The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints teaches that all human beings, male and female, are beloved spirit children of heavenly parents, a Heavenly Father and a Heavenly Mother. (1) This understanding is rooted in scriptural and prophetic teachings about the nature of God, our relationship to Deity, and the godly potential of men and women. (2) The doctrine of a Heavenly Mother is a cherished and distinctive belief among Latter-day Saints. (3)

While there is no record of a formal revelation to Joseph Smith on this doctrine, some early Latter-day Saint women recalled that he personally taught them about a Mother in Heaven. The earliest published references to the doctrine appeared shortly after Joseph Smith’s death in 1844, in documents written by his close associates. The most notable expression of the idea is found in a poem by Eliza R. Snow, entitled “My Father in Heaven” and now known as the hymn “O My Father.” This text declares: “In the heav’ns are parents single? / No, the thought makes reason stare; / Truth is reason—truth eternal / Tells me I’ve a mother there.” (4)

Subsequent Church leaders have affirmed the existence of a Mother in Heaven. In 1909, the First Presidency taught that “all men and women are in the similitude of the universal Father and Mother and are literally the sons and daughters of Deity.” Susa Young Gates, a prominent leader in the Church, wrote in 1920 that Joseph Smith’s visions and teachings revealed the truth that “the divine Mother, [is] side by side with the divine Father.” (5) And in “The Family: A Proclamation to the World,” issued in 1995, the First Presidency and Quorum of the Twelve Apostles declared, “Each [person] is a beloved spirit son or daughter of heavenly parents, and, as such, each has a divine nature and destiny.” (6)

Prophets have taught that our heavenly parents work together for the salvation of the human family. “We are part of a divine plan designed by Heavenly Parents who love us,” taught Elder M. Russell Ballard of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles. (7) President Harold B. Lee stated, “We forget that we have a Heavenly Father and a Heavenly Mother who are even more concerned, probably, than our earthly father and mother, and that influences from beyond are constantly working to try to help us when we do all we can.” (8)

Latter-day Saints direct their worship to Heavenly Father, in the name of Christ, and do not pray to Heavenly Mother. In this, they follow the pattern set by Jesus Christ, who taught His disciples to “always pray unto the Father in my name.” Latter-day Saints are taught to pray to Heavenly Father, but as President Gordon B. Hinckley said, “The fact that we do not pray to our Mother in Heaven in no way belittles or denigrates her.” Indeed, as Elder Rudger Clawson wrote, “We honor woman when we acknowledge Godhood in her eternal Prototype.” (9)

As with many other truths of the gospel, our present knowledge about a Mother in Heaven is limited. (10) Nevertheless, we have been given sufficient knowledge to appreciate the sacredness of this doctrine and to comprehend the divine pattern established for us as children of heavenly parents. (11) Latter-day Saints believe that this pattern is reflected in Paul’s statement that “neither is the man without the woman, neither the woman without the man, in the Lord.” (12) Men and women cannot be exalted without each other. Just as we have a Father in Heaven, we have a Mother in Heaven. (13) As Elder Dallin H. Oaks of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles has said, “Our theology begins with heavenly parents. Our highest aspiration is to be like them.” (14)


(1) Christianity teaches that there is only one God eternally.
“You are My witnesses,” says the LORD, “And My servant whom I have chosen, that you may know and believe Me, and understand that I am He. Before Me there was no God formed, nor shall there be after Me.” Isaiah 43:10
(2) Jesus Christ teaches that believers will be like angels in heaven.
Jesus answered and said to them, “You are mistaken, not knowing the Scriptures nor the power of God. For in the resurrection, they neither marry nor are given in marriage but are like angels of God in heaven.” Matthew 22:29-30
(3) Mother gods is a cherished belief among pagans.
Pre-Christian cultures in Europe, like the Norse and Roman societies, honored the deities of women, with their shrines and temples built to honor such goddesses as Bona Dea, Cybele, Frigga, and Hella. Ultimately, that reverence for the archetype of "mother" has been carried over in modern Pagan religions. learnreligions.com
(4) Joseph Smith was a false prophet per Jesus Christ.
“For all the prophets and the law prophesied until John.” Matthew 11:13
(5) Christianity teaches that there is only one God eternally.
“Thus says the LORD, the King of Israel, and his Redeemer, the LORD of hosts: I am the First and I am the Last; Besides Me there is no God.” Isaiah 44:6
(6) LDS apostles never saw Jesus Christ and are false apostles.
Am I not an apostle? Am I not free? Have I not seen Jesus Christ our Lord? Are you not my work in the Lord? 1 Corinthians 9:1
(7) LDS prophets are false per Jesus Christ.
“The law and the prophets were until John. Since that time the kingdom of God has been preached, and everyone is pressing into it.” Luke 16:16
(8) The work of God is sincere belief in Jesus Christ.
Then they said to Him, “What shall we do, that we may work the works of God?” Jesus answered and said to them, “This is the work of God, that you believe in Him whom He sent.” John 6:28-29
(9) God destroyed Judah for honoring a false goddess.
But since we stopped burning incense to the queen of heaven and pouring out drink offerings to her, we have lacked everything and have been consumed by the sword and by famine.” The women also said, “And when we burned incense to the queen of heaven and poured out drink offerings to her, did we make cakes for her, to worship her, and pour out drink offerings to her without our husbands’ permission?” Then Jeremiah spoke to all the people—the men, the women, and all the people who had given him that answer—saying: “The incense that you burned in the cities of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem, you and your fathers, your kings and your princes, and the people of the land, did not the LORD remember them, and did it not come into His mind? So, the LORD could no longer bear it, because of the evil of your doings and because of the abominations which you committed. Therefore, your land is desolation, an astonishment, a curse, and without an inhabitant, as it is this day. Jeremiah 44:18-22
(10) The Christian Gospel is only about Jesus Christ.
Moreover, brethren, I declare to you the gospel which I preached to you, which also you received and in which you stand, by which also you are saved, if you hold fast that word which I preached to you—unless you believed in vain. For I delivered to you first of all that which I also received: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, and that He was buried, and that He rose again the third day according to the Scriptures. 1 Corinthians 15:1-4
(11) Christianity teaches that there is only one God eternally.
There is one body and one Spirit, just as you were called in one hope of your calling; one Lord, one faith, one baptism; one God and Father of all, who is above all, and through all, and in you all. Ephesians 4:4-6
(12) Paul’s example was for human relationship before God.
For man is not from woman, but woman from man. Nor was man created for the woman, but woman for the man. For this reason, the woman ought to have a symbol of authority on her head, because of the angels. Nevertheless, neither is man independent of woman, nor woman independent of man, in the Lord. For as woman came from man, even so man also comes through woman; but all things are from God. 1 Corinthians 11:8-12
(13) There is no mother god in heaven.
Whenever the living creatures give glory and honor and thanks to Him who sits on the throne, who lives forever and ever, the twenty-four elders fall down before Him who sits on the throne and worship Him who lives forever and ever, and cast their crowns before the throne, saying: “You are worthy, O Lord, to receive glory and honor and power; For You created all things, and by Your will they exist and were created.” Revelation 4:9-11
(14) Christian theology begins and ends with Jesus Christ.
For many deceivers have gone out into the world who do not confess Jesus Christ as coming in the flesh. This is a deceiver and an antichrist. Look to yourselves, that we do not lose those things we worked for, but that we may receive a full reward. Whoever transgresses and does not abide in the doctrine of Christ does not have God. He who abides in the doctrine of Christ has both the Father and the Son. If anyone comes to you and does not bring this doctrine, do not receive him into your house nor greet him; for he who greets him shares in his evil deeds. 2 John 1:7-11



New Mormon essays affirm Heavenly Mother, explain why women aren’t ordained
Religion • Another article aims to explain why women aren’t ordained to the faith’s all-male priesthood.
By Peggy Fletcher Stack The Salt Lake Tribune July 27, 2017
Mormonism's doctrine of Heavenly Mother is more than a feminist wish — it is a "cherished and distinctive belief," built on LDS scriptures, taught by church authorities, celebrated in song and embraced by the faithful.
But for activists seeking female ordination to the all-male Mormon priesthood, that goal will have to remain a wish, according to the final two LDS Church-approved Gospel Topics essays posted Friday.
Mormon women never were intended to hold ecclesiastical office in the priesthood, the essay on founder Joseph Smith's teachings on priesthood, temple and women says, but they can preach, pray, lead and participate in local and churchwide councils — even priesthood ones — alongside men.
"This is a welcome day," says Joanna Brooks, a Mormon writer and scholar who teaches at San Diego State University. "Never before have questions about women, God and authority been addressed so forthrightly by our church."
The articles show "it is OK to talk about, think about, question, study and pray about Heavenly Mother and women and the priesthood. They clearly signal it's OK to study our history openly and vigorously and ask hard questions and consider future possibilities."
Brooks, who recently co-edited a volume, "Mormon Feminism: Essential Writings," hopes the essays "dispel stigmas and encourage Mormons to embrace the rich possibilities of our faith."
The two pieces spell out the roles of women by looking to the 185-year history of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
"Latter-day Saints' understanding of the nature of priesthood and keys grew as a result of revelations received by Joseph Smith," one essay says. "An 1832 revelation taught that the greater, or Melchizedek, priesthood held 'the key of the knowledge of God,' and that in the ordinances of the priesthood, 'the power of godliness is manifest.'"
The essay acknowledges that Smith "ordain[ed]" women and said they would "preside over the [Relief] Society. He also declared, 'I now turn the key to you in the name of God.' "
In the 19th century, "Mormons sometimes used the term ordain in a broad sense," the article adds, "often interchangeably with set apart and not always referring to priesthood office."
" ... Neither Joseph Smith, nor any person acting on his behalf, nor any of his successors conferred the Aaronic or Melchizedek Priesthood on women or ordained women to priesthood office."
Smith also permitted Mormon women to perform "healing blessings," something that only LDS male priesthood holders now can do. But the practice, which eventually faded away, was based on faith, the essay says, not priesthood.
"The relationship between Latter-day Saint women and priesthood has remained remarkably constant since Joseph Smith's day," it says. " ... Men and women continue to officiate in sacred ordinances in temples much as they did in Joseph Smith's day."
The essay on women is "not surprising," says Andrea Radke-Moss, who teaches history at Brigham Young University-Idaho, "it certainly is a step ahead of where we were a year ago."
She was "relieved" to note what isn't in the documents — "no speculation about why women aren't ordained, no gendered folklores like gender essentialism, or separate-but-equal rhetoric, no motherhood equals priesthood equivalencies. "
While the essay declared that Mormon women don't hold priesthood office, Radke-Moss says, "there is nothing that says it won't ever change."
She was troubled, however, by the article's failure to acknowledge male authority over women in all aspects of female participation in the 15 million-member, Utah-based faith.
"At no institutional or familial organization in the church do women ever have a purely side-by-side relationship with men," she says, "at least in word and liturgy."
This remains the fact despite a strong belief in a male and female deity.
Mormons believe every person is a "beloved spirit son or daughter of heavenly parents," the Heavenly Mother essay reads, and, "as such, each has a divine nature and destiny."
"While there is no record of a formal revelation to Joseph Smith on this doctrine, some early Latter-day Saint women recalled that he personally taught them about a Mother in Heaven," the article says. "The earliest published references to the doctrine appeared shortly after Joseph Smith's death in 1844, in documents written by his close associates."
The most "notable expression of the idea" appears in a poem by early LDS women's leader Eliza R. Snow titled "My Father in Heaven" and now sung by Mormons worldwide in the beloved hymn "O My Father."
The text declares: "In the heav'ns are parents single? / No, the thought makes reason stare; / Truth is reason — truth eternal / Tells me I've a mother there."
The essay is fairly short and offers few details about Mormonism's divine mother.
"As with many other truths of the gospel, our present knowledge about a Mother in Heaven is limited," it says. "Nevertheless, we have been given sufficient knowledge to appreciate the sacredness of this doctrine and to comprehend the divine pattern established for us as children of heavenly parents."
The article does include this caution about praying to a Heavenly Mother.
"Latter-day Saints direct their worship to Heavenly Father, in the name of Christ, and do not pray to Heavenly Mother," it says. "In this, they follow the pattern set by Jesus Christ, who taught his disciples to 'always pray unto the Father in my name.'"
Debra Jenson, chairwoman of Ordain Women, a group seeking LDS female ordination, applauds the essays for treating the topics in a "much more nuanced and complicated way than ever before," but questions remain.
If Heavenly Mother is the model for Mormon women living today and is the being they hope to reunite with in the eternities, Jenson says, "we are desperate to know more about her."
The issue of female ordination is inextricably connected to a female God, she says, "you can't untangle them."
The nature of Heavenly Mother is waiting to be "revealed," Jenson says, "but maybe we are not ready to receive it yet in a church that doesn't treat women equally."
LDS leaders have stated that information from the Gospel Topics' essays — designed to confront some of the stickier aspects of Mormon theology and history, from the former priesthood ban for black males, for instance, to the Mountain Meadows Massacre — will be incorporated into Mormon curriculum, so the mentions of a Heavenly Mother and women's issues may increase.

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