Heavenly Mother in Bible

[idea]

Just FYI, Her name is Asherah.

from link - tried to shorten it a little...

Gen 1:26 ...Let us make mankind in our image, after our likeness.... male and female

In Genesis 21:33 Abraham planted a tamarisk tree (tree of life representing feminine child bearing ability) and called there on the name of Yahweh El Olam (a combination of two divine names).

In Genesis 30:13 Leah names her son Ahser whose names means “with Asherah’s help”.

In Gen 49, in Jacob's blessings to his sons, we see an incovation to Yahweh in verse 18 followed by an incoation to El in verse 25. At the end of verse 25 there is a rerence to the blessings of "Breasts and Womb" which was known as an epithet of Asherah.

Perhaps the most beautiful description of Asherah in the Bible is the Proverbs 3:13-18 inclusio (happy, wisdom, and tree of life are all “discrete” translations of the Hebrew words Ashre, chokmah, and ets chayyum).

Prov 3:
15 She is more precious than rubies: and all the things thou canst desire are not to be compared unto her.
16 Length of days is in her right hand; and in her left hand riches and honour.
17 Her ways are ways of pleasantness, and all her paths are peace.
18 She is a tree of life to them that lay hold upon her: and happy is every one that retaineth her.

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Personal thoughts....
Just as Abraham sacrificing Isaac represents Heavenly father sacrificing Jesus, I strongly suspect Sarah, Abraham’s beautiful wife, represents Asherah. The many righteous barren women combined with the polygamy throughout the OT possibly symbolic of Mary, not Asherah, becoming the mother of Their “only” begotten son. The background of the ever so important baptism as being an actual “birth”… a birth respecting the free agency of the “children” in which divine Parents are chosen rather than forced upon a spirit through a physical birth… Also adding to the reason that Jesus was baptized, not to take away sin, or to become a child of Heavenly Father… the words “This is my beloved son” perhaps being spoken by a female voice after Jesus’ baptism. Of course inappropriate worship of the beautiful Asherah lead to Her presence being hidden, the commandment of not worshipping images. Ex 19: 4 Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image, or any likeness of any thing that is in heaven above – this commandment does not come about until Ex, so Abraham and others are perhaps not really doing something that was wrong at the time...

When was the first time God forbade idolatry? Anyone else think idolatry was once part of Abrahamic religion - until it was misused?

What are all the reasons Asherah was hidden? Can you image being Jewish, worshipping your beloved Heavenly Father and Mother, then being told that you can no longer worship Her because She has to be hidden in order to protect Her from being defiled… the way many defile God… How sad it would have been to lose her for a time.

PS - NOT LDS doctrine - pure speculation.

[idea]

Sorry - I can't foind the original article this was taken from, I will keep searching...

Heavenly Mother in Jewish Christianity
There is no strong evidence from the New Testament of any belief in a Heavenly Mother, but some post-Apostolic Jewish Christians explicitly stated this belief. For example, the Jewish Christian Gospel of the Hebrews apparently taught that the Holy Spirit was Jesus' Mother. It is interesting to note that Origen quoted this passage from the lost Gospel and treated it as an authoritative source, finding it necessary to offer a rather fanciful interpretation to explain away the verse:
If any one should lend credence to the Gospel according to the Hebrews, where the Saviour Himself says, "My mother, the Holy Spirit took me just now by one of my hairs and carried me off to the great mount Tabor," he will have to face the difficulty of explaining how the Holy Spirit can be the mother of Christ when it was itself brought into existence through the Word. But neither the passage nor this difficulty is hard to explain. For if he who does the will of the Father in heaven is Christ's brother and sister and mother [see Matthew 12:47-50], and if the name of brother of Christ may be applied, not only to the race of men, but to beings of diviner rank than they, then there is nothing absurd in the Holy Spirit's being His mother, every one being His mother who does the will of the Father in heaven.173

The Gnostic "Sophia"
Gnostic Christians believed in a Mother in Heaven as well, and the Father, Mother, and Son were considered a sort of Gnostic Trinity by them. For instance, the Secret Book of John speaks of "the three: the Father, the Mother, and the Son, the perfect power."174 In the Hymn of the Pearl, a document which may have been written as early as the first century and may not be Gnostic at all175, the hero is sent a heavenly message which begins: "From thy father the King of Kings, and from thy mother, mistress of the East, and from thy brother, our next in rank . . . ."176 The Gospel of Philip calls the Mother "Wisdom" (Greek Sophia)177, and Hennecke and Schneemelcher report that Wisdom was presented as a celestial being, who in fact was "the female aspect of the creative power," in such documents as the Sophia Jesu Christi.178
Finally, the Gospel of Philip taught that the existence of the world depends on the mystery of marriage: "Great is the mystery of marriage! For [without] it the world would [not have existed]. Now the existence of [the world depends on man], and the existence [of man on marriage]."179 I doubt a Mormon could have phrased it any better.

The Female Aspect of God in Catholic Tradition
Margaret Barker posits that the "gnostic Sophia is all that remains of Israel's goddess."180 But what happened to the goddess in the "orthodox" tradition? Most likely it was quickly modified or dropped because of its close association with Gnosticism. For example, a modified form of the doctrine can be found in the writings of Clement of Alexandria. Wagner summarizes:
Clement then pressed the scripture and his gnostic traditions to make the church Ekklesia, a heavenly female who was one of a threesome that originated in God's mind. God's will became Cosmos, God's Wisdom was Logos, and God's Purpose (Boulema) appeared as Ekklesia.181
Certainly this was another echo of the ancient Hebrew goddess.
Gordon B. Hinckley, in R. Clayton Brough, Teachings of the Prophets (Bountiful, UT: Horizon Publishers, 1993), 121.
171 Barker, The Great Angel, 54.
172 Philo, On Flight and Finding 109, in Colson and Whitaker, tr., Philo, 5:69.
173 Origen, Commentary on John 2:6, in ANF 10:329-330. For a comprehensive listing of all known fragments of the Gospel of the Hebrews, see TOB 333-335.
174 The Apocryphon of John, in Robinson, ed., The Nag Hammadi Library in English, 103.
175 Edwin M. Yamauchi, Pre-Christian Gnosticism (London: Tyndale Press, 1973), 95-98.
176 The Hymn of the Pearl, in Jonas, The Gnostic Religion, 114.
177 The Gospel of Philip, in Robinson, ed., The Nag Hammadi Library in English, 138.
178 NTA 1:245-246.
179 The Gospel of Philip, in Robinson, ed., The Nag Hammadi Library in English, 139, brackets in original.
180 Barker, The Great Angel, 185.
181 Wagner, After the Apostles, 179. See also Clement of Alexandria, Who is the Rich Man That Shall Be Saved? 37, in ANF 2:601, where Clement discusses his belief that the Son also had a female aspect.

[ayani]

i really don't read those verses in the same way, idea. to compare anthropomorphizing wisdom to worship of a second divinity alongside God is far-fetched, imo.

Jews are strict monotheists- One God, HaShem. yes, there are aspects of HaShem that are feminized in kabbalic literature, but that does not mean that there is another being apart from God. why would there have to be? if God is beyond gender (yes, we call God Father, but most Christians believe that God is not a man like one's uncle or milk man) and almighty in scope and vision, why can't God image and form humans into both male and female beings?

the Holy Spirit as referred to by early Christians and Jesus Himself, from what i have read and studied, did not refer to a distinct god or initially to a person of a triune godhead, but to God's Spirit working among and in people and places. the Holy Spirit, God's Holy Spirit, is also personalized and called "he" by Jesus in John's Gospel.

if one considers the shekinah and the Holy Spirit to be referring to the same thing, it is also feminized, too. that does not mean that Spirit is something apart from God, or that God needs to survive or function. it *is* God. His Spirit, His breath, His power that comes down, and sanctifies.

this is how i read and understand these passages- not referring to a goddess, but to the Spirit of God- still One, still Almighty.

[Mestemia]

Seems to me that if you are going to present an argument about the words used in scripture, then you should most likely use the ORIGINAL LANGUAGE.

But perhaps that is just me...

[idea]

Originally Posted by ayani

i really don't read those verses in the same way, idea. to compare anthropomorphizing wisdom to worship of a second divinity alongside God is far-fetched, imo.

Jews are strict monotheists- One God, HaShem. yes, there are aspects of HaShem that are feminized in kabbalic literature, but that does not mean that there is another being apart from God. why would there have to be? if God is beyond gender (yes, we call God Father, but most Christians believe that God is not a man like one's uncle or milk man) and almighty in scope and vision, why can't God image and form humans into both male and female beings?

the Holy Spirit as referred to by early Christians and Jesus Himself, from what i have read and studied, did not refer to a distinct god or initially to a person of a triune godhead, but to God's Spirit working among and in people and places. the Holy Spirit, God's Holy Spirit, is also personalized and called "he" by Jesus in John's Gospel.

if one considers the shekinah and the Holy Spirit to be referring to the same thing, it is also feminized, too. that does not mean that Spirit is something apart from God, or that God needs to survive or function. it *is* God. His Spirit, His breath, His power that comes down, and sanctifies.

this is how i read and understand these passages- not referring to a goddess, but to the Spirit of God- still One, still Almighty.

Here we go, another Trinity debate because Christians can’t handle the fact that they are as polytheistic as the pagans. The Bible contains reference to multiple Gods, not just one. Forgive me – it is not polytheistic, it is Henothesim, I will cut and paste a little from the following link, “link” you can read all about Henotheism in the Bible:

Monotheism: There is only one God.
Henotheism: Though there is more than one God, one chooses to worship only one.
Polytheism: There is more than one God, and they are all worshipped.

Some try to assert that Monotheism is written in the Bible with gigantic letters. As proof texts they quote passages like the Sh'ma Yisrael.26 The problem, however, is that this central proof-text of monotheism cannot only be translated as it is in the King James version (Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God [is] one LORD), but also as "Hear, O Israel: The LORD [is] our God, the LORD alone."27 This is not exactly monotheistic, isn't it?

Heavenly Father is a God, Jesus is also a God, The Holy Spirit, Asherah – all different distinct people, all Gods / Godesses. At least the Gods of the Bible all agree with one another, they are united in their nature and purpose.

As for the Trinity (The basis of your attempted Monotheism)
How could Jesus have prayed to Himself when he uttered the Lord's Prayer?
Not my will but mine be done? Sounds schizophrenic…

How could He have met with Himself when He was on the Mount of Transfiguration?

Does This God/Jesus give birth to Himself? This is my begotten son? How exactly???

Jesus saith unto her, Touch me not; for I am not yet ascended to my Father: but go to my brethren, and say unto them, I ascend unto my Father, and your Father; and [to] my God, and your God.15
If the Father and the Son were numerically one, where would Jesus go?

Therefore being by the right hand of God exalted, and having received of the Father the promise of the Holy Ghost, he hath shed forth this, which ye now see and hear.16
If Father and Son and Holy Ghost were numerically one, how could Jesus be at the right hand of God? How would He be exalted? And why would He need to have received a promise of the Holy Ghost? Let's look at Jesus' own words:
And about the ninth hour Jesus cried with a loud voice, saying, Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani? that is to say, My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?17
If the Father is the Son, then how could he have forsaken himself?

not just 3 Gods either:
Not only are Heavenly Father, Mother, Holy Spirit, and Jesus all Gods, the scriptures clearly tell us that we have the potential to becomes Gods – afterall, Gods “creation” would be no more noble than They – that is if they truly are Gods.

Psa 82: 6 I have said, Ye are gods; and all of you are children of the most High.
Gen 3: 22 And the LORD God said, Behold, the man is become as one of us, to know good and evil…
Notice the plural form of “us” not become like “me”… that man can become what They are.
OK – enough of that, everyone has already heard it all.

As for Asherah being known as wisdom, tree of life, associated with jealocy, and happiness, etc. etc… using something other than Her name...
When the Bible talks about “the comforter: is it talking about a quilt?
“The Word” – are nothing more than a word written in a book?
“light of the world” must be talking about the sun oh and
“lamb of God” talking about one of the OT sacrifices.
You know that it is a Jewish person online when you see G-d. They cannot even write or say that much – it is too sacred, so they make up other little catch phrases to let you know what they are talking about. Some people understand their little code language, I guess others don't... I thought it was pretty straighforward.

[angellous_evangellous]

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[idea]

If you don’t mind, I would like all who currently worship the female Goddess to please join this thread and teach us how.

I am frustrated that the LDS church does not do anything more than just acknowledge Her existence. As a female, I need a female role model, I need female guidance. Is that so horrible to suggest? Why should I feel uncomfortable in speaking about Heavenly Mother at church? Why should it be a taboo subject? Why cannot we sing praises to Her as we do for Jesus, and for God?

I love my Father, but I really need a Mother too. Anyone who is able to more fully bring me to Her would be greatly appreciated.

The thought that the Holy Spirit is our Heavenly Mother is the only thing that makes sense to me… The comforter – the nurturer – the small soft voice - these are feminine traits. If the Holy spirit is not Heavenly Mother, I think I might start getting very upset that She would be completely shut out of our lives. What kind of a horrible being would take children away from their Mother? What kind of a Goddess would even need the protection of another being? It is frustrating and confusing.