Hank Smith: 00:00 Hello, everyone, welcome to followHIM Favorites. My name is Hank Smith, I’m the host of a podcast called followHIM with my good friend, John Bytheway. Welcome, John.

John Bytheway: 00:10 Thanks. Thanks, my good friend, Hank.

Hank Smith: 00:12 Yeah. And this week we welcome our wonderful, brilliant guest, Dr. Jenet Erickson. Welcome Dr. Erickson.

Dr. Jenet Erickson: 00:21 Thank you.

Hank Smith: 00:22 Yeah. We’re going to have a good time today. FollowHIM 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 Jenet, 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 Favorite? Our lesson this week is on The Family: A Proclamation to the World.

John Bytheway: 00:48 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 to go back and listen to the whole thing. The things that Jenet talked about out 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 … This is an old story. He came home from work, grabbed the newspaper. Now, anciently, we used to read the news on a newspaper instead of on a screen. Anyway.

Hank Smith: 01:20 If you don’t know what that is, you’ll have to ask someone..

John Bytheway: 01:21 Yeah, what is a newspaper? So, he’s reading the newspaper and his little boy keeps tugging at him, “Dad come and play with me,” and he’s like, “Just a minute, I’m reading a paper.” “Dad come and play with me.” “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 in little pieces, throws it on the floor and says, “Hey, here’s a little 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.

John Bytheway: 01:57 Well, in very short order, all of a sudden, little boy’s 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 and 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. And 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 brother and sisters, to help that home be strong, where you live right now. That’s my favorite.

Hank Smith: 02:49 Wow. That’s awesome, John. That’s fantastic. I love that. The idea that if every family in the world lived by these nine paragraphs, the world would fall into place. Everything would do very well.

John Bytheway: 03:00 Yeah. We try to fix the world with legislatures and stuff, but why don’t we just start with our homes?

Hank Smith: 03:05 Yeah. My followHIM Favorite is going to be in, oh goodness, paragraph 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, I think it is paragraph seven.

John Bytheway: 03:15 The big one.

Hank Smith: 03:16 One statement … Yeah, the big one, that just said, “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 studies. We have a lifetime 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 Jenet, and it just is never ending. I find more all the time when I read Matthew, Mark, Luke and John, and that’s just a portion of the Savior’s teachings.

Hank Smith: 03:56 We have the Doctrine and Covenants, so we’ve been studying this year. My followHIM 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 bless your family. And by the way, if you keep listening to followHIM, 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 dishes for the real main event here, and that’s Dr. Erickson. So, Dr. Erickson, tell us what your Follow Him favorite is.

Dr. Jenet Erickson: 04:42 Yeah. I love the favorites you shared. I think, John, that whole idea of that last line, the proclamation that says, “The family is the fundamental unit of society.” And just across all the data, when we look at it, this beautiful relationship of children with their parents being nurtured and the extension of extended family bonds as well, you just see that is the strength of nations. It literally rests upon that. And so you’re exactly right. Then to hear, Hank, you talk about throughout the proclamation 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, and his teachings give us the light, the path of joy in our relationships. His teachings are all about how to have stronger relationships.

Dr. Jenet Erickson: 05:29 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. And that the family is central to the creator’s 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, Eve knew we have to have life. She wanted greater light and knowledge, that lead her 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 eternal family of our heavenly parents are sealed to them, sealed up to them forever is just so beautiful. And then it says, “All human beings, me, male and female are created in the image of God as children of beloved heavenly parents.”

Dr. Jenet Erickson: 06:30 And to think of what that means for women to be in the image of our heavenly mother, who is an equal with our heavenly father, God, the father and God, the mother, and that we come from them is just foundational. And we have the divine capacity because we are their children, their literal children with their spiritual DNA to become as they are, to become the kind of people that can be in that kind of marriage, that kind of family, and that’s our Savior’s homework. He promises us, “I will change you. I will enable you to be the kind of person that can be.” That husband, that father, that wife, that mother. And when I fail, the beautiful thing is every day, as I’m learning and growing in this great gospel redemption, this plan of redemption and not perfection, I love to be able to tell my children, “I cannot be a perfect mother or father to you.

Dr. Jenet Erickson: 07:28 I want to be all that I can be, but you have a perfect mother and a perfect father, and they will never abandon you.” And they will teach me, their work is to teach me how to be better for you, and to teach you how to prepare to be the kind of parent you need to be for your children. So, it’s this great plan where we’re part of a family here on earth and we’re part of this grand family where we have already been redeemed and given perfect parents to lead and guide us, and a savior to give us the power to become as they are. That’s the foundation of the proclamation right there, and we’re all part of that.

Hank Smith: 08:09 That was wonderful. If you want to hear more from Dr. Erickson, you need to join us on the full podcast, followHIM. If you don’t know how to find a podcast, find someone who knows how to find podcasts so you can find us. Use your Google and Thummim, type in followHIM Podcast, you’re certain to find us, certain to find us. You want to hear our episodes with Dr. Erickson. But if not, we understand. We hope you’ll join us next week for followHIM Favorites.