(Isa. 3:12; Mosiah 25:12)
Put the father back at the head of the home… . The easiest, simplest way to reduce delinquency among the young [is] to put the father back as head of the family.
Far too many families have been denied the leadership and stabilizing influence of a good and devoted father who stands at the side of an able and caring mother in quietly training, gently disciplining, and prayerfully helping the children for whom they are both responsible.
I do not believe that women resent the strong leadership of a man in the home. He becomes the provider, the defender, the counselor, the friend who will listen and give support when needed. Who better than an exemplary father to effectively teach children the value of education, the dead-end nature of street gangs, and the miracle of self-esteem that can change their lives for good? …
I plead with fathers to resume their role as the head of their homes… . That does not carry with it any implication of dictatorship or unrighteous dominion. It confers the mandate to provide for the needs of their families. Those needs are more than food, clothing, and shelter. Those needs include righteous direction and the teaching, by example as well as precept, of basic principles of honesty, integrity, service, respect for the rights of others, and an understanding that we are accountable, not only to one another but also to God, for that which we do in this life. One writer observed, “It is not impossible that the true revolutionaries of the twenty-first century will be the fathers of decent and civilized children.”
(Gordon B. Hinckley, Standing for Something [New York: Random House, 2000], 148–150.)
And so today, the undermining of the home and family is on the increase, with the devil anxiously working to displace the father as the head of the home and create rebellion among the children. The Book of Mormon describes this condition when it states, “And my people, children are their oppressors, and women rule over them.” And then these words follow—and consider these words seriously when you think of those political leaders who are promoting birth control and abortion: “O my people, they who lead thee cause thee to err and destroy the way of thy paths” (2 Ne. 13:12).
(Ezra Taft Benson, Conference Report, Oct. 1970, 21.)
The Book of Mormon points out how … ancient conspirators were able to fill the judgment seats, usurp power, destroy justice, condemn the righteous, and let the guilty and the wicked go unpunished. Do you see any parallel between this and the present-day decisions of our Supreme Court?
President McKay has stated that the Supreme Court is leading this Christian nation down the road to atheism.
(Ezra Taft Benson, “The Book of Mormon Warns America,” BYU Speeches of the Year, 21 May 1968, 5.)
Never before … have the forces of evil been so blatant, so brazen, so aggressive as they are today. Things we dared not speak about in earlier times are now constantly projected into our living rooms… .
Some to whom we have looked as leaders have betrayed us… . And their activity is only the tip of the iceberg. In successive layers beneath that tip is a great mass of sleaze and filth, of dissolute and dishonest behavior… .
I believe our problems, almost every one, arise out of the homes of the people. If there is to be reformation, if there is to be a change, if there is to be a return to old and sacred values, it must begin in the home. It is here that truth is learned, that integrity is cultivated, that self-discipline is instilled, and that love is nurtured.
The home is under siege. So many families are being destroyed. Where are the fathers who should be presiding in love in those homes?
(Gordon B. Hinckley, Ensign, Nov. 1998, 98–99.)
The term translated “women” … in this context is used as an accusation. Figuratively speaking, as a man is praised for valor, consistency, and intrepid mind, so, the term woman was used as a term of reproach to a cowardly man, “one timid, undecided, or fearful. As used here it refers to one timid, undecided, or fearful of righteous doing.”
(Loren D. Martin, Isaiah: An Ensign to the Nations [Salt Lake City: Valiant Publications, 1982], 80.)