The Dad Doctrine: You've Got to Be a Dad Before You're Called Father

Every child needs a dad, even though each of us has a biological father. Although we place the highest esteem, as latter-day saints, on the use of the title 'father' - as this is how we address our Father in Heaven - in my opinion, here in mortality that designation is earned, after one has proven himself a 'dad' first.

As we honor the dads in our lives on Father's Day, I submit that it is in the doing of those things which 'dads' do, is that which compels us to honor him, as Father.

The beauty of this system is that there is no perfect dad. Young children are oh-so forgiving and tend to love their imperfect dads’ without guile. Pretty much every dad who is present and loves his children, to the best of his ability, and consistently, earns the high honor of father, on Father's Day! I say 'young children' and 'consistently' - the consistent will ensure that your teens will hang in there with you, even after those tough years. Trust me. 

Behind every good kid... Is a GREAT Dad!

To men everywhere, who have fathered children, or will: your children need you - so much so, that God has proclaimed through latter-day prophets, that you are to be a dad – and not just a biological father. (Well, maybe not quite like that.) A careful reading of The Family: A Proclamation to the World teaches this ‘sacred dad doctrine’... 

THE FAMILY is ordained of God. Marriage between man and woman is essential to His eternal plan. Children are entitled to birth within the bonds of matrimony, and to be reared by a father and a mother who honor marital vows with complete fidelity. Happiness in family life is most likely to be achieved when founded upon the teachings of the Lord Jesus Christ. Successful marriages and families are established and maintained on principles of faith, prayer, repentance, forgiveness, respect, love, compassion, work, and wholesome recreational activities. By divine design, fathers are to preside over their families in love and righteousness and are responsible to provide the necessities of life and protection for their families. Mothers are primarily responsible for the nurture of their children. In these sacred responsibilities, fathers and mothers are obligated to help one another as equal partners. Disability, death, or other circumstances may necessitate individual adaptation. Extended families should lend support when needed.

'The Dad Doctrine' 

(Extracted from Family Proclamation)

Have children within the bonds of marriage - as God has ordained.

Honor marital vows with complete fidelity.

Teach your family the Gospel of Jesus Christ and live it.

Practice and teach to your family the principles of faith, prayer, repentance, forgiveness, respect, love, compassion and work.

Enjoy wholesome recreational activities together.

Financially provide for the necessities of your family and ensure their physical protection.

Do all things in love and righteousness.

Your wife is co-parent with you, and together you are to accomplish the work of the family; counsel together in all things.

This Father's Day take the time to remember all the things that make your father a DAD! Video via FamilyShare.com

And then, tell him...

"The Lord's plan of salvation requires that you pass through trials in this mortal life. Those trials seem to be greatest when you reach fatherhood, but be assured—fatherhood, in a sense, is an apprenticeship to godhood"

 ~ The Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, June, 2002

tDMg
Kathryn Skaggs

Photos/memes: Sam Va

More from WBMW on Dads: Father, Consider Your Ways... (A must read for every dad)

From LDS.org -

Latter-day Prophets Speak: The Sacred Role of Fathers 

L. Tom Perry: Fatherhood, an Eternal Calling

Deseret News:  LDS Church leaders share tales of fatherhood