Church Talks
THE FIRST STEP IN MAKING YOUR HOME A HOLY PLACE IS A PROPER MARRIAGE
[Talk presented by John E. Enslen to a primary class at the Wetumpka Ward, Wetumpka, Alabama on May 2, 2021.]
Jesus speaking:
“Have ye not read, that he which made them at the beginning made them male and female, and said, ‘For this cause shall a man leave father and mother, and shall cleave to his wife: and they twain shall be one flesh?’ Wherefore they are no more twain, but one flesh. What therefore God hath joined together, let not man put asunder.” (Matt 19:4-6)
God and Christ firmly restated the definition of marriage between a man and a woman in this dispensation in Doctrine and Covenants 49:15-17:
15 And again, verily I say unto you, that whoso forbiddeth to marry is not ordained of God, for marriage is ordained of God unto man.
16 Wherefore, it is lawful that he should have one wife, and they twain shall be one flesh, and all this that the earth might answer the end of its creation;
17 And that it might be filled with the measure of man, according to his creation before the world was made.
Look at why marriage is ordained of God in these verses: It is because marriage helps to fulfill the end or purpose of the earth’s creation. What purpose? The earth is the habitational home for Adam and Eve and all of their posterity—the earth’s entire past, present, and future human population during the earth’s mortality, so to speak. Man and woman are the proper and ideal partner for each other and perfectly fit within God’s only acceptable system for “multiplying and replenishing the earth” (Genesis 1:28), thus providing mortal bodies for God’s spirit children.
There are great rewards for abiding these commandments to marry and multiply and replenish the earth.
Doctrine and Covenants 131 states:
1 In the celestial glory there are three heavens or degrees;
2 And in order to obtain the highest, a man must enter into this order of the priesthood [meaning the new and everlasting covenant of marriage];
3 And if he does not, he cannot obtain it.
What is marriage? The union of man and woman so that they can fulfill the purpose of the earth’s creation according to Doctrine and Covenants 49:15-17—to provide the habitat for the mortal probationary experience for all of God’s children to be sent upon it. If we believe in Christ and his prophets, and the scriptures they have authored, then I cannot escape the conclusion that we should accept that “marriage” is between a man and a woman.