Our Heavenly Mother
Good morning, brothers and sisters. In this month of March we’ve had the International Women’s Day. The Relief Society also celebrated its birthday. And in Great Britain, Mother’s Day was celebrated at the end of Lent. With so much emphasis on women, I find it appropriate to make my own contribution to this month by giving a little talk about our Heavenly Mother.
But, I hear you say, isn’t it forbidden to speak about Heavenly Mother? No, it certainly is not. I’ve done a lot of research on this topic and nowhere could I find any such prohibition. Of course we can talk about her. Many prophets and general authorities have mentioned her in their talks. In my investigations, I found a paper by researchers at Brigham Young University who determined that church leaders, from the beginning of the restored church down to to-day, well, to the year 2010, have mentioned our Heavenly Mother more than 600 times in their public discourses. And we’re always singing the song “O My Father,” written by Sister Eliza R. Snow, where it states that we have “a mother there,” meaning in heaven. So if we orientate ourselves towards these statements of our church leaders, we find that we can indeed speak about our Heavenly Mother. However, President Gorden B. Hinckley said the following in General Conference in October 1991: However, in light of the instruction we have received from the Lord Himself, I regard it as inappropriate for anyone in the Church to pray to our Mother in Heaven.
But, I hear you say, isn’t she too holy for us to talk about? Again I say, certainly not. In my investigations, I read the works of many researchers who were also concerned with this idea, and they all came to the conclusion that they cannot explain where this attitude comes from, but that it is wrong. No prophet, no general authority has ever decreed that we cannot speak about our Heavenly Mother to keep her holy, or for whatever reason. On the contrary, we are allowed, and perhaps we should actually speak more often about our Hevaenly Mother. I read a comparison about the temple also being holy, and yet we’re always talking about the temple. Not, of course, about those things that we vowed to keep secret, but we talk about the existence of the temple, we talk about the feelings that we have when we go to the temple or when we think of the temple, we sing songs about the temple, and everywhere, there are pictures of all the different temples. It would be great if we could talk about our Heavenly Mother equally as often. Because when we don’t talk about her, when we suppress her, we are not contributing to her holiness. We ignore her, then we forget her, and finally, we erase her.
So, now that we have discovered that we can talk about our Heavenly Mother, what can we say? What do we know about her? Well, when we stop to think about it, we find that we know approximately as much about her as we do about Heavenly Father. We know that she is there. We know that she is a woman and the wife of our Heavenly Father, and she is a mother – our mother. She is also a god.
I found a quote from a public discourse by Elder Erastus Snow, where he preached the following during his time as a member of the Quorum of the Twelve in or around the year 1878: “What,” says one, “do you mean we should understand that Deity consists of man and woman?” Most certainly I do. If I believe anything that God has ever said about himself . . . I must believe that deity consists of man and woman. . . . There can be no God except he is composed of the man and woman united.” Other apostles and church leaders have made similar statements that our Mother in Heaven is a completely divine person and possesses all the qualities of the godhead. We can also read in the Proclamation about the Family that we are the children of divine parents.
Let’s think back to the creation of Eve in the Garden of Eden. Adam and Eve were created in the likeness of God, not only in their physical appearance, but also in their relationship between man and woman. Eva was meant to be “meet for”, or equal to Adam, not of greater worth, but also not of lesser. From this we can extrapolate that our Heavenly Mother is also equal to our Heavenly Father, with all the power and every divine attribute that he possesses. In Doctrine and Covenants Section 130, Verse 22, we read that the Father has a body of flesh and bone, therefore, our Heavenly Mother has one, too. When we read in the Bible Dictionary that God is the ruler of the universe, being omnipotent, omniscient, and omnipresent (through His spirit), then correspondingly, our Heavenly Mother is also the ruler of the universe, being omnipotent, omniscient, and omnipresent (through Her spirit.)
When God therefore consists of our Heavenly Father and our Heavenly Mother, we can be certain that they are equally united in the divine work of bringing to pass the immortality and eternal life of man. Together, they participate in the creation of worlds without end, together, they worked on the Plan of Salvation. Both of them love their spirit children, not only in the Pre-Existence, but also here on Earth, and beyond. They suffer when we suffer, and they rejoice when we rejoice.
As I wrote this talk, naturally, I prayed to Heavenly Father for help and inspiration. I bear my testimony that I received both. I also bear my testimony that I felt love and care, not only from my Heavenly Father, but also from my Heavenly Mother. I bear testimony that they are both pleased that I am giving this talk because it is important to them that we learn not to suppress our Heavenly Mother any longer.
I say this in the name of Jesus Christ, amen.
Written in March 2015
But, I hear you say, isn’t it forbidden to speak about Heavenly Mother? No, it certainly is not. I’ve done a lot of research on this topic and nowhere could I find any such prohibition. Of course we can talk about her. Many prophets and general authorities have mentioned her in their talks. In my investigations, I found a paper by researchers at Brigham Young University who determined that church leaders, from the beginning of the restored church down to to-day, well, to the year 2010, have mentioned our Heavenly Mother more than 600 times in their public discourses. And we’re always singing the song “O My Father,” written by Sister Eliza R. Snow, where it states that we have “a mother there,” meaning in heaven. So if we orientate ourselves towards these statements of our church leaders, we find that we can indeed speak about our Heavenly Mother. However, President Gorden B. Hinckley said the following in General Conference in October 1991: However, in light of the instruction we have received from the Lord Himself, I regard it as inappropriate for anyone in the Church to pray to our Mother in Heaven.
But, I hear you say, isn’t she too holy for us to talk about? Again I say, certainly not. In my investigations, I read the works of many researchers who were also concerned with this idea, and they all came to the conclusion that they cannot explain where this attitude comes from, but that it is wrong. No prophet, no general authority has ever decreed that we cannot speak about our Heavenly Mother to keep her holy, or for whatever reason. On the contrary, we are allowed, and perhaps we should actually speak more often about our Hevaenly Mother. I read a comparison about the temple also being holy, and yet we’re always talking about the temple. Not, of course, about those things that we vowed to keep secret, but we talk about the existence of the temple, we talk about the feelings that we have when we go to the temple or when we think of the temple, we sing songs about the temple, and everywhere, there are pictures of all the different temples. It would be great if we could talk about our Heavenly Mother equally as often. Because when we don’t talk about her, when we suppress her, we are not contributing to her holiness. We ignore her, then we forget her, and finally, we erase her.
So, now that we have discovered that we can talk about our Heavenly Mother, what can we say? What do we know about her? Well, when we stop to think about it, we find that we know approximately as much about her as we do about Heavenly Father. We know that she is there. We know that she is a woman and the wife of our Heavenly Father, and she is a mother – our mother. She is also a god.
I found a quote from a public discourse by Elder Erastus Snow, where he preached the following during his time as a member of the Quorum of the Twelve in or around the year 1878: “What,” says one, “do you mean we should understand that Deity consists of man and woman?” Most certainly I do. If I believe anything that God has ever said about himself . . . I must believe that deity consists of man and woman. . . . There can be no God except he is composed of the man and woman united.” Other apostles and church leaders have made similar statements that our Mother in Heaven is a completely divine person and possesses all the qualities of the godhead. We can also read in the Proclamation about the Family that we are the children of divine parents.
Let’s think back to the creation of Eve in the Garden of Eden. Adam and Eve were created in the likeness of God, not only in their physical appearance, but also in their relationship between man and woman. Eva was meant to be “meet for”, or equal to Adam, not of greater worth, but also not of lesser. From this we can extrapolate that our Heavenly Mother is also equal to our Heavenly Father, with all the power and every divine attribute that he possesses. In Doctrine and Covenants Section 130, Verse 22, we read that the Father has a body of flesh and bone, therefore, our Heavenly Mother has one, too. When we read in the Bible Dictionary that God is the ruler of the universe, being omnipotent, omniscient, and omnipresent (through His spirit), then correspondingly, our Heavenly Mother is also the ruler of the universe, being omnipotent, omniscient, and omnipresent (through Her spirit.)
When God therefore consists of our Heavenly Father and our Heavenly Mother, we can be certain that they are equally united in the divine work of bringing to pass the immortality and eternal life of man. Together, they participate in the creation of worlds without end, together, they worked on the Plan of Salvation. Both of them love their spirit children, not only in the Pre-Existence, but also here on Earth, and beyond. They suffer when we suffer, and they rejoice when we rejoice.
As I wrote this talk, naturally, I prayed to Heavenly Father for help and inspiration. I bear my testimony that I received both. I also bear my testimony that I felt love and care, not only from my Heavenly Father, but also from my Heavenly Mother. I bear testimony that they are both pleased that I am giving this talk because it is important to them that we learn not to suppress our Heavenly Mother any longer.
I say this in the name of Jesus Christ, amen.
Written in March 2015