Parenting Handbook: Chapter 1

Children don't come with instruction manuals, but we do have our scriptures to teach us how to raise our children.    From my free online Doctrine & Covenants class we have been studying the Armor of God as mentioned in Ephesians 6:11-18 as well as Doctrine & Covenants 27:15-18.

A Quote by Harold B. Lee was shared and I feel like it provides us parents with knowledge as to how to protect our children today.

Now the loins are that part of the body between the lower rib and the hip into which you will recognize are the vital organs which have to do with reproduction. . . . And so he was saying that that part of the body was one of the most vulnerable. We should have our loins girt about with armor. . . . Next we would have a breastplate over the heart. Now in the scriptures you will remember that the heart has always been used to typify our conduct. . . .

. . . Now there we have the four parts of the body that the Apostle Paul said or saw to be the most vulnerable to the powers of darkness. The loins typify virtue and chastity. The heart typifys our conduct. Our feet, our goals or objectives in life and finally our head, our thoughts. . . .

. . . We should have our loins girt about with truth. What is truth? Truth, the Lord said, was knowledge of things as they are, things as they were and things as they are to come . . . . What is going to guide us along the path of proper morals or proper choices? It will be the knowledge of truth. There must be a standard by which we measure our conduct else how shall we know which is right? . . . "Our loins shall be girt about with truth," the prophet said.

And the heart, what kind of a breastplate shall protect our conduct in life? We shall have over our hearts a breastplate of righteousness. Well, having learned truth we have a measure by which we can judge between right and wrong and so our conduct will always be gaged by that thing which we know to be true. Our breastplate to cover our conduct shall be the breastplate of righteousness.

What shall . . . protect our feet, or by what shall we gage our objectives or goals in life? . . . "Your feet [should be] shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace." (Ephesians 6:15.) Interesting? What is the gospel of peace? The whole core and center of the gospel of peace was built around the person of Him who was cradled in the manger, of whom on that night the angels sang, "Glory to God in the highest, and on earth, peace good-will to men." Or to put it even more correctly, "on earth peace to men of good-will." Our feet should be shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace to them of good-will. . . .

And then finally the helmet of salvation. Did you ever hear of that kind of a helmet? The helmet of salvation. What is salvation? Salvation is to be saved. Saved from what? Saved from death and saved from sin. . . .

. . . The Apostle Paul said, in effect, "A helmet of salvation shall guide our thinkings all through our days." Well, as we think that through, let me review them again for just a moment, to get the full significance. Truth to safeguard our virtue; righteousness to keep our conduct right; the preparation of the gospel of peace to guide our course and to set our standards and aims in life; salvation, a return back to the presence of the Lord shall be the inhibiting promise and a motivating objective to guide us on to the victory of life over death. That is what it means. . . .

Well, now the Apostle Paul went one step further. He didn't leave the man just with the armour on and expect him to cope against an army, seen or unseen. He had his armoured man holding in his hand a shield and in his other hand a sword, which were the weapons of those days. That shield was the shield of faith and the sword was the sword of the spirit which is the Word of God. I can't think of any more powerful weapons than faith and a knowledge of the scriptures in which are contained the Word of God. One so armoured and one so prepared with those weapons is prepared to go out against the enemy that is more to be feared than the enemies of the light. . . . [the] more to be feared than the enemies that come in the daylight that we can see are the enemies that strike in the darkness of the night that we can't see with our eyes. (Harold B. Lee, Feet Shod with the Preparation of the Gospel of Peace, Brigham Young University Speeches of the Year [Provo, 9 Nov. 1954], pp. 2–3, 6–7.)

This gives us as parents a great guide as to what are the best things to teach our children. Not just to protect them defensively against Satan, but giving them offensive weapons that will help our children to progress and build the kingdom of God.   This quote strengthens my resolve to have my little children read and know the scriptures, for it is their sword with which they will fight their battles in life.