I post it to you here in answer to your question, and I do so as an LDS myself at the risk of the potential ridicule, attacks, name-calling (ie. liar, deciever, etc.), etc. that it may well generate from those intent on marginalizing and demonizing anything that has to do with the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints to which I belong
So be it. I thought you should hear a witness from an LDS member directly.
It is an accurate description of what we, active LDS members believe, as opposed to what others tell us that we believe.
I hope you find it of interest from that perspective.
The following excerpt from your "witness" is very revealing in that you admit what most Mormons will not, namely your belief that you will one day become a god. The following is excerpted from your "witness":
"Having said all that, we are created in the express image of God. He told us so. I imagine that if the veil were rent in twain and our mortal eyes could stand to behold God as prophets of old did, we would see His glorified person and recognize His form as the same as our own...but glorified and eternal.
He has said, and his apostles and disciples have said on numerous occasions, that we are His Children, and that we can attain the same glory as Christ...and we know that unto Christ will be given "all that the Father hath"...and that in fact Christ commanded us to become perfect even as He, God in Heaven is perfect.
...The couplet you are looking for, expressed by Lorenzo Snow is this, "As man is, God once was, and as God is man may become."
We believe a loving Father, who loves us perfectly, wants His children to have the absolute very best (i.e. godhead?)...any loving father inherits this from God and wants the same for His children, as does a loving mother. Remember what Paul taught in Romans 10 and what Christ taught in Matthew. We believe those things and believe God in fact wants us to become like Him because He wants the very best for us and He has it. He loves us perfectly and wants us to have His perfect existance. It does not detract from Him in the least to do so, rather, the opposite is true. We believe that the whole plan of salvation, the Gospel of Jesus Christ is geared towards this end. (attaining godhead?)
.That as He created and brought us forth...His own children...and that He would have us do the same thing some day. Now, Lorenzo Snow, based on a sermon Joseph Smith preached back in the late 1830s or 1840 came up with that couplet to describe what he felt Jospeph Smith was teaching based on these principles I have just described. To us, these things are holy, special, and glorious and represent the will of a perfectly loving Father in Heaven.
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There you have it, ladies and gentlemen, a rare - almost unheard of confession by a Mormon of the secret "Adam-god" doctrine. Non-Mormons are not judged worthy to be instructed in this doctrine because of the "milk before meat" principle that the uninitiated are not worthy to receive the "deeper truths" of Mormonism.
Jeff - you are to be commended for at least honestly admitting that Mormons believe and teach this doctrine among themselves. If I may make a prediction, I suspect that you will be in a bit of trouble with "those in authority" for speaking so plainly, for "casting your pearls before swine..."
Regarding the persecution complex that many Mormon have, it is not "persecution" when others question your theological beliefs, and point out that they are contrary to the Bible. After all, your own esteemed leaders have called all other Christian denominations an "abomination" which preach a "dead" and false Gospel. But when you are challenged, all of a sudden you are being persecuted?
You claim to worship Christ as your Savior, but by your own words you deny who Jesus Christ really is - the 2nd person of the Holy Trinity, the Creator and Redeemer of mankind. What you believe is that YOU WILL ONE DAY BECOME AS CHRIST WAS - THAT YOU WILL BE ON THE SAME LEVEL AS CHRIST - THE GOD OF YOUR OWN WORLD. This is blasphemy.
What will happen is this: "For this reason also, God highly exalted Him, and bestowed on Him the name which is above every name, 10 so that at the name of Jesus EVERY KNEE WILL BOW, of those who are in heaven and on earth and under the earth, 11 and that every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father." (Phil. 2:9-11)
No created being can ever be on the same level as Christ. No created being can share His eternal glory. EVERY KNEE SHALL BOW to Him - there are no other Mormon worlds and other Adam-gods throughout the universe. JESUS CHRIST is and will always be at the center of God's heaven as described in the book of Revelation - a heaven which is very different than the Mormon concept of the afterlife.
The Apostle Paul warns that if we do not worship Jesus as he is, if we preach "another gospel" other than that revealed in the Bible, we will be "accursed":
"I am amazed that you are so quickly deserting Him who called you by the grace of Christ, for a different gospel; which is really not another; only there are some who are disturbing you and want to distort the gospel of Christ. 8 But even if we, or an angel from heaven, should preach to you a gospel contrary to what we have preached to you, he is to be accursed! 9 As we have said before, so I say again now, if any man is preaching to you a gospel contrary to what you received, he is to be accursed!" (Galatians 1:9-11)
Yes, I did post this thread because I wanted more information about how it might effect the election.
No, I did not mean to stir up a $#!+$+0rm over it. Christian or not, what's so difficult for responsible adults about a straight answer, whatever it might be, with civility, like the one posted by Charles Henrickson?
Thanks again for the straight answer from your side of the matter, and I hope you're doing well these days.
How is posting writings that your chosen religion has printed, TELLING others what you believe?
If your 'beliefs' differ from what is available to peruse; where is the disconnected?
It might be an 'accurate description' of what you believe; but can you say with all honesty that it is ALL that you 'believe'?