A WHOLE lot different than YOU do!
Okay, so what you're doing here is setting up the ol' straw man, right?
First: what you must (but won't) understand is how little the existence of other exalted entities has to do with our salvation. It is amusing to me that those aspects of "Mormon" theology that are the most vital--the Plan of Salvation, eternal marriage, eternal progression--are universally ignored by those like you, while those things that are most esoteric and least imperative for anyone to study (since there is so little information available anyway) are those that are trumpeted the most.
The fact is that, just as Paul said, there are "gods man and lords many," but for us only one God. Period. End of that discussion.
Second, you postulate an "either-or" regarding eternity and infinity. What a preposterous claim!
I reject BOTH of your postulates!
The fact is that infinity means just that: Unlimited. There is no limit to the possibilities or configurations. Our Father had a Father Himself; that much we know. Beyond that, who does know? This will be revealed at such time as it is actually important. Right now it is not.
Your preoccupation is like contemplating a newborn child, looking at your watch and wondering when the heck they're going to be ready for their first lessons in Tensor Calculus.
For instance, if there is only a finite number of gods in a universe with an infinite past, then there was a time when no gods existed (which Joseph Smith denies).
That's right, so you've answered your own question. And you're trying to frame infinite in terms of the finite. Your terms are irrelevant. Again, it's like trying to use the four basic arithmetic operations to describe Advanced Topology. You just look foolish even trying it.
For a finite number of gods coming into being cannot be traced back infinitely. Moreover, if there is only a finite number of gods, then the continually repeated scenario of a god organizing intelligences so that they can begin their progression to godhood would have never begun.
BlahBlahBlah...Your foolishness just becomes more and more evident.
This is so because in Mormonism one needs a god in order for another to become a god, and no being has always been a god.
This is all YOUR interpretation; we hold to no such. Infinity is infinity. Eternity is eternity. There is no time "where gods began to be." The notion of time is irrelevant. "Time only is measured to man."
It is odd that I continue to tell you these things, and you continue to make the same erroneous statements. Sometimes I think your name is ELIZA and that you're a computer-generated simulation with limited ability to respond to outside information. You're simply responding to internal programming.
How do I believe?
A WHOLE lot different than YOU do!
Evidently, and your belief is childish and immature. You have no understanding and, what's more, don't even understand that you don't understand. ELIZA.