By Jerald and Sandra Tanner
We are pleased to announce the completion of our new book, Major Problems of Mormonism. Although our most comprehensive work, Mormonism—Shadow or Reality? has proved to be very effective in bringing many Mormons to the truth, it contains more material than some people wish to read. In addition, we have printed important information in the Messenger and other publications which has not been included in our larger work. For these reasons, we have spent a great deal of time going through our various publications to determine what is the most important material on Mormonism and have finally distilled our thirty years of research down into a 256-page book. Although this book is not meant to replace Mormonism—Shadow or Reality? we believe it will eventually become our most popular book.
The following is a condensed and revised printing of Chapter 20 of Major Problems of Mormonism. This chapter is entitled, “The Hereafter,” and deals with the Mormon doctrine of “eternal progression.”
The Hereafter
(Major Problems of Mormonism, Chapter 20)
Joseph Smith seems to have been a firm believer in the orthodox teachings of Christianity concerning heaven and hell when he first began his work. Before many years had passed, however, he had developed some very unique doctrines concerning the hereafter.
In 1832 Joseph Smith gave a revelation (Doctrine and Covenants, Section 76) which stated that heaven was divided up into three different kingdoms—i.e., the celestial, terrestrial and telestial kingdoms. Later he had another revelation which divided the “celestial” kingdom itself into compartments: “In the celestial glory there are three heavens or degrees; And in order to obtain the highest, a man must enter into this order of the priesthood [meaning the new and everlasting covenant of marriage]” (Doctrine and Covenants 131:1, 2). It is clear from this that the only ones who enter into the highest division in the “celestial” kingdom are those who are married for time and eternity in a Mormon temple.
The Mormon doctrine of pre-existence plays an important role in the function of those who obtain the “highest” glory in the “celestial kingdom.” According to Mormon teachings, God and his wife or wives were the parents of all the spirits who later come to be born on earth. In other words, we were all supposed to have been part of one immense family of spirit children in heaven. Those who are accounted worthy to become Gods and Goddesses after the resurrection are likewise to give birth to spirit children throughout all eternity, and these spirits will eventually take bodies on other worlds.
Milton R. Hunter, who was a member of the Mormon Church’s First Council of the Seventy, wrote the following:
. . . Joseph explained . . . that the Gods were to be parents of spirit children just as our Heavenly Father and Mother were the parents of the people of this earth. (The Gospel Through the Ages, 1958, p. 120)
Mormon Apostle Orson Pratt set forth some important details and problems concerning the birth of spirit children to celestial beings:
In the Heaven where our spirits were born, there are many Gods, each one of whom has his own wife or wives . . . Each God, through his wife or wives, raises up a numerous family of sons and daughters; . . . each father and mother will be in a condition to multiply forever and ever. As soon as each God has begotten many millions of male and female spirits, and his Heavenly inheritance becomes too small, to comfortably accommodate his great family, he, in connection with his sons, organizes a new world . . . where he sends both the male and female spirits to inhabit tabernacles of flesh and bones. . . . The inhabitants of each world are required to reverence, adore, and worship their own personal father who dwells in the Heaven which they formerly inhabited. (The Seer, March 1853, p. 37)
Apostle Pratt estimated that “seventy thousand million [i.e., 70 billion] sons and daughters were born in Heaven, and kept their first estate . . .” Pratt went on to explain that it is “probable that the period required for the formation of the infant spirit, is of the same length as that required in the world for the organization of the infant tabernacle” (Ibid., pp. 38-39).
The description given by Mormon leaders of the function of a woman who advances to Godhood reminds us of the role played by a queen bee. The queen bee, of course, produces swarms of offspring—as many as 2,500 a day! Her main purpose appears to be to produce more bees. Mormon scholar Eugene England seems to be repelled by the concept concerning spirit children taught by Apostle Pratt and other “influential Mormons and teachers of religion.” He maintains that if “humans can already produce test-tube babies and clones, God has certainly found more efficient ways to produce spirit children than by turning celestial partners into mere birth machines. To anticipate such a limited, unequal role for women in eternity insults and devalues them” (Dialogue: A Journal of Mormon Thought, Winter 1987, p. 148). While many Mormon women would agree with England, the teaching seems too embedded in Mormon theology to be torn out without endangering the entire doctrine of “eternal progression.” Apostle Bruce R. McConkie made it very plain that spirit children are literally born to the Eternal Father and Mother: “Our spirit bodies had their beginning in pre-existence when we were born as the spirit children of God our Father. Through that birth process spirit element was organized into intelligent entities” (Mormon Doctrine, 1979, p. 750).
Although Mormon theology teaches that a woman can obtain “Godhood,” it is actually a subservient role to her husband. She is still required to “yield the most perfect obedience” to her “great Head”—her husband (The Seer, p. 159). While her husband will be worshipped by their spirit children and manifest himself to them after they go to an earth to experience mortality, she will apparently have no contact with them there. According to Apostle Orson Pratt, “the children, so far as we are informed, have never been commanded to pray to her or worship her” (Ibid., p. 159).
Many Mormon women have serious reservations about the concept of having billions of spirit children every time their husbands decide to people another world. They believe that this teaching smacks of confusion and mass production. Mormon leaders, of course, will argue that women will be perfectly happy when they arrive in the heaven described in their theology. Childbirth will not be painful in heaven, and all the other details and problems will be worked out. Even so, since Mormon theology limits Gods and Goddesses to physical bodies, it seems that it would be very difficult for either the “Heavenly Father” or the “Heavenly Mother” to give much individual attention to billions of children.
An Ever-Expanding Hell
In the Bible we read that hell was originally “prepared for the devil and his angels,” but people who refuse to repent and receive the Lord into their lives shall also “go away into everlasting punishment . . .” (Matthew 25:41-46). At the time that Joseph Smith wrote the Book of Mormon, he was firmly committed to the orthodox position concerning hell, and his first major work is filled with this teaching. Later, however, he was influenced by the teachings of the Universalists, who proclaimed that “all men will finally be saved.” In the Book of Mormon he had taught that the wicked would go to an “awful hell” and “endure a never ending torment” (see Book of Mormon, Alma 42:16; Mosiah 3:38-39; 3 Nephi 27:11, 17; Alma 54:7). In spite of the strong teachings concerning hell in the Book of Mormon, by 1832 Joseph Smith had completely repudiated the orthodox position. He claimed, in fact, that the wicked would be saved in the telestial kingdom.
While Joseph Smith tried to destroy the Biblical teaching concerning hell, his doctrine of “eternal progression” seems to create a hell which is infinitely larger than the mind is able to comprehend. The Mormon hell, in fact, turns out to be a place or places of punishment which will continue to claim captives at an increasingly greater rate throughout all eternity.
To begin with, Mormonism teaches that the devil and his angels were born to the Heavenly Father and the Heavenly Mother in the pre-existence as spirit children. In other words, they were originally part of the family of spirits who were to come to earth to receive bodies. Instead, however, they rebelled, were cast out, and became the “sons of perdition.” While Mormons believe that “very few” of the spirits who come to earth will end up in hell, they affirm that all those who followed the devil in the pre-existence are to go to an everlasting hell. Bruce R. McConkie made this statement concerning them: “Their lot is to wallow in wickedness to all eternity. They are spiritually dead eternally” (Mormon Doctrine, 1979, p. 756).
According to a revelation given by Joseph Smith, a “third” of the spirits born to God and his wife became sons of perdition and were thrust down to hell:
. . . the devil was before Adam, for he rebelled against me, saying, Give me thine honor, which is my power; and also a third part of the hosts of heaven turned he away from me because of their agency; And they were thrust down, and thus came the devil and his angels; And, behold, there is a place prepared for them from the beginning, which place is hell. (Doctrine and Covenants 29:36-38)
Apostle Orson Pratt estimated that there were about 35 billion spirit children of God who were sent to this eternal hell (The Seer, p. 38). Mormon writer Eugene England speaks of “the 80 billion or so people demographers compute will have lived on earth by 2000 A.D.” (Dialogue: A Journal of Mormon Thought, Winter 1987, p. 148). The figure given by Mr. England is similar to that given by Apostle Orson Pratt—i.e., 70 billion. If 80 billion people will eventually live on earth, then it follows that the “sons of perdition” number 40 billion. The number could be even higher, however, because the figure of “80 billion” on earth does not include the millennium.
While Mormon apologists criticize others for believing in the idea of eternal punishment of the wicked, their church’s own doctrine has already consigned 40,000,000,000 or more of God’s own spirit children to eternal damnation. This, however, is just the tip of the iceberg. If the doctrine of “eternal progression” is true, this same thing has already happened on innumerable worlds. In a discourse given February 18, 1855, Apostle Orson Pratt expressed the view that there are already countless Gods and worlds: “If we should take a million of worlds like this and number their particles, we should find that there are more Gods than there are particles of matter in those worlds” (Journal of Discourses, vol. 2, p. 345).
The Mormon couple who looks forward to Godhood should be aware of the serious implications of their theology. If the doctrine of “eternal progression” is true, they will be faced with a great deal of heartache. To begin with, in the hereafter they will vividly recall their pre-existent state in which a third of their own family fought against their Heavenly Father and became sons of perdition. On the positive side, they will have a spirit child who will become the “redeemer” of their earth, but this will be offset to some extent by the fact that one of their other sons will turn out to be a “tempter.” President Brigham Young made this comment about the matter:
Sin is upon every earth that ever was created, . . . Consequently every earth has its redeemer, and every earth has its tempter; and every earth, and the people thereof . . . pass through all the ordeals that we are passing through. (Journal of Discourses, vol. 14, pp. 71-72)
The worst thing of all, however, is that according to Mormon theology the couple who aspire to Godhood will probably have to send billions of their own spirit children to an eternal hell. In the revelation to Joseph Smith which we referred to earlier, Jesus is purported to have said that “a third part” of the spirit children were lost “because of their agency” (Doctrine and Covenants 29:36). Since part of the eternal plan is to give the spirit children free agency, this opens the door so that the spirits can choose to become sons of perdition. Now, if the current Mormon God suffered a loss of at least 40,000,000,000 children, it seems highly unlikely that those who receive Godhood under him will have a better rate of success. In any case, after the couple goes through this great loss, it will be time to start another world. This same process of having spirit children to populate worlds is supposed to continue throughout all eternity.
To those who have even an elementary understanding of mathematics, it is obvious that the Mormon doctrine of “eternal progression” would create an immeasurable number of sons of perdition. Although Apostle Orson Pratt did not discuss the multiplication of the sons of perdition, he did give some idea of how rapidly the number of worlds and Gods would increase under the Mormon plan:
The fourth generations would people over a trillion, and the fifth over a quadrillion of worlds; while the one-hundredth generation would people more worlds than could be expressed by raising one million to the ninety-ninth power. (The Seer, page 39)
The person who accepts the Mormon doctrine of “eternal progression” is forced by mathematics to conclude that eventually quadrillions of worlds will be created by the Gods every second and that this will go on forever and ever. While this idea might really appeal to a man who is interested in obtaining “authority and dominion as the Grand Patriarch of the endless generations of his posterity,” there is a very gloomy downside to the story since every second that passes quadrillions of spirits will become “sons of perdition” and be lost forever, and this number will rapidly increase throughout all eternity!
Although Joseph Smith claimed he was trying to straighten out the Christian world with respect to the hereafter, it seems that he has only produced more confusion. He has separated the one superlative heaven which Jesus taught into a number of different compartments which will cause a segregated condition in the afterlife. While Smith’s doctrine concerning the “sealing” of families together for “time and all eternity” appears to promise that Mormons will have their children in the resurrection, his doctrine of “eternal progression” seems to take them far away. If the children are faithful, they will be off creating their own worlds throughout eternity. Moreover, Joseph Smith’s attempt to evade the Biblical teaching concerning hell led him into such a state of confusion that he ended up creating a hell which looms as an ever expanding black hole sucking in “a third part” of the spirit children of worlds innumerable to eternal destruction.
Originally appeared in: