Mormon Cosmology is Cool

Tyler Perry

Are You Not Entertained?

I am going to say something that will probably make some of my gay friends very unhappy with me.

I love Ender’s Game.  Hands down, my favorite novel of all-time.  In so many ways, it defined my adolescence.  I felt such a connection to the struggle of Ender Wiggin as a kid who just did not quite fit in at home or at school.  I better understand the reasons why I struggled with those connections now, but that book gave me a sense of belonging and shared experience that I could hardly find anywhere else.

Orson Scott Card, the author of Ender’s Game, tends to slip Mormon cosmology into his writing.  He literally wrote a series that is little more than a sci-fi retelling of the Book of Mormon.  He also participated in the writing of the script for my favorite original Xbox game, Advent Rising.  You have probably never heard of Advent Rising, as it was not terribly popular, it was super buggy, and it had bad graphics, even for the time.  However, I love Advent Rising.

Advent Rising tells the story of Gideon Wyeth, a space pilot tasked to participate in the first contact meeting with an alien species that has just mysteriously arrived over his homeworld.  Gideon learns that humanity was once anciently worshipped as gods, and that he has the potential to achieve unfathomable power.  Sound familiar?  Well, it is my theory that Card slipped in some references to Mormon cosmology into the text.

As a side note, the Halo series tends to be regarded as the Xbox series with the best soundtrack, but Advent Rising absolutely blows it out of the water.  I am a sucker for soundtracks, and Advent Rising was, in my infallible and always correct opinion, the best of the original Xbox generation in that category.

Going back a few decades, another Mormon creative by the name of Glen Larson created a science fiction series for television called Battlestar Galactica that borrowed themes and imagery from Star Wars and Star Trek.  This little series was reimagined in 2003 by Ron Moore and David Eick, and it retained many of the elements that Glen Larson had worked into the mythology of the series.

Battlestar Galactica tells the story of the survivors of the destruction of the Twelve Tribes, or Colonies, of Kobol, who are cast into exile searching for a new home on a planet called Earth.  There is a government called the Quorum of Twelve that rules over the Twelve Colonies.  The original series had many more references to Mormon cosmology and theology than the reimagined, but the heart of that mythology survived the generations.

Also, Battlestar Galactica (2003) has an incredible soundtrack composed by Bear McCreary.  It has the best use of music I have ever seen in television.  Honestly, the show is worth watching just for the soundtrack, but it is an amazing show on top of that.

Despite all appearances to the contrary, however, I am not writing this essay because I want to gush over a few of my favorite pieces of entertainment.  Instead, I am using these pieces of entertainment to make another point.

Space, Space, I Love Space

Mormon cosmology is absolutely fascinating.  Even orthodox belief in the cosmology can lend space for scientific learning that seemingly runs contrary to the Biblical narrative, and the nature of Mormon cosmology makes it really easy to put external contradictions on the shelf. 

Honestly, my favorite thing about Mormonism is the cosmology.  This may sound shallow to some, but when the third-highest ordinance (behind the sealing and the second anointing) is all about cosmology, it’s difficult to deny that the cosmology of the faith is an important and significant aspect of the religion.

The story is absolutely amazing.  I am going to share with you the version I was able to build up as my mission drew to a close (peak spirituality of course).  This was the result of extensive study into the cosmology, history of the temple ordinances, and the doctrines of the Plan of Salvation, inasmuch as the resources were available to me on my mission (this is important to note since I was only authorized to study from the canonized scriptures, Preach My Gospel, Jesus the Christ, issues of the Ensign, and very few additional sources).

Well before the beginning, all that would become human life existed as intelligences, or intelligent matter.  These intelligences are eternal, but they existed in some kind of unformed state.  God the Father, Elohim, who dwelled near the star Kolob, looked upon these intelligences, saw that they were good, and, in concert with his wife (or wives, if you ask Brigham Young), organized them into spiritual beings.  His spirit children.  This process of organizing intelligences into spirts is not well-defined, but it is believed that it is analogous to the earthly reproductive power.

It is believed that the first spirit child of our Heavenly Father, Elohim, and Heavenly Mother(s) was Jehovah, who would later come to the world in a tabernacle of flesh and blood as Jesus the Christ.  Thus, Jehovah is our Elder Brother.

Among the great spirit children of Elohim were Michael, the man we would know as Adam; Gabriel, the man we would know as Noah; and Lucifer, who would become Satan.  A pet theory that I held, in part because I think it is awesome, is that all the “dispensation-opening” prophets were archangels.  Adam was Michael, Noah was Gabriel, and Joseph Smith was afraid to talk about the ordering of spirits in the pre-existence because he thought he would be killed for making such a claim [1].  There were 7 archangels in ancient Judeo-Christian tradition [2] and 7 dispensations in Mormon theology [3].  It would stand to reason that the spirit children Elohim chose to open gospel dispensations would be the elite among the elite.  Since Mormons hold the endowment sacred, I will not be diving into details of that ceremony, but there is implication within that ceremony that indicates that Peter may have had a major role in the early gospel history of man, which gives further credence to this archangel theory.

Elohim taught and trained his spirit children.  As his children, they were the same species as Elohim (a species that we will refer to as Homo sapien deus), and they had the potential to become like him.  However, Elohim has a body of flesh and bone, which his spirit children did not possess.  He also has wisdom that they did not possess.  To mature into beings like him, Elohim, in council, developed a plan whereby his children would obtain bodies of flesh and blood and be tested to see if they could become like him.  He would create a world for them to come to, and they would enter the next phase of the Homo sapien deus life cycle.

Thus, on Earth, we are gods in embryo (this is an idea alluded to in The Miracle of Forgiveness).

Elohim’s plan required the perfection of his children, a standard that few would be able to meet.  As such, an intercessor would be required to allow Elohim’s children to be made clean before returning to his presence.

Lucifer proposed a plan whereby all of Elohim’s children would be able to live with him for eternity, but the glory for the execution of this plan would go to Lucifer.  For his hubris in placing himself above Elohim, Lucifer and his followers were cast out of heaven, and Lucifer became Satan.  Jehovah, on the other hand, supported Elohim’s plan, and agreed to be the Intercessor, or Savior, of humanity, with the glory to be given to Elohim.

And so, Jehovah was chosen as the Savior.

Jehovah and Michael, who would become Adam, the first man, were put in charge of creating the Earth.  The works of the temporal creation of the universe and the world began at some point around this era of the premortal life.

Weird Science

The Creation of the Earth in Mormon cosmology works better with our scientific understanding than orthodox Christian cosmology does.  Even if General Conference talks by supposedly scientifically literate prophets dismiss the idea of the Big Bang Theory, Mormon cosmology absolutely has space for the theory.  Unlike the idea that the Big Bang was a sudden explosion of matter, the actual scientific theory describes a rapid expansion of matter and anti-matter.  When matter and anti-matter collide, they release photons [5].

And God said, “Let there be light”, and there was light.

Where Mormon cosmology runs into a bit of a problem with the current scientific consensus is in the beginning of life and the variety of life.  Evolution by natural selection requires reproduction and death to function.  However, according to Mormon theology, death did not enter the world until the fall of Man, approximately 6000 years ago [6].  Thus, evolution by natural selection, a scientific theory that is supported by a massive amount of evidence, is incompatible with Mormon theology, but not necessarily Mormon cosmology.

I want to posit the cosmological hypothesis I was operating under to balance out these conflicting ideas that I held to be true.  Death, being a natural part of temporal existence, was found in the animals, plants, bacteria, and other organisms not of the Homo sapien deus species found outside the Garden of Eden before the Fall.  Only in Eden was death not known.  In fact, a genetically compatible species or two of Homo sapiens were on the Earth outside the Garden of Eden in the years before Adam’s Fall.  It is from these other Homo sapiens that Adam’s first generation of children found their mates [7].

Humanity exists on this world to go through the life cycle steps necessary to become like Elohim.  Michael, as Adam, began the process by partaking of the fruit of the tree of knowledge of good and evil.  This gave humanity the ability to discern good from bad, right from wrong, but it also distanced us from Elohim for a time.  Jehovah, who came to the Earth as Jesus the Christ, closed the gap between humanity and Elohim, making it possible for Elohim’s children to return to him.

Those who are seeking to fulfill the life cycle steps of Homo sapien deus must be baptized and receive the gift of the Holy Ghost, receive temple ordinances, be sealed for time and all eternity, and may receive the second anointing if they are righteous enough.  All will eventually die.

At death, the spiritual component of the Homo sapien deus body goes to a waystation of sorts known as the Spirit World.  In the Spirit World, spirits continue to learn and to teach as they await the day of their resurrection, when their sprit and their body, now perfected, will join to never die again.  After the resurrection, each child of Elohim will be judged for their worthiness to become as he is.  Those who have passed the test will be welcomed into the Celestial Kingdom, wherein they will enter the final stage of the Homo sapien deus life cycle.

They will then become as Elohim is, and they will propagate the Homo sapien deus species by forming intelligences into spirit children of their own.

I remember having a conversation with my grandmother where I posited that one day, science will advance to the point that we will be able to measure all of the truth claims of Mormon cosmology, proving them to be true.  Eventually, we would have the technology necessary to fold space-time, detect higher dimensional beings, and quantify our own status as pre-divine children of Elohim.  I think the insinuation that human learning could achieve harmony with celestial learning was a bit difficult to accept for someone with more orthodox views, but it lined up very well with my views.

Guys, Cosmology Is, Like, Super Rad, But...

Mormon cosmology is amazing, and I do not think that it gets enough attention for its potential as a source of storytelling and wonder.  I spent most of my mission making the sorts of questionably blasphemous jokes that missionaries make about creating worlds of my own.  In those jokes was wonder and awe, not belittlement or flippancy.

In a way, the cosmology of the faith was what tied me to it so closely.  What other faith offered something so impressive?  The very doctrine of the eternal family was inextricably linked to this incredible story of man’s potential to become so much more than what we are now.  And I was excited to participate in that plan.

And then, I came to realize something.

Before I get into that, I want to talk about a conversation I had with my roommates at BYU-Idaho.  We were talking about aliens.  Bunch of nerds.  I mentioned that if we ever met fully sapient aliens that were not human, it would cause me to question, or perhaps lose, my faith in Mormonism.  It did not make sense to my understanding of Mormon cosmology that Elohim would organize sapient intelligences into bodies that could not become like him.  That were not the same species as him.  Thus, the discovery of intelligent alien life that was not human would disprove Mormon cosmology.

And then I met an alien.  And it was not human.

I’m kidding!

What actually happened was much more ordinary.  I have written about this before, but I hope that this essay puts that account into better context.  I read a comment on a YouTube video or a Greg Trimble blog or something (I will never find this comment ever again) in the wake of the November 2015 policy that asked the question, “Why would gay people want to be made straight in the resurrection?”

Understand, my understanding of Mormon cosmology was that every worthy child of Elohim would become like Elohim, creating worlds and spirit children.  That act of creation requires a man and a woman.  It had not occurred to me, for some reason, that being forced into a heterosexual union against their very nature could be hell for gay people.

And the sneaky issue was that I had spent the last couple decades hiding from myself the fact that I am gay.  This question, not in that moment, but over time, completely shattered my worldview and my love of Mormon cosmology as a truth claim (I still do honestly believe that Mormon cosmology is a fantastic story that should be the inspiration for more awesome stories like Battlestar Galactica and Advent Rising).  The more that I wrestled with my identity as a gay Mormon, the more that I struggled with this cosmological question.  And the cosmology of the Plan of Salvation started to fall apart at the seams.

How could this be the correct cosmology of a benevolent and loving god, as I believed Elohim to be?  How could this be the true plan if there was no place in it for upwards of 10% of Elohim’s children?  I mean, 10% is a tithe.  Is Elohim tithing his children with LGBTQ+ identities as some sort of twisted sacrifice?  If so, why would I want anything to do with him?

Honestly, within the confines of Mormon cosmology, I do not have good answers to those questions.  No one that I have talked to does either.  The best that I have seen were in Evan Smith’s Gay Latter-Day Saint Crossroads, and, as far as answers to cosmological questions are concerned, even that comes up short [8].

Mormon cosmology was the bedrock of my faith. Placing that bedrock on my shelf was more weight than it could bear.

References

[1]https://emp.byui.edu/SATTERFIELDB/Quotes/If%20I%20were%20to%20tell%20you%20all%20I%20know%20%20JosephSmith.html This definitely falls into the category of "deep doctrine".

[2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seven_Archangels Even more "deep doctrine".  You might hear about this during a High Priest Group meeting or on a mission.  If you have a really fun Gospel Doctrine teacher, you also might dive into this a little bit.  Otherwise, the Seven Archangels and their relationship to Mormonism is a bit of a fringe topic.  "Just don't teach it as doctrine."

[3] https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/scriptures/bd/dispensations?lang=eng Adam, Enoch, Noah, Abraham, Moses, Peter (Christ), Joseph Smith.  Dispensations should be designated by the giving of certain keys.  These keys can all be identified by how they were restored in the Dispensation of the Fulness of Times.  Elijah does appear to function as a restorer of the keys of Enoch.  He possessed Melchizedek Priesthood authority and the sealing keys during the dispensation of Moses, which was also the Levitical era.  Enoch’s lack of appearance in the dispensation of the fulness of times is notable (though there are some who argue that the reference to Raphael in Section 128 of the Doctrine and Covenants is a reference to Enoch), and for that reason it has been argued that Elijah acts as a restorationist of the dispensation of Enoch.  The exact definition of a dispensation is a bit fuzzy, however.  There is an implication that a dispensation ends with an apostasy and the next begins with some sort of restoration, though the amount of restored teachings vary from dispensation to dispensation.  The Dispensation of the Fulness of Times, the modern dispensation, is meant to have all knowledge and keys restored.

[4] https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/general-conference/2012/04/thanks-be-to-god?lang=eng I was on my mission when this talk was given, and it made me uncomfortable then.  I agreed with parts of it, but I knew that this characterization of the Big Bang was just bad, let alone the allusions to evolution that do no better.  And coming from the "science guy" of the Twelve just made it all the worse.  There is good stuff in here, like when he talks about how incredible the heart is.  I absolutely agree that the heart is an amazing organ.  The way it functions as an electromechanical device is nothing short of amazing, but it has some serious inefficiencies that call into question God's skill as a designer.  I mean, congenital atrial septum defects are so common that if the heart was deliberately designed, the designer should be fired for such a gross oversight.  This talk points to a few issues with trying to use science as part of your theology that routinely rejects science.

[5] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Annihilation My use of this reference is part of an oversimplified discussion of the Big Bang Theory, but I am not a physicist, nor is my intended audience.  Getting much deeper into this discussion is not beneficial for my intentions here.  I do encourage the reader to do their own study into the Big Bang Theory, the Theory of Evolution by Natural Selection, and other scientific theories.

[6] https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/scriptures/gs/death-physical?lang=eng

[7] This is completely supposition and personal belief, not the official teachings of the church.  I am also very aware that this is a “God of the gaps” style of argument, more or less fitting God into wherever there is gray area in our current scientific understanding.  As I worked with rationalizing my faith in God with my increasing scientific literacy, this type of thinking was important to me.  Since my shelf has fallen apart in recent years, however, I have much less need to fit God into those gaps.  If he exists, I am willing to go with “Hasa diga Eebowai” as my response to anything about him.  If he does not exist, then our current scientific understanding is the best explanation for these things anyway, so why waste energy on trying to fit God into that?

[8] https://www.gayldscrossroads.org/ First of all, this book is amazing.  It is the book that I wish I had when I was 14.  Evan Smith is awesome, his family is incredible, and this book is wonderful.  Please read and support it.  I understand that Evan is not really trying to answer cosmological questions with his book.  He does propose some theological answers to these questions, and, while I appreciate those attempts, and I hope that he continues to maintain his activity and membership in the church, since we need allies like him on the inside, I do not agree with the conclusions that he has reached on the theological and cosmological issues.  I do think that they are the best attempts, and, if you ask any more “why’s” on top of what Evan presents, I think you arrive in John Dehlin, Bill Reel, and Tyler Perry territory.  Read this book and go as far as Evan goes if you want to be an LGBTQ+ ally but remain a believing member of the church.  Do not ask those next questions if you are not interested in following them where they lead.  It is a bitter and painful road.  I would contend that it is worth it, if you are looking to follow truth wherever it leads, but the cost of asking those next questions is high.