A Sketchy First Draft of SMPT ‘Spirit Birth’

(I spit this out pretty quickly.  Some of it is awkward, I know.  I would appreciate any constructive comments.  I have about 1000 words left, so I could address things that are missing.)

Introduction

The idea of mankind being the children of God is not a new one. Yet, many take this idea metaphorically. One of the unique aspects of Mormonism is found in how literally many members take the parent/child relationship between God and man, and how many members take this relationship literally.

Joseph Smith Teaching Spirit Birth? Or Something Like It?

I was asked to teach the Elder’s quorum Lesson yesterday.  We were on lesson 42 of the manual which can be viewed here.  Right off the bat there is a very interesting paragraph:

By 1843, although the Nauvoo Temple was not yet finished, the Prophet had announced the doctrine of salvation for the dead, and he had administered the temple endowment to a group of faithful Saints. But an important part of the sacred work of temples had yet to be put in place. On May 16, 1843, the Prophet traveled from Nauvoo to Ramus, Illinois, where he stayed at the home of his close friend Benjamin F. Johnson. That evening, he taught Brother and Sister Johnson and a few close friends about the “new and everlasting covenant of marriage.” He explained that this covenant was the “order of the priesthood” necessary to obtain the highest degree of the celestial kingdom. (See D&C 131:1–4.) He also taught that unless a man and a woman enter into the covenant of eternal marriage, “they will cease to increase when they die; that is, they will not have any children after the resurrection.” Those who do enter into this covenant and remain faithful “will continue to increase and have children in the celestial glory.”  (HC 5:391)

I have been told a few times in blog debates over spirit birth that Joseph Smith never taught anything about spirit birth, and I have been a little surprised by that.  But this quotation (From History of the Church) is pretty interesting and may bring some evidence about his thoughts on the topic.   The money line in this quote is ‘they will not have any children after the resurrection’.

So, if we assume that Joseph did teach something along these lines, and that it was recorded properly.  What are we to make of such after-resurrection child bearing by exalted, sealed married couples?  I am not sure there are very many possibilities:

1 – This was Joseph’s opinion – and he was wrong.  (Not very satisfying, especially given D&C 131)

2 – Exalted couples giving birth to …. resurrected, exalted beings?  (Not very satisfying either.  Seems a short circuit of the Plan of Salvation.)

3 – Exalted couples giving birth to spirit body offspring.  (This sounds more like it.)

Now, I realize that the quote from above speaks only to the eternal future, and not directly to the eternal past.  But given some statements from the KFD, would we not suppose that the same pattern also went on before?

Does this quote not provide some evidence of Joseph teaching something along the lines of spirit birth?

An Outline for a Possible SMPT Paper

There is a call for papers for the Society for Mormon Philosophy and Theology annual meetings that MattW announced here.  When I saw that the theme was “The Measure of Their Creation—Theological Anthropology”, and that one of the suggested topics was spirit birth, I got a bit excited.  Spirit birth was among my favorite blogging topics, and several of my posts on this topic can be read here.

I have never submitted a paper to anything like this before, and I readily admit that I am likely not up to the task of putting together a paper that will meet the appropriate standards.  But since this is a topic that interests me, and because I have been wanting to piece together the ideas and thoughts of all the posts and comments on this topic – I think I am going to make a go of it.

I thought I might spit out a possible outline for such a paper in this post, and solicit advice from any who care to give it.  I might organize such a paper thus:

Establish that literal spirit birth is a legitimate idea in Mormonism

- Key scriptures (Heb 12, Rom 8 etc.)
- Proclamation, TTTF
- BH Roberts, Truman Madsen, Brigham Young, John Widtsoe quotes

Discuss theological Implications

- Necessity of a tripartite model
- Relationship between God and Man
- Christ as Elder Brother
- Eternal families and Exaltation

Common Objections

- Sexual relations and viviparous birth for Heavenly parents
- Billions + of spirit offspring
- Resurrected being giving birth to spirit bodies
- Why did it take so long?
- Fixed/finite number of intelligences

Alternative View

- Spirit adoption
- Advantages/disadvantages

Conclusions

 

So, feel free to mock me, give me encouragement and advice, ignore me.  Whatever you want.

Reviewing ‘Eternal Man’ Part 3 – Creation and Procreation

The third of a seven part series.  See 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7.

Chapter three of Eternal Man is ‘Creation and Procreation’. Madsen begins by providing a poetic writing by Joseph Smith:

And I heard a great voice bearing record from Heav’n,
He’s the Saviour, and Only Begotten of God-
By him, of him, and through him, the worlds were all made,
Even all that career in the heavens so broad.
Whose inhabitants, too, from the first to the last,
Are sav’d by the very same Saviour of ours;
And, of course, are begotten God’s daughters and sons,
By the very same truths, and the very same pow’rs.

Madsen then asks – ‘But is Divine fatherhood in any sense similar to human fatherhood’? He mentions what he feels is the one important similarity. It is that in both Divine and human fatherhood there is a transmission of traits and attributes. He then offers two anticipated objections to this assertion.

Reviewing ‘Eternal Man’ Part 2 – Identity or Nothing

The second of a seven part series.  See 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7.

Chapter two of ‘Eternal Man’ has to do with the our origins. Joseph Smith taught that man as a primal intelligence is eternal. The spirit-elements that compose man’s Divinely-sired spirit and the matter-elements that compose the body are also eternal. The destiny of these elements are to be inseparably connected throughout eternity.

Reviewing ‘Eternal Man’ – Part 1

The first of a seven part series.  See 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7.

Truman Madsen wrote a series of essays that was eventually published in book form under the title of Eternal Man. I have come to find out that I favor the theological ideas of B. H. Roberts and Truman Madsen, and I would like to provide a review of this book for my own benefit if nobody else’s. Chapter 1 of the book serves as an introduction and outline for the rest of the book. I would like to encourage discussion and comments on any of these reviews.

Jesus as Elder Brother and the Case for Spirit Birth

Jesus Christ serves as a vital link between God the Father and man in many ways. One of the ways to make the case for mankind being literal spirit children of God the Father is to make a connection between mankind and Jesus Christ. Then the more obvious link between Christ and God the Father helps complete an understanding of the relationship between God and man.

B. H. Roberts and a Tripartite Model: Why Not?

I have been thinking about, and involved in, several discussions dealing with the nature of our pre-earth life. The discussion seems to center around an apparent contradiction between what Joseph Smith taught and what Brigham Young taught regarding the preexistence. Joseph Smith taught that the spirit and mind of man are eternal and were not created nor made. Brigham Young taught that we are the literal children of God and had a spirit birth to Heavenly Parents. There are some who would say this is a clear contradiction and that one, or the other, or both are wrong. Personally I think that conclusion is unwise for the following reasons:

I am a Child of God, and Nobody Else!

Nate Oman pointed out this message from the First Presidency of Joseph F. Smith from June 30, 1916 called The Father and the Son. I had never heard of this message before and was thrilled to read it because it addressed quite directly topics that I have been addressing lately. Namely the literal parent-child relationship between God and man.

I am a Viviparous Child of God

Viviparous is a fancy-schmancy word that I would not know if it weren’t for GeoffJ.

Not long ago I wrote a post about being a literal child of God. Jeff Lindsay wrote a post that expresses this same thought using the main two scriptures I had used. I have also recently read ‘The Philosophical Basis of Mormonism’ by Talmage which has caused me to think about this a little more. In my previous post, I deliberately stayed away from speculating how we are literal children of God, but if I am going to take a strict and literal stance on this topic I must address that eventually. So, here goes….