I want to talk about the doctrine of motherhood.
In a General Conference address in October of 2001, Sister Sheri Dew gave a wonderful talk on motherhood.
In her talk, she asked, “Have you ever wondered why prophets have taught the doctrine of motherhood...again and again? I have... And I have wrestled with what the doctrine of motherhood means for all of us. This issue has driven me to my knees, to the scriptures, and to the temple—all of which teach an ennobling doctrine regarding our most crucial role as women. It is a doctrine about which we must be clear if we hope to stand “steadfast and immovable” regarding the issues that swirl around our gender. For Satan has declared war on motherhood. He knows that those who rock the cradle can rock his earthly empire. And he knows that without righteous mothers loving and leading the next generation, the kingdom of God will fail.”
That was a very powerful statement!
She went on to teach the following, “When we understand the magnitude of motherhood, it becomes clear why prophets have been so protective of woman’s most sacred role. While we tend to equate motherhood solely with maternity, in the Lord’s language, the word mother has layers of meaning. Of all the words they could have chosen to define her role and her essence, both God the Father and Adam called Eve “the mother of all living” 3 —and they did so before she ever bore a child. Like Eve, our motherhood began before we were born. Just as worthy men were foreordained to hold the priesthood in mortality, righteous women were endowed pre-mortally with the privilege of motherhood. Motherhood is more than bearing children, though it is certainly that. It is the essence of who we are as women. It defines our very identity, our divine stature and the unique traits our Father gave us.”
In fact, I have always been amazed that women have within them the power to create life, to give life, and to sustain life.
President Gordon B. Hinckley stated that “God planted within women something divine.” That something is the gift and the gifts of motherhood.
Elder Matthew Cowley taught that “men have to have something given to them [that is, the priesthood] to make them saviors of men, but not mothers, not women. [They] are born with an inherent right, an inherent authority, to be the saviors of human souls … and the regenerating force in the lives of God’s children.”
President Hinckley taught that Motherhood is not what was left over after our Father blessed His sons with priesthood ordination. It was the most ennobling endowment He could give His daughters, a sacred trust that gave women an unparalleled role in helping His children keep their second estate.
In fact, it was President J. Reuben Clark Jr. who declared, motherhood is “as divinely called, as eternally important in its place as the Priesthood itself.”
I would now like to turn our attention to how mothers are Christ-like figures.
In Motherhood we can clearly see allusions to Christ and a woman’s divinely shared role with the Father in bringing about salvation to His spirit children.
In the Garden of Eden, we learn of the Tree of Life and the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil.
In reading the account of Adam and Eve, we learn that Eve comes to the realization that she must exercise her divinely granted agency and partake of the forbidden fruit in order to gain the knowledge that would allow her to fulfill the commandment to multiply and replenish the earth. This is not a decision that she comes to lightly. She agonizes over this. We hear Eve asking, “Is there no other way?” With this realization that there is no other way, she partakes of the fruit and continues to fulfill her role in the plan of salvation.
Likewise, we can hear this same sober realization (that there is no other way) in the voice of the Savior in the the Garden of Gethsemane when Jesus begs, “Please, Father remove this cup.” When we hear the pleading of the Son, we must hear in our minds the pleading of Eve when she says, “Is there no other way?”
They both come to the same conclusion. They both exercise their agency and fulfill their role in the Father’s plan. Eve is a Christ-like figure in making this choice in our behalf.
In fact, all women are like Eve, and therefore like Christ.
To explain, the Hebrew word for 'HOUSE' is BETH. That same word ‘BETH’ also means DAUGHTER. And the Hebrew word ‘El’ means God. Thus every daughter of God is BETHEL, the House of God, or Temple of God.
So, if we are talking about the partnership that a woman has with God the Father, and how she is like Eve, then when we think of BETHEL (or House or Temple of God), and we might naturally see in our mind's eye the imagery of an expectant mother, housing and building the family of God.
In speaking specifically of pregnancy, this clearly alludes to Christ’s suffering in the Garden of Gethsemane.
We should see Jesus’ experience in the Garden of Gethsemane as a repeat of Eve’s experience in the Garden of Eden.
You might ask, how?
Again, to explain, as Christ enters the Garden, his disciples stay outside.
This is not unlike husbands in times past who were not allowed into the DELIVERY room when the woman was in Labor.
After all, a man cannot have the baby. This is a selfless act that she alone must perform.
Likewise, when Christ was in the Garden, Peter, James, and John were off sleeping - because what else can they do? Only Jesus could DELIVER us. So in a real sense, the Garden of Gethsemane was our delivery room (from death and sin).
Now listen to the words of Moses 6:59
59 That by reason of transgression cometh the fall, which fall bringeth death, and inasmuch as ye were born into the world by water, and blood, and the Spirit, which I have made, and so became of a living soul, even so ye must be again into the kingdom of heaven, of water, and of the Spirit, and be cleansed by blood, even the blood of mine Only Begotten; that ye might be sanctified from all sin, and enjoy the words of eternal life in this world, and eternal life in the world to come, even immortal glory;
Can you see the similarities of Christ’s suffering with that Eve or of any other woman in childbirth? All of the elements of Christ’s Atoning sacrifice are present. There is blood. There is sweat. There is water. There is Spirit. There are tears.
And like Jesus, Eve and all mothers sacrifice for Heavenly Father in order to advance the human race.
In all of history, the number one killer of woman is childbirth. A woman quite literally lays her life on the altar to bring forth her children. Like the Savior in essence, she is offering to die that others may live.
In Isaiah 53 vs. four we read that “[Christ] surely...hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows.” And in vs. 10, we read that “...it pleased the Lord to bruise him; he that put him to grief…”
And in Psalms 22, the Messianic psalm of David, we read, “ I am poured out like water, and all my bones are out of joint: my heart is like wax; it is melted in the midst of my bowels.
Doesn’t this sound like childbirth?
Every mother is like Eve in that she stands at the veil and helps the spirit children of our Heavenly Father enter into mortality. Fathers, on the other hand, who hold the priesthood usher us back toward the veil and give us access to Heaven and to the Fruit of the Tree of Life through administration of the priesthood ordinances. In this way, Motherhood and Priesthood exist in a complementary and symbiotic association. Both are absolutely needed and equal.
I started out my talk by mentioning the two trees in the Garden of Eden. I first spoke of the Tree of Knowledge to relate the selfless act of motherhood as manifest by Mother Eve and all mothers to the Atonement.
But what of the Tree of Life? How is motherhood portrayed by the Tree of Life?
In 1st Nephi 11, Nephi expresses his great desire to see the same vision of the Tree of Life that his father saw and to know the interpretation.
The Spirit told Nephi to look, so Nephi records that "I looked and beheld a tree; and it was like unto the tree which my father had seen; and the beauty thereof was far beyond, yea, exceeding of all beauty; and the whiteness thereof did exceed the whiteness of the driven snow.
9 And it came to pass after I had seen the tree, I said unto the Spirit: I behold thou hast shown unto me the tree which is precious above all.
10 And he said unto me: What desirest thou?
11 And I said unto him: To know the interpretation thereof--.
13 ... I beheld the city of Nazareth; and in the city of Nazareth I beheld a virgin, and she was exceedingly fair and white.
14 And it came to pass that I saw the heavens open; and an angel came down and stood before me; and he said unto me: Nephi, what beholdest thou?
15 And I said unto him: A virgin, most beautiful and fair above all other virgins."
9 And it came to pass after I had seen the tree, I said unto the Spirit: I behold thou hast shown unto me the tree which is precious above all.
10 And he said unto me: What desirest thou?
11 And I said unto him: To know the interpretation thereof--.
13 ... I beheld the city of Nazareth; and in the city of Nazareth I beheld a virgin, and she was exceedingly fair and white.
14 And it came to pass that I saw the heavens open; and an angel came down and stood before me; and he said unto me: Nephi, what beholdest thou?
15 And I said unto him: A virgin, most beautiful and fair above all other virgins."
It is important to pause here so as to understand that when Nephi wanted to know the significance of the tree (that was exceeding of all beauty), that he was shown a vision of the Virgin Mary. In other words, the Spirit describes Mary with the same adjectives as he does the Tree of Life. So, we now have the imagery of the Virgin Mary as the Tree of Life.
The Spirit then continued by asking Nephi:
16..."Knowest thou the condescension of God?
17 And I [Nephi] said unto him: I know that he loveth his children; nevertheless, I do not know the meaning of all things.
18 And he said unto me: Behold, the virgin whom thou seest is the mother of the Son of God, after the manner of the flesh.
19 And it came to pass that I beheld that she was carried away in the Spirit; and after she had been carried away in the Spirit for the space of a time the angel spake unto me, saying: Look!
20 And I looked and beheld the virgin again, bearing a child in her arms.
21 And the angel said unto me: Behold the Lamb of God, yea, even the Son of the Eternal Father! Knowest thou the meaning of the tree which thy father saw?
And now it is the Spirit asking Nephi the same question that Nephi had originally asked the Spirit. And now, Nephi gets it. He understands!
22 And...[Nephi] answered him, saying: Yea, it is the love of God, which sheddeth itself abroad in the hearts of the children of men; wherefore, it is the most desirable above all things.
23 And he spake unto me, saying: Yea, and the most joyous to the soul.
23 And he spake unto me, saying: Yea, and the most joyous to the soul.
In other words, the Tree itself (which is the most precious above all things) not only represents God the Father, but also Mary because it is through her that the Father’s love is made manifest to us in that she is the bearer of God’s fruit, even the Son of God.
And likewise, all women (whether in mortality or in the eternities) are foreordained to participate with the Father in bringing forth his precious fruit - even his spirit children.
And for faithful daughters of God who have not yet had the privilege of bearing children, please know that every attendant blessing of motherhood awaits you on God’s timeline.
Part of the doctrine of motherhood is the understanding that Motherhood is the greatest potential influence for either good or ill in human life. The mother’s image is the first that stamps itself on the unwritten page of the young child’s mind. It is her caress that first awakens a sense of security; her kiss the first realization of affection; her sympathy and tenderness the first assurance that there is love in the world.
I also find it fascinating that no other Christian religion has the same view of God as we do. He bares children through his female counterpart -- Our Heavenly Mother. Together they are God to us.
I am thankful for the restored knowledge of the divinity of Motherhood.
