The Real COJCOLDS

Mothers

The second Sunday of the Month is Mother's Day in many countries. In my religion, mothers are of extreme importance. Seeing that today is the holiday set aside to honor mothers, it seems appropriate to discuss what the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints.

Heavenly Mother

This is the title we give to Heavenly Father's wife. She is a goddess just as her well known husband is a god.

She is co-creator of the human family's spirits. All humanity is her children as well.

There is a reason that Heavenly Mother is not mentioned as often as Heavenly Father. God has told our prophets seers and revelators that He doesn't want his wife's name used as blasphemy the way He and His Son's name have been.

Eve, mother of all living

For the longest time, the majority of Christians have looked down on Eve as the perpetrator of The Original Sin. In my religion, we see her a little differently.

We still believe Eve ate the fruit from the tree. We call that the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.

Before she partook of that tree, we believe she didn't know right from wrong. She didn't know who Satan was until she ate the fruit. Only after this did she know.

This action had other consequences. Eve became mortal and would one day die as a result. She would also be kicked out of the Garden of Eden.

If she hadn't enticed Adam to eat the fruit of the tree, she would've ended her days alone. The human family would never have had mortal bodies and none of us would exist.

So long story short, through her eating the fruit from the tree, getting Adam to do the same, and making the choice to follow God's second commandment— The one where he told Adam and Eve to be fruitful and multiply—Eve became mother to all the human family in the physical world. In light of these choices, we see her as noble.

Mary the mother of Jesus

The immaculate conception. One of the things we agree with other Christians actually happened.

God the Father somehow made Mary have a baby so His Son, Jesus Christ, could have a mortal body. It doesn't make scientific sense, I know, but it's one of the fundamentals of our faith.

Without Mary's consent to bear the Savior of Mankind, Jesus could not have come to earth. The infinite Atonement could never have been accomplished. The human race would never have been able to repent because we needed Jesus to Atone to do that. Without repentance, the human family could never return to our Heavenly Parents.

So Mary was indeed a very important mother.

Mothers in general

In our religion, motherhood is one of the highest callings. There's a catch though.

A document published by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints in 1995 declares that, "children have the right to be born to a loving mother and father in the bonds of Holy Matrimony."

That phrase right there is a major sticking point for me personally.

See there's no problem with traditional families, whether their children or biological or adopted. Children born to couples who were married civilly and then "sealed" to them after the parents themselves go through a temple "sealing"are also accepted by others in my faith. (I promise to explain what that means in my next entry.)

What about all the single women who have babies out of wedlock? Or who are raped and cary the baby to term? What about lesbians who undergo in-vitro to have a child?(If thats not a thing or that's offensive, sorry, I didn't realize.) What about gay couples who adopt? What about women who are widows or divorced?

I know what it says in the proclamation to the family. It also declares that unwed mothers should be encouraged to give up the child for adoption. Thats my religion's stance. Yet the church itself will not forcefully take children away from these individuals.(We're not like some other faiths. Our teachings encourage individual freedom of choice.)

It is the one area of my religion I have an issue with. I don't know if this sticking point makes me a bad disciple of Christ but I hope our Heavenly Father understands things better than I do.

So thats my thought and my religion's beliefs on motherhood. I'll be back with another entry soon.