Restoration Torah Conference 2025

The RTC theme this year is: The Torah ans The Family

The Family is the fundamental building block of society and of the church. It is the vehicle by which spirits are brought into mortality and given their first earthly lessons. The Creation was not complete until Adam had an helper matched for him, Eve. The plan of God, from before the foundations of the earth were laid, has always involved families as the essential structure. Tho modern corruptions may attempt to abridge or replace the family with community or government programs, these schemes will always fail since they are an inversion of the natural order. Communities and governments are built by, and proceed from, families, and not the other way around.

The Family and its structure are eternal; both will extend beyond this life. Government and Church organization, tho useful constructs, will eventually dissolve and be left behind with mortality. The most recent instantiation of God’s people is the family of Israel (a.k.a. the House of Israel) of which the saints are a part. This Family began with 3 (Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob), then with 12 (the 12 sons of Jacob, who are the heads of the tribes of Israel), and then with 70 (the descendants who went into Egypt – the world). This basic hierarchy consisting of 3, 12, and 70 will be immediately familiar to the latter-day saints, but we err if we believe that the ancient family structure was pointing us to the modern Church and its structure. Rather, the Church and its structure are pointing us to the ancient family of Abraham and reminding and inviting us to join this eternal family, and not the other way around.

The saints of God in every dispensation have sought to uphold the family, its structure, and God’s Law in relation to it as an institution. From the beginning, our Father in Heaven has taught us his principles, laws, and sacraments related to the family. Let us seek out his word to guide us and our families in a troubled and confused world and thus save ourselves from this corrupt generation (Acts 2:40). As the Proclamation on the Family powerfully declares, “We warn that individuals who violate covenants of chastity, who abuse spouse or offspring, or who fail to fulfill family responsibilities will one day stand accountable before God. Further, we warn that the disintegration of the family will bring upon individuals, communities, and nations the calamities foretold by ancient and modern prophets.” Wherefore, brethren, seek not to counsel the Lord, but to take counsel from his hand (Jacob 4:10). Let us allow God to dictate to us the proper family order, and not the other way round.

Host or Publisher The Zarahemla Foundation