Mormons and the term "Heavenly Father"

[GoLatin]

Why do Mormons often say “Heavenly Father” instead of “the Heavenly Father”?

Is it just a matter of style, or does it have something to do with Mormon theology?

Thanks.

 

[tundramom]

Mormons believe that they are literal sons and daughters of “Heavenly Father”. With a goddess wife and all that. Pre-existant before we came to Earth.

in Christ
Steph

 

[LittleDeb]

Why do Mormons often say “Heavenly Father” instead of “the Heavenly Father”?

Is it just a matter of style, or does it have something to do with Mormon theology?

Thanks.

I never really thought about that before. It might be just because they open most prayers that way, addressing Him as such. As we would say, “Jesus, we humbly thank you…,” they would say, “Heavenly Father” in that context.

Otherwise, I agree with tundramom that is related to their theology of actual parentage. If I were talking to my brother or sister about our dad, I would simply say, “Dad,” not “our dad.”

I guess it would be really strange to say to one of my LDS friends, “Your Heavenly Father.” It would seem strange but at the same time it might be accurate. Since they don’t believe (EDIT: profess to believe) in an unchanging, omnipotent, omnipresent, omniscient Heavenly Father, then The Heavenly Father would seem like a misnomer.

I don’t know. Just my opinion and it’s worth about :twocents:

 

[kadesh]

You know i find that strange it ultimatley drives me crazy when i talk hteology with my friend b/c he always says heavenly father. I usually just say GOD. But if you look at “they” being moromn dont even belive in the same God as us Christians. Their God was a man on another planet that rose to “Godhood” just like Jesus Christ oh and something like Jesus was a polygamist on earth.

 

[J_C]

You know i find that strange it ultimatley drives me crazy when i talk hteology with my friend b/c he always says heavenly father. I usually just say GOD. But if you look at “they” being moromn dont even belive in the same God as us Christians. Their God was a man on another planet that rose to “Godhood” just like Jesus Christ oh and something like Jesus was a polygamist on earth.

yes, this rubs on me, too. I have noticed it.

A couple weeks ago I went to dinner with a large group of mromons, only about half of whom are active. We prayed before dinner, and the three Catholics of us there crossed ourselves as usual, while all of the mormons folded their arms across their bellies, while one man gave a lengthy seeemingly improvised freeform prayer, consisting of all the usual calling forth of blessings. it made me think, for a people that eschew formatted things, the arm folding and the prayer were terribly formatted.

why not just fold hands in the traditional sign of prayer? all they have done is adopt a different sign, i think deliberately and even selfconcisouly different.

so now whenever i hear people say Heavenly Father, and fold their arms across their bellies when they pray, I know thay are mormonas, so I guess the brand identification has succeeded.

 

[zerinus]

yes, this rubs on me, too. I have noticed it.

A couple weeks ago I went to dinner with a large group of mromons, only about half of whom are active. We prayed before dinner, and the three Catholics of us there crossed ourselves as usual, while all of the mormons folded their arms across their bellies, while one man gave a lengthy seeemingly improvised freeform prayer, consisting of all the usual calling forth of blessings. it made me think, for a people that eschew formatted things, the arm folding and the prayer were terribly formatted.

why not just fold hands in the traditional sign of prayer? all they have done is adopt a different sign, i think deliberately and even selfconcisouly different.

so now whenever i hear people say Heavenly Father, and fold their arms across their bellies when they pray, I know thay are mormonas, so I guess the brand identification has succeeded.

It seems to me that you just want to find fault with Mormons no matter what they do. If fold their arms, you say, why they fold their arms? If they don’t fold their arms, you say, why didn’t they? If they give a short prayer you say, why they gave a short prayer? If they give a long prayer you say, why did they give a long prayer? . . .

I think that is cheap, petty, mean spirited, and quite frankly pathetic.

zerinus

 

[The_GreyPilgrim]

I think that is cheap, petty, mean spirited, and quite frankly pathetic.

zerinus

Pardon me but ‘petty’ as in outright ignoring direct questions with scripture verses to support them?

Pot, meet the kettle…

 

[PaulDupre]

It seems to me that the adoption of a non-traditional prayer posture is just one more way the Mormons tried to differentiate themselves from Christians - like not displaying the cross. It’s just one more way for the leadership to isolate them from Christian society. Remember that it is only very recently that Mormons ceased to object to being called Christians.

 

[RebeccaJ]

I was raised a Mormon and taught that saying “God” is not appropriate or respectful, and to always say “Heavenly Father”. In Mormon speech and writings, “Heavenly Father” is a replacement for actually saying the word “God”.

In Mormon theology, God=God the Father, alone, Mormons do not think or believe God as the Trinity.

“Heavenly Father” or “Our Father in Heaven” are synonymous. As has already been explained, Mormons take God, as Father, very literally. They believe he fathered our souls with a heavenly mother, before the earth was made.

 

[J_C]

It seems to me that you just want to find fault with Mormons no matter what they do. If fold their arms, you say, why they fold their arms? If they don’t fold their arms, you say, why didn’t they? If they give a short prayer you say, why they gave a short prayer? If they give a long prayer you say, why did they give a long prayer? . . .

I think that is cheap, petty, mean spirited, and quite frankly pathetic.

zerinus

it isn’t a matter of finding fault. I merely identified what I saw. I looked around the table and noticed that all the mormons includingg the nonactive ones, which now I count them up was most of them, had from apparent force of habit, folded their arms across their bellies.

Most Chrstains I’ ve known adopt no particular posture at all while praying, except maybe bowing head and closing eyes. Some will put hands together at the palms (I am prone to do this). None that I have ever seen do this arm folding thing across the midscetion. Now I am told that this is a peculiarly morman practice.

And that is fine. but I still have to wonder why it is necessary for the Mormonsa to have a unique praying posture. Can you explain this? Is it derived from some scripture? where did this practice originate such that it appears to be universal, so that even nonactive LdS people do it habitually?

when I look at the various sects, I notice that many of them do some things in a unique way so as to differentiate themselves from the others. I have been fond of comparing it to marketing of products, where two manufacturers of some product that are similar or identical, have to do something different so people will know the difference between a Motorola and a sony. these differences are often merely cosmetic.

sorry if I offended. sometimes my writing style comes across more caustic than I mean it to. I should probably use some of those cuties little faces, but they seem a little dumb to me.

 

[zerinus]

Pardon me but ‘petty’ as in outright ignoring direct questions with scripture verses to support them?

Pot, meet the kettle…

No offence! I ignored your questions because they sounded a bit cocky, and they had already been answered before. Why should I answer your questions when you can’t be bothered to read the answers that have already been given?

zerinus

 

[BartBurk]

Why do Mormons often say “Heavenly Father” instead of “the Heavenly Father”?

Is it just a matter of style, or does it have something to do with Mormon theology?

Thanks.

Why do we Catholics say, “Our Father, who art in Heaven”? Sounds pretty much the same to me no matter what doctrinal twist you put on it.

 

[love4mary]

We say, “Our Father, who art in heaven” because that is the prayer found in scripture that Jesus Himself taught His apostles.

 

[BartBurk]

We say, “Our Father, who art in heaven” because that is the prayer found in scripture that Jesus Himself taught His apostles.

And that is why Mormons say Heavenly Father. It’s essentially a short way of saying the same thing. The Mormons pray to Heavenly Father in the name of Jesus Christ. That seems pretty Biblical to me. It may be they understand Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ differently than we do, but that’s a whole different topic.

 

[LaMar]

Pardon me but ‘petty’ as in outright ignoring direct questions with scripture verses to support them?

Pot, meet the kettle…

So, now you’re complaining because Zerinus has finally quit insulting non-Mormons and is choosing to debate the real issues.

This whole thread is hilariously funny! Talk about a non-issue. Some people will grasp at anything in the vain attempt to hate his neighbor.

 

[AgnosTheist]

This whole thread is hilariously funny! Talk about a non-issue. Some people will grasp at anything in the vain attempt to hate his neighbor.

I agree. Catholics here are just looking for a fight. Heck, even protestants say “heavenly father”.

 

[LittleDeb]

Wow, talk about missing the point here folks…

Since this is a very old thread and I was an original participant, I would like to say that many of you didn’t read the OP very carefully.

It isn’t about the term, ‘Heavenly Father.’ It is about the use of ‘THE Heavenly Father.’ The question was about ONE Heavenly Father.

Catholics will say, “Our Father” and “The Father” interchangeably. LDS do not. It was a question of theology.

Please read more carefully before ranting in the future.

 

[BartBurk]

Wow, talk about missing the point here folks…

Since this is a very old thread and I was an original participant, I would like to say that many of you didn’t read the OP very carefully.

It isn’t about the term, ‘Heavenly Father.’ It is about the use of ‘THE Heavenly Father.’ The question was about ONE Heavenly Father.

Catholics will say, “Our Father” and “The Father” interchangeably. LDS do not. It was a question of theology.

Please read more carefully before ranting in the future.

I’ve never heard a Catholic prayer addressed to “The Heavenly Father.” Mormons will sometimes use “The Father” when referring to Heavenly Father as well. It really is a non-issue.

 

[LittleDeb]

I’ve never heard a Catholic prayer addressed to “The Heavenly Father.” Mormons will sometimes use “The Father” when referring to Heavenly Father as well. It really is a non-issue.

I wasn’t referring to prayer style and neither was the OP. It was about His title. Since you are a former LDS I will take your word for it that LDS do refer to ‘The Father.’ That has not been my experience in my area. I have had conversations with many LDS about Heavenly Father being only a Father of this planet and that He brings glory to His Father through this planet.

Due to those conversations I haven’t considered it a non-issue. When they speak of “the council of the gods” I get the understanding that ‘Heavenly Father’ is just one father among many other heavenly fathers. Therefore referring to THE Father would not be indicative of their theology.

But, I’ve never been LDS so I don’t truly understand their beliefs.

 

[AgnosTheist]

Since this is a very old thread and I was an original participant, I would like to say that many of you didn’t read the OP very carefully.

It isn’t about the term, ‘Heavenly Father.’ It is about the use of ‘THE Heavenly Father.’ The question was about ONE Heavenly Father.

The OP mentioned nothing about numbers.

“The” implies greatness, not quantity.