SANDY — Alan C. Ashton, founder of WordPerfect and Thanksgiving Point, spoke to young single adults at a fireside on Wednesday, July 14, at the Sandy LDS institute, speaking on temple marriage and eternal families.
The 68-year-old innovator and former BYU professor told listeners that by serving in the temple more often now, they could be blessed with temple marriage and eventually eternal families later. He compared them to the tree of life, using different references and symbols about it in the Standard works.
The gospel, Ashton said, is like water next to a tree, that helps it grow strong, and continuing attendance to the temple would help grow fruit, which not only would grow on the tree at all times, but that the fruit would bring happiness.
"Be trees of life. Be anchored in the gospel of Jesus Christ," Ashton said. "Drink freely in the light of the gospel. If you will do this, and "nourish the word, you be blessed."
The fruit, he said, was the consequences of choosing righteousness, and that the two most important choices to make in life were following the gospel and finding a righteous spouse.
"If I look back on my life and some of the temporal successes I've enjoyed, they pale in comparison to what has happened with my family, with my children and grandchildren," Ashton said.
While the subject is something that is brought up routinely with YSAs, Ashton felt it needed to be said again.
"I have noticed as a stake president and as a bishop of older singles wards that there's a lot of complacency among the brethren," Ashton said. "They're hanging out rather than dating. If the apostles are talking about it, it's certainly a subject I have no hesitancy to talk about.
"If this encourages even a few of the brethren to start asking out the sisters, what a blessing that will be. I feel strongly about that and think it's an important thing that will bring the joys of eternity and the joys of life. "
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