Criticism of Mormonism/Books/Becoming Gods/Chapter 6

1. REDIRECTTemplate:Test3

Response to claims made in "Chapter 6: Siblings from Eternity Past"

Chapter 5

A FAIR Analysis of: Becoming Gods: A Closer Look at 21st-Century Mormonism A work by author: Richard Abanes

Chapter 7

The author(s) of Becoming Gods make(s) the following claim:

Heavenly Father and Heavenly Mother "through some kind of sexual union" clothed each of us with a spirit body.

Author's sources: Bruce R. McConkie, Mormon Doctrine, 750.

Question: Did Bruce R. McConkie claim in Mormon Doctrine that our heavenly parents created our spirits "through some kind of sexual union"?

Elder McConkie never talks about a sexual union between our heavenly parents in Mormon Doctrine

It has been claimed that Bruce R. McConkie in his book Mormon Doctrine talks of a "sexual union" between heavenly parents. However, nothing in Elder McConkie's statements in Mormon Doctrine say anything about spirit creation via "some kind of sexual union."

Relevant passages include:

Entry Spirit Birth: "1. In the literal sense, the expression spirit birth has reference to the birth of the spirit in pre-existence. Spirits are actually born as the offspring of a Heavenly Father, a glorified and exalted Man. They will be born in a future eternity to future exalted beings for whom the family unit continues."

Entry Spirit Bodies: "Our spirit bodies had their beginning in pre-existence when we were born as the spirit children of God our Father. Through that birth process spirit element was organized into intelligent entities. The bodies so created have all the parts of mortal bodies."

Entry Spirit Children:"1. All men in pre-existence were the spirit children of God our Father, an exalted, glorified, and perfected Man. "The Father has a body of flesh and bones as tangible as man's" (D. & C. 130:22); the offspring born to him in that primeval sphere had bodies of spirit element....In a future eternity, spirit children will be born to exalted, perfected glorified couples for whom the family unit continues. The very glory of exalted beings is to have "a fulness and a continuation of the seeds forever and ever."

Elder McConkie emphasizes that spirit children are the literal offspring of God, but the means of their creation is not specified. The Heavenly Mother is not even mentioned. This does not necessarily mean that Elder McConkie or other General Authorities did not personally believe that such a thing was achieved through some sort of sexual intercourse - only that it was not Church doctrine.

Claim
The belief in a "Heavenly Mother" is not supported by scripture and was simply added by Joseph Smith so that his views about God "would make sense."

Author's source(s)

• Milton R. Hunter, The Gospel Through the Ages, p. 98.
• Cannon, in Daniel H. Ludlow, vol. 2, p. 961.
• Bruce R. McConkie, Mormon Doctrine, p. 516.
• Gordon B. Hinckley, "Daughters of God," Ensign (Nov. 1991): 100. off-site

Response

•  Misrepresentation of source: none of the cited LDS sources make the claim that Joseph "simply added" the belief so his views "would make sense."
•  Mind reading: author has no way of knowing this.
• Nature of God/Heavenly Mother

Claim
According to Brigham Young, our spirit body was created via a sexual union of Heavenly Father and Mother.

Author's source(s)

• Brigham Young, Journal of Discourses 11:123.

Response

• "Celestial sex"

Claim
LDS belief in a "queen of heaven" is a pagan belief.

Author's source(s)

• Jeremiah 7꞉17-19
• Jeremiah 44꞉17-19
• Jeremiah 44꞉25-27

Response

• Nature of God/Heavenly Mother

Richard Abanes, Becoming Gods, 154. Abanes uses as his reference Bruce R. McConkie, Mormon Doctrine, 2nd edition, (Salt Lake City: Bookcraft, 1966), 750. GL direct link