Big Love Watch: Nearer My God to Thee

The whole family has gone off the deep end and its follow the leader with bill at the head. paying compound renegades to steal documents, the back and forth with his brother-in-law, and his swan dive into anything and everything roman grant with the DA. he has yet to resolve his feeling of hopelessness brought up by the family vacation.

i half expected barb to wash her hands of it all and go running back to the church, bringing her kids and marge with her.

In the airing of this episode, HBO and all parties associated with it have mocked God, not the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. Any bible reader should know that temple ordinances are deemed sacred throughout the bible, and always have been. They are reserved for God's covenant people, aka any person willing to make and keep covenants with God and receive ordinances in His sacred temples. It began with Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden, the first holy place. Since then, these ordinances and covenants have been performed "in the holy place" found in the world, aka temples, constructed by way of commandments and specifications given by God himself. If you know anything about the bible, you know God has always taught that His temple ordinances are sacred, and should be kept hidden from the world for the purpose of keeping them sacred. This is Bible 101. He refers to His temples as "the holy place." He has specified in detail in Exodus, and many other places in the bible, the precise pattern of holy garments and holy clothes which must be worn by those who minister therein. He has commanded that there be keepers of the gates of the temples; three men who stand as guards, permitting the worthy to enter in, and preventing the unworthy from trespassing beyond temple gates, where their uncleanliness (aka unrepentant persons not yet willing to forsake sin and accept Jesus Christ ) would desecrate holy ground and bring condemnation to themselves. One of the requirements God has outlined for those who officiate in holy temples is cleanliness, specifically including the abstinence of alcohol, which explains why members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, who are presently the only covenant people serving His temples upon the earth don't drink alcohol. All of this is in the bible. Sincere bible readers, familiar with all of the above, will no doubt have some epiphanies as they begin to comprehend that the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints is the only church participating in temple work, as it is specified in the bible, today. Apparently no one at HBO is reading it, or, they have no problem mocking and offending God.

The creators of Big Love are being disingenuous (or are seriously deceived themselves by so-called experts they have employed). Here is why I say that:

On one hand they talk a lot about their attempts to be accurate in the portrayal of certain things on Big Love. While everyone knows that Big Love is fiction, the creators have made every attempt to make it "real to life", but as is the case often, what is real is seldom as exciting and tantalizing as what is not, and so the producers have laid any organizational or personal ethics aside, and jumped head-long into the more controversial and tantalizing art of complete fiction that they know will be regarded as "reallife" by all who are slightly more ignorant than they are about The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (most commonly knows as the Mormon Church), polygamy, and polygamous sects.

To create the tensions in the story line (like the one described surrounding Barb above) the creators would suggest by the storylines, close relationship ties, running both general and in immediate and extended families, between three parties:

1. The Mormon Church (13 million member world-wide religion which discontinued the practice of polygamy in 1890)

2. Families that reside in predominant Mormon cities, like Salt Lake City, who are not members of the Mormon Church (or are not practicing members) but practice polygamy in a more 'modern' way (i.e. the Henricksens, and

3. Compound / communal polygamist sects (like the Texas group and groups at the CO/AZ border.

Anyone who knows the 'real life' relationship between these three groups (say anyone who has actually grown up and lived most of their life in Salt Lake City) would say "there really is no relationship between these groups".

The first group (the Mormon Church) has long since moved on and out and from its polygamist roots and is growing at a pace worldwide that takes all of its organization time, resources, and abilities to stay ahead of --these provincial issues are no more than a mosquito bite to the arm to the Church. It takes notice, responds when necessary, but largely is not consumed by these issues.

The second group, if they exist at all, are the vast minority in a major metropolitan city. If you interviewed 10 residents of Salt Lake City, for example, you would be hard pressed to find one who knows a family like the Henricksens, let alone find one that has such a situation in their own extended family. And if one could find such a family, nearly all, if not all of such families would admit to having never been members of the first group (The Mormon Church) and therefore are in no way "break away" sects of the Mormon Church.

The third group, as with the second group, with very few, if any exceptions, would say the same as the Second group --that they have never been members of the first group.

But, again, the truth about this is not controversial or tantalizing enough for prime-time entertainment, so the creators of Big Love need to create an illusion here that parallels no reality. I have no problem with that --it is after all fiction. But to act like they do research and make an honest attempt to make this fictional family and story parallel reality in Salt Lake City is evidence of the creators lack of personal ethics.

Somewhere, someone in the creation of all of this knows exactly what they are doing in creating this false parallel impression, and I find that intriguing. And, because it is 'shocking', they are able to get others, including an uninformed public, to jump on board.

According to Mormon blogger Nathan B. Oman (http://timesandseasons.org/index.php/2009/03/so-you-saw-big-love-then-googled-to-find-out-more-about-this-mormon-temple-weirdness-and-ended-up-here/#comment-286973):

"... When someone is baptized, they don't literally die and get resurrected. When we take the sacrament, we don't literally eat flesh and blood. Etc. etc. The point of the covenants is not that you need to guard a secret, but that there are certain things you only say and do in certain places. The fact that the name of Christ is routinely used as a cuss word, doesn't relieve me of my obligation not to blaspheme. The point of the secrecy oaths, it seems to me, is not to insure that no one discovers the signs and tokens. It is to insure that I only experience them within the temple ritual, and that any other experience of them will be blasphemous. It is part of how the sacred space of the temple is created and maintained."

As an avid watcher of big love, I am a critic of the LDS church.
I find it amusing that mormons who were outraged still went ahead and gave it their undivided attention Sunday. Other mormons even added the channel. Guess what.. HBO won. You did what they wanted you to do.
I also find it really lame that mormons try so hard to disown the practice of polygamy in this lifetime, yet they seldom admit that in the precious afterlife, plural marriage is one of the foundations and must be maintained, as well as having tons of kids. On their own planets right? Isnt that how it goes?
Maybe the producers misrepresented some things about modern day mormons, but they did write in something that is correct. They didnt include any blacks in any scenes, religious or non-religious… not even as extras. That would be 100% accurate to present day Mormon life.

[...] Big Love Watch: Nearer My God to Thee Before you read this post, steal your Mom’s Hummer and race home to watch last night’s episode of Big [...] [...]

**Possible Plot Spoiler** To answer your question about why Mormons haven't been speaking out about the letter storyline is because we have a pretty good idea of where the storyline is going. In the 1980's a document dealer named Mark Hoffman began "acquiring" US Historical letters and documents along with documents related to LDS Church History. Some of these documents apparently contradicted official church history, such as letters from Joseph Smith claiming he had set his son apart to be prophet and another letter from Martin Harris claiming Joseph Smith got the gold plates from a white salamander. Critics claimed the church was suppressing these documents, even though they all had copies of them. The church and other collectors were paying tens of thousands of dollars for the documents. It was later discovered the Mark Hoffman had actually forged all the letters and killed 2 people trying to hide the secret. That's probably where the Big Love story line will go, only instead of Hoffman it will be Alby forging the letters and killing people to hide the truth. How else would he have come into possession of them?

My brothers and sisters we should not be affect by yet another blatant attack on our precious church. This is typical heathen propaganda! We must use this platform to tell all sinners that they must accept Joseph Smith as the true prophet and the Church of Later Day Saints and the one and only true church. Heathens must know that if they do not accept the church they will not be accepted into the Celestial Kingdom and be cast into darkness for all eternity. This should always be our one and true mission.

RE: post #8 by byumale -

Just for the record, no Mormons talk or think like that. I'm guessing he's a poser trying to make us look like religious fanatics.

Ya...and if you're going to pose as a member of a church, it might not hurt to learn how to spell it. I'm not familiar with a "Later Day Saint" church. Nice try though.

hehehehehe you antimo's never cease to amaze me. I guess it's all the braincells fried from too much alcohol, drugs and stupidity.

As a Jewish Latter Day Saint who attends the Temple every week, and as an Actress myself (Film and TV) I loved kelly242 and justmehereandnow..these comments are well thought out, intelligent etc.. like most LDS and Jews (modern day Israel and Ancient Israel) of whom I am a part, we are an intelligent, successful (yes financially too) well educated lot, who never seem to stop laughing at idiotic comments like those from "kaitsie" and posers like "byumale" i mean, it's just pure jealousy on behalf of anti mormons and critics of the Church. They are the ones who look foolish.

I liked the first two seasons, however the whole gay agenda prop 8 thing the two gay writers have going is a real turn off. here's a newsflash gay writers of big love, i don't mean this in a cruel way. this is a message from my husband a well renowned physician: "The anus is NOT a sexual organ" hello..Aids and sickness from homosexual activity was NOT created by christians, but allowed by God. Whenever society has indulged in immoral behavior, especially homosexuality, pedophilia etc, that society crumbled. Read your history folks: Rome, Greece etc.. Thanx

were not created.. LOL

[...] one sense, I agree with James Poniewozik from Time magazine that in the context of this episode, that scene seemed like the least of the [...]

The while it might of made sense with in the context of the episode, the writers of Big Love got the Mormon concept of outer darkness completely wrong. Mormons are essentially universalists, believing that eventually most everyone will reach a heaven. Even the lowest level of heaven in Mormonism is supposed to be far better than life here on earth. Outer darkness, is the nearest thing to a permanent hell in Mormonism. There isn't really much said about outer darkness, but it commonly held that you have to be pretty spectacularly evil in order to get there and only a few people throughout human history will go there.

If you are interested in the official church video response the day after rather than just rumor you can find it at this link.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-x_-TQivCx8

Just copy and paste or visit http://www.mormon.org/ to chat with an actual Mormon that can answer your questions.

I find KittyWaymo's response quite amusing because she did not dispute anything I stated in my post to be false. Any religion that has a strong doctrine can withstand any questions raised by providing rational answers. Kitty did not do this. Instead she attempts to shrug off the valid points with ad hominem attacks, instead of defending the doctrine with logic. Which is usually what happens when another inconvenient truth is pointed out. Mormons dont like to talk about it. Instead of arguing with logic, their only line of defense attack the people who bring it to light. I can assure you I am NOT jealous of mormon/jewish success, because at 26 I feel pretty confident of who I am and the faith in which I was raised. My education and reasoning skills are solid. I was raised in an environment in Boston where its ok to raise questions and poke at the logic when something doesnt add up. I merely criticize your church because its members like to play the victim rather than reason thru scripture and literature.. that is Bible scripture and not book of mormon. And how exactly does someone profess to be a jew and a mormon? Do you have endowment ceremonies in addition to Batmitzvahs? You cant really group mormons and jews together as a union and have it be accepted as a cultural norm. Ask any serious Jew if they identify themselves with the mormon church and listen carefully to their response. I find it funny you would actually expect people to be taking your arrogance seriously. I find your post to be the most amusing of all.
Oh and by the way, in MA, romney was, and still is regarded as a joke. Just wait till 2012 when he loses another campaign.

I also find it funny that KittyWaymo believes her husband as the one to set the bar for homosexuality acceptance by offering his "medical opinion." Honey take it from me...No one on this board is jealous.
I hope one day you are enlightened.

The brilliant thing about Big Love is that they've managed to create a scenario in which polygamy is not the enemy. This show is about individual spirituality versus organizational spirituality. The villains in this show are the lay clergy and those that work for the LDS church. The sympathetic characters are those who truly believe in polygamy for their eternal salvation.
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The irony is that despite their many pronouncements to the contrary, the LDS church does still believe in polygamy. The revelation received by Joseph Smith commanding plural marriage has never been stricken from LDS scripture. (In response to James question, that's why the whole letter thing is a non-issue.) What the church actually did concerning polygamy was suspend the practice. http://scriptures.lds.org/od/1. This position is supported by reference to the LDS Church's "The Family: A Proclamation to the World" which sets forth the LDS church's position regarding marriage. Note that the proclamation does not restrict marriage to one man and one woman but instead leaves the definition vague, "Marriage between man and woman is essential to His eternal plan." Had it been desired, the proclamation could have read "Marriage between one man and one woman".
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Similarly the early church practiced a form of socialism known as the law of consecration. Under this divinely revealed law all church members gave all their possessions to the LDS church which then redistributed them to church members according to their needs. (This is the basis of the UEB in Big Love) The law of consecration was a failure because socialism never works. Brigham Young conveniently received a revelation directing the church to instead live according to the lesser "law of tithing" in which all members are required to give one tenth of their income to the church. It is acknowledged however, that to live the law of tithe is to live a less righteous life and that the law of consecration will be restored once the LDS are sufficiently righteous to live according to its strictures.
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The parallel to polygamy should be sufficiently obvious. Because the practice of polygamy was only suspended, once it is politically palatable to do so, the practice will be resumed. Afterall, as the Lord said to Joseph Smith after he inquired as to the practice of polygamy by Old Testament prohphets, "For behold, I reveal unto you a new and an everlasting covenant; and if ye abide not that covenant, then are ye damned; for no one can reject this covenant and be permitted to enter into my glory." D&C 132:4 http://scriptures.lds.org/dc/132

http://www.lds.org/library/display/0,4945,161-1-11-1,00.html

This show sadly misrepresents the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints in every way possible. The show really stepped up the pace after Prop 8 passed in California and raised the ire of Tom Hanks for the Church support for the definition of marriage as between a man and woman. The African American community and other Churches actually put the vote over the top.

Anyone who is active in the Church, has a temple recomment, has served in positions of responsibility and leadership could easily draw attention to blatant misrepresentations and an obviously keen intent on warping an unsuspecting or curious audience on the actual beliefs and sacred temple ordinances and procedures followed in the Church.

They portray LDS as narrow, mean spirited, selfish, self-serving and greedy, sinister, and very cultish and strange. Such is not the case across the board. No wife of a General Authority of the Church would condone lying and using a stolen temple recommend to enter the temple. There is no way such a temple recommend would allow someone to take out their endowments. No one would be issued a temple recommend who is inactive and living in plural marriage. Church Courts known as Courts of Love are not conducted as depicted. The show's depiction of the excommunication was totally inconsistent with any disciplinary actions by the Church which are very sacred and conducted to protect the Church and hopefully help and bless those for which the action is taken, with the sole purpose of helping the person who is summoned to get their spiritual life and heart back whole. We are instructed to love those very few who are excommunicated even more afterwards.

So the most recent episode was far from reality, and whoever was coaching the writers was obviously far removed from such ordinances and current policies of the Church. In a world which needs to be lifted up and filled with optimism, it is sad that HBO and Tom Hanks would pander to negative themes that really have no uplifting effect at all. To try to tear apart those things which people hold sacred, to discourage and lead people astray or attack people's faith is so negative. The producers of the show told the Church initially that they would not resort to such distortions and negative depictions of Latter-Day Saints. So much for promises!

There is nothing in the temple ordinances where people are married and families sealed together forever to be ashamed of, and when one fully understands the blessings from the covenants that are made there, and the symbolism, all that tell of Christ and show our love and worship of Him and Our Father in Heaven, there is nothing to hide or be ashamed of.

The bad news for Hanks and crew and ex-Mormons who no doubt lavished in this opportunity to distort and try to discourage is that statistically where there is greater persecution there is greater missionary activity and success and an increase in conversions and baptisms. It creates questions which lead people to where Hanks would least want them. What an irony. When they crucified Jesus, assassinated Joseph Smith, their enemies thought, good riddance, we sure finished them off, and quite the opposite happened! Hate to break the bad news to you, Tom!

umm, I hate to break this to you dnvg, but Tom Hank's sole purpose as producer of this show, is to make a successful TV series. He pretty much accomplished this with Big Love years before Sunday's episode even aired. Sex, scandal, violence, and crime sells. He has merely taken these components, added a talented cast and writing team, and is revolving them around a theme that no other program on TV is doing to attract a loyal fan base. How is this tearing apart anything, especially when this is, was, and will always be FICTION. It is make believe.
Youre making enemies of people whom youve never even met. Stop reacting with such paranoia.

First of all I would just like to say that I am a huge fan of Big Love and have been watching since the very first pilot episode aired so I am a dedicated fan, Anyways I would be a liar if I said that I wasn't a little "freaked out" by the Endowment Ceremony, but, why is it that Mormons or LDS feel that they are somewhat supreme and everyone else is going to hell or should I say "outer darkness", I mean I am a born and raised catholic, have all my sacraments and repent when I feel the need to, does that mean that I'm am going to hell because I'm not Mormon?

beautifulchica, the good news is that everyone goes to heaven except those who deny Christ. They go to outer darkness. Heaven is divided into three kingdoms, but each of the kingdoms is superior to earth. In order to enter the highest kingdom, the celestial kingdom, one must make specific covenants which include the Temple ceremony shown in Big Love.

After the noise made about showing the "secret" endowment ritual, I was surprised. I thought that the show was **very** respectful of the ritual and very respectful to God. I don't think "Big Love" portrays Mormons in a bad light. I think what it does portray is the frailties of man in his attempts to live a God-like life.

[...] surprised to learn, from Roman, that the contentious letters were fakes all along. Apparently, a commenter here noted, there was an actual case of forged church letters in the past. You can learn things from Tuned In! [...]