Mormon cosmology

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Mormon cosmology is the description of the origin, evolution and destiny of the universe according to the doctrine of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

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[edit] Existence of God

The belief in the existence of God is the foundation of Mormon cosmology. God is the "almighty ruler of the Universe" and is perfect, having all power and all knowledge.[1] He is the Father of all humanity and is "a God of love, mercy, charity, truth, power, faith, knowledge, and judgment".[1] God the Father exists as a spirit combined with an immortal physical body of flesh and bone.[2] Latter-day Saints also refer to God the Father by the names "Father in Heaven", "Heavenly Father", and Elohim.

Although it is not official doctrine of the LDS Church, some adherents believe that a goddess Heavenly Mother exists alongside God the Father.

[edit] Eternal nature of matter and intelligence

Mormon doctrine teaches that the "elements" that make up the matter of the universe are co-eternal with God.[3][4] Thus, the universe and its matter were not created, nor will they ever be destroyed.

Along with physical matter, spirit "intelligences" have existed co-eternally with God.[5][6] While these intelligences are also composed of matter, they are described as being "more fine or pure" than regular matter.[7]

[edit] God's spirit children

Through an unexplained procreative process, God created spirit bodies for an innumerable number of intelligences.[8] "[S]elf-existing intelligence was organized into individual spirit beings"[9] and they became the "begotten sons and daughters of God".[10] The first-born spirit child of God the Father was Jehovah, whom Latter-day Saints identify as the premortal Jesus Christ.[11][12][13] Jehovah was a god[14] and was like God the Father in attributes,[15] but he did not have an immortal physical body like God the Father until his resurrection.[16]

[edit] Council, Plan, and War in Heaven

[edit] Council in Heaven and the Plan of Salvation

God the Father's plan for all his children was to provide a way for them to become more like the him.[13] Although they were happy living in heaven with God the Father, God's spirit children could not experience the "fulness of joy" enjoyed by him unless their spirit bodies were joined with a physical body.[17][13] God the Father convened a "Grand Council" of all his children to propose a plan of progression, known to Latter-day Saints as the plan of salvation.[18] According to the proposed plan, God would provide an earth where spirit children could receive a physical body of flesh and blood. One of the purposes of this earthly existence is for each of God's children to demonstrate through free will the desire to choose righeousness rather than evil.[13] To facilitate free will decision-making, God would cause each spirit child to have no memory of their pre-earth life.[13] All would be given trials and would fall short of perfection, but a Savior would be provided, the acceptance of whom would lead ultimately to redemption and a return to live with God the Father forever.[13] Jehovah volunteered to be the Savior[19][20] and said, "Father, thy will be done, and the glory be thine forever."[21] Jehovah was "the only person who could be [the] Savior".[22]

[edit] War in Heaven

Lucifer, another of the spirit sons of God the Father, also sought to be the chosen Savior; however, he proposed that the free agency of humankind be abrogated so that "all mankind" would be redeemed through compelled obedience.[23] Additionally, Lucifer proposed that all glory and honor be transferred from God the Father to himself.[23][20]

After the two competing plans had been proposed, a War in Heaven ensued whereby Lucifer and his followers fought against Jehovah and his followers. One-third of the spirit children of God chose to follow Lucifer.[20] Lucifer and his followers were cast out of heaven by God the Father.[20] Because of their rebellion, Lucifer and the spirits who followed him would not receive a physical body as planned for in the plan of salvation. Lucifer is also known as Satan or the Devil.[23] Satan and his spirit followers dwell on the earth and tempt people to make evil choices.[20]

[edit] Creation

Following the War in Heaven, God the Father created the earth. Since all matter is co-eternal with God, creation of the earth was not performed ex nihilo. Rather, God performed creation by organizing pre-existing matter.[4] The earth and everything on it were created spiritually by God before they were created physically.[24] Under the direction of God the Father, Jehovah used the priesthood to create the physical earth and everything in it as well as the sun, moon, stars, and planets.[25] Jehovah had assistance from other children of God, including the archangel Michael. God the Father and Jehovah together created the physical bodies of Adam and Eve, which were patterned after the physical body possessed by God. Michael's spirit was placed in the male body, and a spirit daughter of God was placed in the female body.

[edit] Fall

Further information: Adam and Eve (LDS Church)

Adam and Eve were placed in the Garden of Eden. Although they had physical bodies, they were not yet mortal.[26] God the Father commanded them to have children. He also told them that they could eat of any tree in the garden except for the tree of knowledge of good and evil, and that they would "surely die" if they ate of that tree.[27]

Satan tempted Adam and Eve to partake of the forbidden fruit. Eve yielded to temptation and ate the fruit; when she told Adam that she had eaten the fruit, Adam chose to eat also.[26] As a result of their decision to eat the forbidden fruit, Adam and Eve underwent the "fall". As God had promised, the bodies of Adam and Eve became mortal and they became subject to physical death, as well as sickness and pain.[26] They also underwent "spiritual death": they were cast out of the Garden of Eden and separated from the presence of God.[26] Due to the fall, Adam and Eve also came to know the difference between good and evil and became capable of having children, as God had originally commanded.[26]

Unlike some Christians, Latter-day Saints generally do not see the fall as a serious sin or as an overwhelmingly negative event. Rather, the fall is viewed as "a necessary step in the plan of life and a great blessing to all of us. Because of the Fall, we are blessed with physical bodies, the right to choose between good and evil, and the opportunity to gain eternal life. None of these privileges would have been ours had Adam and Eve remained in the garden."[26] Latter-day scripture reports that Adam and Eve later rejoiced that they had chosen to partake of the fruit,[28] and the Book of Mormon teaches that the fall was necessary for humankind to exist and for them to experience joy, which is the ultimate purpose of existence.[29]

[edit] Atonement

As a direct result of the fall of Adam and Eve, all children of God who are born into the world suffer physical death and spiritual death.[22] While physical death is the separation of the spirit from the body, spiritual death is the separation of a person from God.[22] Spiritual death results from making sinful decisions between good and evil. Were it not for the atonement of Jesus Christ, physical death and spiritual death would both prevent God's children from returning to him with a physical body.[22]

The pre-mortal Jehovah was born to the Virgin Mary and was named Jesus. Jesus was the Son of God—the liternal father of his physical body was God the Father.[30] Because Jesus was the Son of God, he had power to overcome physical death.[31][22] Because he lived a perfect and sinless life, Jesus could sacrifice offer himself as an "infinite and etermal" sacrifice that would be required to pay for the sins of all of the other children of God.[32][22]

Like most other Christians, Latter-day Saints believe that Jesus paid for the sins of humanity during his passion in the last two days of his life. As he prayed in the Garden of Gethsemane, Latter-day Saint scripture teaches that Jesus' suffering caused him to literally bleed from every pore.[33] Jesus continued to suffer up to and during his crucifixion. When he physically died on the cross, Jesus' suffering ended and his spirit left his physical body.[34]

On the third day after his death, Jesus' spirit returned to his physical body and he became the first child of God to be resurrected with a perfect and immortal physical body of flesh and bone.[22] Because Jesus was resurrected, all children of God who ever lived on the earth will one day be resurrected.[35][36] Thus, the spirit children of God will all receive immortal physical bodies of flesh and bone, and their spirits and their bodies will never again be separated.[37]

The atonement of Jesus Christ also makes it possible for children of God to overcome spiritual death. However, unlike resurrection, being saved from sin is not a free gift that is given to all equally. Instead, only those who accept Jesus and his atonement will be saved from spiritual death.[22] To accept Jesus and his atonement, a person must place their faith in Christ, which will lead to repentance from sin, baptism, and the keeping of God's commandments.[22] When a person does these things, God forgives the person's sins.

Despite a person's best efforts, he or she will never be able to repent of all his or her sins and imperfections. However, the mercy of God and Jesus provides grace to people who have sincerely tried their best to love God and live righteously.[38] Thus, it is ultimately through the grace of God and Jesus that a person overcomes spiritual death and is saved.[39][40]

If a person physically dies without being given the chance to accept the atonement of Jesus Christ on the earth, he or she will be given that chance as a spirit after death.[41] Necessary ordinances, such as baptism, can be performed on behalf on the person in LDS Church temples.[41]

[edit] Exaltation

Main article: Exaltation (LDS Church)

In consequence of the atonement of Jesus Christ, a son or daughter of God the Father may overcome physical and spiritual death and return to live with God forever. Those individuals who receive this—which is described as the "greatest gift of God"[42]—are said to enter into a state of "exaltation" after they are resurrected.[43] Exaltation is also called "salvation" or "eternal life".[44]

Exaltation is "the kind of life God lives".[43] In other words, exalted beings will live in great glory, be perfect, and possess all knowledge and wisdom.[43] Exalted beings will live forever with God the Father and Jesus Christ, will become gods and goddesses, will live with their righteous earthly family members, and will receive the fulness of joy enjoyed by God and Christ.[43] One of they key qualifications for exaltation is being united in a celestial marriage to an opposite-sex partner.[45][46] Such a union can be created during mortality, or it can be created after death by proxy marriages performed in temples.[41]

Humans who fall short of exaltation still receive an immortal physical body. Most will be awarded one of three kingdoms of glory, whether it be the celestial, terrestrial, or telestial kingdoms.[47] Those who are exalted are said to inhabit the "highest degree" of the celestial kingdom.[48] Satan, his spirit followers, and a select number of people who lived on the earth will receive no glory and will be called the sons of perdition.[47]

[edit] Origin of God

Some Latter-day Saint leaders have taught that God the Father was once a mortal man who has completed the process of becoming an exalted being.[citation needed]

[edit] Other worlds

Mormon cosmology suggests that this earth is not unique, but one of many of God the Father and Jehovah's creations. As such, it is believed that there are other worlds that are peopled and that they would also have been created in God's image and after his likeness. Though the LDS Church has not explicitly adopted any official doctrines on the existence or absence of extraterrestrials, there are a number of scriptural passages in the church's scriptural canon which can be interpreted as implying the existence of life on other planets in the universe. For example, in referring to Jesus Christ, the Doctrine and Covenants states "that by him, and through him, and of him, the worlds are and were created, and the inhabitants thereof are begotten sons and daughters unto God."[49]

[edit] Nondoctrinal statements by church leaders

[edit] Early church leaders

Individual Latter-day Saints and some LDS Church leaders have espoused opinions that demonstrate their personal beliefs in other life in the universe.

According to Oliver B. Huntington, Joseph Smith, Jr. instructed,

"The inhabitants of the moon are more of a uniform size than the inhabitants of the earth, being about six feet in height. They dress very much like the Quaker style and are quite general in style or the one fashion of dress. They live to be very old; coming generally, near a thousand years."[50]

Huntington also records of a blessing he received when he was ten years old:

"In my patriarchal blessing, given by the father of Joseph the Prophet [Joseph Smith, Sr.], in Kirtland, 1837, I was told that I should preach the gospel before I was 21 years of age; that I should preach the gospel to the inhabitants upon the islands of the sea, and—to the inhabitants of the moon, even the planet you can now see with your eyes."[51]

Researchers have expressed strong doubts about the reliability of these statements, since they were both second-hand accounts from Huntington and were reported approximately forty years after both Smiths had died.[52] Further, there are no contemporary reports, records, or any other written support of Smith's views or statements on extraterrestrials, nor are there any reports of statements other than those claimed by Huntington. It has also been pointed out by LDS apologists that unlike many of Smith's statements, there is no indication that Smith claimed that his opinion on extraterrestrials was revealed to him by God.[53]

In a sermon given on July 24, 1870, LDS Church President Brigham Young discussed the inhabitation of that the moon and the sun as well as other astronomical ideas:

It has been observed here this morning that we are called fanatics. Bless me! That is nothing. Who has not been called a fanatic who has discovered anything new in philosophy or science? We have all read of Galileo the astronomer who, contrary to the system of astronomy that had been received for ages before his day, taught that the sun, and not the earth, was the centre of our planetary system? For this the learned astronomer was called "fanatic," and subjected to persecution and imprisonment of the most rigorous character. So it has been with others who have discovered and explained new truths in science and philosophy which have been in opposition to long-established theories; and the opposition they have encountered has endured until the truth of their discoveries has been demonstrated by time. The term "fanatic" is not applied to professors of religion only...I will tell you who the real fanatics are: they are they who adopt false principles and ideas as facts, and try to establish a superstructure upon a false foundation. They are the fanatics; and however ardent and zealous they may be, they may reason or argue on false premises till doomsday, and the result will be false. If our religion is of this character we want to know it; we would like to find a philosopher who can prove it to us. We are called ignorant; so we are: but what of it? Are not all ignorant? I rather think so. Who can tell us of the inhabitants of this little planet that shines of an evening, called the moon? When we view its face we may see what is termed "the man in the moon," and what some philosophers declare are the shadows of mountains. But these sayings are very vague, and amount to nothing; and when you inquire about the inhabitants of that sphere you find that the most learned are as ignorant in regard to them as the most ignorant of their fellows. So it is with regard to the inhabitants of the sun. Do you think it is inhabited? I rather think it is. Do you think there is any life there? No question of it; it was not made in vain. It was made to give light to those who dwell upon it, and to other planets; and so will this earth when it is celestialized. Every planet in its first rude, organic state receives not the glory of God upon it, but is opaque; but when celestialized, every planet that God brings into existence is a body of light, but not till then. Christ is the light of this planet. God gives light to our eyes.[54]

Such beliefs were common in the nineteenth century and were even considered to be "scientific fact" by many at the time. For example, William Herschel, the discoverer of the planet Uranus, argued "[w]ho can say that it is not extremely probable, nay beyond doubt, that there must be inhabitants on the Moon of some kind or another?" Furthermore, "he thought it possible that there was a region below the Sun's fiery surface where men might live, and he regarded the existence of life on the Moon as 'an absolute certainty.'"[55]

[edit] Modern leaders

Some modern LDS Church leaders have taught that there are people living on other earths. For instance, Apostle Joseph Fielding Smith wrote:

"We are not the only people that the Lord has created. We have brothers and sisters on other earths. They look like us because they, too, are the children of God and were created in his image, for they are also his offspring."[56]

Smith also wrote,

"...the great universe of stars has multiplied beyond the comprehension of men. Evidently each of these great systems is governed by divine law; with divine presiding Gods, for it would be unreasonable to assume that each was not so governed."[57]

LDS Apostle Neal A. Maxwell wrote, "we do not know how many inhabited worlds there are, or where they are. But certainly we are not alone."[58]

[edit] Notes

  1. ^ a b LDS Church (1997). “Chapter 1: Our Father in Heaven,” Gospel Principles (Salt Lake City, Utah: LDS Church).
  2. ^ Doctrine and Covenants 130:22.
  3. ^ Doctrine and Covenants 93:33.
  4. ^ a b Stephen E. Robinson. LDS Differences in Doctrine.
  5. ^ Joseph Smith (Joseph Fielding Smith ed.). Teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith (Salt Lake City, Utah: Deseret Book) pp. 353–354.
  6. ^ Bruce R. McConkie (1966). Mormon Doctrine (Salt Lake City, Utah: Bookcraft) p. 387.
  7. ^ Doctrine and Covenants 131:7–8.
  8. ^ Although the existence of a goddess mother is not explicitly taught in official Mormon cosmology, official LDS Church publications refer to "heavenly parents", thereby suggesting that God the Father and a goddess Heavenly Mother may have co-produced spirit children.
  9. ^ Marion G. Romney, “The Worth of Souls,” Ensign, Nov. 1978, 13.
  10. ^ Doctrine and Covenants 76:24.
  11. ^ Doctrine and Covenants 93:21.
  12. ^ Joseph F. Smith. Gospel Doctrine (Salt Lake City, Utah: Deseret Book) p. 70.
  13. ^ a b c d e f LDS Church (1997). “Chapter 2: Our Heavenly Family,” Gospel Principles (Salt Lake City, Utah: LDS Church).
  14. ^ Ezra Taft Benson, “Joy in Christ,” Ensign, Mar. 1986, 3.
  15. ^ John 14:6–9.
  16. ^ Ether 3:14–17.
  17. ^ Doctrine and Covenants 93:33–34.
  18. ^ Joseph Smith (Joseph Fielding Smith ed.). Teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith (Salt Lake City, Utah: Deseret Book) p. 348–349, 365.
  19. ^ Abraham 3:27.
  20. ^ a b c d e LDS Church (1997). “Chapter 3: Jesus Christ, Our Chosen Leader and Savior,” Gospel Principles (Salt Lake City, Utah: LDS Church).
  21. ^ Moses 4:2.
  22. ^ a b c d e f g h i LDS Church (1997). “Chapter 12: The Atonement,” Gospel Principles (Salt Lake City, Utah: LDS Church).
  23. ^ a b c Moses 4:1, 3–4.
  24. ^ Moses 3:5.
  25. ^ LDS Church (1997). “Chapter 5: The Creation,” Gospel Principles (Salt Lake City, Utah: LDS Church).
  26. ^ a b c d e f LDS Church (1997). “Chapter 6: The Fall of Adam and Eve,” Gospel Principles (Salt Lake City, Utah: LDS Church).
  27. ^ Moses 3:16–17.
  28. ^ Moses 5:11.
  29. ^ 2 Nephi 2:22–25.
  30. ^ Ezra Taft Benson, “Five Marks of the Divinity of Jesus Christ,” New Era, Dec. 1980, 44; reprinted in Ensign, Dec. 2001, 8.
  31. ^ John 10:17–18.
  32. ^ Alma 34:10–12.
  33. ^ Doctrine and Covenants 19:18–19.
  34. ^ Mark 15:37.
  35. ^ 1 Corinthians 15:21–22.
  36. ^ Alma 11:44.
  37. ^ Alma 11:45.
  38. ^ Moroni 10:32–33.
  39. ^ Acts 15:11.
  40. ^ 2 Nephi 25:23.
  41. ^ a b c LDS Church (1997). “Chapter 45: The Postmortal Spirit World,” Gospel Principles (Salt Lake City, Utah: LDS Church).
  42. ^ Doctrine and Covenants 14:7.
  43. ^ a b c d LDS Church (1997). “Chapter 47: Exaltation,” Gospel Principles (Salt Lake City, Utah: LDS Church).
  44. ^ Moses 1:39.
  45. ^ Doctrine and Covenants 131:1–3.
  46. ^ LDS Church (1997). “Chapter 38: Eternal Marriage,” Gospel Principles (Salt Lake City, Utah: LDS Church).
  47. ^ a b LDS Church (1997). “Chapter 46: The Last Judgment,” Gospel Principles (Salt Lake City, Utah: LDS Church).
  48. ^ Doctrine and Covenants 131:1–4.
  49. ^ D&C 76:24 (emphasis added).
  50. ^ History of the Life of Oliver B. Huntington, pg. 10, typed copy, University of Utah.
  51. ^ Young Woman's Journal 3:264, 1892
  52. ^ FAIR LDS, "Nature of Prophets and Prophecy". There is no contemporary recorded copy of Huntington's alleged patriarchal blessing.
  53. ^ FAIR LDS, "The Nature of Prophets and Prophecy".
  54. ^ Journal of Discourses 13:271.
  55. ^ Patrick Moore, New Guide to the Moon (W.W. Norton & Company, New York: 1976), cited by Van Hale, "Mormons And Moonmen," Sunstone 5 (September/October 1982): 15.
  56. ^ Doctrines of Salvation 1:62
  57. ^ Answers to Gospel Questions 2:144
  58. ^ Neal A. Maxwell, A Wonderful Flood of Light, p. 25.

[edit] Further reading

  • John L. Brooke (1996, new ed.). The Refiner's Fire: The Making of Mormon Cosmology, 1644–1844 (Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press) ISBN 0521565642
  • Erich Robert Paul (1992). Science, Religion, and Mormon Cosmology. University of Illinois Press. ISBN 0252018958. 
  • Roger D. Launius (May 1995). "A Western Mormon in Washington D.C.: James C. Fletcher, NASA, and the Final Frontier". Pacific Historical Review 64: 217–241. 
  • Erich Robert Paul (Summer 1986). "Joseph Smith and the Plurality of Worlds Idea". Dialogue: A Journal of Mormon Thought 19: 12–37. 
  • Mikal Rothstein (2003). "UFO beliefs as syncreistic components", in Christopher Hugh Partridge: UFO Religions. Routledge, 262–263. ISBN 0415263239.  — Rothstein takes Mormon belief of the planet Kolob and the transportation of Enoch's sacred city Zion thereto and contrasts it with modern UFO beliefs, noting the absence of any such beliefs in official doctrine.
  • Michael J. Crowe (1999). The Extraterrestrial Life Debate, 1750–1900. Courier Dover Publications, 241–246. ISBN 048640675X.  — Crowe discusses Smith's and Young's statements on the subject of the plurality of worlds

[edit] External links

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