Is Heavenly Mother a headache for Heavenly Father? [Mitt, Lds, have a 'Mom-goddess'-- or thousands]

Ogden Standard-Examiner ^ | March 26, 2012 | Doug Gibson

[Colofornian]

Listen to these words from the LDS hymn, “O My Father”: “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.” It’s a beautiful hymn, written by Eliza R. Snow. We sang it in our ward yesterday. No doubt it was sung in hundreds of other LDS wards and branches. (link)

It’s clear Mormons believe in a Heavenly Mother. So why does she gets so little press? My colleague Cal Grondahl quips it’s because she left Heavenly Father a long time ago. Jokes aside, it may because my faith’s doctrine teaches, or has taught, that while there’s only one Heavenly Father, there’s a lot of Heavenly Mothers. In an earlier blog, I visited an 1853 edition of the LDS publication, The Millennial Star, with an article where “Abby” tries to persuade “Nelly” to the virtues of polygamy. (link) “Abby” argues, “… Now if God is appointing His sons on the earth to fill thrones and occupy many principalities, and my husband means to be as worthy to fill thrones as others, then I will be content to share with him one throne, and rejoice at the same time to see others share with him other thrones, while my capacity will not allow me to share any more than my own. …”

Blogger Joanna Brooks talked about a hoped-for Heavenly Mother resurgence in a blog last year (Read) It hasn’t occurred in the chapels, although there’s a very interesting discussion about our maternal goddess here. BYU Studies published an excellent piece on Heavenly Mother’s relevance in Mormonism that can be accessed here...is Heavenly Mother a headache for Heavenly Father? It’s an interesting question. I’d sure like to hear more about her in church. My guess is that the constant fears about revisiting Mormonism’s fascinating history is why there is this “sacred silence,” as some have called it.

Heavenly Mother was talked about in LDS churches long go, whether by Brigham Young, BH Roberts, etc. What many don’t realize is that Mormonism was once a progressive, eccentric religion that shocked everyone. Much of that history has been toned down, to put it mildly, the past few generations. In fact, a generation ago, members were urged by the church’s First Presidency not to talk about Heavenly Mother. Some believe that was a reaction by church leaders worried about feminist efforts to harness Heavenly Mother.

So, is Heavenly Mother a headache for Heavenly Father? It’s an interesting question. I’d sure like to hear more about her in church. My guess is that the constant fears about revisiting Mormonism’s fascinating history is why there is this “sacred silence,” as some have called it. The doctrine of polygamy, eternal life, godhood, and eternal worlds leads to the conclusions that God is dealing with scores, hundreds, perhaps even thousands of “Heavenly Mothers.”

Nevertheless, My Heavenly Mother, even if she shares my Heavenly Father with a lot of other spouses, is a god. I’d like to learn more about her before I have an opportunity to meet her personally. I bet She can handle it.

[Colofornian]

Herpes?

[reaganaut]

This is a thread you gals might find interesting (and offensive). It is written by am active Mormon (not a lapsed or exmormon).

[Tennessee Nana]

I thought one of them was called Lilith ???

[kalee]

Eve

[Zakeet]

Herpes?

LOL ... You're in the right general vicinity ... and you're getting warmer. But still no cigar.

[reaganaut]

Calculating how many wives heavenly father needs (Mormon Math)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9TuhDJpTwqE

[reaganaut]

Going with the doctrine that Adam is Heavenly Father, and the rabbinical traditions regarding Lilith as being Adams first wife, then it would logically follow that Lilith would be one of God’s wives.

However, to my knowledge LDS teachings are silent on the subject. I would not be surprised if it is Mormon belief among some though.

[Zakeet]

Eve

Good guess, but nope.

Brigham might agree, but others won't.

FWIW, Brigham came up with the Adam / God doctrine ... and Saints have been trying to live with it (and play it down and/or avoid it) ever since.

[Zakeet]

I need to get back to work ... and I'll guess that this problem is driving you ladies crazy ... so out of a sense of duty and of mercy, I'll spill the beans.

Heavenly Mother's name is Gonhorra! from the Adamic word Gon-horria meaning "Queen Bee." More about that HERE ... see figure 5. You can do a Google search on the terms "Gonhorra Heavenly Mother" for more information. And shame on you all for being so rusty on your Adamic and Book of Abraham.

/Zak

P.S. Anybody think that it is an amazing coincidence that her name is so close to that VD word?

[reaganaut]

When I was LDS, I remember being told that Heavenly Mother’s name was ‘too sacred’ to be known. That Heavenly Father loved his wives too much to tell us because we would blaspheme them by taking their names in vain.

So, based on your post, I grabbed my Pearl of Great Price and checked the fascimilie notes.

Fascimilie B - which the site claims has the name of Heavenly mother (at least one of them) is not included in the PGP, nor I had I came across it before other than this site even at the BYU archives after the ‘discovery’ date.

That said, it is possible that the document exists and that Smith ‘translated’ it, however given the ridiculous statements on the site, I would prefer independent examination of the document.

[Graybeard58]

P.S. Anybody think that it is an amazing coincidence that her name is so close to that VD word?

What's V.D.? Mormonisms Variable Doctrine?

[kalee]

I was going by this...Brigham Young, who taught Adam is Heavenly Father, taught that his wife Eve is Heavenly Mother: “I tell you more, Adam is the father of our spirits ... our spirits and the spirits of all the heavenly family were begotten by Adam, and born of Eve. ... I tell you, when you see your Father in the Heavens, you will see Adam; when you see your Mother that bore your spirit, you will see Mother Eve.”

[kalee]

Apparently Brigham Young taught Adam is Heavenly Father, and that his wife Eve is Heavenly Mother: “I tell you more, Adam is the father of our spirits ... our spirits and the spirits of all the heavenly family were begotten by Adam, and born of Eve. ... I tell you, when you see your Father in the Heavens, you will see Adam; when you see your Mother that bore your spirit, you will see Mother Eve.”

Was Young teaching this before the plural marriage teachings came about? I know little about the LDS so have no time line to go by.

[reaganaut]

Was Young teaching this [Adam-God]before the plural marriage teachings came about?

- - - - -
No. The ‘inner circle’ practiced polygamy before the ‘revelation’ D&C 132 was even given. Polygamy did not become open until after Smith’s death.

So, the teaching of plural marriage (if not the PUBLIC practice) came about before Young started teaching the Adam-God doctrine.

However, it is possible that it was a topic of discussion privately before it became public (like Polygamy), but IIRC the earliest date Young publically taught it was 1873.

Here is a link to more articles that give timelines.

http://utlm.org/topicalindexa.htm#Adam-God%20Doctrine

[kalee]

Thanks for the answer and the link.

[Bellflower]

Amazing that they don’t let her out, with the frenzied appetite false religionist have had from since nearly the beginning of time for the worship of a female as a god. She could even possibly give Mary worship some competition.

[Terry Mross]

Archie also said “Faith is when you believe in something nobody in their right mind would believe in.”

[mkjessup]

Archie was no doubt thinking of 1 Corinthians 1:18
~ "For the preaching of the Cross is to them that perish foolishness; but to us which are saved it is the Power of God."

[mkjessup]

"Heavenly Mother's name is Gonhorra! from the Adamic word Gon-horria meaning "Queen Bee...You can do a Google search on the terms "Gonhorra Heavenly Mother" for more information. And shame on you all for being so rusty on your Adamic and Book of Abraham.
/Zak
P.S. Anybody think that it is an amazing coincidence that her name is so close to that VD word?"

Must be some kind of "Fluke". ;)

[Elsie]

It’s a beautiful hymn, written by Eliza R. Snow.

---

Eliza was a devout Mormon.

At age 38, she became Joseph Smith's 14th plural wife (in addition to Smith's lawful wife, Emma).

In 1842, after learning Eliza was pregnant, Emma Smith beat Eliza with a broomstick and

knocked her down a flight of stairs, causing Eliza to miscarry Smith's baby.

Miss Eliza R. Snow  was one of the first (willing) victims of Joseph in Nauvoo. She used to be much at the prophet’s house he made her one of his celestial brides... . Feeling outraged as a wife and betrayed as a friend, Emma is currently reported as having had recourse to a vulgar broomstick as an instrument of revenge: and the harsh treatment received at Emma’s hands is said to have destroyed Eliza’s hopes of becoming the mother of a prophet’s son (Dr. W. Wyl, Mormon Portraits, 1886, pp.57-58).

The Mormon writer Claire Noall acknowledged: “Willard realized that Emma had refused to believe that any of the young women boarding at the Mansion when it was first used as a hotel had been married to Joseph. She had struck Eliza Snow at the head of the stairs, and Eliza, it was whispered, had lost her unborn child” (Intimate Disciple, a Portrait of Willard Richards, 1957, p.407).

Sometime during February of 1843 Emma evidently became aware that Joseph had taken her best friend, Eliza R. Snow, as a plural wife. Eliza was currently living in the Smith home, which housed a number of boarders. LDS historians Linda Newell and Valeen Avery wrote:

When the full realization of the relationship between her friend Eliza and her husband Joseph came to her, Emma was stunned. . . . Although no contemporary account of the incident between Emma and Eliza remains extant, evidence leads to the conclusion that some sort of physical confrontation occurred between the two women. In 1886 Wilhelm Wyl published the first known version of the incident in his book, Joseph Smith the Prophet: His Family and His Friends:

They say . . . there is scarcely a Mormon unacquainted with the fact that Sister Emma . . . soon found out the little compromise arranged between Joseph and Eliza. Feeling outraged as a wife and betrayed as a friend, Emma is currently reported as having had recourse to a vulgar broomstick as an instrument of revenge; and the harsh treatment received at Emma’s hands is said to have destroyed Eliza’s hopes of becoming the mother of a prophet’s son...

Another story, attributed to LeRoi C. Snow, Eliza’s nephew, is an oral family tradition that tells of Emma knocking Eliza down the stairs with a broom, the fall resulting in a miscarriage for Eliza. . . .

Whether Eliza fell down the stairs or whether Emma pushed her or pulled her down by the hair, or whether Emma only turned her out of the house, the result seems to be documented in Eliza’s terse journal entry for February 11, 1843:

‘Took board and had my lodging removed to the residence of br. [Jonathan] Holmes.’

Eliza did not make another entry in her journal for five weeks and wrote no explanation for either the gap in her diary or her abrupt departure from Emma’s home. . . .

Several acquaintances of Eliza spoke of Emma discovering Eliza’s relationship with Joseph, leading to her departure.

 

The incident between Emma and Eliza forced the issue of plural marriage into the open. Emma could no longer believe that Joseph was not involved, and he could no longer deny it. Emma had not acted with violence before; now her determined opposition might show up again with unexpected force. Joseph resolutely tried to bring Emma around (Mormon Enigma: Emma Hale Smith, by Linda King Newell and Valeen Tippetts Avery, 1994, pp. 134-137).

---

---

http://www.utlm.org/newsletters/no106.htm

 

---

---