Why is Marriage Such a Big Deal?

“A family built on the marriage of a man and woman supplies the best setting for God’s plan to thrive.”

I just love these quotes from Elder Christofferson’s April 2015 General Conference talk about marriage and family.

Here’s the quote Elder Christofferson used from Dietrich Bonhoeffer, a German theologian imprisoned by Nazis who wrote a letter to his niece that was smuggled out by guards:

“Marriage is more than your love for each other. … In your love you see only your two selves in the world, but in marriage you are a link in the chain of the generations, which God causes to come and to pass away to his glory, and calls into his kingdom. In your love you see only the heaven of your own happiness, but in marriage you are placed at a post of responsibility towards the world and mankind. Your love is your own private possession, but marriage is more than something personal—it is a status, an office. Just as it is the crown, and not merely the will to rule, that makes the king, so it is marriage, and not merely your love for each other, that joins you together in the sight of God and man. … So love comes from you, but marriage from above, from God.”

Here are some wise words from Elder Christofferson himself.

A family built on the marriage of a man and woman supplies the best setting for God’s plan to thrive—the setting for the birth of children, who come in purity and innocence from God, and the environment for the learning and preparation they will need for a successful mortal life and eternal life in the world to come. A critical mass of families built on such marriages is vital for societies to survive and flourish. That is why communities and nations generally have encouraged and protected marriage and the family as privileged institutions. It has never been just about the love and happiness of adults.

So here’s to marriage! I thought it would be fun to put the wedding videos of the Duggars, since I love them so much and they are great examples of happy marriages!