Happiness in Family Life is most likely to be Achieved when Founded upon the Teachings of the Lord Jesus Christ

You will know no greater happiness than that found in your home. -Gordon B. Hinckley, Ensign, May 1998, 51

The greatest joys of life are experienced in happy family relationships. The most poignant of sorrows, the most bleak and forlorn feelings of misery come of unhappy family life. -Gordon B. Hinckley, Ensign, Aug. 1992, 5 

If we would look for the virtues in one another and not the vices, there would be much more of happiness in the homes of our people. There would be far less of divorce, much less of infidelity, much less of anger and rancor and quarreling. There would be more of forgiveness, more of love, more of peace, more of happiness. This is as the Lord would have it. -Gordon B. Hinckley, Ensign, May 1998, 51

Our most important and powerful assignments are in the family. They are important because the family has the opportunity at the start of a child’s life to put feet firmly on the path home. -Henry B. Eyring, Help Them on Their way Home

Near the end of his life, one father looked back on how he had spent his time on earth. An acclaimed, respected author of numerous scholarly works, he said, ‘I wish I had written one less book and taken my children fishing more often.’ Time passes quickly. Many parents say that it seems like yesterday that their children were born. Now those children are grown, perhaps with children of their own. ‘Where did the years go?’ they ask. We cannot call back time that is past, we cannot stop time that now is, and we cannot experience the future in our present state. Time is a gift, a treasure not to be put aside for the future but to be used wisely in the present. -Thomas S. Monson, Dedication Day

I believe in the family where there is a husband who regards his companion as his greatest asset and treats her accordingly; where there is a wife who looks upon her husband as her anchor and strength, her comfort and security; where there are children who look to mother and father with respect and gratitude; where there are parents who look upon those children as blessings and find a great and serious and wonderful challenge in their nurture and rearing. The cultivation of such a home requires effort and energy, forgiveness and patience, love and endurance and sacrifice; but it is worth all of these and more. -Gordon B. Hinckley, Ensign, Aug. 1992, 5–6

Our eternal happiness is not one of Satan’s objectives. He knows that an essential key to making men and women miserable like himself is to deprive them of family relationships which have eternal potential. Because Satan understands that true happiness in this life and in the eternities is found in the form of family, he does everything in his power to destroy it. -Richard J. Maynes, Establishing a Christ-Centered Home, April 2011

 
Sermon on the Mount: Treasures in Heaven


 
David A. Bednar, More Diligent and Concerned at Home


Scriptures:

That they should seek the Lord, if haply they might feel after him, and find him, though he be not far from every one of us: For in him we live, and move, and have our being; as certain also of your own poets have said, For we are also his offspring. -Acts 17:27-28, Holy Bible

And that same sociality which exists among us here will exist among us there, only it will be coupled with eternal glory, which glory we do not now enjoy. -Doctrine & Covenants 130:2

And again, inasmuch as parents have children in Zion, or in any of her stakes which are organized, that teach them not to understand the doctrine of repentance, faith in Christ the Son of the living God, and of baptism and the gift of the Holy Ghost by the laying on of the hands, when eight years old, the sin be upon the heads of the parents. -Doctrine & Covenants 68:25

And we talk of Christ, we rejoice in Christ, we preach of Christ, we prophesy of Christ, and we write according to our prophecies, that our children may know to what source they may look for a remission of their sins. -2 Nephi 25:26, Book of Mormon

Definitions:

Happiness - good fortune; prosperity; a state of well-being and contentment; joy; a pleasurable or satisfying experience.

Achieved - brought to or marked by a high degree of development or refinement; finished.

Founded - to take the first steps in building; to set or ground on something solid; base; to establish (as an institution) often with provision for future maintenance.

Teachings - something taught; especially doctrine.
-Merriam Webster

Children are Entitled to Birth within the Bonds of Matrimony, & to be Reared by a Father & a Mother who Honor Marital Vows with Complete Fidelity

The Church lays great stress on the sanctity of the home and teaches that children are a blessing from the Lord. There is no principle on which the Latter-day Saints lay greater emphasis than the sacredness of the marriage covenant. -Gordon B. Hinckley

Marriage provides an ideal setting for overcoming any tendency to be selfish or self-centered…Pure love is an incomparable, potent power for good, and the foundation of a successful marriage. -Richard G. Scott

C. S. Lewis has said that only those who resist temptation really understand the power of temptation. Because Jesus resisted it perfectly, He understood temptation perfectly; hence He can help us. (See Mere Christianity [1952], 124–25.) The fact that He was dismissive of temptation and gave it “no heed” reveals His marvelous character, which we are to emulate (see 3 Ne. 12:48; 3 Ne. 27:27).

-Neal A. Maxwell, “Enduring Well,” Ensign, Apr 1997, 7

 

Happiness is the object and design of our existence; and will be the end thereof, if we pursue the path that leads to it. -Joseph Smith, History of the Church, 5:134

 
 
Jeffrey R. Holland, Place No More for the Enemy of My Soul

Scriptures:

Woe unto them that call evil good, and good evil; that put darkness for light, and light for darkness; that put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter! -Isaiah 5:20, Holy Bible

Thou shalt love thy wife with all thy heart, and shalt cleave unto her and none else. And he that looketh upon a woman to lust after her shall deny the faith, and shall not have the Spirit; and if he repents not he shall be cast out. Thou shalt not commit adultery; and he that committeth adultery, and repenteth not, shall be cast out. But he that has committed adultery and repents with all his heart, and forsaketh it, and doeth it no more, thou shalt forgive; -Doctrine & Covenants 42:22-25

Ye have heard that it was said by them of old time, Thou shalt not commit adultery: But I say unto you, That whosoever looketh on a woman to lust after her hath committed adultery with her already in his heart. -Matthew 5:27-28, Holy Bible

Definitions:

Entitled - to give (a person or thing) a title, right, or claim to something; to designate.
Bonds - something that binds a person or persons to a certain circumstance or line of behavior.
Matrimony - the state or condition of being married.
Reared - to take care of and support up to maturity.
Honor - honesty, fairness, or integrity in one's beliefs and actions.
Vows - a solemn promise, pledge, or personal commitment.
Complete - having all parts or elements; lacking nothing; whole; entire; full.
Fidelity - strict observance of promises, loyalty, conjugal faithfulness. -Dictionary.com

Husbands & Wives—Mothers and Fathers—will be held Accountable before God for the Discharge of these Obligations (Parenting).

And so it is with being parents. The little things are the big things sewn into the family tapestry by a thousand threads of love, faith, discipline, sacrifice, patience, and work. -James E. Faust, The Greatest Challenge in the World-Good Parenting, October 1990

Parents who fail to teach obedience to their children, if [their] homes do not develop obedience society will demand it and get it. It is therefore better for the home, with its kindliness, sympathy and understanding to train the child in obedience rather than callously to leave him to the brutal and unsympathetic discipline that society will impose if the home has not already fulfilled its obligation. -David O. McKay, The Responsibility of Parents to Their Children, p. 3.

But whatever the era, whatever the times, one thing will never change: Fathers and mothers, if you have children, they must come first. You must read to your children and you must hug your children and you must love your children. Your success as a family, our success as a society, depends not on what happens in the White House but on what happens inside your house. -Barbara Bush, Washington Post, 2 June 1990, p. 2.

Before citing some challenges to family life, consider, first, brothers and sisters, how living without God in the world brings a functional lack of consistent perspective. If there were no eternal truths, to what principles would mortals look for guidance? If not accountable to God, to whom are we ultimately accountable? Furthermore, if nothing is ever really wrong, then no one is ever really responsible. If there are no fixed boundaries, then there cannot be any excesses. Why should we be surprised, then, at so many disturbing outcomes, including the lack of community, when every man does that which is “right in his own eyes” (Judg. 17:6; Judg. 21:25) and seeks not the righteousness of the Lord but instead walks “in his own way”? (D&C 1:16). Reflect, for instance, on how inoperative the Ten Commandments are in many lives. Today, killing, stealing, and bearing false witness still carry some social stigma and legal sanction, but sanction is effectively gone regarding sexual immorality, the Sabbath day, honoring fathers and mothers, and the taking of the name of the Lord in vain. Some of this decline represents the bitter harvest of ethical relativism, the philosophy of choice of many, reflecting no fixed, divine truths but merely the mores of the moment. No wonder Ortega y Gasset wisely warned, “If truth does not exist, relativism cannot take itself seriously.” -Neal A. Maxwell, Take Especial Care of Your Family, April 1994


We need to make our homes a place of refuge from the storm, which is increasing in intensity all about us. Even if the smallest openings are left unattended, negative influences can penetrate the very walls of our homes. -L. Tom Perry, The Importance of Family, April 2003

Neal A. Maxwell, Take Especial Care of Your Family, April 1994

 
James E. Faust, The Greatest Challenge in the World - Good Parenting, October 1990

Scriptures:

Take especial care of your family. -Doctrine & Covenants126:3

So then every one of us shall give account of himself to God. -Romans 14:12, Holy Bible

And I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God; and the books were opened: and another book was opened, which is the book of life: and the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books, according to their works. -Revelations 20:12, Holy Bible

And again, inasmuch as parents have children in Zion, or in any of her stakes which are organized that teach them not to understand the doctrine of repentance, faith in Christ the Son of the living God, and baptism and the gift of the Holy Ghost by the laying on of the hands, when eight years old, the sin be upon the heads of the parents. And they shall also teach their children to pray, and to walk uprightly before the Lord. -Doctrine & Covenants 68:25

Definitions:

accountable - subject to the obligation to report, explain, or justify something; responsible to someone or for some action; answerable.
discharge - deliver, unload, send forth,
obligations - something by which a person is bound or obliged to do certain things, and which arises out of a sense of duty or results from custom, law, etc. Synonyms: responsibility, contract, covenant.
-Dictionary.com

Parents have the Sacred Duty to Teach their Children to be Law-abiding Citizens wherever they Live

Let us do right, keep the laws of God, and the laws of man, honor our membership in the kingdom of God, our citizenship … in the nation of which we are a part, and then God will sustain and preserve us, and we will continue to grow as we have done from the beginning, only our future growth will be accelerated and be far greater than it has been in the past. Teach your children to honor the law of God and the law of the state, and the law of our country. Teach them to respect and hold in honor those who are chosen by the people to stand at their head and execute justice and administer the law. Teach them to be loyal to their country, loyal to righteousness and uprightness and honor, and thereby they will grow up to be men and women choice above all the men and women of the world. -Joseph F. Smith

 
Bad laws, if they exist, should be repealed as soon as possible; still, while they continue in force, they should be religiously observed. -Abraham Lincoln

In reality the man who defies or flouts the law is like the proverbial fool who saws away the plank on which he sits, and a disrespect or disregard for law is always the first sign of a disintegrating society. Respect for law is the most fundamental of all social virtues, for the alternative to the rule of law is that of violence and anarchy.” -Case and Comment, March/April issue, 1965, p. 20.

There is no reason or justification for men to disregard or break the law or try to take it into their own hands. Christ gave us the great example of a law-abiding citizen when the Pharisees, trying to entangle him, as the scriptures say, asked him if it were lawful to give tribute money unto Caesar. After asking whose inscription was on the tribute money, and their acknowledgment that it was Caesar’s, he said: “Render therefore unto Caesar the things which are Caesar’s; and unto God the things that are God’s.” (Matt. 22:21.). -N. Eldon Tanner, The Laws of God, October 1975

Scriptures:

Behold, this is a choice land, and whatsoever nation shall possess it shall be free from bondage, and from captivity, and from all other nations under heaven, if they will but serve the God of the land, who is Jesus Christ. -Ether 2:12, Book of Mormon

And for this purpose have I established the Constitution of this land, by the hands of wise men whom I raised up unto this very purpose. -Doctrine & Covenants 101:80

We believe that governments were instituted of God for the benefit of man; and that he holds men accountable for their acts in relation to them, both in making laws and administering them, for the good and safety of society. We believe that no government can exist in peace, except such laws are framed and held inviolate as will secure to each individual the free exercise of conscience, the right and control of property, and the protection of life. We believe that all governments necessarily require civil officers and magistrates to enforce the laws of the same; and that such as will administer the law in equity and justice should be sought for and upheld by the voice of the people if a republic, or the will of the sovereign. We believe that all men are bound to sustain and uphold the respective governments in which they reside, while protected in their inherent and inalienable rights by the laws of such governments; and that sedition and rebellion are unbecoming every citizen thus protected, and should be punished accordingly; and that all governments have a right to enact such laws as in their own judgments are best calculated to secure the public interest; at the same time, however, holding sacred the freedom of conscience. -Doctrine & Covenants 134:1-3, 5

We believe in being subject to kings, presidents, rulers, and magistrates, in obeying, honoring, and sustaining the law. -Article of Faith 12

Definitions:

Law-abiding - obeying or keeping the law; obedient to law: adhering more or less strictly to the laws.
Citizens - a native or naturalized member of a state or nation who owes allegiance to its government and is entitled to its protection. -Dictionary.com

Parents have the Sacred Duty to Teach Their Children to Observe the Commandements of God

Indeed our heaven is little more than a projection of our homes into eternity. -Stephen L. Richards

God reveals to His prophets that there are moral absolutes. Sin will always be sin. Disobedience to the Lord’s commandments will always deprive us of His blessings. The world changes constantly and dramatically, but God, His commandments, and promised blessings do not change. They are immutable and unchanging. Men and women receive their agency as a gift from God, but their liberty and, in turn, their eternal happiness come from obedience to His laws. As Alma counseled his errant son Corianton, “Wickedness never was happiness” (Alma 41:10, Book of Mormon). -L. Tom Perry, Obedience to Law Is Liberty, April 2013

There is no need for you or for me, in this enlightened age when the fulness of the gospel has been restored, to sail uncharted seas or to travel unmarked roads in search of truth. A loving Heavenly Father has plotted our course and provided an unfailing guide—even obedience. A knowledge of truth and the answers to our greatest questions come to us as we are obedient to the commandments of God. We learn obedience throughout our lives. Beginning when we are very young, those responsible for our care set forth guidelines and rules to ensure our safety. Life would be simpler for all of us if we would obey such rules completely. Many of us, however, learn through experience the wisdom of being obedient. -Thomas S. Monson, Obedience Brings Blessings, April 2013

 
Standing in Holy Places
 
Sermon on the Mount: The Higher Law

Scriptures:

Train up a child in the way he should go: and when he is old, he will not depart from it. -Proverbs 22:6, Holy Bible

Blessed art thou and thy children; and they shall be blessed, inasmuch as they shall keep my commandments they shall prosper in the land. But remember, inasmuch as they will not keep my commandments they shall be cut off from the presence of the Lord. -Alma 50:20, Book of Mormon

If ye keep my commandments, ye shall abide in my love; even as I have kept my Father’s commandments, and abide in his love. -John 15:10, Holy Bible

And he said unto the children of men: Follow thou me. Wherefore, my beloved brethren, can we follow Jesus save we shall be willing to keep the commandments of the Father? -2 Nephi 31:10, Book of Mormon

Definitions:

observe - to see, watch, perceive, or notice; to regard with attention, especially so as to see or learn something. -Dictionary.com

Parents have a Sacred Duty to Teach their Children to Love and Serve One Another

Spiritual strength frequently comes through selfless service. -Thomas S. Monson, April 2010

I saw tomorrow passing on little children’s feet

And on their forms and faces her prophecies complete.

And then I saw tomorrow look at me through little children’s eyes.

And I thought how carefully I must teach if I am wise!

-Anonymous

 
Flecks of Gold, M. Russell Ballard

Dayton's Legs

Scriptures:

Now therefore fear the Lord, and serve him in sincerity and in truth: and put away the gods which your fathers served on the other side of the flood, and in Egypt; and serve ye the Lord.And if it seem evil unto you to serve the Lord, choose you this day whom ye will serve; whether the gods which your fathers served that were on the other side of the flood, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land ye dwell: but as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord. -Joshua 24:14-15, Holy Bible

And behold, I tell you these things that ye may learn wisdom; that ye may learn that when ye are in the service of your fellow beings ye are only in the service of your God. -Mosiah 2:18, Book of Mormon

No man can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon. -Matthew 6:24, Holy Bible

A new commandment I give unto you, That ye love one another; as I have loved you, that ye also love one another. -John 13: 34, Holy Bible

But ye will teach them to walk in the ways of truth and soberness; ye will teach them to love one another, and to serve one another. -Mosiah 4:15, Book of Mormon

Definitions:

Serve -to render assistance; be of use; help. -Dictionary.com

Parents have a Sacred Duty to Provide for their Children's Physical and Spiritual Needs

I would like my children, and all the children of Zion, to know that there is nothing in this world that is of so much value to them as the knowledge of the gospel as it has been restored to the earth in these latter days through the Prophet Joseph Smith. There is nothing that can compensate for its loss. There is nothing on earth that can compare with the excellency of the knowledge of Jesus Christ. Let, therefore, all the parents in Zion look after their children, and teach them the principles of the gospel, and strive as far as possible to get them to do their duty—not mechanically, because they are urged to do it, but try to instill into the hearts of the children the spirit of truth and an abiding love for the gospel, that they may not only do their duty because it is pleasing to their parents, but because it is pleasing also to themselves. -Joseph F. Smith, Masterpieces of Latter-day Saint Leaders, comp. N. B. Lundwall, Salt Lake City: Deseret Book Co., 1953, p. 78

Designed to strengthen and safeguard the family, the Church’s [family] home evening program establishes one night each week that is to be set apart for fathers and mothers to gather their sons and daughters around them in the home. Prayer is offered, hymns and other songs are sung, scriptures are read, family topics are discussed, talent is displayed, principles of the gospel are taught, and often games are played and homemade refreshments served. Now, here are the blessings promised by a prophet of God for those who will hold weekly [family] home evenings: ‘If the Saints obey this counsel, we promise that great blessings will result. Love at home and obedience to parents will increase. Faith will be developed in the hearts of the youth of Israel, and they will gain power to combat the evil influences and temptations which beset them’. -Ezra Taft Benson, Official Report of the Philippine Islands Area Conference, 1975, p. 10

 
Robert D. Hales, Becoming Provident Providers

 
Gordon B. Hinckley, Lessons I learned as a Boy

Scriptures:

Therefore I say unto you, Take no thought for your life, what ye shall eat, or what ye shall drink; nor yet for your body, what ye shall put on. Is not the life more than meat, and the body than raiment? Behold the fowls of the air: for they sow not, neither do they reap, nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feedeth them. Are ye not much better than they? Which of you by taking thought can add one cubit unto his stature? And why take ye thought for raiment? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow; they toil not, neither do they spin: And yet I say unto you, That even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. Wherefore, if God so clothe the grass of the field, which to day is, and to morrow is cast into the oven, shall he not much more clothe you, O ye of little faith? Therefore take no thought, saying, What shall we eat? or, What shall we drink? or, Wherewithal shall we be clothed? (For after all these things do the Gentiles seek:) for your heavenly Father knoweth that ye have need of all these things. But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you. Take therefore no thought for the morrow: for the morrow shall take thought for the things of itself. Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof. -Matthew 6:25-34, Holy Bible

 
And thus we see that the commandments of God must be fulfilled. And if it so be that the children of men keep the commandments of God he doth nourish them, and strengthen them, and provide means whereby they can accomplish the thing which he has commanded them; wherefore, he did provide means for us while we did sojourn in the wilderness. -1 Nephi 17:3, Book of Mormon

And again, verily I say unto you, that every man who is obliged to provide for his own family, let him provide, and he shall in nowise lose his crown; and let him labor in the church. -Doctrine & Covenants 75:28

And they shall also teach their children to pray, and to walk uprightly before the Lord. -Doctrine & Covenants 68:28

But I have commanded you to bring up your children in light and truth. -Doctrine & Covenants 93:40

Definitions:

Provide - to make available; furnish: to supply or equip: to afford or yield. -Dictionary.com