Hello everyone, welcome to Follow Him Favorites. My name is Hank Smith. I'm the host of a podcast called Follow Him with my good friend John by the way. Welcome John.

Thanks. Thanks my good friend Hank.

Yeah. And this week we are welcomed. We welcome our wonderful brilliant guest Dr. Janet Erickson. Welcome Dr. Erickson.

Thank you. Yeah, we're going to have a good time today. Follow Him Favorites is where we do a very small version of our podcast where each of us gets to choose one thing from this week's lesson to talk about for those who just they have a really busy life. John and Jenna and they can't listen to the entire podcast but they can listen to a tiny one. So John, what is this week's Follow Him Favorites? Our lesson this week is on the family, a proclamation to the world.

Oh, I just think there's so much here and we've talked about so much. This is the hardest I've ever thought about what could I possibly say because I'm so excited for everybody go back and listen to the whole thing. The things that Janet talked about with regard to the science backing up so much of this anyway. But I just remember a story that has always helped me about this father that came home from this is an old story. He came home from work grab the newspaper. Now, anciently we used to read the news on a newspaper instead of.

On a screen. Anyway, you don't know what that is. You have to ask. Yeah, what is a newspaper? Yeah. So he's reading the newspaper and his little boy keeps tugging at him dad come and play with me. He's like just a minute. I'm reading the paper dad come and play with you just a minute and it goes on and on and finally the dad sees on the back of the newspaper this advertisement with a big picture of the planet the whole world in this advertisement. And so he tears it up a little pieces throws it on the floor and says, Hey, here's a little bit of a story.

I'll puzzle for you when you put that together that planet together then I'll come and play with you and goes back to reading the paper. Well, in very short order all the sudden little boys tugging at his dad again. Okay, dad, I'm done.

And he looks over and sure enough he's put this whole puzzle of the planet together. How did you do that so fast? And the little boy said, well, I guess you didn't see it. But on the other side of the paper on the other side of the world, there was a home.

That was easy to put together. And when I put the home together, the world fell into place. And that's how one of those movies that the church made ended years ago. And I love that idea that our world is stronger when our homes are stronger.

All of you young people listening look forward to your home and your family and your marriage. And right now, be a help to mom and dad to brothers and sisters to help that home be strong where you live right now.

That's awesome. That's awesome. That's fantastic. I love that idea that if every family in the world lived by these nine paragraphs, the world would fall into place. Everything would try to fix the world with legislatures of stuff. But why don't we just start with our homes?

Yeah. My fellow him favorite is going to be in oh goodness paragraph one two three four five six seven. I think it is paragraph seven one statement. Yeah, the big one that just says happiness in family life is most likely to be achieved when founded upon the teachings of the Lord Jesus Christ.

Sometimes we skip over that sentence. I've read it many times, but that last little phrase, the teachings of the Lord Jesus Christ in that is a lifetime of study. We have a lifetime's worth of studies of the teachings of the Lord Jesus Christ. I teach the New Testament at BYU. And I have been teaching this for 11 years now. I think at BYU, John and Jenna. And it just is never ending. I find more all all the time when I read Matthew, Mark, Luke and John. And that's just a portion of the same.

We have the doctrine and covenants that we've been studying this year. My follow him favorite here is if you want to increase the happiness of your family, then let's get into the scriptures and find the teachings of the Lord Jesus Christ and then live them all throughout the book of Mormon all throughout even the Old Testament. There are principles and never ending principles that will that will blush your family.

And by the way, if you keep listening to follow him, we are going to help you find those principles. So I hope you'll listen to the entire podcast. Now the reason we're here, John, is to just be side side dishes for the real main event here. And that's Dr. Ericsson. So Dr. Ericsson, tell us what your follow him favorite is.

I love the favorites you shared. I think John that whole idea of that last line of the proclamation that says the family is the fundamental unit of society. And just across all the data when we look at it, this, this beautiful relationship of children with their parents being nurtured in the extension of extended family bonds as well.

And you see that is the strength of nations. It literally rests upon that. And so you're exactly right. And then to hear Hank, you talk about throughout the proclamation that that founding that a family founded on the teachings of the Lord Jesus Christ, that is the place truly whatever he lays his hands upon lives.

His teachings give us the light to the path of joy in our relationships. His teachings are all about how to have stronger relationships. My favorite part is the way this proclamation starts out.

And when the Lord tells us through his prophets that marriage between a man and a woman is ordained of God, he's telling us about the relationship our heavenly parents have with one another.

The family is central to the creators plan for the eternal destiny of his children that the reason the earth was created was for family to come that the reason there was a fall even knew we have to have life.

She wanted greater light knowledge that letter to seeking for a family to be born and Adam following seeing the truth in that.

And then the atonement being the way that families are sealed together and that we as the intern as the eternal family of our heavenly parents are sealed to them, sealed up to them forever is just so beautiful.

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