Criticism of Mormonism/Books/Becoming Gods/Preface

1. REDIRECTTemplate:Test3

Response to claims made in Preface: "Can't We All Just Get Along?"

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

Chapter 1

Claim
Mormons exist in "two distinct groups:" Chapel Mormons and Internet Mormons.

Author's source(s)

• Jason Gallentine, "Internet Mormonism vs. Chapel Mormonism"

Response

• Internet Mormons vs. Chapel Mormons

Claim
The Journal of Discourses was viewed on par with the Standard Works by early Church members.

Author's source(s)

• No source provided.

Response

• Journal of Discourses

Claim
"Gospel Principles" is published by the Church, but contains a disclaimer that states that it is not an official publication of the Church.

Author's source(s)

• Gospel Principles

Response

• We cannot find the disclaimer mentioned by the author about Gospel Principles not being an official publication. Please contact FairMormon if you have a source.
• Official Church publications

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

Mormons "focus on a minor issue while dismissing the broader point that is being made by a critic of the church." Example: "celestial sex."

Author's sources: The author uses as an example in the endnotes the alleged LDS belief in "Celestial Sex."

Question: Do Latter-day Saints believe in a practice called "celestial sex," and that this is the manner in which "spirit children" are formed?

It is the critics of the Church that invented and use the offensive term "celestial sex"

This is not a term used by Latter-day Saints. It has, in fact, never been used by Latter-day Saints. The use of the term "celestial sex" by critics is intended to be demeaning and shocking to Latter-day Saints or interested readers. The use of such tactics may say much about the mainstream culture's preoccupation with sexual behavior. However, it says nothing about the actual beliefs of Church members.

Critics of the Church twist LDS beliefs into a form that makes them look ridiculous. Quotes made by early LDS leaders are often used to support the claim that Latter-day Saints believe in “Celestial sex.” It should be noted, however, that LDS leaders have never used the term "Celestial sex." This phrase was coined by critics of the Church, likely for its “shock value” in portraying the following concepts in LDS belief:

1. The belief that God the Father has a physical body.
2. The belief that there exists a Heavenly Mother who also possesses a physical body.
3. The belief that our Heavenly Father and Mother together are capable of creating “spirit children.”

Critics take these ideas and combine them, leading to a declaration that Latter-day Saints therefore believe in “Celestial sex.” Various anti-Mormon works then use this idea to mock LDS beliefs or shock their readers—though this claim does not describe LDS beliefs, but the critics' caricature of them.

One of the earliest uses of the term "celestial sex" was in the anti-Mormon film The God Makers

For example, the 1982 anti-Mormon film The God Makers makes reference to “engaging in celestial sex with their goddess wives." One woman in the film, who is claimed to have once been a Latter-day Saint, expresses the idea that the primary goal of women in the Church is to "become a goddess in heaven" in order to "multiply an earth" and be "eternally pregnant." The claim that Latter-day Saints expect to have "endless Celestial sex" in order to populate their own planet is very popular among critics of the Church, though members themselves would not explain their beliefs in that way.

The critics' assumptions simply take what we know about our physical world and naively apply it to the afterlife. When one examines the critics’ point further, a key question ought to be raised: How does the union of two immortal beings in a physical manner produce spirit offspring? Latter-day Saint belief is that “spirit children” only receive a physical body upon being born on earth.

This question, of course, cannot be answered. It is pointless to speculate on the exact manner in which “spirit children” are produced, and to assume that this occurs through “Celestial sex” and being "eternally pregnant" is to apply a worldly mindset to a spiritual process. The bottom line: Latter-day Saints do not know the mechanism by which “spirit children” are produced, and no LDS doctrine claims that "celestial sex" and being "eternally pregnant" are the means.