That is LDS doctrine, and I don’t find it out of harmony with the Bible.
I appreciate your concise, description of the LDS doctrine of exaltation. If I was in your place, I think I should be concerned as to why this doctrine has somehow managed to escape the Church for eighteen hundred years.
Since the earliest of times, orthodoxy places the cart and horse differently than LDS. Grace and sanctification pulls the cart of obedience and works. From what you posted here, the cart of works pushes the horse to move.
For the sake of the argument, lets say that I am both wrong (that is LDS teachings are correct) and that I also am a token representative of two thousand years of orthodoxy. Now I am leading my life, relying 100% on the work of Jesus Christ (Jn 19:30) rather than, as you say, "by [the causitive action] obeying the gospel we can [hypothetical contingency on our action] be cleansed from sin [indeterminate actor]". For eighteen centuries orthodox Christians have not synergistically at best, or primarily as (the initiating act) obeyed first to merit salvation. Rather, we have followed what we believe is the pattern of Scripture in that we are chosen by God (2 Thess 2:13) from eternity past (Eph 1:4-5) the Spirit acts first (Ps 51:10; Ez 36:26) to tear down the wall of enmity, which then draws us irresistably to love our LORD (Hos 11:4), the natural outflowing of this love is to engage in works of obedience and righteousness. (v27; Phil 2:12-13)
The difference here is, if we simply sought after God (Ro 3:11) and initiated good works (Isa 64:6) of obedience then we would please God (Ro 8:8) and "become like our Father" (Gen 3:5; Ezek 28:1-10; Isa 14:12-15). Now since no one before the prophet Joe Smith followed this pattern, and since the prophet claims that he received this from an angel (Gal 1:8-9), and we know angels are "messengers", and that messengers are sent, what must we say about the Father who hid these secrets for nearly two millennia, as hundreds of millions of people simply followed the talmud and apostolic letters and forfeited the "inheritance of our merciful and gracious Father"?
I appreciate your concise, description of the LDS doctrine of exaltation. If I was in your place, I think I should be concerned as to why this doctrine has somehow managed to escape the Church for eighteen hundred years ...
Since the time of Christ, Christianity developed into a religion of many strands and differing doctrines — certainly there has not been a single united body of Christ from the time of Jesus.
The reason, I believe, is that with the death of the apostles (yes, I know about John), the original organization that was established by Jesus Christ became fragmented and corrupted, and lost the authority that Christ had given the apostles.
Despite this, many of the truths from God were preserved in the Bible and this has been a tremendous blessing to Christian who have been seeking for light and truth from God, and interestingly there have been Christians throughout the centuries who who have developed a belief in the deification of man (See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Theosis) not dissimilar to the LDS doctrine of exaltation.
Now since no one before the prophet Joe Smith followed this pattern, and since the prophet claims that he received this from an angel (Gal 1:8-9), and we know angels are “messengers”, and that messengers are sent, what must we say about the Father who hid these secrets for nearly two millennia, as hundreds of millions of people simply followed the talmud and apostolic letters and forfeited the “inheritance of our merciful and gracious Father”?
As far as people “forfeiting” their inheritance because they did not have access to the fullness of the gospel of Christ, I don’t believe God cuts anyone out. I would direct you to two sections in the LDS Doctrine and Covenants for more information:
http://scriptures.lds.org/en/dc/137
http://scriptures.lds.org/en/dc/138
These sections refer to the mercies of God in judging all in perfect mercy and fairness according to their works, according to the desires of their hearts — and how he has provided a way for those who have died without a knowledge of the truth to receive it in the world to come.
What does this say about the Father? That he is merciful and just and has not abandoned any soul who has lived.
I don’t pretend to understand all his workings, but I do know that he has restored to the earth in these latter days the fullness of the gospel of Christ in order to bless the entire human race.
Normandy