turn the heart of the fathers to the children

[Fether]

So in that good ole Malachi 4:6 scripture stating "And he shall turn the heart of the fathers to the children, and the heart of the children to their fathers", we have constantly related that to family history work and the "children" seeking out the "fathers" and doing their temple work. But what about the hearts of the Fathers to the children? Where does that come in? Does it just reference relationship building for those living? Or those in the spirit world looking to the children doing their work? 

I have recently come to the conclusion that the "heart of the fathers to the children" was referencing journal keeping among other things. What are your thoughts? has this day come?

Lastly, do you keep a journal? If not, what is your justification for not doing so? I haven't found a good justification to not keep a regular journal yet and would like to use someone else's if they have one

 

[CV75]

6 minutes ago, Fether said:

So in that good ole Malachi 4:6 scripture stating "And he shall turn the heart of the fathers to the children, and the heart of the children to their fathers", we have constantly related that to family history work and the "children" seeking out the "fathers" and doing their temple work. But what about the hearts of the Fathers to the children? Where does that come in? Does it just reference relationship building for those living? Or those in the spirit world looking to the children doing their work? 

I have recently come to the conclusion that the "heart of the fathers to the children" was referencing journal keeping among other things. What are your thoughts? has this day come?

Lastly, do you keep a journal? If not, what is your justification for not doing so? I haven't found a good justification to not keep a regular journal yet and would like to use someone else's if they have one

I think it is both keeping a journal on this side of the veil and helping our descendants from the other side of the veil after we pass on, ironically which begins with keeping a faithful records of God's dealings with us in this life!

[zil]

Perhaps we shouldn't look for too tight a correlation.  The hearts of the fathers turn to their children when they sacrifice to build a gospel foundation for those children to build on, when they teach (in real time or via journals or whatever), when they serve (through the veil or not), and do anything else for the benefit of their children, or their children's children down through the generations.

The hearts of the children turn to their fathers when they build on the foundation their fathers created for them, when they learn from their fathers, and when they find their ancestors and perform ordinances on their behalf in temples.

...and whatever other ways we can imagine to reach back and forth in love and honor and service...

My dad believes that before this mortal life, those who would be born in a time when proxy ordinances would be an option covenanted ("promises made to the fathers") to provide those blessings to those who would be born in times and circumstances when they could not receive those ordinances themselves.  It doesn't seem so hard to believe that promises were made on both sides, to reach forward and back in this effort to lift one another.

[mordorbund]

Elijah divided his heart-turning keys. Malachi's prophecy foretells both components, but John the Baptist (in Luke 2) is only given a charge for the fathers and the disobedient. It's not until Joseph Smith (in D&C 2) that we finally get the charge for the children.