad and things will change soon." It's everything. It is God's plan. Period.
The family proclamation announced exactly 30 years ago
declares that the family is ordained of God and is central to the creator's plan
for the eternal destiny of his children. Central to the plan. It also declares that God's commandment
for his children to multiply and replenish the earth remains in force.
Okay, we're going to get to this in a minute. All right? Because he's going to give a a a
and a very important remark here that that it cannot come from
anywhere else to to mean what it needs to mean than from the leader of the
church. And we further declare that God has
commanded that the sacred powers of procreation are to be employed only between man and
woman lawfully wedded as husband and wife. It has always been that way. Yes, even
during the polygamous 19th century. I'll get to that in a minute.
As then Elder Russell M. Nelson taught a BYU audience,
"The family is quote pivotal to God's plan.
In fact, a purpose of the plan is to exalt the family end of quote." The
church of Jesus Christ is sometimes known as a family centered church. It
is. Yeah, I love that. You see how emphatic he is when he says it. It's
sometimes known this it is he says he wants that firm we understand the
essential role of family and look it is it is as as the family proclamation
itself states it's not just for the church it's for all of civilization
when you tear apart the family when you put identitarianism above it when you put a pride agenda above it which seeks
to diminish or complete completely destroy the traditional family,
then calamities will reign supreme. And that's true of anything because family
is what helps support any civilization. We can truly say that the gospel plan
was first taught to us in the council of an eternal family.
It is implemented through our mortal families and its intended destiny is to exalt the
children of God in eternal families. That is awesome.
Despite that doctrinal context, there is opposition
in the United States. We are suffering from a deterioration in marriage and
childbearing. For nearly a hundred years, the proportion of households headed by
married couples has declined and so has the birth rate.
The marriages and birth rates of our church members are much more positive,
but they have also declined. Okay, something on this here. He says
the net last 100 years. There's two things that have happened in this and and and they are they work
simultaneously against the family. One is the myths of darkness, right? the
religion of academia because that I I call it that even though I love many academics and I love so much scholarship
and I study so much scholarship but the religion of academia is where it it is
the the idea of destroying family and and and every pernitious type of doctrine and philosophy of man that
comes uh to us through our culture almost always fulments within the halls
of the humanities in the universities. And so you've got the religion of
academia that pushes radical feminism that that pushes identitarianism in a
pride movement that uh pushes gender ideology and
critical theory, intersectionality, and these things have fulmented in our
universities. They've been put out into all of the institutions. There's been a reprieve from this to some degree since
January of 2025 here. But they own the institutions. They own the media. They
own uh I'm talking about these cultures, these ideological possessions
uh uh within each of these institutions. You know, the media, law, uh certainly
education from the universities all the way down through K through 12 across the country. You've got that now pushing
into religion you think would be a bastion uh to hold off on these things and some do but it's it's cre creeped
into an awful lot of Christianity and then of course the family and we see that tearing families apart already
directly with the family those five institutions Grampsy said early on the the early Marxist uh who's responsible
for what we might call cultural Marxism is that he said we have to go in and
take all five of those institutions ions to make a cultural change and that's exactly what's happened. Secondarily,
it's technology. We can't handle it. We don't handle it
well. It does so many positive things, so many good things, but technology is
almost always a a provider of convenience,
a remover of work. And I'm not saying it's all bad. I, you
know, I I don't want to go back. I don't want to go back to even the 20th century with things but the way we handle these
things is not always good and it takes away from the role the gender roles that
we have. It takes away from uh the role of family. It takes away from family
time. It takes away from everything that that the family proclamation wants to
help us produce. So technology and the myths of darkness, the
philosophies of men, the religion of academia have have worked together to
cause some serious problems over as President Oak says the last 100 years. Now I have had several episodes on the
fertility rate or the birth rate and how it's falling, how it's falling within the church. Utah this year
dropped for last year. It dropped 10 spots among the 50 states. Now, I know
there's a lot of imports, but that's not all that's going on. President Oaks here confirms that even though the church
does a better job, we're up a little higher. We are still following the same trend because young couples are not
getting married early enough. They're not having kids early enough and their focus isn't in those areas. That's a
problem. And I know there are certain economic issues that we need to deal with, but nothing is more important than
this. Get married, have kids, start a family. Take on responsibility
outside of yourself. You don't need the nicest cars. You don't need the nicest clothes. You don't
need the nicest houses. You don't need to be able to flash up all your stuff up on Instagram. You need
to be a husband and a wife and a father and a mother. And there is nothing more important than this. The scary thing is
as I put these episodes out and I've talked so much about this because I believe it is by far the most the the
largest temporal threat to the world is the fertility rate right now. The decline of the fertility rate. It will
cause economies to fail. It will cause war. It will cause contention. It it is
it is not good. But it's it's some of the lower viewed episodes I ever put
out. Even though I hit it over and over again, I was like, "Okay, well, maybe people come become more familiar with this and understand what's happening and
what the consequences are." But the views are still always lower than the average on the channel.
There's nothing more important temporally and and honestly spiritually than family and and creating a family
and building a family. It is vital that Latter-day Saints do
not lose their understanding of the purpose of marriage and the value of
children. That is the future for which we strive.
Exaltation is a family affair. President Nelson has taught us,
quote, "Only through the saving ordinances of the gospel of Jesus Christ
can families be exalted." End of quote.
The national declines in marriage and childbearing are understandable for
historic reasons, but Latterday Saint values and practices
should improve, not follow those trends.
In my boyhood 70 years ago, I lived on my parents grandparents farm.
Okay. So, he is now going to go on here and I know you guys have all seen this, but he's going to go on and he's going
to explain a couple things. And there's two lessons here that I get from this, right? He's going to talk about how he's on a farm. They had to work hard. They
didn't have much. Uh and uh his dad passes away, I believe, when he's seven
years old. And there's two things you learn here. Number one, they didn't have a lot. They didn't have a lot. It's
okay. They they had a family and and they built a family based on what they
had. And family was the most important thing, not what their house was, not what their consumerism dictated in any
way. Uh, you know, as if that was going to dictate their happiness. And then he brings up the fact that his
dad dies when he's 7 years old and his grandfather steps in and says, "I will be your father." as President Oaks
explains it very emotionally because what he's going to do is
President Oaks here and his siblings and his mother lost the ideal.
You may not have the ideal. Maybe you've never been married. Maybe you're divorced.
Maybe you've lost a spouse, right? He didn't have the ideal. But the
grandfather stepped in and as long as he could and they created or mimicked the best they could the ideal.
That's what has to be done. You support the ideal as best you can. The example I usually give is my own my own family,
right? My parents split when I was six years old. Two amazing human beings that that could not live together.
And my dad remarried um had four more kids. We had three with my mom. Um,
and then and then four more kids with my dad's second wife. And what do you do with that? Well, what you do with that
is you try to create the ideal regardless, right? You don't try and create as much
as you can. You try not to keep separate families. You try not to keep things you try and build a large family. So, I'm
the oldest of seven and all of those brothers and sisters are my brothers and sisters.
And I've never seen that in any other way. I I I it just that would be odd to me. Very strange.
You focus on the ideal. You teach and develop the ideal.
And you help others move toward the ideal even if you don't have it.
Now that we've had these inspiring words from Elder Rasband and and and President
Oaks, I want to go back to this Salt Lake Tribune article and just cover a couple of things with the
underlying comments here already given by these two men.
So again the title here opinion after hearing the contrast here from Elder
Rasband and President Oaks you have the LDS church's family proclamation is commentary
not revelation that it is the document should be seen as part of an evolving
debate about family gender and marriage that reflects the
values of its era. Wow. Okay. Uh so
let's go over a couple of things here that I think are very important. He talks about how first of all this came
out September 23rd 1995 from President Hinckley at the uh women's relief
society conference. It was it was only the fifth time in history. This is important to see uh in history of the
church of Jesus Christ of Latterday Saints that leaders had issued something called a proclamation. Now, since then, we've had a couple more, but before
then, that the genre was so little used and so little remembered that most Latter-day Saints could not name one.
That's true. And then he goes in and he's going to try and diminish this again. In fact, many of those earlier
efforts are now curiosities at best. One proclamation from 1865 even demanded the
complete destruction of Lucy M. Smith's biography of her son, church founder Joseph Smith. All right. Hardly a
position the modern church maintains. That's true. This is not about eternal truths. This was something they were
probably battling with. My guess is, let's see, 1865. This is 5 years after the formation of the reorganized church.
There was a rift there and things were going on there. I I I can see them putting out a proclamation on something
like this. But what the family proclamation is is eternal truth. It is
different. And that's why it is important. That's why it has lasted these 30 years. That's why it's front
and center for us 30 years later and we have two talks given on this in general conference in 2025.
Right? So he asked this so that history raises an awkward but important question. What exactly is a
proclamation? There has never been a clear answer to this. Sure, maybe there isn't. But we've been told several times
that this is doctrine. Okay? This is a this is revelatory.
even though it happens in a political situation, it doesn't matter. This is the response and this is the revelation
that was received. And and thirdly, that that these are all based on doctrinal
eternal truths. That's the difference, right? He says, "Apostle Boyd Kpacker
once called the 1995 text of Revelation. The church editors later scrubbed it." Whatever. We just had it again here in
conference that it was revelatory. That's what we were told by Elder Rasband. He says, "The 1995 proclamation
is considered doctrine by today's standards, presenting itself as timeless truth, even while its contents reflect
the shifting sands of church history. In the 19th century, leaders preached plural marriage as central to God's
plan." That I I don't know that that has really changed. I mean, we don't practice it. Not in this not not fully
in this life. We don't practice it. But both President Nelson and President Oaks
were sealed to two to women. That that hasn't changed, right? That doctrine has not changed to the regret of some of you
listening. They believed marriage should be has been a man and a woman of the same race refusing to allow interracial
marriages. Okay, that's policy. Maybe they call it doctrine. You know, they talked about a lot of different things and different doctrines and things that
were going on. This is not the eternal truths of exaltation. It is very different. It is such a bad argument.
This is brought up so many times. This idea with polygamy and race. They both fall apart. The idea, the proclamation's
idea of equal partnership between husbands and wives would have been sounded foreign to most apostles. Maybe,
but maybe not. I mean, you're you're trying to go back to the before the 70s. I I doubt you were even born before the 70s. There are several other things
here. I recommend you go read it for yourself. Uh came out October 3rd and and see what he has to say.
He says, "If the family proclamation is not revelation, not scripture and not unchanging doctrine." Okay, it is
revelation and it is it is not it is unchanging doctrine. Sorry,
Taylor. It is unchanging doctrine. Then what is it? I'd argue it's best understood as commentary.
That is not going to happen. And I heard even on a a Mormonland podcast uh from
the Salt Lake Tribune, I think it was yesterday morning. It was the editor, I don't remember her name, I apologize,
she was from Dialogue and also Patrick Mason on there. They they were the
editor of Dialogue was thinking, okay, you know, I think to her regret that
that it would become canonized. It might. I don't know. I don't know if it'll be canonized or not.
Um it doesn't matter. I mean, it would give more give it more oomph certainly
if this was added into the Doctrine of Covenants, but and it might be,
but all of the truths are in there are eternal truths, right? These are not this is not
commentary. This is not the midrash. This is not uh u let let's just reflect
on today's times. That's not what this is about. If you remove the the truths
from the the proclamation, the doctrine inside the proclamation, you remove the entire gospel.
It's done. It's over. The idea of exaltation is gone.
And that's not going to happen. That that is not going to happen. despite the
push from perhaps middle management or from members of the church or from
scholars or from others, the loud voices, it it's just not going to
happen. Just a couple more points here. He he says, "Like all commentary," he's
calling it commentary. It doesn't end the conversation, it sparks new ones. In 2019, President Don H. jokes clarified
that the proclamation's use of gender means biological sex at birth as if he's
reating something in in in different terms because he wants to recclarify and
change the commentary. That's not what he's doing. What he's doing is reacting
to people like you and and and those that support what you believe because
the religion of academia has tried to separate gender from biological sex in
1995 before intersectionality exploded throughout the halls of humanities. Uh
it it it was you know gender was most for the most part understood as sex.
They're one in the same thing. And it wasn't even until earlier in the 20th century that there was some efforts to
try and change this real efforts that meant anything and to separate them that gender is what
you feel or what you assign yourself regardless of biology. So they're coming
back responding to what is now becoming a more common term of gender being an
opinion or a feeling. not because they're adding different commentary to it.
He finishes off saying, "Three decades on, the family proclamation may loom larger than any of its predecessors
because it's built on eternal truths, but history is always commentary upon
commentary. How it will be reinterpreted in the next 30 years remains to be seen.
It will be reinterpreted in the next 30 years by scholars primarily.
That's where it will start. and they will dissect it and minimize it and devalue it and do everything they
can to fight against the traditional family and traditional marriage. The
gospel is true. The family it is that the church of
Jesus Christ is a family centered church. The gospel of Jesus Christ is a
family centered gospel. Everything the church does is to support
exaltation. And what we get in the family proclamation are eternal truths
of exaltation. Thanks for listening.