Directing his remarks to youth, young adults and their parents, President Boyd K. Packer used scripture and doctrine to explain why the Church holds so rigidly to high standards of moral conduct. "You need to know where our standards came from and why we cannot loosen up and follow what the world does," he said.

Photo by Scott G. Winterton

Congregation fills the Conference Center for the Saturday afternoon session of general conference, listening to counsel of Church leaders.

President Boyd K. Parker

Speaking Saturday afternoon, President Packer, acting president of the Quorum of the Twelve, said: "The Church you belong to, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, is the restored Church. When you know what restored means, you will understand why standards of conduct are as they are."

President Packer then described the apostasy and the resulting loss of the keys of authority. "The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is not a remodeled version of another church. It is not an adjustment or a correction or a protest against any other church. They have their 'form of godliness' and their goodness and value."

In the Restoration, first, John the Baptist returned through the veil to confer the Aaronic Priesthood. Soon after, Peter, James and John restored the higher, or Melchizedek Priesthood. "The Restoration did not come all at once. In a series of visitations, other prophets came to restore the keys of the priesthood."

With authority restored, the organization of the Church was revealed, along with ordinances. The Book of Mormon was published, along with other revelations, including the Doctrine and Covenants and the Pearl of Great Price. "There was opened to the early leaders of the Church the fulness of the gospel of Jesus Christ and the standards He requires of His disciples."

The revelation of the plan of redemption, President Packer explained, included the knowledge that all human beings — male and female — were sons and daughters of God with a divine nature and destiny. "Gender [male and female] is an essential characteristic of individual premortal, mortal and eternal identity and purpose," he added, quoting from "The Family: A Proclamation to the World."

The plan of happiness, he continued, includes eternal families. "Marriage, the family and the home are the foundation of the Church. Nothing is more important to the Church and to civilization itself than the family!"

For some, he said, all is not complete in this life pertaining to marriage and a family. "They will not, in the eternal pattern of things, be denied blessings necessary for their exaltation, including marriage and family."

Continuing, President Packer declared: "Because the power to create a mortal body is essential to our happiness and our exaltation, the Lord has decreed severe penalties against the immoral use of the power to beget life. Satan knows that if he can corrupt the process of mating and cause men and women to degrade it in immoral acts, he will, to that degree, for them disrupt the plan of happiness."

He warned young people to be on guard. He warned of temptations connecting to fornication, adultery, pornography, prostitution, perversion, lust, abuse, the unnatural, "and all that grows from them. . . . It is all paraded before you in unworthy entertainment — music, print, drama, film, television and, of course, the Internet."

President Packer referred to the First Vision, in which Joseph was seized by the power of the enemy until he called upon God. "There is great power in prayer. As a son or a daughter of God, you can, as Joseph did, pray to God in the name of Jesus Christ for strength."

Continuing, President Packer spoke of those who work through political, social and legal channels to redefine morality and marriage. "But they never can change the design which has governed human life and happiness from the beginning. The deceiver preys upon some passion or tendency or weakness. He convinces them that the condition cannot be changed and recruits them for activities for which they never would volunteer."

But sooner or later the spark of divinity will ignite and they will assert their agency as sons and daughters created in the image of God and renounce the destroyer. "That which they had been led to believe could not be changed, will be changed, and they will feel the power of the redemption of Christ. Their burden will be lifted and the pain healed up. That is what the Atonement of Christ is all about."

One is not condemned, President Packer explained, for tendencies or temptations. "If you do not act on unworthy persuasions, you will neither be condemned nor subject to Church discipline.

"We do not set the standards, but we are commanded to teach them and maintain them. . . . Obedience to the moral standard and the observance of the Word of Wisdom will remain as requirements for ordination to the priesthood, for a mission, and for a temple recommend."

President Packer counseled members of the congregation to not forget they are sons and daughters of God. "Satan cannot forever imprison you. You always hold the key of repentance to unlock the prison door."

"You are not alone," he emphasized to youth, reminding them there are "millions of you in the Church now."

President Packer declared: "You, our wonderful youth, are an example to untold millions of good people worldwide. I think of the joy and happiness that await you in this life and the great work you are to do, and I cannot be discouraged."