Post by Athame on Apr 19, 2006 15:59:19 GMT -5
Answer
1.Do Mormons believe that human can become God?
Yes we do, but only those who receive the highest glory.
2.If they do, why?
In Genesis 3:22, it states "And the LORD God said, Behold, the man is become as one of us, to know good and evil... ". Therefore, as the Lord himself says, Satan told Eve a half-truth. The Adversary lied when he said that Eve would "not surely die", but he told the truth when he said that she would become "like God, knowing good and evil."
To spread the false notion that we as Latter-day Saints do not show proper reverence towards the Godhead, anti-Mormons often tell people that Latter-day Saints believe that they will become co-equal, or on the same level, with God and no longer worship him. This misrepresentation is a twisting of an LDS doctrine called exaltation, a doctrine that the Bible clearly teaches.
We believe our Heavenly Father has given us this mortal life to become more like him. Those who are true and faithful in all things will sit in the throne of Christ. (Rev 3:21) They will have the name of God the Father placed upon them (Rev 14:1) We believe that they shall be "heirs of God, and joint-heirs of Christ" (Rom 8:17). What shall the faithful inherit? ALL THINGS according to scripture (Heb 1:2)
"Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect." (Matthew 5:48)
"For I [am] the LORD that bringeth you up out of the land of Egypt, to be your God: ye shall therefore be holy, for I [am] holy." (Leviticus 11:45)
"Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be; but we know that, when he shall appear, we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is." (1 John 3:2)
"Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that believeth on me, the works that I do shall he do also; and greater [works] than these shall he do; because I go unto my Father." (John 14:12)
We call anyone who sits in the throne of God, has God's name and attributes, and who has inherited all things (i.e. - power, dominion, and knowledge) from God-----a god.
Hence the scripture, "God standeth in the congregation of the mighty; he judgeth among the gods....I have said, Ye are gods; and all of you are children of the most High." Psalms (82:1,6)
While we believe that the faithful will enjoy a life similar to our Heavenly Father, we also believe we will still be subject to and worship the God of Heaven, which is represented as the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost. Furthermore, while we will be "gods, even the sons of God" (D&C 76:58), we will never be at the same level as them or stop worshipping them, but we will be like them and enjoy a quality of life similar to theirs.
We believe that we come to the earth to take a physical body, to be schooled and trained and gain experiences here that we could not have in the pre-mortal life. Then we seek to grow in faith and spiritual graces until we can qualify to go where God and Christ are. But they believe that eternal life consists in more than being with God; it entails being like God. A study of the Christian church reveals that the doctrine of the deification of man was taught at least into the fifth century by such notables as Irenaeus, Clement of Alexandria, Justin Martyr, Athanasius, and Augustine. We would probably not agree with most of what was taught about deification by the early Christian church leaders, because they believe that many of the plain and precious truths concerning God and man had been lost by then. But I mention this to illustrate that the idea was not foreign to the people of the early church; the names mentioned were not pagan or Gnostic spokesmen but Christian.
Our belief in man becoming as God is not dependent upon the early Christian concept, or upon such popular modern Christian thinkers as C. S. Lewis, who taught this notion. In the vision of the hereafter given to Joseph Smith this description of those who is found who attain the highest or celestial glory: "Wherefore, as it is written, they are gods, even the sons of God." (Doctrine and Covenants 76:58.) Godhood comes through the receipt of eternal life. Eternal life consists of two things: (1) the continuation of the family unit in eternity; and (2) inheriting, receiving, and being endowed with the fullness of the spirit and power of the Father. (Doctrine and Covenants 132:19-20.) We do not believe they will ever, worlds without end, unseat or oust God the Father or Jesus Christ. Those holy beings are and forever will be the Gods men and women worship. Men and women, like Christ, are made in the image and likeness of God, that it is not robbery to be equal with God (Philippians 2:6), and that like any father, our Heavenly Father wants his children to become and be all that he is. Spiritual growth to this lofty plain is not something that comes merely through hard work, though men and women are expected to do their best to keep their covenantal obligations. Deification is accomplished finally through the grace and goodness of Jesus Christ, who seeks that all of us might become joint heirs, co-inheritors with him, to all the Father has. (Romans 8:14-18.)
Joseph Smith's First Vision represents the beginning of the revelation of God to man in this dispensation. We will no doubt spend a lifetime seeking to understand the doctrinal profundity of that theophany. This appearance of the Father and Son in upstate New York had the effect of challenging those creeds of Christendom out of which the doctrine of the Trinity evolved-a doctrine that evolved from efforts to reconcile Christian theology with Greek philosophy. President Gordon B. Hinckley has observed:
"To me it is a significant and marvelous thing that in establishing and opening this dispensation our Father did so with a revelation of himself and of his Son Jesus Christ, as if to say to all the world that he was weary of the attempts of men, earnest though these attempts might have been, to define and describe him. . . . The experience of Joseph Smith in a few moments in the grove on a spring day in 1820, brought more light and knowledge and understanding of the personality and reality and substance of God and his Beloved Son than men had arrived at during centuries of speculation."
By revelation Joseph Smith came to know that the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost constitute the Godhead. From the beginning the Prophet Joseph taught that the members of the Godhead are one in purpose, one in mind, one in glory, one in attributes and powers, but separate persons.
God is the Father of the spirits of all men and women (Numbers 16:22; 27:16), the source of light and truth, the embodiment of all godly attributes and gifts, and the supreme power and intelligence over all things. From the Book of Moses we've learned that among the ancients God the Father was called "Man of Holiness," and thus his Only Begotten Son is the Son of Man of Holiness, or the Son of Man ( Pearl of Great Price | Moses 6:57). The title Man of Holiness opens us to a deeper understanding of Deity. We believe that God the Father is an exalted man, a corporeal being, a personage of flesh and bones.
That God has a physical body is one of the most important of all truths restored in this dispensation; it is inextricably tied to such doctrines as the immortality of the soul, the literal resurrection, eternal marriage, and the continuation of the family unit into eternity. In his corporeal or physical nature, God can be in only one place at a time. His divine nature is such, however, that his glory, his power, and his influence, meaning his Holy Spirit, fills the immensity of space and is the means by which he is omnipresent and through which law and light and life are extended to us (Doctrine and Covenants 88:6-13).
The Father's physical body does not limit his capacity or detract one wit from his infinite holiness, any more than Christ's resurrected body did so ( Luke 24; John 20-21). Interestingly enough, research by Professor David Paulsen of our Philosophy department indicates that the idea of God's corporeality was taught in the early Christian church into the fourth and fifth centuries, before being lost to the knowledge of the people.
On the one hand, we worship a divine Being with whom we can identify. That is to say, his infinity does not preclude either his immediacy or his intimacy. "In the day that God created man," the scriptures attest, "in the likeness of God made he him; in the image of his own body, male and female, created he them"
( The Pearl of Great Price | Moses 6:8-9). God is not simply a spirit influence, a force in the universe, or the First Great Cause; when we pray "Our Father which art in heaven" (Matthew 6:9), we mean what we say. We believe God is comprehendable, knowable, approachable, and, like his Beloved Son, touched with the feeling of our infirmities (Hebrews 4:15).
On the other hand, our God is God. There is no knowledge of which the Father is ignorant and no power he does not possess ( The Book of Mormon | 1 Nephi 7:12; 2 Nephi 9:20; Mosiah 4:9; Alma 26:35; Helaman 9:41; Ether 3:4). Scriptural passages that speak of him being the same yesterday, today, and forever
(Psalm 102:27; Hebrews 1:12; 13:8; The Book of Mormon |1 Nephi 10:18-19; 2 Nephi 27:23; Alma 7:20; Mormon 9:8-11, 19; Moroni 8:18; 10:7; The Doctrine and Covenant's 3:2; 20:12, 17; 35:1) clearly have reference to his divine attributes-his love, justice, constancy, and willingness to bless his children.
In addition, President Joseph Fielding Smith explained that"From eternity to eternity means from the spirit existence through the probation, which we are in, and then back again to the eternal existence which will follow. Surely this is everlasting, for when we receive the resurrection, we will never die. We all existed in the first eternity. I think I can say of myself and others, we are from eternity; and we will be to eternity everlasting, if we receive the exaltation."
We come to the earth to take a physical body, be schooled and gain experiences in this second estate that we could not have in the first estate, the pre-mortal life. We then strive to keep the commandments and grow in faith and spiritual graces until we are prepared to go where God and Christ are. Eternal life consists in being with God; in addition, it entails being like God. A study of Christian history reveals that the doctrine of the deification of man was taught at least into the fifth century by such notables as Irenaus, Clement of Alexandria, Justin Martyr, Athanasius, and Augustine.
Because we know that many plain and precious truths were taken from the Bible before it was compiled
( The Book of Mormon | 1 Nephi 13:20-39; Preface to Doctrine and Covenant's 76), we might not agree with some of what was taught about deification by such Christian thinkers, but it is clear that the idea was not foreign to the people of the early church.
For that matter, no less a modern Christian theologian than C.S. Lewis recognized the logical and theological extension of being transformed by Christ. "The Son of God became a man," Lewis pointed out, "to enable men to become sons of God."
Further, Lewis has explained: "The command Be Ye perfect is not idealistic gas. Nor is it a command to do the impossible. He is going to make us into creatures that can obey that command. He said (in the Bible) that we were 'gods' and He is going to make good his words.
If we let Him-for we can prevent Him, if we choose-He will make the feeblest and filthiest of us into a god or goddess, dazzling, radiant, immortal creature, pulsating all through with such energy and joy and wisdom and love as we cannot now imagine, a bright stainless mirror which reflects back to God perfectly (though, of course, on a smaller scale) His own boundless power and delight and goodness. The process will be long and in parts very painful; but that is what we are in for. Nothing less. He meant what He said.
"All men and women, like Christ, are made in the image and likeness of God
(Genesis 1:27; Pearl of Great Price | Moses 2:27), and so it is neither robbery nor heresy for the children of God to aspire to be like God (Matthew 5:48; Philippians 2:6); like any parent, our Heavenly Father would want his children to become and be all that he is.
Godhood comes through overcoming the world through the Atonement (1 John 5:4-5; Revelation 2:7, 11; Doctrine and Covenant's 76:51-60), becoming heirs of God and joint-heirs with Christ, who is the natural Heir (Romans 8:17; Galatians 4:7), and thus inheriting all things, just as Jesus inherits all things
(1 Corinthians 3:21-23; Revelation 21:7; Doctrine and Covenant's 76:55, 95; 84:38; 88:107). The faithful are received into the "church of the Firstborn" (Hebrews 12:23; Doctrine and Covenant's 76:54, 67, 94; 93:22), meaning they inherit as though they were the firstborn. In that glorified state we will be conformed to the image of the Lord Jesus (Romans 8:29; 1 Corinthians 15:49; 2 Corinthians 3:18; 1 John 3:2; The Book of Mormon | Alma 5:14), receive his glory, and be one with him and with the Father (John 17:21-23; Philippians 3:21).
1.Do Mormons believe that human can become God?
Yes we do, but only those who receive the highest glory.
2.If they do, why?
In Genesis 3:22, it states "And the LORD God said, Behold, the man is become as one of us, to know good and evil... ". Therefore, as the Lord himself says, Satan told Eve a half-truth. The Adversary lied when he said that Eve would "not surely die", but he told the truth when he said that she would become "like God, knowing good and evil."
To spread the false notion that we as Latter-day Saints do not show proper reverence towards the Godhead, anti-Mormons often tell people that Latter-day Saints believe that they will become co-equal, or on the same level, with God and no longer worship him. This misrepresentation is a twisting of an LDS doctrine called exaltation, a doctrine that the Bible clearly teaches.
We believe our Heavenly Father has given us this mortal life to become more like him. Those who are true and faithful in all things will sit in the throne of Christ. (Rev 3:21) They will have the name of God the Father placed upon them (Rev 14:1) We believe that they shall be "heirs of God, and joint-heirs of Christ" (Rom 8:17). What shall the faithful inherit? ALL THINGS according to scripture (Heb 1:2)
"Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect." (Matthew 5:48)
"For I [am] the LORD that bringeth you up out of the land of Egypt, to be your God: ye shall therefore be holy, for I [am] holy." (Leviticus 11:45)
"Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be; but we know that, when he shall appear, we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is." (1 John 3:2)
"Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that believeth on me, the works that I do shall he do also; and greater [works] than these shall he do; because I go unto my Father." (John 14:12)
We call anyone who sits in the throne of God, has God's name and attributes, and who has inherited all things (i.e. - power, dominion, and knowledge) from God-----a god.
Hence the scripture, "God standeth in the congregation of the mighty; he judgeth among the gods....I have said, Ye are gods; and all of you are children of the most High." Psalms (82:1,6)
While we believe that the faithful will enjoy a life similar to our Heavenly Father, we also believe we will still be subject to and worship the God of Heaven, which is represented as the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost. Furthermore, while we will be "gods, even the sons of God" (D&C 76:58), we will never be at the same level as them or stop worshipping them, but we will be like them and enjoy a quality of life similar to theirs.
We believe that we come to the earth to take a physical body, to be schooled and trained and gain experiences here that we could not have in the pre-mortal life. Then we seek to grow in faith and spiritual graces until we can qualify to go where God and Christ are. But they believe that eternal life consists in more than being with God; it entails being like God. A study of the Christian church reveals that the doctrine of the deification of man was taught at least into the fifth century by such notables as Irenaeus, Clement of Alexandria, Justin Martyr, Athanasius, and Augustine. We would probably not agree with most of what was taught about deification by the early Christian church leaders, because they believe that many of the plain and precious truths concerning God and man had been lost by then. But I mention this to illustrate that the idea was not foreign to the people of the early church; the names mentioned were not pagan or Gnostic spokesmen but Christian.
Our belief in man becoming as God is not dependent upon the early Christian concept, or upon such popular modern Christian thinkers as C. S. Lewis, who taught this notion. In the vision of the hereafter given to Joseph Smith this description of those who is found who attain the highest or celestial glory: "Wherefore, as it is written, they are gods, even the sons of God." (Doctrine and Covenants 76:58.) Godhood comes through the receipt of eternal life. Eternal life consists of two things: (1) the continuation of the family unit in eternity; and (2) inheriting, receiving, and being endowed with the fullness of the spirit and power of the Father. (Doctrine and Covenants 132:19-20.) We do not believe they will ever, worlds without end, unseat or oust God the Father or Jesus Christ. Those holy beings are and forever will be the Gods men and women worship. Men and women, like Christ, are made in the image and likeness of God, that it is not robbery to be equal with God (Philippians 2:6), and that like any father, our Heavenly Father wants his children to become and be all that he is. Spiritual growth to this lofty plain is not something that comes merely through hard work, though men and women are expected to do their best to keep their covenantal obligations. Deification is accomplished finally through the grace and goodness of Jesus Christ, who seeks that all of us might become joint heirs, co-inheritors with him, to all the Father has. (Romans 8:14-18.)
Joseph Smith's First Vision represents the beginning of the revelation of God to man in this dispensation. We will no doubt spend a lifetime seeking to understand the doctrinal profundity of that theophany. This appearance of the Father and Son in upstate New York had the effect of challenging those creeds of Christendom out of which the doctrine of the Trinity evolved-a doctrine that evolved from efforts to reconcile Christian theology with Greek philosophy. President Gordon B. Hinckley has observed:
"To me it is a significant and marvelous thing that in establishing and opening this dispensation our Father did so with a revelation of himself and of his Son Jesus Christ, as if to say to all the world that he was weary of the attempts of men, earnest though these attempts might have been, to define and describe him. . . . The experience of Joseph Smith in a few moments in the grove on a spring day in 1820, brought more light and knowledge and understanding of the personality and reality and substance of God and his Beloved Son than men had arrived at during centuries of speculation."
By revelation Joseph Smith came to know that the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost constitute the Godhead. From the beginning the Prophet Joseph taught that the members of the Godhead are one in purpose, one in mind, one in glory, one in attributes and powers, but separate persons.
God is the Father of the spirits of all men and women (Numbers 16:22; 27:16), the source of light and truth, the embodiment of all godly attributes and gifts, and the supreme power and intelligence over all things. From the Book of Moses we've learned that among the ancients God the Father was called "Man of Holiness," and thus his Only Begotten Son is the Son of Man of Holiness, or the Son of Man ( Pearl of Great Price | Moses 6:57). The title Man of Holiness opens us to a deeper understanding of Deity. We believe that God the Father is an exalted man, a corporeal being, a personage of flesh and bones.
That God has a physical body is one of the most important of all truths restored in this dispensation; it is inextricably tied to such doctrines as the immortality of the soul, the literal resurrection, eternal marriage, and the continuation of the family unit into eternity. In his corporeal or physical nature, God can be in only one place at a time. His divine nature is such, however, that his glory, his power, and his influence, meaning his Holy Spirit, fills the immensity of space and is the means by which he is omnipresent and through which law and light and life are extended to us (Doctrine and Covenants 88:6-13).
The Father's physical body does not limit his capacity or detract one wit from his infinite holiness, any more than Christ's resurrected body did so ( Luke 24; John 20-21). Interestingly enough, research by Professor David Paulsen of our Philosophy department indicates that the idea of God's corporeality was taught in the early Christian church into the fourth and fifth centuries, before being lost to the knowledge of the people.
On the one hand, we worship a divine Being with whom we can identify. That is to say, his infinity does not preclude either his immediacy or his intimacy. "In the day that God created man," the scriptures attest, "in the likeness of God made he him; in the image of his own body, male and female, created he them"
( The Pearl of Great Price | Moses 6:8-9). God is not simply a spirit influence, a force in the universe, or the First Great Cause; when we pray "Our Father which art in heaven" (Matthew 6:9), we mean what we say. We believe God is comprehendable, knowable, approachable, and, like his Beloved Son, touched with the feeling of our infirmities (Hebrews 4:15).
On the other hand, our God is God. There is no knowledge of which the Father is ignorant and no power he does not possess ( The Book of Mormon | 1 Nephi 7:12; 2 Nephi 9:20; Mosiah 4:9; Alma 26:35; Helaman 9:41; Ether 3:4). Scriptural passages that speak of him being the same yesterday, today, and forever
(Psalm 102:27; Hebrews 1:12; 13:8; The Book of Mormon |1 Nephi 10:18-19; 2 Nephi 27:23; Alma 7:20; Mormon 9:8-11, 19; Moroni 8:18; 10:7; The Doctrine and Covenant's 3:2; 20:12, 17; 35:1) clearly have reference to his divine attributes-his love, justice, constancy, and willingness to bless his children.
In addition, President Joseph Fielding Smith explained that"From eternity to eternity means from the spirit existence through the probation, which we are in, and then back again to the eternal existence which will follow. Surely this is everlasting, for when we receive the resurrection, we will never die. We all existed in the first eternity. I think I can say of myself and others, we are from eternity; and we will be to eternity everlasting, if we receive the exaltation."
We come to the earth to take a physical body, be schooled and gain experiences in this second estate that we could not have in the first estate, the pre-mortal life. We then strive to keep the commandments and grow in faith and spiritual graces until we are prepared to go where God and Christ are. Eternal life consists in being with God; in addition, it entails being like God. A study of Christian history reveals that the doctrine of the deification of man was taught at least into the fifth century by such notables as Irenaus, Clement of Alexandria, Justin Martyr, Athanasius, and Augustine.
Because we know that many plain and precious truths were taken from the Bible before it was compiled
( The Book of Mormon | 1 Nephi 13:20-39; Preface to Doctrine and Covenant's 76), we might not agree with some of what was taught about deification by such Christian thinkers, but it is clear that the idea was not foreign to the people of the early church.
For that matter, no less a modern Christian theologian than C.S. Lewis recognized the logical and theological extension of being transformed by Christ. "The Son of God became a man," Lewis pointed out, "to enable men to become sons of God."
Further, Lewis has explained: "The command Be Ye perfect is not idealistic gas. Nor is it a command to do the impossible. He is going to make us into creatures that can obey that command. He said (in the Bible) that we were 'gods' and He is going to make good his words.
If we let Him-for we can prevent Him, if we choose-He will make the feeblest and filthiest of us into a god or goddess, dazzling, radiant, immortal creature, pulsating all through with such energy and joy and wisdom and love as we cannot now imagine, a bright stainless mirror which reflects back to God perfectly (though, of course, on a smaller scale) His own boundless power and delight and goodness. The process will be long and in parts very painful; but that is what we are in for. Nothing less. He meant what He said.
"All men and women, like Christ, are made in the image and likeness of God
(Genesis 1:27; Pearl of Great Price | Moses 2:27), and so it is neither robbery nor heresy for the children of God to aspire to be like God (Matthew 5:48; Philippians 2:6); like any parent, our Heavenly Father would want his children to become and be all that he is.
Godhood comes through overcoming the world through the Atonement (1 John 5:4-5; Revelation 2:7, 11; Doctrine and Covenant's 76:51-60), becoming heirs of God and joint-heirs with Christ, who is the natural Heir (Romans 8:17; Galatians 4:7), and thus inheriting all things, just as Jesus inherits all things
(1 Corinthians 3:21-23; Revelation 21:7; Doctrine and Covenant's 76:55, 95; 84:38; 88:107). The faithful are received into the "church of the Firstborn" (Hebrews 12:23; Doctrine and Covenant's 76:54, 67, 94; 93:22), meaning they inherit as though they were the firstborn. In that glorified state we will be conformed to the image of the Lord Jesus (Romans 8:29; 1 Corinthians 15:49; 2 Corinthians 3:18; 1 John 3:2; The Book of Mormon | Alma 5:14), receive his glory, and be one with him and with the Father (John 17:21-23; Philippians 3:21).