God's Playground

[JLHPROF]

6 minutes ago, Jeanne said:

But you can't talk to your mother.  Which is one of the main reasons that I don't like the plan..the planet...nor sending spirit children on a journey that will hurt them..even for a short time.  Yeah..I can talk to God..but I want my Mother in Heaven.

Then talk to her.
Just because we know less about her doesn't mean she's not there, doesn't mean she's not God, doesn't mean she doesn't care about you.

We are commanded to pray to the Father in the name of Christ.  But have you ever gone to a cemetery and poured out your heart to a deceased family member?  I have.  My mother always taught me that there are things only Heavenly Mother can understand.  Heavenly Father, no matter how much knowledge he has, can never know how it feels to have a child grow within you and give birth to that child.  No male can.

I wouldn't advise you to pray to Heavenly Mother in the exact same way you would pray to Heavenly Father.  But don't think for one second you cannot speak to your Heavenly Mother too. 
Second Relief Society President Eliza R. Snow believed that and we still sing her prayer to Heavenly Father and Heavenly Mother regularly.

• [1]
  O my Father, thou that dwellest
  In the high and glorious place,
  When shall I regain thy presence,
  And again behold thy face?
  In thy holy habitation,
  Did my spirit once reside?
  In my first primeval childhood,
  Was I nurtured near thy side?

  [2]
  For a wise and glorious purpose
  Thou hast placed me here on earth,
  And withheld the recollection
  Of my former friends and birth.
  Yet ofttimes a secret something
  Whispered, "You're a stranger here."
  And I felt that I had wandered
  From a more exalted sphere.

  [3]
  I had learned to call thee Father,
  Through thy Spirit from on high;
  But until the key of knowledge
  Was restored, I knew not why.
  In the heavens are parents single?
  No; the thought makes reason stare!
  Truth is reason, truth eternal
  Tells me I've a mother there.

  [4]
  When I leave this frail existence,
  When I lay this mortal by,
  Father, Mother, may I meet you
  In your royal courts on high?
  Then, at length, when I've completed
  All you sent me forth to do,
  With your mutual approbation
  Let me come and dwell with you.

[Bernard Gui]

On February 15, 2017 at 5:25 PM, Gray said:

There's probably a middle ground between helicopter parenting and abandonment.

Certainly. How does agency fit in the equation?

[Jeanne]

2 minutes ago, JLHPROF said:

Then talk to her.
Just because we know less about her doesn't mean she's not there, doesn't mean she's not God, doesn't mean she doesn't care about you.

We are commanded to pray to the Father in the name of Christ.  But have you ever gone to a cemetery and poured out your heart to a deceased family member?  I have.  My mother always taught me that there are things only Heavenly Mother can understand.  Heavenly Father, no matter how much knowledge he has, can never know how it feels to have a child grow within you and give birth to that child.  No male can.

I wouldn't advise you to pray to Heavenly Mother in the exact same way you would pray to Heavenly Father.  But don't think for one second you cannot speak to your Heavenly Mother too. 
Second Relief Society President Eliza R. Snow believed that and we still sing her prayer to Heavenly Father and Heavenly Mother regularly.

• [1]
  O my Father, thou that dwellest
  In the high and glorious place,
  When shall I regain thy presence,
  And again behold thy face?
  In thy holy habitation,
  Did my spirit once reside?
  In my first primeval childhood,
  Was I nurtured near thy side?

  [2]
  For a wise and glorious purpose
  Thou hast placed me here on earth,
  And withheld the recollection
  Of my former friends and birth.
  Yet ofttimes a secret something
  Whispered, "You're a stranger here."
  And I felt that I had wandered
  From a more exalted sphere.

  [3]
  I had learned to call thee Father,
  Through thy Spirit from on high;
  But until the key of knowledge
  Was restored, I knew not why.
  In the heavens are parents single?
  No; the thought makes reason stare!
  Truth is reason, truth eternal
  Tells me I've a mother there.

  [4]
  When I leave this frail existence,
  When I lay this mortal by,
  Father, Mother, may I meet you
  In your royal courts on high?
  Then, at length, when I've completed
  All you sent me forth to do,
  With your mutual approbation
  Let me come and dwell with you.

I was told it was blasphemy to talk to my Heavenly Mother..that this was a big taboo.  I have talked to her anyway..if she is there..which I believe she is..because I get a sort of comfort from her.  I have told her to tell my earthly mother how much I love and miss her...and how much I wish that I had been a better daughter. 

Edited February 17, 2017 by Jeanne

[Gray]

5 minutes ago, Bernard Gui said:

Certainly. How does agency fit in the equation?

I don't know, how does it? If your child is walking toward a fire pit, do you let her fall in because of agency? 

[ERayR]

10 minutes ago, Jeanne said:

I was told it was blasphemy to talk to my Heavenly Mother..that this was a big taboo.  I have talked to her anyway..if she is there..which I believe she is..because I get a sort of comfort from her.  I have told her to tell my earthly mother how much I love and miss her...and how much I wish that I had been a better daughter. 

You can conduct your private worship in any way you want. 

[JLHPROF]

14 minutes ago, Jeanne said:

I was told it was blasphemy to talk to my Heavenly Mother..that this was a big taboo.  I have talked to her anyway..if she is there..which I believe she is..because I get a sort of comfort from her.  I have told her to tell my earthly mother how much I love and miss her...and how much I wish that I had been a better daughter.

Whoever told you that was something of a Pharisee.
Yes, we are to take our prayers to the Father and seek answers and revelations from him, through the mediator Jesus Christ.

But we are allowed to speak to others on the other side of the veil.  We just need to remember the correct pattern when doing so.
It would probably be wrong to ask Heavenly Mother to forgive our sins and heal our sick and move our mountains.
It is not wrong to ask her for comfort I love that you asked her to convey your love to your mother.  I can see nothing wrong with you pouring out your heart to Heavenly Mother.
Think of it as a ward.  You have every right to go to the Relief Society president for advice, comfort, and counsel as a sister in Zion.  But you should go to the Bishop for priesthood blessings and issues of repentance.

Edited February 17, 2017 by JLHPROF

[Jeanne]

I can't believe this...another thing has changed?  I was told not to pray to my Heavenly Mother..It was explicit in Seminary...I am going to have to realize that I may be arguing a different religion..not arguing..but I can't even begin to understand what I have been taught and what is now...this is not the same church.

[Bernard Gui]

An interesting graphic from TheTemple Institute of Jerusalem....Nibley would appreciate this...."The Temple is where I get my bearings on the universe."

https://www.templeinstitute.org/gallery_1.htm

Edited February 17, 2017 by Bernard Gui

[Gray]

34 minutes ago, Jeanne said:

I can't believe this...another thing has changed?  I was told not to pray to my Heavenly Mother..It was explicit in Seminary...I am going to have to realize that I may be arguing a different religion..not arguing..but I can't even begin to understand what I have been taught and what is now...this is not the same church.

I don't think anything has changed there. The direction is still to pray only to the Father. 

[JLHPROF]

1 hour ago, Jeanne said:

I can't believe this...another thing has changed?  I was told not to pray to my Heavenly Mother..It was explicit in Seminary...I am going to have to realize that I may be arguing a different religion..not arguing..but I can't even begin to understand what I have been taught and what is now...this is not the same church.

The difference is in how the word "prayer" is being applied.

[Jeanne]

36 minutes ago, JLHPROF said:

The difference is in how the word "prayer" is being applied.

Now here may lie the proof of polygamy in the eternities.  I cannot pray to my Heavenly Mother In Jesus's name because His mother is not mine.  Sad..but maybe true. 

[Bernard Gui]

15 minutes ago, Jeanne said:

Now here may lie the proof of polygamy in the eternities.  I cannot pray to my Heavenly Mother In Jesus's name because His mother is not mine.  Sad..but maybe true. 

Is it also a problem that Jesus was male?

By the way, you can pray to whatever or whomever you wish.

"...let them worship how, where, or what they may."

Edited February 17, 2017 by Bernard Gui

[pogi]

28 minutes ago, Jeanne said:

Now here may lie the proof of polygamy in the eternities.  I cannot pray to my Heavenly Mother In Jesus's name because His mother is not mine.  Sad..but maybe true. 

I may possibly have brothers from other mothers, I just don't know, but I for sure don't have a sister from another mister.  That's at least comforting.

[JLHPROF]

1 hour ago, pogi said:

I may possibly have brothers from other mothers, I just don't know, but I for sure don't have a sister from another mister.  That's at least comforting.

Best description of eternal polyandry yet!

[Bernard Gui]

12 hours ago, Gray said:

I don't know, how does it? If your child is walking toward a fire pit, do you let her fall in because of agency? 

I wouldn't, but perhaps that is not how God recognizes agency.

Edited February 18, 2017 by Bernard Gui

[RevTestament]

On 2/15/2017 at 5:28 PM, Bernard Gui said:

God will not force on you something you do not want. Our reward will precisely match our desires.

 4 And when he had spoken unto them, he turned himself unto the three, and said unto them: What will ye that I should do unto you, when I am gone unto the Father?

 5 And they sorrowed in their hearts, for they durst not speak unto him the thing which they desired.

 6 And he said unto them: Behold, I know your thoughts, and ye have desired the thing which John, my beloved, who was with me in my ministry, before that I was lifted up by the Jews, desired of me.

 7 Therefore, more blessed are ye, for ye shall never taste of death; but ye shall live to behold all the doings of the Father unto the children of men, even until all things shall be fulfilled according to the will of the Father, when I shall come in my glory with the powers of heaven.

[RevTestament]

On 2/15/2017 at 3:52 PM, Gray said:

I don't know if there is really a good analogy with human life. I get where Jeanne is coming from. The path that the plan of salvation outlines is one fraught with terrible suffering. The kind of parenthood we ascribe to God involves the heavenly parent making decisions that no earthly parent would feel comfortable with. Like, for instance, cutting off all direct with mom, or exposing your children to terrible, monstrous suffering as part of a test designed to make them like you are. 

Even if you make it to Godhood, the suffering doesn't end, if you believe Terryl Givens.

 23 And I will fasten him as a nail in a sure place; and he shall be for a glorious throne to his father’s house.

 24 And they shall hang upon him all the glory of his father’s house, the offspring and the issue, all vessels of small quantity, from the vessels of cups, even to all the vessels of flagons.

 25 In that day, saith the Lord of hosts, shall the nail that is fastened in the sure place be removed, and be cut down, and fall; and the burden that was upon it shall be cut off: for the Lord hath spoken it.

Do you believe Heavenly Father doesn't suffer as He watches His children stray from the gospel? There are other kinds of suffering than just the physical.

[RevTestament]

On 2/16/2017 at 9:19 AM, Gray said:

Not all fires are refining. Some fires just destroy. 

The Glass is either half empty or half full.

[Bernard Gui]

On February 17, 2017 at 9:21 AM, Jeanne said:

I was told it was blasphemy to talk to my Heavenly Mother..that this was a big taboo.  I have talked to her anyway..if she is there..which I believe she is..because I get a sort of comfort from her.  I have told her to tell my earthly mother how much I love and miss her...and how much I wish that I had been a better daughter. 

Seems like you are doing as you wish with no repercussions from those who told you it was blasphemy.

[Jeanne]

2 hours ago, Bernard Gui said:

Seems like you are doing as you wish with no repercussions from those who told you it was blasphemy.

Because I am no longer a member.    No repercussions at all.

[Bernard Gui]

36 minutes ago, Jeanne said:

Because I am no longer a member.    No repercussions at all.

If you are no longer a member, why do you cling to Mother in Heaven?

[Jeanne]

37 minutes ago, Bernard Gui said:

If you are no longer a member, why do you cling to Mother in Heaven?

Good question and you know what?  I don't know.  This is the one thing that I cling to for some reason.

[Tacenda]

15 minutes ago, Jeanne said:

Good question and you know what?  I don't know.  This is the one thing that I cling to for some reason.

So just because you're not a member you shouldn't want to cling to a mother in heaven? Wow Jeanne, you sure were gentle about it. My answer would be more huffy. And why would non members be excluded from having a mother in heaven?

[Calm]

Tacenda, I suspect it wasn't 'Mother in Heaven belongs to LDS alone', but rather 'if you reject Joseph Smith and others as prophets who can receive revelation, why would you continue to believe the revelation of Mother in Heaven?'

The concept of Mother in Heaven is unique to LDS and spinoffs among Christian faiths, I believe.  Among other faiths, I haven't seen comparable beliefs, the TriGoddess of some Wicca faiths for example is quite different.

[Jeanne]

1 hour ago, Tacenda said:

So just because you're not a member you shouldn't want to cling to a mother in heaven? Wow Jeanne, you sure were gentle about it. My answer would be more huffy. And why would non members be excluded from having a mother in heaven?

Well that too.  My thinking is if we could talk her, she would tell us the truth of all things..no holding back.