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To: MarkBsnr
LDS doctrine states that Jesus is a created being by Heavenly Father, who has become God (a lesser God, but still God), and the Holy Spirit was up until recently not considered a being at all. However, the LDS teach that as Jesus was (a man become god), so may all men become gods, each in charge of their own universe. The women, though, kinda get short shrifted. They are eternally pregnant with their god-owner's children in the new universes. How'd I do, Logophile?

I would correct a few points:

1. We do not teach that Jesus is a "created being." The idea of a created (or contingent) being is foreign to Mormonism. We do not believe in creation ex nihilo.

2. Jesus was not a man who became God. He was God who became a mortal man. Since the resurrection, He has resumed His place at the right hand of the Father.

3. Some early LDS may have been unsure about whether the Holy Ghost is a being. However, Doctrine and Covenants Section 130 (dated 2 April 1843) states that the Holy Ghost "is a personage of Spirit."

4. Through the Atonement of Jesus Christ, all men may become "gods, even the sons of God." However, they remain subordinate to Christ (D&C 76:59).

5. The idea that we may become gods in charge of our own universes (or planets) is, so far as I can tell, folklore. I know of nothing in Mormon scripture or the authoritative statements of the prophets that supports the notion. I suppose that God will continue to create "worlds without number" (Moses 1:33, 38), and that His children may participate in the creation process; but they will not act independently.

6. The idea that exalted women are "eternally pregnant" appears to be more folklore. It could be called anti-Mormon folklore because it seems to be taught only by opponents of the LDS Church. (The infamous movi e The Godmakers may have been the source of this belief.)

7. Women are not owned by their husbands, either here or in the hereafter. Marriage is required of all those who would receive the highest degree of glory; hence, the husband needs the wife as much as she needs him.

209 posted on 05/15/2010 10:23:28 AM PDT by Logophile
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To: Logophile

Thank you for this clear exposition.


217 posted on 05/15/2010 12:20:31 PM PDT by Mad Dawg ("Be kind to everyone you meet, for every person is fighting a great battle" -- St. Ephraim)
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To: Logophile; Elsie
Let us see what LDS Scripture teaches about Jesus and men.

D&C 130: 1 When the Savior shall aappear we shall see him as he is. We shall see that he is a bman like ourselves.

D&C 130: 22 The aFather has a bbody of flesh and bones as tangible as man’s; the Son also; but the Holy Ghost has not a body of flesh and bones, but is a personage of cSpirit.

We have several nonBiblical teachings here. One is that both the Father and the Son have fleshly bodies. They do not. The Father never had one - and icons that show the Father are considered heretical and therefore banned - and the Son's body is no more. This is also an indication that the Holy Spirit is not God, but rather a mechanism of the Father and/or the Son. This is highly heretical.

D&C 76: 54 They are they who are the achurch of the bFirstborn. 55 They are they into whose hands the Father has given aall things— 56 They are they who are apriests and bkings, who have received of his fulness, and of his glory; 57 And are apriests of the Most High, after the order of Melchizedek, which was after the order of bEnoch, which was after the corder of the Only Begotten Son. 58 Wherefore, as it is written, they are agods, even the bsons of cGod— 59 Wherefore, aall things are theirs, whether life or death, or things present, or things to come, all are theirs and they are Christ’s, and Christ is God’s.

This says that Jesus is merely the Firstborn, and we are exactly as Jesus, only subordinate to Him. As Jesus was born (or created) so are all humans.

D&C 132: 19 And again, verily I say unto you, if a man amarry a wife by my word, which is my law, and by the new and beverlasting covenant, and it is csealed unto them by the Holy Spirit of dpromise, by him who is anointed, unto whom I have appointed this power and the ekeys of this priesthood; and it shall be said unto them—Ye shall come forth in the first resurrection; and if it be after the first resurrection, in the next resurrection; and shall inherit fthrones, kingdoms, principalities, and powers, dominions, all heights and depths—then shall it be written in the Lamb’s gBook of Life, that he shall commit no hmurder whereby to shed innocent iblood, and if ye abide in my covenant, and commit no murder whereby to shed innocent blood, it shall be done unto them in all things whatsoever my servant hath put upon them, in time, and through all eternity; and shall be of full force when they are out of the world; and they shall pass by the angels, and the gods, which are set there, to their jexaltation and glory in all things, as hath been sealed upon their heads, which glory shall be a fulness and a continuation of the kseeds forever and ever. 20 Then shall they be gods, because they have no end; therefore shall they be from aeverlasting to everlasting, because they continue; then shall they be above all, because all things are subject unto them. Then shall they be bgods, because they have call power, and the angels are subject unto them. 21 Verily, verily, I say unto you, except ye abide my alaw ye cannot attain to this glory.

This teaches that if I attain this level, I will have my own universe and become a god over it.

I will admit that I cannot find anything about virtual ownership of women by the husbands or eternal pregnancy in the BoM or the D&C, only in the JoD, which seems to have fluctuating levels of authority depending upon the mood of the day.

I find the D&C a rather interesting document, if a tad rambling. My understanding that it is considered LDS Scripture, since I am posting from it from http://scriptures.lds.org/dc/contents, therefore I use it as a source of teaching authority for LDS doctrines in any debates or proofs.

325 posted on 05/16/2010 12:50:26 PM PDT by MarkBsnr ( I would not believe in the Gospel if the authority of the Catholic Church did not move me to do so.)
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