Heavenly Mother (Latter Day Saints)

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This article is about Heavenly Mother within the Latter Day Saint movement. For a more broad view, see Heavenly Mother.

In some branches of the Latter Day Saint movement, Heavenly Mother or Mother in Heaven is the mother of human spirits and the wife of God the Father. Those who accept the Mother in Heaven doctrine trace its origins to the movement's founder Joseph Smith, Jr. The doctrine was not widely known, however, until after the movement's succession crisis upon the death of Joseph Smith, Jr. in 1844, and some historians dispute that Smith had a hand in it.

The Heavenly Mother doctrine is mainly taught by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church)^[1][2] and branches of Mormon fundamentalism. It is not taught by the Community of Christ, where Trinitarianism is predominant. Many Mormon fundamentalists teach that the Heavenly Mother is Eve. In the LDS Church, the doctrine is based on inference from the church's theology and canon, and on authoritative pronouncements by the First Presidency. She is sung about in church hymns and discussed in church teaching manuals and sermons.^[3] She is also the object of prayer by a small minority of members; however, that practice is officially discouraged.^[4][5]

Contents 1 Origin of the Heavenly Mother theology 2 Worship and prayer to the Heavenly Mother 3 The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints 3.1 Acknowledgment of the theology 3.2 Elaborations on Heavenly Mother 4 Notes 5 References

[edit] Origin of the Heavenly Mother theology

The theological underpinnings of a belief in Heavenly Mother is attributed to Joseph Smith, Jr., founder of the Latter Day Saint movement, who shortly before his death in 1844 outlined a controversial view of God that differed dramatically from modern Christian consensus.^[6] Smith's new theology included the belief that God would share His glory with his children and that we, both men and women, might become exalted beings, or gods and goddesses, in the afterlife (see Exaltation).

Although there is no clear record of Joseph Smith teaching of Heavenly Mother publicly, several of Smith's contemporaries attributed the theology to him either directly, or as a consequence of his new theological stance. An editorial footnote of History of the Church, 5:254, presumably quotes Joseph Smith as saying: "Come to me; here's the mysteries man hath not seen, Here's our Father in heaven, and Mother, the Queen." In addition, a second-hand account states that in 1839, Joseph Smith had told Zina Diantha Huntington, one of Smith's plural wives, after the death of her mother, that "not only would she know her mother again on the other side, but 'more than that, you will meet and become acquainted with your eternal Mother, the wife of your Father in Heaven'."^[7]

In addition, members of the Anointed Quorum, a highly select spiritual organization in the early Church that was privy to Smith's teachings, also acknowledged the existence of a Heavenly Mother.^[8] Also, the Times and Seasons published a letter to the editor from a person named "Joseph's Specked Bird" in which the author stated that in the pre-Earth life, the spirit "was a child with his father and mother in heaven".^[9]

In 1845, after the murder of Joseph Smith, the poet Eliza Roxcy Snow, published a poem entitled "My Father in Heaven", (later titled "Invocation, or the Eternal Father and Mother", now used as the lyrics in the popular Latter-day Saint hymn "O My Father"), acknowledges the existence of a Heavenly Mother.^[10] This hymn contained the following language:

In the heavens are parents single?

No, the thought makes reason stare.

Truth is reason: truth eternal

tells me I've a mother there.

Later, however, Church President Joseph F. Smith (a nephew of Joseph Smith, Jr.) explained his own belief that "God revealed that principle that we have a mother as well as a father in heaven to Joseph Smith; Joseph Smith revealed it to Eliza Snow Smith, his wife; and Eliza Snow was inspired, being a poet, to put it into verse."^[11]

The doctrine is also attributed to several other early church leaders. According to one sermon by Brigham Young, Joseph Smith once said he "would not worship a God who had not a father; and I do not know that he would if he had not a mother; the one would be as absurd as the other" (Journal of Discourses, vol.9, p.286).

[edit] Worship and prayer to the Heavenly Mother

Orson Pratt, an early LDS Apostle, opposed worshiping Heavenly Mother, because, he reasoned, like wives and children in any household, Heavenly Mother was required to "yield the most perfect obedience to" her husband (The Seer, p.159). However, in 1865, a majority of the First Presidency and the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles of the LDS Church officially condemned Pratt's doctrinal declarations contained in The Seer, mostly because of Pratt's vocal opposition to the Adam-God theory; thus, Pratt's views in the periodical are not considered authoritative.^[12]

Some feminist Mormons have adopted the practice of praying to the Heavenly Mother. However, former LDS Church President Gordon B. Hinckley opposed this practice, saying that Mormons should not pray to the Heavenly Mother.^[13] A feminist professor was fired from Brigham Young University for teaching prayer to Heavenly Mother in her class.^[14]

[edit] The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints

[edit] Acknowledgment of the theology

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints did not formally acknowledge the existence of a Heavenly Mother until 1909, in a statement on evolution by the First Presidency marking the 50th anniversary of Charles Darwin's Origin of Species.^[15] The Church also later inferred the theology in the 1995 statement The Family: A Proclamation to the World, where the Church officially stated that each person is a "spirit son or daughter of heavenly parents". Other references to Heavenly parents can be found in Latter-day Saint speeches and literature.^[16]

[edit] Elaborations on Heavenly Mother

In general, Heavenly Mother "is a shadowy and elusive [belief] floating around the edges of Mormon consciousness".^[17] Though the belief is held by most Mormons, the doctrine is not advertised by the LDS Church. Heavenly Mother is sometimes mentioned in talks or sermons in Sacrament meetings and the LDS Sunday School classes. The topic is most often consistent with the theology discussed above. The lack of focused teaching and more information about Her has caused speculation that lack of information may have an eternal purpose, to avoid drawing attention to her and to preserve the sacredness of Her existence.^{[citation needed]} Due to the belief among some Latter-day Saints that plural marriage is a true principle that is practiced in heaven, some members of the LDS Church consider that there are two or more Mothers in Heaven.^{[18][unreliable source?]}

[edit] Notes

[edit] References