LDS Essay Mother in Heaven

02 March

Since truth is the only meaningful foundation upon which we can make wise decisions, how then can one establish what is really true?” – LDS Apostle Richard G. Scott, 2007

LDSThe statement above by Mr. Scott would be admirable if only he’d live up to it. Indeed, how wise it’d be, not to mention believable, if he and the other well dressed men in Salt Lake would tell the truth. The latest essay put out by the Church is a stunning example of how they don’t practice what they preach.

One of the Church’s new essays, ‘Mother in Heaven’, is only six paragraphs long. As a matter of fact, the footnotes section is pregnant with more information than the actual montage of lies they tried to pass off.

As it stands today (3/2016), the majority of Mormons are unaware that the doctrinal exposition of a mother in heaven is based on hearsay. The occasional mention of her is clouded in mystery, coupled with the reminder of tributes paid directly to her aren’t allowed outside of acknowledging her presence in the Mormon trinity of gods.

There are virtually no records of Joseph Smith preaching about a Mother in Heaven. The earliest records of her is found in the diaries of two women from the Joseph Smith era. Both women mentioned Smith had told each of them privately about her, and both references to her were written after Smith’s death. See Eliza Snow’s poetry in Times & Seasons, and Zina D. Young’s notes on speaking with Joseph Smith.

A good resource to obtain info on this Mormon goddess is found in a survey written by David L. Paulsen, and Martin Pulido, both of BYU. The name of that article is ‘“A Mother There”: A Survey of Historical Teachings about Mother in Heaven’. I highly encourage anyone interested in the historical aspects of this subject to read the outcome of their in-depth research. Included in their paper are several LDS references on her, and talks given about this subject from the early days of Mormonism onward.

A quote I found in their article sums up what many in the Church have been taught about this elusive goddess wife –

“Mormon scholar Kathryn H. Shirts recalled a “Primary class, in which someone asked the teacher, ‘If we have a Mother in Heaven, how come we never  hear about her?’ The teacher’s reply was that God was protecting her name  from the kinds of slander that human beings direct toward the names of the Father and the Son.”

At the end of the day what we have left are hymns written about this goddess wife, reverence paid to her without people knowing why, and what many have called a ‘sacred censorship’ which amounts to nothing more than idolatry. Translation: everybody knows about the goddess wife who’s only purpose is to be eternally pregnant.

It’s a topic that’s talked about all the time by the congregation, and at the same time the leadership is trying to ignore. It sounds a lot like they’re making it up as they go along, but this shouldn’t be a big deal because according to their inspired canon in Articles of Faith 1:9, the Mormon god has reserved the right to change things as he goes along –

“We believe all that God has revealed, all that He does now reveal, and we believe that He will yet reveal many great and important things pertaining to the Kingdom of God.”

Aside from the obvious blasphemy of worshiping strange gods, the saddest part of this is the fact that it wasn’t part of Smith’s original teachings. I can’t help but wonder what devoted Mormons like my mother would think of such a thing.

This ‘Heavenly Mother’ sounds a lot like the Ashera, the Babylonian fertility goddess. We wrote  a comparison of the two you can read here.

Another thought provoking insight is an investigation Ed Decker and I worked on together a few years ago – The Making of Mormon Spirit Babies. We’re praying Mormons will stop and think about not only the ramifications of such idolatry, but the common sense of it as well.

You can read the Church’s full article here – LDS Topics Mother in Heaven

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