The Family (A Proclamation)

When I was a mere Aaronic Priesthood holder something very exciting happened: the prophet made a proclamation!

I can't make it through the whole thing either, but that's Gordon Hinckley, a prophet, solemnly proclaiming stuff! Why was this an exciting event at all, you might wonder.

This wasn't just another General Conference talk, this was a written document signed and endorsed by the fifteen men that I, my family, my friends, my community at large sustained as prophets, seers, and revelators. The thing was they hadn't prophesied, seen, or revealed anything since 1978 when they announced that the ban keeping men of African decent from holding the Priesthood had been lifted. I had always been told that prophets speak to God on our behalf and God responds directly to them giving them answers and guidance for the entire human population. The words of the prophets are sacred and holy because they are the words of God and that's why we write them down as scripture to read and study. Mormons believe that God is busy revealing and that He has a lot more to reveal later on, and yet I often wondered where all the revelation in the Church was. I for one sincerely hoped that God would finally give us the sealed portion of the Book of Mormon in my lifetime. 

So now we had new text coming straight from the Top! I figured it was as good as canonized and the Church would be issuing a new edition of Doctrine & Covenants with the family proclamation right behind Official Declaration 2. Instead "The Family" ended up for sale in frames to hang around your house.

Why was this not canonized? I couldn't figure it out. Wasn't this God's word with regards to what a family is and what it's for? Was it more of an opinion piece by God's groupies? 

At the time I didn't have what it took to recognize "The Family" as the unenlightened piece of conservative, reactionist tripe that it is. Instead I took it as God's word given through His prophets collectively but somehow not scripture, but pretty close to, or at least as good as scripture, probably, I couldn't quite tell, but I was for sure going to believe it because how can you doubt something as solemnly proclaimed by living prophets as was this particular proclamation? Whatever. It will sort itself out later.