It is Clear, God became a God the Same way we will (if we do), it’s a system You really don't understand the doctrine, so don't teach it. Dephi, I WAS trying to give you the benefit of the doubt since President Gordon B. Hinckley went on record as stating on whether the LDS Church holds that, "God the Father was once a man, he sounded uncertain, ‘I don’t know that we teach it. I don’t know that we emphasize it ... I understand the philosophical background behind it, but I don’t know a lot about it, and I don’t think others know a lot about it,’" Hinckley told Time.
That you would accuse me of being unknowledgeable is disengenious. You know that I know.
You have already accused me on this thread of trying to hide the fact that I used to be a Mormon. I just wanted to lay all the cards on the table. What is it that you would call me? Apostate?
I am not breaking any covenant...none exists with a false religion or a God who is a god, but not the only god.
http://www.bcmmin.org/evolut4.html
I found this link very interesting in comparing Christianity/Bible with The Book of Mormon and revelations of J.Smith. One excerpt:
Joseph Smith at the April 1844 general conference taught that the Father was once a man like us before becoming a God.
- God an Exalted Man --- I will go back to the beginning before the world was, to show what kind of being God is. What sort of a being was God in the beginning? Open your ears and hear,...God himself was once as we are now, and is an exalted man, and sits enthroned in yonder heavens!...you would see him like a man in form like yourselves in all the person, image, and very form as a man;...it is necessary we should understand the character and being of God and how he came to be so; for I am going to tell you how God came to be God. We have imagined and supposed that God was God from all eternity(5). I will refute that idea, and take away the veil, so that you may see....(April 1844, Teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith, by Joseph Fielding Smith, p. 345; History of the Church 6:305)
>>Dephi, I WAS trying to give you the benefit of the doubt...
Fine, I'll take all of that I can get (Grin)
>>You have already accused me on this thread of trying to
>>hide the fact that I used to be a Mormon.
No, I said *I* was not aware of it, I said nothing about you hiding anything, and since you volunteered it, why would I say you were hiding it?
>>You know that I know.
I only you by what you post.. so Honestly, I don't know what you don't know, I don't know what I don't know so how could I know what you don't know if I don't know, you know?
(Big Big Grin, you Know?)
>>What is it that you would call me? Apostate?
Misguided, maybe even bitter and vindictive (since I called you that before it would be disingenuous not to admit I might call you that, although I think I might know you a little better now and probably would not.)
>> I am not breaking any covenant...none exists with a
>>false religion or a God who is a god, but not the only god.
You gave your word to keep the commandments of the church, whether it be to the devil himself, you should keep your word, or take the no penalty exit clause in the contract. To do anything else makes you dishonest, and frankly lessens your credibility.
CC I have shared with you just a few days ago that pres. Hinckley was not living at the time this knowledge was given so his word would be accurate !
Don Lattin (religion editor, interviewing Gordon B. Hinckley, San Francisco Chronicle, April 13, 1997, p 3/Z1)
Q: There are some significant differences in your beliefs [and other Christian churches]. For instance, don't Mormons believe that God was once a man?
Hinckley: I wouldn't say that. There was a little couplet coined, "As man is, God once was. As God is, man may become." Now that's more of a couplet than anything else. That gets into some pretty deep theology that we don't know very much about. [emphasis added] >{? Q: So you're saying the church is still struggling to understand this?
Hinckley: Well, as God is, man may become. We believe in eternal progression. Very strongly. We believe that the glory of God is intelligence and whatever principle of intelligence we attain unto in this life, it will rise with us in the Resurrection. ...that's one thing that's different. Modern revelation. We believe all that God has revealed, all that he does now reveal, we believe he has yet to reveal many great and important things pertaining to the Kingdom of God.
Gordon B. Hinckley, as quoted in Time Magazine, Aug 4, 1997:
"On whether his church still holds that God the Father was once a man, [Hinckley] sounded uncertain, `I don't know that we teach it. I don't know that we emphasize it... I understand the philosophical background behind it, but I don't know a lot about it, and I don't think others know a lot about it.'" [emphasis added]
A spokesman for Hinckley, when questioned about the accuracy of the Time quotation, asserted that Hinckley's words were taken out of context, and that Hinckley was thus misquoted. The Time reporter, however, has made available the pertinent part of the transcript of his interview with Hinckley. Here is the relevant excerpt from President Hinckley's interview with Time:
Q: Just another related question that comes up is the statements in the King Follett discourse by the Prophet.
Hinckley: Yeah
Q: ... about that, God the Father was once a man as we were. This is something that Christian writers are always addressing. Is this the teaching of the church today, that God the Father was once a man like we are?
Hinckley: I don't know that we teach it. I don't know that we emphasize it. I haven't heard it discussed for a long time in public discourse. I don't know. I don't know all the circumstances under which that statement was made. I understand the philosophical background behind it. But I don't know a lot about it and I don't know that others know a lot about it. [emphasis added]
Here we read that even Wilford Woodruff who was the Last apostle to know Joseph Smith stating in his last testamony there are many things he does not understand
