The Family (blood, church, eternity, Commandment, divine)

[Bishka]

What is your view on the family? Is it improtant to you?

"The family is a divine institution in time and in eternity." (Teachings of the Presidents of the Church, Brigham Young. 171)

"Parent's should teach their children to keep God's commandments." (Teachings of the Presidents of the Church, Brigham Young. 171)

"As parents lead by proper example, they help set a righteous course for their family."(Teachings of the Presidents of the Church, Brigham Young. 173)

"We should never allow ourselves to to teach our children one thing and practice another." (Young, Brigham. Discourses of Brigham Young. 206)

"We should never permit ourselves to do anything that we are not willing to see our children do. We should set them an example that we wish them to imitate. Do we realize this? How often we see parents demand obedience, good behavior, kind words, pleasant looks, a sweet voice and a bright eye from a child or children when they themselves are full of bitterness and scolding! How inconsistent and unereasonable this is!" (Young, Brigham. Discourses of Brigham Young. 208)

[standing_alone]

I'm assuming by family that you mean immediate family (father, mother, brother, sister). I guess family is important to me. Your parents raised you and helped shape you into the person that you are - you would not be who you are today if it wasn't for your family, but other relationships help shape you as a person as well. Family is important to me because family members are those who have been a part of my life the longest, caring for me, educating me, etc. However, I, myself, tend to value my friendships more than family because my friends tend to be more understanding, caring, loving, accepting, and open-minded. So, my friends tend to be more my "family" than my actual family - not that I don't love my family as well. I guess that my view on family is that blood-relation doesn't neccessarily make one a family. Close bonds of mutual love, affection, understanding, concern, etc. is what makes a family. Hence why my friends are more "family" to me than my blood "family."