A REFORM MORMON TEMPLE EVENT is scheduled for Sunday February 19, 2012, in Smithfield Virginia (just 30 minutes from historic Jamestowns and Colonial Williamsburg).
If you would like to participate, and receive the REFORM MORMON ENDOWMENT and/or SEALINGS (including same-sex sealings), please contact reformmormons@aol.com for more information, including an overview on our Temple Events and a study guide.
All Reform Mormons are welcomed!
For more information on the Reform Mormon Endowment (including a study guide) write: reformmormons@aol.com
The world’s major religions all came into existence when human understanding of the natural world was sorely limited. In the pre-scientific ancient world mythology, superstition, emotionalism and baseless speculation were the rule, not the exception, in formulating theories regarding the nature of the universe.
The earth was seen as a flat table top. The sky was seen as a great domed ceiling, supported by high mountain ranges (called “The Pillars of Heaven”) that stood at the edges of the earth. In the sky—thought to be, quite literally a dome or vaulted ceiling--there were gates through which rain fell from a great sea above know as “the firmament above the earth.” Beneath the flat earth was another great body of water (“the firmament beneath”) which feed the earths rivers, streams, seas and oceans. It was assumed that the sun, moon and stars quite literally “rose” in the east, traveled across the sky above the earth, and then “set” in the West.
From the subjective view of mankind at that time, the earth itself was assumed to be the center of existence.
This was the view of most ancient cultures, including the Israelite culture that gave the Bible to the world. Indeed, the above view of natural world—now called “The Flat Earth Theory”—is found throughout the Bible, and was accepted universally by the world’s great monotheistic religions until just five hundred years ago.
Scientists such as Galileo were considered heretics for suggesting that the earth moved around the sun, and was not the center of the universe. Christopher Columbus was one of the first European explorers to operate on the then-startling and “unproved theory” that the earth was round. When the first English ships sail to Virginia in 1607, navigating by the stars was still just as immersed in superstition and mysticism as it was in any sort of objective science or technology.
Ignorant of basic facts regarding the shape of the earth and its relationship to the sun, moon and stars, it is understandable that religions with ancient origins would have come up with complete erroneous ideas regarding the universe. Even many enlightened Christians, Jews and Muslims who embrace what modern science has revealed regarding the galaxies, may still, on an emotional level, cling to the ancient idea that the earth and life on it are, in some sense, the very center of the cosmos as far as Deity is concerned.
Mormonism came into existence at the beginning of the modern scientific age. While dictating “The Book of Mormon” Joseph Smith included the following: “…surely it is the earth that moveth and not the sun.” (Helaman12:15) While this was common knowledge in 1829, the Bible’s ancient authors (and Christian theologians until just a few centuries previously) believed just the opposite.
“The Book of Mormon” also contains references to planets. (One example is found in Alma 30:44.) While the world “planet” was coined anciently by the Greeks, it was used to refer to any heavenly body; the Greeks considered the sun and stars to be planets.
In June 1830 when Joseph began dictating new versions of Genesis’s first two chapters, he began incorporating into his new scriptures the evolving 19th century scientific understanding of planets and planetary systems. “The Book of Moses” refers to there being “worlds without number” beyond earth and our solar systems. (See Moses 1:33, in “The Pearl of Great Price.”)
Joseph also declared that the first chapters of Genesis contained “only an account of this earth, and the inhabitants thereof,” explaining that previously “many worlds that have passed away…. And there are many that now stand, and innumerable are they unto man.” (Moses 1:33)
So it was that in the first months of its inception, Mormonism put forth a view of endless planets and planetary systems being organized and passing away. The organization of new galaxies was a continuing, eternal process. The earth was not the center of the universe, nor did it come into existence at some imagined “beginning” of all existence. Galaxies had formed and passed away eons before our solar system formed.
(Above: The room in which Joseph Smith and Sydney Rigdon dictated a vision of eternity that involved the existence of other worlds with inhabitants.)
On February 16, 1832, when dictating a vision of eternity, Joseph Smith and Sydney Rigdon referred to other “worlds” not as empty, lifeless places but as planets filled with intelligent life—“inhabitants” who “are begotten sons and daughters unto God.” (See Doctrine & Covenants 76: 24)
Less than two years after Mormonism’s emergence as a religious movement, it was teaching a then-radical theological concept—one at odds with traditional monotheism: intelligent life as found earth was not a unique phenomenon
On December 27 and 28, 1832, and on January 3,1833, Joseph Smith dictated another revelation (Doctrine & Covenants 88) in which he laid out his evolving view of the universe—a revelation he felt was so important that he described it as a “olive leaf’ … plucked from the Tree of Paradise.”
The revelation begins by celebrating the powers and forces that govern the earth, the moon, sun, stars, and celestial bodies beyond.
A complex but orderly universe is envisioned in which each thing that exists is governed by a system of laws tied to its nature. Everything which exists does so with boundaries and limits—within the “certain bounds and conditions” determined by these laws. (See Doctrine & Covenants 88:38
Joseph declared: “Verily I say unto you, that which is governed by law is also preserved by law and perfected and sanctified by the same,” Joseph taught. (Doctrine & Covenants 88:34)
Joseph did not use the Biblically-inspired concepts of being “preserved, perfected and sanctified” in the way Christian ministers of his time did. Other ministers used these concepts to refer to the process by which an individual was forgiven for his sins, saved from damnation in hell, grew spiritually and finally entered heaven. Rather than “going to heaven,” Joseph was more concerned with things “fulfilling the measure of their creation”—meaning the process by which something can “be all that its capable of being,” or progressing to the maximum extent of its nature.
Joseph applied the concepts “preserved, perfected and sanctified” to all things that existed within nature—including planets and planetary systems. He taught that the earth itself was governed by a law, and because it “transgresseth not the law…it shall be sanctified; yea, not withstanding it shall die…” (Doctrine & Covenants 88: 25-26)
Joseph symbolically called each system of law governing something “a kingdom”—co-opting another popular Biblically-inspired Christian phraseology of his day.
Joseph’s revelation (Doctrine & Covenants 88) not only envisioned existence as orderly but as dense—with no sustainable complete vacuums at any level. Joseph declared “And there are many kingdoms; for there is no space in which there is no kingdom; and there is no kingdom in which there is no space, either a greater or a lesser kingdom.” (Doctrine and Covenant 88:37)
The endless planetary systems existed within the boundaries of laws “by which they move in their times and seasons; and their courses are fixed…and they give light unto each other in their times and seasons, in their minutes, in their hours, in their days, in their weeks, in their months, in their years…” (Doctrine & Covenants 88:42-44)
In 1835, in “The Book of Abraham,” Joseph expounded further on his vision of the endless planetary systems found throughout the universe. Inspired by contemporary theories based on those first advanced by Isaac Newton, Joseph taught that time could be measured differently from one planetary system to another, based on that planetary system’s location and other things such as the gravitational pull of neighboring planets, stars and other celestial bodies and phenomenon.
By the late-1830’s a distinct Mormon cosmology had emerged that was at odds not only with the views of ancient religions but also with the view of the Enlightened Christianity (Christianity that rejected Biblical fundamentalism, and embraced science and reason.) Mormon Cosmology was radically pluralistic—going so far as to embrace an endless number of planetary systems (many of them filled with intelligent life) but also an endless number of Gods—each existing within the boundaries set by the laws governing time and space.
A new phrase entered into Mormon religious dialogue: “Worlds without end.”
The phrase “world without end” had been used for centuries in Christian liturgy—both Catholic and Protestant—to convey the idea that the earth would endure throughout eternity. The phrase “without end” had reference to time.
Joseph Smith was familiar with phrase since it was used by all the Protestant churches he had dealings when he was in his late teens and early twenty. At age 17, Joseph Smith had been very involved in the Methodist congregation in Palymra, and had applied for membership in the Harmony, Pennsylvania Methodist congregation in 1825. In their worship services, Methodists ended their singing of the Doxology with the phrase, “World without end, Amen, Amen.”
Joseph took this traditional Christian phrase, added one letter to it and changed its context altogether. The singular “world” became the plural “worlds.” The new Mormon phrase “worlds without end” did not refer to time but to the number of planets found throughout the reaches of space.
Mormonism’s expansive, pluralistic view of the cosmos was captured by the mid-19th century Mormon writer, W.W. Phelps, in his classic Mormon hymn, “If You Could Hie to Kolob.” Below are Phelps' lyrics, inspired by the teachings of Joseph Smith:
“If you could hie to Kolob in the twinkling of an eye,
And then continue onward with that same speed to fly,
Do you think that you could ever through all eternity,
Find out the generation where Gods began to be?
Or see the grand beginning where space did not extend?
Or view the last creation where Gods and matter end?
Methinks the Spirit whispers, “No man has found ‘pure space,’
Nor seen the outside curtains where nothing has a place.”
The works of God continue, and worlds and lives abound;
Improvement and progression have one eternal round.
There is no end to matter; there is no end to space;
There is no end to spirit; There is no end to race.
There is no end to virtue; There is no end to might;
There is no end to wisdom; There is no end to light.
There is no end to union; There is no end to youth;
There is no end to priesthood; There is no end to truth.
There is no end to glory; There is no end to love;
There is no end to being; There is no death above.”
(Note: In a vision of the universe laid out in “The Book of Abraham,” the star closest to the throne of Abraham’s God is called Kolob.)
Below is a performance of the hymn by the (LDS)Mormon Tabernacle Choir:
And here is a music video of a contemporary pop version of the hymn...
It is difficult for many people to conceive of a religion that does not embrace Creationism—that is: the doctrine that our universe was created.
The central premise of all monotheistic faiths is that, first and foremost,God is the Creator of all that exists; that God spoke and by the power of His word, everything, from nothingness, was called into being.
The Mormon Theological Paradigm, as constructed by Joseph Smith, rejects Creationism outright.
The physical elements themselves are eternal. Existence itself is primary—not God. This is the basis of Classical Mormon Theology and Philosophy. This is what sets Mormonism apart from all other religions. This is also what makes Mormon thought more compatible with the ever unfolding understanding of the universe given to us by modern science.
(Above: Frederick Hart's sculpture, "Ex Nihlio")
Mormon theology rejects the Orthodox Christian doctrine of “creatio ex nihilo”—the Latin phrase meaning “creation out of nothing.”
In the funeral sermon for Elder King Folliet, Joseph Smith—The First Mormon—asked:
“Now I ask all who hear me, why the learned men who are preaching salvation, say that God created the heavens and the earth out of nothing? ….they account it blasphemy in any one to contradict their idea. If you tell them that God made the world out of something, they will call you a fool…
“You ask the learned doctors why they say the world was made out of nothing; and they will answer, ‘Doesn't the Bible say He created the world?’ And they infer, from the word create, that it must have been made out of nothing. Now, the word create came from the [Hebrew word] ‘baurau” which does not mean to create out of nothing; it means to organize; the same as a man would organize materials and build a ship.5 Hence, we infer that God had materials to organize the world out of chaos—chaotic matter, which is element, and in which dwells all the glory. Element had an existence from the time he had. The pure principles of element are principles which can never be destroyed; they may be organized and re-organized, but not destroyed. They had no beginning, and can have no end.”
Mormon theology begins with the idea of “creatio ex materia”—meaning (in Latin) creation out of some pre-existent, eternal matter.
The Biblical creation story as found in Genesis, is something to which Joseph returned time and time again throughout the course of his career. He rewrote the opening chapters of Genesis several times.
In 1830, within months of publishing “The Book of Mormon,” he began dictating a new version of the opening chapters of Genesis—narrated in the voice of the character of Moses, and later published “The Book of Moses.”
Five years later, in 1835, Joseph dictated yet another version of the opening chapters of Genesis—this time narrated in the voice of the Biblical patriarch, Abraham, whom Joseph envisioned as an ancient priest and astronomer influenced by the culture, polytheistic religion and knowledge of the ancient Egyptians. This creation account was later published under the title “The Book of Abraham,” and it established Mormonism break not only with orthodox Christianity, but with monotheistic religion itself.
(Above: a depiction of an ancient Egyptian astronomer.)
By the time he began working on “The Book of Abraham,” Joseph Smith had furthered his education somewhat, having studied at the School of the Prophets—a seminary and school for adults established by the Mormon community at Kirtland, Ohio.
Knowledge of Newton’s theories on gravity and physics were becoming more accessible to Americans during those years; also religious doctrines which had gone unchallenged for thousands of years were being called into question by the emergence of modern scientific theories regarding the origin and makeup of the natural world. It is evident that these things also greatly influenced Joseph’s personal religious views as laid out in “The Book of Abraham.”
(Above: Interior of the School of the Prophets in Kirtland,Ohio)
While the tendency among the majority orthodox Christian clergy was to resist emerging scientific theories, Mormon leaders attempted to incorporate contemporary scientific theories with Biblical narratives. The Mormons believed that “all truth [defined as ‘the knowledge of things as they are’] can be circumscribed into one great whole.” Their approach was to accept all truth regardless of where it was found—be it in religion, science or secular philosophy. As a result of this, Mormon theology evolved very quickly and changed greatly during the 1830’s. The Mormon theology that emerged by the end of the decade was not a new school of Christian theology, but a new and distinct religion—a completely new religious paradigm.
In “The Book of Abraham” the word “created” is thrown out altogether—replaced by the word “organized.” Thus the heavens and the earth are not “created” as they are in Genesis, chapter one, verse one. Instead the heavens and the earth are “organized” from the pre-existing, uncreated, eternal elements.
Stars, moons, planets and all things on them—living and non-living—are organized out of pre-existing matter/elements. In time, these things may die or decay, but the elements/matter from which they are organized remains, merely changing forms.
As a result of this were a Reform Mormon and a Christian to have a discussion on the origin of the universe, the conversation might go something like this:
CHRISTIAN:Do you believe that God created the universe?
REFORM MORMON:No.
CHRISTIAN:Who do you think created it then?
REFORM MORMON:No one created it. The elements from which all things are organized are eternal; they have no beginning or end.
CHRISTIAN:But everything has a beginning.
REFORM MORMON:Where do you believe God came from?
CHRISTIAN:God has always existed.
REFORM MORMON:So you believe that God has no beginning?
CHRISTIAN:That’s right. God has no beginning.
REFORM MORMON:But that contradicts your other belief—that ‘everything has a beginning.’
CHRISTIAN:That doesn’t apply to God.
REFORM MORMON: If it doesn’t apply to God, why shouldn’t it apply to the universe in general?
CHRISTIAN:I don’t know. It just doesn’t. It’s a mystery.
REFORM MORMON:But you’re accepting as true two ideas that are mutually exclusive. On the one hand you’re saying that everything which exists has a beginning, but on the other hand you’re saying that God, who also exists, has no beginning.
The Mormon doctrine on the uncreated, eternal nature of the elements, and its doctrine of “Organization” rather than “Creationism” are in harmony with First Law of Thermodynamics as found in physics:
“In its simplest form, the First Law of Thermodynamics states that neither matter nor energy can be created or destroyed. The amount of energy in the universe is constant – energy can be changed, moved, controlled, stored, or dissipated. However, this energy cannot be created from nothing or reduced to nothing. Every natural process transforms energy and moves energy, but cannot create or eliminate it….The First Law of Thermodynamics is one of the absolute physical laws of the universe. Everything in the entire universe is affected by this law, as much as time or gravity… A burning log in the fireplace seems to violate the principles of conservation of matter/energy. Burning the log appears to create energy and destroy matter. In reality, the energy and matter are only changing place and forms; they are not being created or destroyed. The wood in the log has chemical potential energy, which is released when it is burned. This released energy appears in the form of heat and light. The matter of the log is changed into smoke particles, ash, and soot. The log’s total energy and mass before burning are the same as the mass and energy of the soot, ash, smoke, heat and light afterwards.”
In conclusion, the first principles of the Mormon Paradigm can be summed up in this way:
The concept of “eternity” is most accurately symbolized by a circle or a ring. A circle and ring have no beginning and no end. Something which is eternal has no beginning and no end.
The elements are eternal. They are uncreated—without beginning or end.
All things that exist are composed of these uncreated, eternal elements; therefore existence is also eternal. It has no beginning or end. Existence itself is primary.
The universe—galaxies, stars, moons, planets and all things in them—were organized from the eternal uncreated elements.
Things in the universe may die, decay or become disorganized, but the elements from which they are organized, remain. They are eternal, without beginning or end.
Mormon theology and philosophy is founded upon a particular concept of what it means for something to be eternal.
Joseph Smith—the First Mormon—taught that if something had a beginning, then it could have an end; if something was created from nothing, then it could potentially be annihilated—it could cease to exist.
Joseph used a ring—a circle—to illustrate his understanding of what makes a thing eternal. Like a circle, something which is eternal must be without beginning or end; it must simply exist; it must be self-existent, depending on no one or no thing for its existence.
Traditionally the religions of the world have taught that only God (whether envisioned as a personal being or an impersonal force) is without beginning or end. In this way, the religions of the world envision God as “the First Cause” of existence itself; God is that before which nothing existed, and without which nothing could exist. In short religions almost universally teach that the existence of all things depends upon the existence of God.
Joseph Smith broke with all known religions on this idea. While he did envision God as being eternal—without beginning or end—he taught that other things were eternal in the very same way.
Joseph Smith lived at the dawn of the modern scientific age. In the same decades in which Joseph brought forth his new theology, Charles Darwin was studying the various species of animal life, and developing the Theory of Evolution. Others were exploring the material world and nature of the elements from which all things are composed. The emerging scientific theories would challenge many of the faith-based ideas that mankind had unquestioningly accepted for thousands of years.
When Joseph laid out the foundations of his new theology, he did not begin by exploring the largest things imaginable; instead he began by dealing with the smallest things: the basic building blocks of all things which exist in the natural world: the elements.
Science has shown that all things known to exist are composed from some combination of 118 known naturally occurring elements. Each of the 118 elements is distinct in nature from the others. An element can not be broken down into something simpler. An element simply is what it is. Period.
The various religions of the world teach that God—being the only thing that is eternal, without beginning or end—created the elements, either from nothing, or from some other pre-existing substance or supernatural element. But there is not evidence that such an idea is true—and such a notion contradicts the essential facts about the elements: an element can not be broken down into something simpler; an element simply is what it is.
Joseph Smith sensed this contradiction, and so he taught as the doctrinal foundation of his theology a concept which no other religion has embraced:
“The elements are eternal.”(Doctrine & Covenants 93:33)
This was—and still is—a revolutionary concept in religion. Joseph Smith was proclaiming that the known elements (the ones listed on the Periodic Table found in school science classes worldwide) are without beginning and without end. The elements themselves—the building blocks of all things which exist—have the very same nature that the world’s religions have ascribed only to God!
This new doctrine—astounding, if not heretical and blasphemous in light of traditional religious thought—when carried to its logical extreme, turns all traditional religious concepts of God, man and the nature of the universe on their heads.
Further astounding the religious world, Joseph Smith not only taught that God did not create the elements; he went so far as to teach that God COULD NOT create the elements.
If the elements are eternal—self-existing, without beginning and without end—then God could not be envisioned as the actual “Creator” or “The First Cause” of all existence.
If the elements are eternal, then existence itself is not dependent on God or some other force or entity. Existence itself simply is.
Our next lesson: "Organized--Not Created".”
Over 2,700 years ago a Judean poet known as Koheleth wrote:
“Utter futility! All is futile! What real value is there for a man In all the gains he makes…? One generation goes, another comes, But the earth remains forever.” (Ecclesiastes 1:2-3—the New JPS Translation)
The author of Ecclesiastes delves into ideas that have been universal to the human family since time immemorial. Against the seemingly endless cycles of the natural world, individuals are born, they live (often lives of great accomplishment) and they die. With the passage of time, the names and accomplishments of even the greatest individuals are forgotten. In the face of death, the author of Ecclesiastes laments that human life seems meaningless, while human endeavors, struggles and accomplishments seem futile.
What human being, aware of his or her mortality, has not, at some point in life, even only momentarily, thought these same things?
It has been said that religion and theology came about because of the human race’s awareness of its own mortality. How can human intelligence—the very faculty from which springs all human memories, hopes, aspirations and accomplishments; which manifests itself most profoundly in the values, loves, sorrows, fears, joys and personal relationships of the individual—how can such a thing flare into existence, have such an amazing influence on the earth and then simply cease to exist at death?
Human intelligence itself—being able to imagine almost anything except non-existence—seems to rebel at the very notion that it can be annihilated. And so it is that throughout the course of recorded history humanity has envisioned an aspect of the individual (call it the spirit, the soul, the life force, etc.) which, once it comes into existence, somehow survives death. As all physical things break down and decay, certain Greek philosophers such as Plato declared that this aspect of man—this spirit, this soul—was immaterial, existing separately from the human body and the material world in which we human live, move and have our physical being. These philosophic theories made their way into Judaism, Christianity, Islam and other religions—spreading from one civilization to another until they became part of the general thinking of much of the human race.
If it is that an awareness of death gave birth to religion and theology, it is somehow fitting that Mormonism’s new religious paradigm was initially made public by Joseph Smith—the First Mormon—in a funeral sermon.
“I address you on the subject of the dead,” said Joseph Smith as he stood before several thousand of his followers gathered at Nauvoo, Illinois in April 1844. “The death of our beloved brother, Elder King Follett…has more immediately led me to that subject. I have been requested to speak by friends and relatives, but inasmuch as there are a great many in this congregation who live in this city as well as elsewhere, who have lost friends, I feel disposed to speak on the subject in general, and offer you my ideas, so far as I have ability, and so far as I shall be inspired by the Holy Spirit to dwell on this subject.”
With this introduction Joseph Smith laid the foundations of a new religion.
BEGINNINGS & ENDS: A NEVER-ENDING LINE
Among most of the world’s religions, it is generally taught that one’s life has a beginning—at birth or conception, or some period in between. It is generally believed that death claims only the physical body; that something essential in each human being survives the death of the body to live on eternally; that once a human life comes into existence, it can never be annihilated.
Likewise it is believed that existence itself had a beginning; that at some point in the past nothing existed, and then universe was created. It is assumed that the universe—that existence itself—is eternal.
One could say that the traditional concept of “eternal” is like that of a straight line which begins at a particular point and then extends onward, forever and ever.
“I TAKE A RING FROM MY FINGER”
This was certainly the concept of “eternal” embraced by most of those who gathered in April1844 to commemorate the passing of Elder King Follett.
But Joseph Smith began the funeral sermon by completely rejecting what could be called a “linear view” of eternity.
“I take my ring from my finger,” he said. “Suppose you cut it in two; then it has a beginning and an end; but join it again, and it continues one eternal round.’
Rather than envisioning eternity as a line, Joseph envisioned it as a circle—without beginning and without end. He reasoned that if something has a beginning, then it can possibly have an end; that if something could be created from nothing, then it could possibly be annihilated.
ONE GOD, WITHOUT BEGINNING OR END
While most Western religions teach that the human soul (or spirit) and the universe will continue on eternally, they also insist that there is one thing and one thing only that is without a beginning: God.
God is usually envisioned as that personal being, power or force that is self-existent; that is “without beginning of days or end of years”; that “is the same—yesterday, today and forever.” God is one thing that existed before anything else existed; the one thing without which nothing else that does exist or could exist. God is envisioned as the “First Cause” (that which caused everything else to exist) and also the only thing that has no cause.
In this way, most religions envision God as being eternal in a way that nothing else can be. All other things had a beginning; they were created. But God, it is believed, is a self-existent being; He simply is.
“We say that God himself is a self-existent being,” said Joseph Smith. “Who told you so? It is correct enough; but how did it get into you heads?”
Joseph accepted this notion that God was self-existent—that God was eternal because He had no beginning.
And then, having accepted as true the idea that something could be self-existent—without a beginning and therefore without an end, like a circle—Joseph took a radical step: he asked the crowd gathered before him why this concept could not be applied to things other than God.
For the past five months the Best Sellers list in the United States has been dominated by “The Lost Symbol’—Dan Brown’s long awaited sequel to his 2003 best selling novel, “The Da Vinci Code.
As in its widely heralded predecessor, “The Lost Symbol” centers on the character of Robert Langdon—scholar and world-renowned expert on religious symbolism. Called to Washington D.C. to deliver a lecture on the city’s symbolism, Langdon soon finds himself embroiled with Federal Authorities who are trying to discover the whereabouts of Peter Solomon—a prominent Mason, philanthropist and Langdon’s long-time mentor—who has been mysteriously kidnapped. After examining a bloody clue found in the rotunda of the U.S. Capital building, Langdon finds himself plunged into a clandestine world of Masonic, historical and religious secrets that have been hidden in plain view in the popular art and architecture of America’s founding period.
The story of “The Lost Symbol” is based on an intriguing supposition: despite the fact that most traditionalists, religious leaders and politicians insist that the United States is a “Christian Nation” founded on so-called “Biblical principles,” an unbiased and in depth study of the nation’s founding decades reveals that this is not the case at all; that the Founding Fathers (many of whom were Masons and Enlightenment philosophers) rejected orthodox Christian concepts of God and human nature. As Langdon states early on:
“America has a hidden past…America’s intended destiny has been lost to history.” (“The Lost Symbol,” pg. 82)
As the story unfolds that “hidden past” and “intended destiny” are revealed, along with a concept of God and human nature that may seem startling and revolutionary to readers of “The Lost Symbol”—that is, unless those readers are familiar with the later teachings of Joseph Smith, the First Mormon—the man whom Leo Tolstoy called “The American Prophet.”
THE APOTHEOSIS OF GEORGE WASHINGTON
One of the first scenes of “The Lost Symbol” is set in the rotunda of the U.S. Capital building beneath the great painting that has dominated the rotunda’s ceiling since the 19th century. Each year thousands of site-seers pass under the ceiling, look up at the painting and have no idea what they are seeing.
The painting (above)shows George Washington reigning in heaven in the company of Gods and Goddesses. The painting is entitled “The Apotheosis of George Washington.” If the average person studies the painting at length, he or she would probably be unsure of what to make of it considering that the United States is usually thought of as a “Christian Nation.”
But as bizarre as “The Apotheosis of George Washington” may seem to most people, it is nothing compared to the statute (pictured below) that once dominated the room.
Early in the story, Langdon familiarizes Sato (a Federal official) with the statue:
Langdon said, “This Rotunda was once dominated by a massive sculpture of a bare-chested George Washington….depicted as a god. He sat in the same exact pose as Zeus in the Pantheon, bare chest exposed, left hand holding a sword, right hand raised with the thumb and finger extended.” Sato had apparently found an online image, because Anderson was starting at her Blackberry in shock. “Hold on, that’s George Washington?” “Yes,” Langdon said. “Depicted as Zeus.”
Langdon goes on to explain the meaning of symbolism found in the art of the Capital’s Rotunda:
“…There are symbols all over this room that reflect a belief in the Ancient Mysteries.” “Secret wisdom,” Sato said with more than a hint of sarcasm in her voice. "Knowledge lets men acquire godlike powers?" "Yes, ma'am." "That hardly fits with the Christian underpinning of this country." "So it would seem, but it's true. The transformation of man int God is called apotheosis. Whether or not you're aware of it, this theme--transforming man into god--is the core element of this Rotunda's symbolism...The word apotheosis literally means 'divine transformation'--that of man becoming God. It's from the ancient Greek: apo--'to become'--theos--'god.'...the largest painting in this building is called The Apotheosis of George Washington. And it clearly depicts George Washington being transformed into a god." (pg. 84)
A GOSPEL OF APOTHEOSIS
The concept of humans becoming Gods is, of course, blasphemous not only in orthodox Christianity but in all monotheistic religions (religions which believe in the existence of only one God).
However, there was one American religious leader who late in his life rejected monotheism altogether and taught his followers: “…you have got to learn how to be Gods yourselves, and to be kings and priests to God, the same as all Gods have done before you, namely, by going from one small degree to another, and from a small capacity to a great one; from grace to grace, from exaltation to exaltation, until you attain to the resurrection of the dead, and are able to dwell in everlasting burnings, and to sit in glory, as do those who sit enthroned in everlasting power. And I want you to know that God, in the last days, while certain individuals are proclaiming his name, is not trifling with you or me.”
The American religious leader who taught this was Joseph Smith— (pictured below)the founder of a religion that has grown into a wide variety of very different denominations and sects which together constitute the religion popularly referred to as “Mormonism.”
In the early 1840’s during the last years of his life, Joseph Smith became deeply immersed in Freemasonry. Influenced by the Enlightenment principles he encountered in Masonry and elsewhere, Joseph Smith began what he referred to as a “reformation” of Mormonism—a reformation which was cut short by his murder by a lynch mob at the age of thirty-eight.
Central to Joseph Smith’s new theology was the concept of apotheosis. Years later a prominent Utah Mormon, Lorenzo Snow, summed up Joseph’s new theology with this statement:
“As man now is, God once was; as God now is, man may become.”
Most denominations of Mormonism have either rejected or denied Joseph’s revolutionary new theology, or they watered it down to make it more palpable to traditional Christians.
Reform Mormons are the only denomination within Mormonism who fully embrace Joseph Smith’s theology of apotheosis and continue to build upon it as their foundation.
Joseph Smith’s theology of apotheosis is identical to the religious world view that the character of Robert Langdon uncovers in the novel “The Lost Symbol.”
KNOWLEDGE IS POWER
Langdon explains how the most influential of the Founding Fathers embraced a very positive view of human nature and human potential. He says:
"Knowledge is power, and the right knowledge lets man perform miraculous, almost godlike tasks." (pg. 86)
Joseph Smith also taught that knowledge was power. "Knowledge is what saves a man," he taught in his famous 1844 sermon, "The King Follett Discourse." Earlier he taught: "if a person gains more knowledge and intelligence in this life through his diligence and obedience than another, he will have so much the advantage in the world to come." (Doctrine & Covenants 130:19)
Concerning man’s relationship with God, Joseph Smith taught:
“The relationship we have with God places us in a situation to advance in knowledge. He has power to institute laws to instruct the weaker intelligences, that they may be exalted with himself, so that they might have one glory upon another, and all that knowledge, power, glory, and intelligence…” (“The King Follett Discourse”)
Compare the above with the religious concepts that the character of Langdon discusses with another character—Katharine Solomon—toward the end of “The Lost Symbol”:
"All around the world, we are gazing skyward, waiting for God...never realizing that God is waiting for us." Katherine paused, letting her words soak in. "We are the creators, and yet we naively play the role of 'the created.' We see ourselves as helpless sheep buffeted around by the God who made us. We kneel like frightened children, begging for help, for forgiveness, for good luck. But once we realize that we are truly created in the Creator's image, we will start to understand that we, too, must be Creators. When we realize this fact, the door will burst wide open for human potential." Langdon recalled a passage that had always stuck with him from the work of philosopher Manly P. Hall: If the infinite had not desired man to be wise, he would not have bestowed upon him the faculty of knowing. Langdon gazed up again at the image of The Apotheosis of George Washington--the symbolic ascent of man to deity. The created...becoming the Creator. "The most amazing part," Katherine said, "is that as soon as we humans begin to harness our true power, we will have enormous control over our world. We will be able to design reality rather than merely react to it." (pg. 501)
Those who adhere to traditional religion concepts may likely have a problem with the idea of apotheosis because it undermines the foundational concept of all monotheist religions—the concept that there is but one all-powerful, all-knowing God or Power at work in the universe; that all of existence is the creation of that one all-knowing God or Power.
Joseph Smith realized this. While embracing the concept of many Gods, he advised others to examine the Bible in light of the Hebrew language in which the book was originally written:
“I will preach on the plurality of Gods….I wish to declare I have always and in all congregations when I have preached on the subject of Deity, it has been the plurality of Gods…’Berosheit baurau Eloheim ait aushamayeen vehau auraitis,’ rendered by King James’ translators, ‘In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth.’….’Eloheim’ is from the word ‘Eloi,’ God, in the singular number; and by adding the word ‘heim,’ it renders it Gods….In the very beginning the Bible shows there is a plurality of Gods beyond the power of refutation. The world ‘Eloheim’ ought to be in the plural all the way through—Gods.” (Joseph Smith, June 16, 1844)
Compare the reasoning of Joseph Smith with that found in the following discussion between the characters of Langdon and Katherine in “The Lost Symbol”:
God is found in the collection of Many...rather than in the One. "Elohim," Langdon said suddenly, his eyes flying open as he made an unexpected connection. "I'm sorry?" Katherine was still gazing down at him. "Elohim," he repeated. "The Hebrew word for God in the Old Testament! I've always wondered about it." Katherine gave a knowing smile. "Yes. The word is plural." Exactly! Langdon had never understood why the very first passages of Genesis refered to God as a plural being. Elohim. The Almighty God in Genesis was described not as One...but as Many. "God is plural," Katherine whispered, "because the minds of man are plural." (pgs. 504--505) “God is plural because the minds of men are plural.” This idea resonates with Joseph Smith’s teachings on the nature of the human mind:
“The mind or the intelligence which man possesses is co-equal with God himself...”
The radical theology uncovered by character of Langdon in “The Lost Symbol”—a theology built upon a positive view of human nature and humanity’s god-like potential—is the same theology that Joseph Smith taught during his unfinished reformation of Mormonism in 1844.
This is also the theology of Reform Mormonism—a startlingly new religious paradigm against which Reform Mormons view the universe and humanity’s place in it.
In the following months, this blog will publish a series of short lessons—each of them exploring the basic philosophic concepts that Joseph Smith taught as the basis of his unfinished religious reformation.
Because of these concepts Reform Mormonism is a religion that embraces rational thought and intellectual freedom; the arts, sciences and technology; individualism, equality and human progress. It is a religion suited for modern men and women.
The character of Robert Langdon could easily have been thinking of Joseph Smith when, towards the end of “The Lost Symbol”….
...he thought of the words of a great prophet who boldly declared: Nothing is hidden that will not be made known; nothing is secret that will not come to light. (pg.508)
It amazes me how the first Christmas snuck up on the world. Of course then, as now, everyone was waiting for a savior to come; everyone believed that God would intervene in human history. They talked about it; prophesied about it; argued, wept and laughed over it.
But for all their talking, arguing and prophesying, no one thought of walking out the back door and looking for God in the stable. What would God be doing sleeping in a manager? Society was in big trouble! Organized religion was failing miserably. Family ties weren’t as stable as they had once been. Rome ruled the world, and those Greek perverts had for centuries been spreading around all sort of immoral ideas! And don’t forget urban crime, and wars breaking out all over the world. At such a time surely God wouldn’t play a dirty trick on us by sneaking into our world and falling asleep like a newborn in something out of which animals eat!
But according to the Christmas story that is exactly what God did, and the world didn’t even notice. How unfair! Or was it?
There were clues enough, but people overlooked them. There was that teenage girl Mary who had been pregnant nearly six months before she finally got married. Anyone with any moral sense whatsoever knows what kind of a girl she is. Are we supposed to believe that God had something to do with that bit of immorality? There were those shepherds running around at all hours of the night, singing and shouting about having seen angels and heavenly lights out in their fields, but can anyone take such fanatics seriously? And there were those “wise men” from the East--that cult of superstitious astrologers who marched into town talking about “a newborn king.” One can never make heads-nor-tails of what those Orientals are talking about, and are we really suppose to believe their primitive hocus-pocus? That’s how people were in Biblical times, and any resemblance between them and us is purely historical and not a coincidence. I wonder about the main characters in the Christmas story: did they really understand what was going on at the time, or were they as confused and unsure as I might have been were I in their place? Did Mary understand how fully she was accepting God when she accepted an unplanned pregnancy that was sure to cause talk among the neighbors and rifts in her family? Was Joseph aware that he was accepting God when he decided to take Mary as his wife and raise as his own son a child he knew was not biologically his own? Did Herod--builder of his people’s greatest temple--realize that he was attempting to murder God when he ordered the slaying of the innocents?
These are questions I ask myself whenever I read or hear the Christmas story, and these questions are what make the holiday meaningful. I wonder if I see “something of God” in the unwed pregnant teen-age girls in our society, and I wonder what my response to them should be. I wonder about fanatics--our latter-day shepherds who come running to us during the night, singing and shouting about angels appearing in their fields. I think about those people of different cultures, nationalities and religions whose strange beliefs and traditions seem outdated, ridiculous, even uncivilized and barbaric--and yet they, like so many of us, seem to be searching for a new star in the heavens. I think about our modern Herods--those political and religious leaders who would, at all costs, protect the status quo from any “newborn kings” who might pop up. And I think of all the humans who will be born into our world this Christmas and put to sleep in mangers or trash cans because we who have so much can’t seem to find room in our inns; and I wonder if we, for all of our singing of carols and reading of scriptures, are overlooking the Divine being born again and again into our world.
When all is said and done, I find myself contemplating that very first Christmas Eve. I imagine that I am sitting in the dark stable, trying to keep warm between the animals as together we gaze upon what appears to be just another baby sleeping in the manger. Part of me is filled with wonder at the way God sneaks into our world in completely unexpected, sometime even ridiculous ways; it’s as if God had changed the labels around so that no one can really tell who is human and who is divine. Part of me is grateful that I was born nearly 2,000 years after Jesus; grateful that the events of his birth have been handed down to me in the form of a miraculous story with clear-cut heroes and villains; grateful that the story has been enshrined in music, art and tradition. It’s much easier to see God in a manger when the manger has been bought at Wal-mart and is illuminated by the electric lights of an artificial Christmas tree.
Rob. Lauer is an award-winning writer--winner of the 1982 Mayhew Award, the 1990 Paul T. Nolan Award and the 1990 Deep South Writer's Conference Best Play of the Year Award. His latest work is "FIRST FREEDOM" a musical play dramatizing tne ten year political battle waged by James Madison to pass Thomas Jefferson's Virginia Statute for Religious Freedom. Rob is currently finishing work on his first novel, "DESERET", which explores individual rights,the mixing of religion and politics, and battles concerning marriage rights against the backdrop of Utah Territory in the 1880's.
