Posted on 11/05/2010 6:32:25 PM PDT by Colofornian
LDS Prophet Joseph Smith taught that God was once a mortal man:
"God himself was once as we are now, and is an exalted man, and sits enthroned in yonder heavens! That is the great secret. ...I am going to tell you how God came to be God. We have imagined and supposed that God was God from all eternity. I will refute that idea, and take away the veil,...
It is the first principle of the gospel to know for a certainty the character of God, ...and that He was once a man like us; yea, that God himself, the Father of us all, dwelt on an earth, the same as Jesus Christ Himself did; ...you have got to learn how to be gods yourselves, and to be kings and priests to God, the same as all gods have done before you, namely, by going from one small degree to another,... from exaltation to exaltation, until you attain to the resurrection of the dead, and are able to dwell in everlasting burnings. and to sit in glory, as do those who sit enthroned in everlasting power" (History of the Church, Vol. 6, Ch. 14, p. 305-6).
LDS President Brigham Young declared that God was once a finite being:
"It appears ridiculous to the world, under their darkened and erroneous traditions, that God has once been a finite being" (Deseret News, Nov. 16, 1859, p. 290).
LDS President Joseph Fielding Smith said that God had a father, a grandfather, etc.:
"Our father in heaven, according to the Prophet, had a father, and since there has been a condition of this kind through all eternity, each Father had a Father" (Doctrines of Salvation, 2:47).
LDS President Joseph F. Smith taught that God was born as a mortal on some other earth:
"I know that God is a being with body, parts and passions...Man was born of woman; Christ, the Savior, was born of woman; and God, the Father was born of woman" (Deseret News, Church News, Sept. 19, 1936, p. 2).
LDS Apostle Bruce R. McConkie taught:
"The Father is a glorified, perfected, resurrected, exalted man who worked out his salvation by obedience to the same laws he has given to us so that we may do the same" (A New Witness for the Articles of Faith, p. 64)
LDS Apostle Melvin Ballard explained that God has a wife:
"For as we have a Father in heaven, so also we have a Mother there, a glorified, exalted, ennobled Mother" (As quoted in Achieving a Celestial Marriage, LDS Church manual, 1976, p. 129).
LDS Doctrine and Covenants promises the faithful LDS couple that they can achieve godhood in the same manner as God the Father:
"...if a man marry a wife, and make a covenant with her for time and for all eternity,... they shall [have]...a continuation of the seeds [children] forever and ever. Then shall they be gods, because they have no end; therefore shall they be from everlasting to everlasting,... Then shall they be gods, because they have all power,... and continuation of the lives,... [endless procreation of spirit children]" (Doctrine and Covenants Section 132:18-22)
LDS President Brigham Young taught that faithful Mormons can achieve godhood:
"Intelligent beings are organized to become Gods, even the Sons of God, to dwell in the presence of the Gods, and become associated with the highest intelligences that dwell in eternity. We are now in the school, and must practice upon what we receive" (Discourses of Brigham Young, p. 245).
LDS President Joseph F. Smith said:
"We are precisely in the same condition and under the same circumstances that God our heavenly Father was when he was passing through this, or a similar ordeal" (Gospel Doctrine, p. 54).
As recently as 2007 both Apostle Boyd K. Packer and Dallen Oakes, during an interview for PBS, explained that God the father has a resurrected body. Apostle Packer stated:
"That vision [Joseph Smith's 1820 vision] taught us some things. We learned about the personality of God the Father, a resurrected Being, as part of our gospel." [link]
Apostle Oakes used the same term when he was interviewed:
"The first revelation received by Joseph Smith was the appearance to him of the Father and the Son embodied, separate, identifiable, tangible Beings who appeared to him in what we refer to as the First Vision. And that first revelation, concerning the nature of God as an embodied, glorified, resurrected Being, challenged the creeds of Christianity. Christianity describes God as a disembodied, incomprehensible, spiritual entity that fills the whole universe, and an indistinguishable Father and Son." [link]
LDS Apostle James E. Talmage taught that God progressed from a mortal to a god:
"We believe in a God who is Himself progressive, whose majesty is intelligence; whose perfection consists in eternal advancement — a Being who has attained His exalted state by a path which now His children are permitted to follow, whose glory it is their heritage to share. In spite of the opposition of the sects, in the face of direct charges of blasphemy, the Church proclaims the eternal truth: 'As man is, God once was; as God is, man may be'" (Articles of Faith, Ch. 24, p. 430-431).
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What the Bible Says About God
1. ALWAYS GOD - in the past as well as in the future.
"Art thou not from ever-lasting, O Lord my God, mine Holy One?" Hab. 1:12
"For I am the Lord, I change not." Mal. 3:6
"...from everlasting to everlasting, thou art God." Psa. 90:2
"God is not a man, that he should lie; neither the son of man, that he should repent." Num. 23:19
"Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools, and changed the glory of the uncorruptible God into an image made like to corruptible man,...who changed the truth of God into a lie, and worshipped and served the creature more than the Creator, who is blessed for ever." Rom. 1:22-25
The LDS god started as a finite man and progressed to godhood.
2. ALWAYS HOLY - Both in the past and future.
"...a God of truth and without iniquity, just and right is he." Deut. 32:4
"I am God, and not man; the Holy One in the midst of thee." Hos. 11:9
"The Lord is righteous in all his ways and holy in all his works." Psa. 145:17
"God is light, and in him is no darkness at all." 1 John 1:5
"Thy righteousness is an everlasting righteousness." Psa. 119:142
The LDS god achieved holiness.
3. ALL KNOWING - Both in the past and in the future.
"Who hath directed the Spirit of the Lord, or being his counsellor hath taught him? With whom took he counsel, and who instructed him, and taught him knowledge, and shewed to him the way of understanding? ... There is no searching of his understanding." Isa. 40:13, 14, 28
"Great is our Lord, and of great power: his understanding is infinite." Psa. 147:5
The LDS god had to learn everything.
4. ALL POWERFUL
"The Lord God omnipotent reigneth." Rev. 19:6
"...his eternal power and Godhead." Rom. 1:20
The LDS god attained his power.
5. OMNIPRESENT
"The heaven is my throne, and the earth is my footstool; where is the house that ye build unto me: and where is the place of my rest?" Isa. 66:1
"Am I a God at hand, saith the Lord, and not a God afar off? Can any hide himself in secret places that I shall not see him? saith the Lord. Do not I fill heaven and earth? saith the Lord." Jer. 23:23-24
The LDS god can be in only one place at a time.
6. ACTED ALONE IN CREATION
"I am the Lord that maketh all things; that stretcheth forth the heavens alone, that spreadeth abroad the earth by myself." Isa. 44:24
"By the word of the Lord were the heavens made; and all the host of them by the breath of his mouth." Psa. 33:6
"Thou hast made heaven, the heaven of heavens, with all their host, the earth, and all things that are therein, the seas, and all that is therein, and thou preservest them all." Neh. 9:6
The LDS god cooperated with the Council of Gods to create.
7. NO OTHER GODS
"I am he; before me there was no God formed neither shall there be after me. I, even I, am the Lord; and beside me there is no saviour." Isa. 43:10-11
"I am the first, and I am the last; and beside me there is no God....is there a God beside me; yea, there is no God; I know not any." Isa. 44:6 & 8
"To whom will ye liken me, and make me equal, and compare me, that we may be like?...for I am God, and there is none else; I am God, and there is none like me." Isa. 46:5 & 9
"I am the Lord; that is my name; and my glory will I not give to another." Isa. 42:8
The LDS God has a father and mother, grandparents, brothers and sisters, etc.
For a more in-depth discussion of the LDS view of God and man:
Mormonism and the Threefold Problem of Progression: Examining the LDS Doctrine of Eternal Progression in Light of the Bible, Philosophy, and Science
– LDS President Gordon B. Hinckley (LDS Church News, June 20, 1998)
“It is true that many of the Christian churches worship a different Jesus Christ than is worshipped by the Mormons.” – LDS publication, Ensign Magazine, May 1977, p. 26
***
I understand Pres Hinckley statement when those who claim to follow Jesus Christ yet fail to honor the Lord’s commandment
As I have Love you Love One Another.
Quick! Look over there! The LDS were never racial bigots. The leadership of the LDS never disalloowed black people into the faux priesthood. Look over there, there’s someone dissing Catholics.
The Blacks were not an issue it was the prejudice whites who have not yet grown in their soul.
______________________________________________
Really ???
Welll lets list a few of them...
Joey Smith, Briggie Young, John Taylor, and all the later mormon “prophets” and apostles and mormons who have “sustained” what they had to say...
Meanwhile the awful racist doctrines of the mormons have never been condemned or rescinded...
Do you condemn the racist mormon doctrines, Resty ???
I understand Pres Hinckley statement when those who claim to follow Jesus Christ yet fail to honor the Lord’s commandment
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No Resty, Hinckley said that the mormon jesus was a different jesus to the LORD Jesus Chrsit of the Christian Bible...
There is no other understanding or spin to be put on what he said...
Not the same Jesus
“There are those outside the Church who say Latter-day Saints do not believe in the traditional Christ.
No, I don’t. The traditional Christ of whom they speak is not the Christ of whom I speak.”
– LDS President Gordon B. Hinckley (LDS Church News, June 20, 1998)
honor the lord’s commandment
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Just what is the mormon lord’s commandment ???
Who best to know what happen are the blacks in the Church who pracited their faith.
Prominent speaker discusses blacks and priesthood
http://newsnet.byu.edu/story.cfm/42641
013: Blacks and the Priesthood w/ Darius Gray and Margaret Young http://www.staylds.com/?p=234
I think you are sadly mistaken that bias RM you accuse of being favor towards the LDS is the one who started...
Daily Reflections with Oswald Chambers [November 11, 2010]
My Utmost for His Highest (The Golden Book of Oswald Chambers;1992) ^ | 1935/1992 | Oswald Chambers
This RM who is a Calvinist I believe has the sweet Spirit of the Lord.
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/religion/2622457/posts?page=689#689
Just how is it Restornu, that YOU know so much about the IRL of the moderators? Could it be that there is a mod who is feeding you inside information?
The Religion Moderator has stated numerous times that when he/she is away, other admin mods take over the Religion Forum.
Where do you get the information that there are two regular RF mods?
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/religion/2622457/posts?page=683#683
Posts like yours that make accusations against the mods and claim to have inside knowledge are inflammatory and should require an apology to the mods AND to JR.
I think you are sadly mistaken that bias RM you accuse of being favor towards the LDS is the one who started...
Daily Reflections with Oswald Chambers [November 11, 2010]
My Utmost for His Highest (The Golden Book of Oswald Chambers;1992) ^ | 1935/1992 | Oswald Chambers
This RM who is a Calvinist I believe has the sweet Spirit of the Lord.
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/religion/2622457/posts?page=689#689
Just how is it Restornu, that YOU know so much about the IRL of the moderators? Could it be that there is a mod who is feeding you inside information?
The Religion Moderator has stated numerous times that when he/she is away, other admin mods take over the Religion Forum.
Where do you get the information that there are two regular RF mods?
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/religion/2622457/posts?page=683#683
Posts like yours that make accusations against the mods and claim to have inside knowledge are inflammatory and should require an apology to the mods AND to JR.
***
You been here since 2000 it is not my fault you are ignorant to this news TN!
If you knew the history of Daily Reflections with Oswald Chambers you would know that the RM started this to clam the waters.
after so long Alamo Girl took over!
honor the lord’s commandment
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Just what is the mormon lord’s commandment ???
****
With that question it makes sinse why you think the LDS is out of step with “anit LDS”, “so called Christians as in TN”
Those who study the Book of Mormon know how each testifies of each other the Bible and the Book of Mormon.
John 15: 12, 17
12 This is my commandment, That ye love one another, as I have loved you.
• • •
17 These things I command you, that ye love one another.
John 13: 34
34 A new commandment I give unto you, That ye love one another; as I have loved you, that ye also love one another.
1 Jn. 3: 23
23 And this is his commandment, That we should believe on the name of his Son Jesus Christ, and love one another, as he gave us commandment.
2 Jn. 1: 5
5 And now I beseech thee, lady, not as though I wrote a new commandment unto thee, but that which we had from the beginning, that we love one another.
Mosiah 18: 21
21 And he commanded them that there should be no contention one with another, but that they should look forward with one eye, having one faith and one baptism, having their hearts knit together in unity and in love one towards another.
Moses 7: 33
33 And unto thy brethren have I said, and also given commandment, that they should love one another, and that they should choose me, their Father; but behold, they are without affection, and they hate their own blood;
Just how is it Restornu, that YOU know so much about the IRL of the moderators? Could it be that there is a mod who is feeding you inside information?
****
It is not rocket science TN when one of them throws a hissy fit towards the LDS and there is another one who started Daily Reflections with Oswald Chambers trying to clam the waters...
You didn’t answer my questions.
What question?
We all saw it and so did you greyfoxx39 stop fudging it is you who is the instigator every time sometime like this comes up and that is a fact!
And that RM know who he is I have a hard times knowing if the one behind the RM mask is the honorable one or the one who lashes out and takes advanage and lets his contempt towards the LDS get in the way!
Resty, the religion mods are JR’s representatives. When you accuse them of dishonor, contemp, unfairness and deceit, you accuse JR. I personally are sick to death of your ugliness and I wish you would just get zotted. I’m tired of playing with you. You’re a jerk and a disgrace.
Stop with all this crap there was only one who hid behind the RM mask and out of the blue did this and for some reason was given a pass
There were others who witness that tirade hopefully they are lurking today!
BTW You are trying to make this personal!
If one of the Mods did this to you I would be outrage by that act for taking advantage of the mod position.
We just happen to be blessed with the very best Religion Moderator in the entire world. If you can’t live with our RM, then perhaps you should move it on down the line.
The RM "MASK"??????
And what's your criteria for *honorable* and, I suppose, not *honorable*?
It appears from your post that it's all got to do with how you perceive the "bias" of the mods towards Mormonism.
The RM mod has the most thankless job on the FR, as far as I can see. Everybody is a victim and everyone want's him (her) to make everyone else play fair, which means behave the way the *victim* thinks they should.
Too many people try to manipulate the RM into modding in their favor.
The question that greyfoxx asked that you have so far failed to answer, is how you know so much about the RM and what goes on behind the scenes like you claim to. An answer to THAT question would be nice. Nobody is interested in answers to questions nobody asked.
This is one of the covenants made at the time of baptism in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost.
Hmmmm...it's been a long time since I was a mormon, so I must have forgotten the scripture that describes all this...this is one time I'd like to see the mormon scriptures linked to these statements.
I agree with Nana that the "wash off the dirt of the world" is not Christian by any stretch of the imagination. What "covenant of the sacrament" are you talking about. Link?
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