Infinite Regress & The Proclamation on the Family

There are many doctrinal arguments that are unworth having – they amount to angels dancing on pins. There is currently a debate online amongst Latter Day Saints, about the Doctrine of Infinite Regress, or if you prefer, the Doctrine of an Infinite Lineage, of Family of Heavenly Parents. And this debate does have both genuine importance and current relevance, beyond simply agreeing with former prophets.

It is also worth noting we are not in the position of churches with a dead canon with largely settled creedal theology.  There are still real debates to be had. And God does want us to really think and struggle with profound doctrine. But instead of relitigating the evidence in this debate (it was certainly what the Brethren taught for a long time), let’s discuss why this is important, instead of only arguing about LDS Sola Scriptura.

Because it has everything to do with the doctrine of the Family.

The Abrahamic Covenant is about the eternal increase of one’s own family, as the stars in heaven.  The Family Proclamation makes this clearer and harder to misunderstand. We are, male and female, created in the image of God – we are literally his children. That much is agreed upon. But when we start getting into things like the King Follett Discourse or the Sermon in the Grove, where the Prophet Joseph discusses these things, we see we are in deep waters and things are harder to understand. (Non-canonized, I will add, does not mean doctrinally irrelevant. Most scripture starts that way, including the Pearl of Great Price, for instance. Also General Conference)

We all have a Heavenly Father, and a Heavenly Mother. If Infinite Regress were true, then as we begin families much as our Heavenly Parents have for generations. Generations and generations spanning the vast and unfathomable Eternities. We see this in the mirrors in the Sealing Room. But we do not need to know every detail of Divine Genealogy to see why the Pattern matters.

But if Same-Sex Sealings were a celestial reality, then there are universes with no Heavenly Mother, or no Heavenly Father.

Have you ever been a single parent, and had your daughters sincerely wish for united parents? Not an experience I would recommend. But expand this to an entire universe, to countless people on countless worlds.

What might sound cruel without context, becomes very necessary when countless marriages, families, civilizations and worlds depend on it. With Same-Sex Sealings, it isn’t so much the sin, as the consequences.

Accept Gay Marriage, and you have worlds where there is no Heavenly Mother. Or perhaps no Heavenly Father. No divine union of Masculine and Feminine for people to aspire to, individually or as couples.

And that is why the doctrine of Infinite Regress is important. We are not simply in the image of God, but our marriages/sealings, are also. We are to follow the example of our Heavenly Parents, and become one more link in an eternal chain of families.

If we lose the Doctrine of Infinite Regress, we may retain the Family Proclamation, but we lose one of the deeper and more profound metaphysical structures that make it intelligible and logically coherent.