Do Mormons Believe in a Loving God?

They say they do. And truthfully, they see their god as loving. But if you take a closer look at the origin story of Mormonism, it basically states that every single human that has ever lived, does currently live, and will ever live, along with every demon and evil spirit to ever exist, originally started out as spirit children in heaven. Then god said "hey, I have an idea - I'm gonna send y'all down to earth to suffer, learn, and grow. Some of you will not make it back to live with me, but that is a sacrifice I'm willing to make. The most important part about all of this is allowing you to get bodies and learn how to be a person."
Supposedly, everyone was overjoyed at this. Everyone except for Lucifer, who, in my opinion, made a damn good point: "Hey, man, surely there's a safer way to do this so we *don't* lose anyone to sin or temptation or whatever? Like, can you just. Come down to earth with us and walk us through it step by step? I know free will is super important to you and all, but I think we'd benefit from a little more hand-holding than just ol' Jeezy boy hopping down for one lifetime to spread the good word and then die and come back to life only to leave again? I mean, come on, I feel like you're making this way more complicated than it needs to be."
And god, our supposedly loving father, hears this, and says to him, "Nah. Now shut up and fall in line or I'll kick you out of heaven into The Fucking Void™ where you'll have to spend all of eternity miserable and alone. Capisce?"
So Lucifer storms off and shares his ideas with some of the other spirit children in heaven, and they agree that his idea is pretty good! Much safer, simpler, etc. Nobody ever said we could only do one or the other, but maybe a supervised camping trip into the wilderness might be a good idea to prepare for being chucked into the same wilderness to fend for ourselves.
Lucifer brings his small army of "followers", if you can call them that, and says to god, "hey, so, uh. I talked to some of the other kids and they agree with me that this idea is probably a better option for us. Can you please at least consider doing something a little safer?"
And god? The supposedly loving, compassionate, and rarely wrathful god? He just... follows through on his promise, kicking out a third of every soul he'd ever made.
Now, Mormons like to act all high and mighty as if god is simply so wise that his motives are beyond our understanding and therefore unquestionable. I disagree. If god knows everything, then he knows that humans are curious and curiosity leads to skepticism, and he'd know that many of us, myself included, are completely unwilling to accept that he Works In Mysterious Ways™ and is thus beyond criticism or questioning. People who don't want you to think or ask questions are NEVER your friends.
As such, I'm going to present it without all the holier-than-thou, high horse riding, superiority complex having nonsense. Imagine you are a small child. Five years old at most. You are living with your parents and several siblings. One day, your dad gathers all of you up and says to you, "Hey, kiddos. I think it's time you learned some wilderness survival skills. I'm gonna send you out into the woods, alone, a few at a time. After the first few go out and get mauled half to death or starve or whatever, Jesus, your oldest brother, is going to come out and teach you as much as he can. Then he's gonna come back, and then he's gonna go out again before coming back again. He's gonna be the only one with a walkie talkie for now, so if you have any questions, ask him. Oh, and the first few people that get sent out aren't going to have anything."
"Before Jesus comes back for the last time, he's gonna hand off the walkie talkie to someone else, but the rest of you are going to have the freedom to ignore whatever the hell I'm saying. If the guy who gets the line decides to ignore me, well, too bad so sad. Oh, and at some point it's gonna break, and then you're gonna lose communication with me for probably at least a few years. There's gonna be people that try to fix it, but it'll only get bits and pieces, so. Do with that what you will."
"Oh, and later, I'll send out Joe. I know, he's not very nice, but he'll get a new walkie-talkie, and that's what matters. Anyways, as soon as Joe comes out, you'll know that I'll be coming out to get everyone to bring them back home for a party! Doesn't that sound nice? You'll learn so much, grow, and probably get some really cool scars and stories to tell!"
"Now, you all know how much I love you. But if you do anything wrong, anything at all, and aren't willing to apologize for it and beg for forgiveness, putting yourself totally and wholly at my mercy, I'm gonna throw you into the dungeon downstairs. It's dark, there's nothing to do, and you'll never see any of your loved ones ever again."
And for some fucking reason, probably because you're all a bunch of naive kids, everyone cheers! But Lucifer, the second-oldest brother, is pretty concerned about all of this. He goes up to dear old dad afterwards and asks him to reconsider all of this. It sounds pretty dangerous, and, uh, why do we have a dungeon anyways? Please don't throw us in the dungeon. That's... kinda messed up.
And dear old dad tells him that he can either go along with this plan or end up in the dungeon. So Lucifer leaves to talk to the other kids. Some of them don't really care what he has to say. Some of them, however, listen, and realize that, y'know, putting kids in a dungeon for the rest of their lives is pretty cruel and wildly unacceptable. So they gather together, one-third of all of these kids, and go talk to god, and lay out their qualms with the plan. And god? God sics all the other kids on them, overpowers them, and throws them into the dungeon.
The plan goes on as usual. Lucifer is somehow the bad guy in all of this. The kids go out, their memories magically wiped of everything before being dropped into the wilderness, and most of them just tend to focus on keeping themselves and the people they got dropped near alive.
Does that sound like a loving parent to you?

Anonymous

yes, They believe that God's love is eternal and unconditional. they don't see that to get that love, some conditions need to be met.

proudxmo

They do. I, however, do not believe him to be loving at all. I have several reasons for that starting with.
- sexual assault victims that the church continues to try and cover up.
- racism and how they continue to try and change things.
- sexist. How people still try to tell me the church isn't. Also, how can a loving God be such a cruel Father to his LGBTQ+ kids?!
- so many more

Ask me about these, and I can give you clear answers.

scubasteven1013

Yes and no. Mormons teach and testify that Mormon god is a loving heavenly father who wants nothing more than for his children (everyone, everywhere, in every era) to return to his presence. Mormon god has provided a plan to accomplish this objective, which is often referred to as either the "plan of happiness" or "plan of salvation." The core pillar of this plan is the restored gospel of Jesus Christ; which consists of exercising faith in Jesus Christ and in his teachings, repenting and seeking restitution for all wrongdoings that one has committed, being baptized by one holding proper authority and priesthood to perform the ordinance, receiving the gift of the "holy ghost" and listening to its promptings, and enduring to the end which involves consistent faith, repentance, worshiping at church, worshiping in the temple, keeping the commandments, etc.

On paper this doesn't sound all that unreasonable or complex. Watered down, it is a promise that if you follow this divinely appointed program you will return to Mormon god with your family.

However, what is to many a divine path can quickly turn into a nightmare for others. For example, what happens to someone who doesn't do everything outlined in the plan of salvation? In short, they are cast out and unable to live with their family and loved ones in the afterlife.

The Mormon church preaches that families CAN be together forever, not that they WILL be together forever. This is often the justification that believing members adopt when attempting to reactivate those who have left the church. From their perspective they are acting out of love and care for your well-being; but in reality they are acting out of fear due to a divinely given threat that Mormon god will separate families in the afterlife if every box isn't checked.

As a father myself, I would never cast out my own children for one second, let alone all of eternity. I'm a better father than that.

Mormon god is less like a loving heavenly father and more like a mob boss who threatens, "that's sure a nice family you got there.... it would be a shame if anything were to happen to them."

curtishartley

They think they do. Even growing up I always believed Satan was a better character than God. God's love always felt conditional to some degree when I was growing up and now that I'm out I realize how conditional it actually is. The Mormon Jesus definitely isn't a loving God, but Mormons will for sure try to claim he is.

bakiraka01

No. Not at all.
The mormon god is one who will cut you off from your family for all eternity if you ever leave him.
The mormon god is one that will ask everything from you, and in return give you nothing but less of the things you already had.
The mormon god is one who asks you to accept living in perpetual misery for the promise of a happy future you will never see.

layhandsondeez

It took more than a few years and a series of epiphanies for me to finally find the courage to leave Mormonism. A key moment happened during an institute class about the kingdoms of heaven.
The lesson was about how our short time on earth had eternal consequences. Eternity is a long, endless string and our time on earth is a tiny speck on that string. I heard this many times before, but this teacher had formerly been a Southern Baptist. He emphasized the hellfire and brimstone angle. No matter how much we grew and progressed in eternity, we would always be limited in what level of heaven we could advance to due to the mistakes we made during our very short mortal life.
It's an anxiety-inducing idea that puts maximum pressure on people to obey the church and conform to god's supposed laws. This time, I realized how horribly cruel that idea is. Why would any god punish me for endless eternity, no matter how much I change, progress and grow spiritually in the future? What would be the point of limiting me eternally for some stupid mistake made in mortal life, no matter how hard I try to find forgiveness?
I realized I couldn't believe in a god so unjustly cruel and vindictive. The mormon version of god is an asshole. If that god is real, I'd rather join satan and his angels in rebellion.

Anonymous

Mormons believe in a God who rules through absolute conformity and control. Their God cares more about a woman's sleeve length and wearing dresses to church than the member's well-being. They believe families can be separated from each other for eternity for a multitude of reasons, much outside of anyone's control. They believe in rules, regulations, and secret handshakes to get into heaven more than simply being a good person. I found nothing loving or forgiving about the Mormon God.

maisy220

They try to, but all in all, the god they believe in is toxic.

kingofweird

One of the first things I did when I began organizing my thoughts on deconstruction was write an essay called “The Benevolent Extortionist”. 

Mormons believe in a loving god. They also have a very skewed interpretation of what love is. 

ashmonster2000

No, because the mormon god is the LDS Church. Think about it--for most mormons, and certainly for the leadership, the institution of the church is their idol. They testify that "the church is true." The church is what they cling to, what they obey.

frank

They claim to. As with most religions though, they don't.

serene

No. Mormons believe in an abusive parent. A parent who will love his children unconditionally. . . but will also lovingly separate them from everyone they love if they don't do what they're supposed to.

Anonymous

Not if they believe every word and story in the Book of Mormon. Would a loving God kill thousands of men, women and children like it's written in Third Nephi, 8?

Brent Hale

I think Mormons believe in God in two different ways. The first one is the brainwashed one, the explanation they give if asked about a loving God, and that is yes, they believe God is all forgiving and loving. But in a doctrine way and or a control way, they believe God is wrathful and pretty elitist.

emae423