Is there a Heavenly Mother Goddess? |
I chat from time to time with Latter-day Saints on the soc.religion.mormon
newsgroup. It seems that while some embrace the LDS doctrine of there being a Heavenly Mother who
is married to Heavenly Father, others do not accept this teaching.
There are teachings of Heavenly Mother found throughout LDS training manuals. Gospel Principles and Gospel Fundamentals to name a few. Given the LDS doctrine of eternal progression, it would seem that the Mormon Heavenly Mother progressed into becoming a goddess as Heavenly Father progressed into becoming a god. However, it is unclear from reading LDS material just how many children Heavenly Mother and Father had when they were growing up as mortals on some other planet before they become Gods to populate our planet Earth with billions of children. I get the feeling that Latter-day Saints do not know nor consider that in LDS theology Heavenly Mother and Father had children before having Jesus as a spirit child.
The doctrine of there being a Mother in Heaven was affirmed in plainness by the First Presidency of the Church (Joseph F. Smith, John R. Winder, and Anthon H. Lund) when in speaking of the pre-existence and the origin of man, they said that man as a spirit was begotten and born of heavenly parents and reared to maturity in the eternal mansions of the Father.
We can also look back to 1998 in the church's "The Family - A Proclamation to the
World". It is found here:
http://www.lds.org/library/display/0,4945,105-1-11-1,00.html
"All human beings—male and female—are created in the image of God. Each is
a beloved spirit son or daughter of heavenly parents".
Latter-day Saints also teach Jesus Christ is the first spirit son born of heavenly parents (Gospel Principles, chapter 2, p.11).
The Mormon truth about Heavenly Father is also found in the "O My Father" hymn:
In the heav'ns are parents single?
No, the thought makes reason stare!
Truth is reason; truth eternal
Tells me I've a mother there.
When I leave this frail existence,
When I lay this mortal by,
Father, Mother, may I meet you
In your royal courts on high? [http://www.lds.org/churchmusic, hymn no. 292]
I have visited LDS wards several times on a Sunday morning and afternoon (different languages happen at different times). LDS services usually involve 3 one-hour meetings. The first part involves the sacramental meeting, a few songs and personal testimonies. The second part involves some teaching on a training manual like Gospel Principles. In other cases, the missionaries or elders may teach from some book devoted to teachings of a particular former prophet of the LDS Church. The third part is the Priesthood meeting. Only men are present there. The women I believe go to something called Relief Society meetings.
This is quite different from the way Catholic and Protestant services are set up. The Catholic Church usually devotes an hour for the liturgy (the Mass). The Protestant worship service usually goes for about 1.5 hours and involves song, preaching, exhortation and healing. Both may or may not have some form of bible study directly preceding the service, but they may be found at other times during the week in the evening.
From my experience at the LDS wards, Latter-day Saints give a testimony of their love for Heavenly Father—for a man who became a God, but they do not bear a testimony (I have never heard it) of their love for their other Heavenly Parent—for a woman who became a Goddess and their Mother. I wonder if the ordinary layperson of the Mormon Church knows about their church's doctrine of there being a Heavenly Mother?
Some Latter-day Saints even believe that Jesus was married during his earthly ministry. Jesus and this other woman are believed to be eventually going on to populate some other planet with their own spirit children. It is said that Jesus does what he sees the Father do.
There is no Heavenly Mother found in the Book of Mormon and other LDS scriptures.