A slow day in Fundyland Captain Ahab?
Posted on 01/21/2010 2:05:00 PM PST by Colofornian
It is urgent to witness to Mormons because they worship a false god. To many Christians this sounds like an extreme position; after all Mormons profess faith in Jesus Christ and have incorporated his name into the name of their church. Yet the majority of LDS doctrine contradicts the truth of the Bible. There are few simple comparisons of doctrine that illustrate the great gulf between Mormonism and Christianity more clearly than the LDS doctrine of godhood. This doctrine states that the LDS god was once a man and that if a Mormon is faithful to the LDS church he or she will become a god.
The title of this article is taken from Doctrine and Covenants 132:20-21 “Then shall they be gods, because they have no end; therefore shall they be from everlasting to everlasting, because they continue; then shall they be above all, because all things are subject unto them. Then shall they be gods, because they have all power, and the angels are subject unto them. Verily, verily, I say unto you, except ye abide my law ye cannot attain to this glory.” This passage refers to the LDS doctrine that those who fulfill all the demands of Mormonism will become a god and rule over their own world.
A more complete explanation of the doctrine can be found in the 76th chapter of Doctrine and Covenants. This doctrine is dovetailed with the doctrine that the god of this world was once a man on another world who fulfilled all the demands of Mormonism and was given this world to rule. The LDS prophet Lorenzo Snow is credited with coining a catch phrase to summarize these doctrines “As man is, God once was; and as God is, man may become.”
Many people believe this doctrine is one of the “old school” beliefs of the LDS church, no longer part of today’s LDS church. This is due to a number of different factors:
How the LDS church markets its form of religion. You will not find the doctrines concerning godhood prominent in their TV commercials or on the web site designed to promote their beliefs to non-Mormons, mormon.org.
How Mormons themselves react concerning the doctrine. Most Mormons when asked about their personal pursuit of godhood and whether they really see themselves at some time in the future as a god, down play the thought. It seems as though most Mormons are embarrassed by the thought of becoming a god and that this ultimate result of their faith is relegated to “out of sight, out of mind”.
How godhood is covered using other terms. The subject of godhood is discussed via a variety of more commonly used equivalent phrases; ‘exaltation’, ‘eternal life’ and ‘having an eternal family’
Modern Mormon official church literature ensures that this doctrine remains one of the church’s foundations and is to be the desired outcome of every Mormon’s walk of faith and works. In Gospel Principles on page 302 is a list of the blessings of exaltation. Number 2 is “They will become gods.” The list also includes “live eternally” and “have their righteous family members with them." The D&C Student Manual on page 358 has this quote of prophet Spencer Kimball: "Brethren, 225,000 of you are here tonight. I suppose 225,000 of you may become gods. There seems to be plenty of space out there in the universe."
Most discussion of godhood in the official church magazine “Ensign” is discussed using the subjects of eternal life, exaltation, and eternal family; however godhood still makes the occasional appearance:
The Prophet Joseph Smith taught of a much simpler and more sensible relationship: “God himself was once as we are now, and is an exalted man, and sits enthroned in yonder heavens! January 2005 Ensign, page 48
“We are in the mortal life to get an experience, a training, that we couldn’t get any other way. And in order [for us] to become gods, it is necessary for us to know something about pain, about sickness, and about the other things that we partake of in this school of mortality.” January 2006 Ensign, page 52
While the doctrine that man can become a god is very troubling to Christians, it is actually the other part of the doctrine that clearly shows the urgency of witnessing to Mormons. The implications in the claim that their god was once a man has many far-reaching consequences. Among them are:
This god is not eternal. He was procreated spiritually by two other gods and born physically to mortal, sinful parents.
This god was not always perfect. He worked his way up from being a sinful being.
This god is not unique. There are countless other gods.
This god is not all powerful. He is just one cog in a much larger machine.
This god created Christ. The son of this god, also called Jesus Christ, did not exist until this god procreated him spiritually with another god and physically with Mary.
Once Christians understand the magnitude of the differences between the Mormon god and their own God, they can then see the urgency of witnessing to Mormons. They can see the futility of Mormonism in the worship of a created being.
From the article: While the doctrine that man can become a god is very troubling to Christians, it is actually the other part of the doctrine that clearly shows the urgency of witnessing to Mormons. The implications in the claim that their god was once a man has many far-reaching consequences. Among them are:
This god is not eternal. He was procreated spiritually by two other gods and born physically to mortal, sinful parents.
This god was not always perfect. He worked his way up from being a sinful being.
This god is not unique. There are countless other gods.
This god is not all powerful. He is just one cog in a much larger machine.
This god created Christ. The son of this god, also called Jesus Christ, did not exist until this god procreated him spiritually with another god and physically with Mary.
Once Christians understand the magnitude of the differences between the Mormon god and their own God, they can then see the urgency of witnessing to Mormons. They can see the futility of Mormonism in the worship of a created being.
What crap.
What’s crap? That ldsers believe they are becoming gods or the article?
These are incomprehensible ideas to some, but they are simple. It is the first principle of the gospel to know for a certainty the character of God, and to know that we may converse with Him as one man converses with another, and that He was once a man like us; yea, that God himself, the Father of us all, dwelt on an earth, the same as Jesus Christ Himself did; and I will show it from the Bible.
If it is indeed the FIRST PRINCIPLE OF THE GOSPEL, one would think it would be over every door post of every ward house.
The Mormon Curuch is crap.
how is it crap?
Isn’t this the truth?
The god of Mormonism did overcome sin to become god
he was not always god. he has a literal grandfater, and a great grandfather.
is this not correct according to LDS doctrine?
Everything ldsers say is invalidated by this statement alone.
Got it.
The Mormon Curuch is crap.
Peace be to you.
A slow day in Fundyland Captain Ahab?
We all know by now that Catholics and Mormons are going to hell along with all their heretic Muslim buddies.
We need to start warning those darned Calvinists who don't believe that people can accept Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior, but instead heretically demand that humans can do nothing to guarantee their personal salvation.
Unless and until everyone on FreeRepublic is a Born Again Christian, we need to stop discussing politics and focus on saving people's souls!
If you disagree with me then you are surely going to Hell.
Oh yeah, and we need to send all thos evil-lutionists back to the mudhole from which they oozed.
Ducking!
..my invisible friend is better than than yours....
Indeed...look at the high-minded claims of that Lds "scriptural" statement: “Then shall they be gods...then shall they be above all...
And why do they expect to be "above all?"
...because all things are subject unto them.
(Translation: the rest of us are just mere "subjects" to their divinity -- supposedly "because they have ALL power")
Now we understand that a Mormon POTUS candidate who believes this may actually think of...
...the White House as just one brief career stop on his way to...
...the White Throne!!!
Could we imagine the Media & Freeper reaction if, let's say, Obama, Hillary or Sarah Palin said??? "I believe in the faith of my fathers, including the 'scriptures' they put forth. And this includes Doctrine & Covenants 132:20-21, which I believe the 'they' in this passage applies to me":
“Then shall they be gods, because they have no end; therefore shall they be from everlasting to everlasting, because they continue; then shall they be above all, because all things are subject unto them. Then shall they be gods, because they have all power, and the angels are subject unto them. Verily, verily, I say unto you, except ye abide my law ye cannot attain to this glory.”
(The MSM & FReeptown would go 'nuts'...but because these are "nice" potential "conservative" "gods," we're supposed to ignore these elephant-in-the-living room issues!!!!)
So you're deep philosophical pondering of the day for us to mull over is: "God is Harvey the Bunny???"
I thing this is all so unfair. Mormonism is simply non-Nicean, non-Constatinopolitan, non-Ephesian, non-Chalcedonian, non-Constatinopolitan II, non-Constatinopolitan III, non-Nicean II, non-Constatinopolitan IV, non-Lateran, non-Lateran II, non-Lateran III, non-Lateran IV, non-Lyonese, non-Lyonese II, non-Viennese, non-Constancian, non-Lateran V, non-Tridentine, non-Vatican, non-Vatican II Christianity. And what’s wrong with that? So is most of the Protestant world. :-p
Hallelujah!
The Thetans will get you...
Works for me.
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