"The Church acknowledges the contribution of scholars to the content presented in this article; their work is used with permission."
Used with permission... LOL Scholars now declare doctrine. What are the general authorities for in this case? This is an interesting admission. Again, no names are listed.
You know what's missing at lds.org right now? There used to be a page I'd go to on "Exaltation" that said specifically "we will become gods." That page is gone. Maybe I'm not looking in the right place, but I can't find it at all. I'm going to keep looking--then, I'm going to see if anyone captured it on the Wayback Machine.
Pick the perfection talk, choose to leave out Kolob, and the fact that Mormon Heavenly Father lives there. Pick and choose. JS made Sh*t up, and that was revelation. Ugh. Oh the mental pain of it all.
This article is nonsense. Is it really trying to say that JS was a Buddhist? The Prophet "collapsed centuries of confusion" by proclaiming that humans, at there core, are divine. Like, had JS ever heard of Catholicism? Can this thing really be more mealy-mouthed? Another example of TSCC making vague gestures and letting people read into those gestures whatever they want. If what they read in supports TSCC, they read correctly; if it opposes, they're anti. This is what becomes of a culture that can't speak truth to power.
"That was the last time the Prophet spoke in a general conference. Three months later, a mob stormed Carthage Jail and martyred him and his brother Hyrum."
An excerpt from the essay which although not really relevant to the essay itself illustrates the church's continuing disingenuity. If they cannot be open and admit it was not martyrdom - why should we give credence to anything else they have to.
It belittles those people who have truly given their lives for a cause they believe in.
When asked about this topic, Church President Gordon B. Hinckley told a reporter in 1997, “That gets into some pretty deep theology that we don’t know very much about.”
Aren't prophets, by definition, supposed to know???
Basically, "We're making this up as we go along, whatever keeps the tithing rolling in."
"But, but, but...I paid all that money and was always doing some church job or at a meeting and was rarely home and gave up so much that I wanted to do--they lied to me!!"
Another misinterpretation of scripture. We are not Gods. We never were Gods nor will we ever be Gods. The word Elohim or Gods can be also interpreted as ruler, judge, magistrate. We may be able to reflect a godlike countenance and even be heirs of his kingdom, but that doesn't make us god. There is only one god. We are his creation. We cannot become god. This whole teaching is why Mormons are a cult. It brings god to our level and elevates us to his. Not gonna happen.
"Listen to me, Mister. I've been married to you for forty-two years. I left law school for you. I've put up with everything. Eight children, adopted a girl from Ghana that our youngest son secretly sired on his mission, the shameless hussy that you were keeping a secret in Scottsdale, everything. Now you are telling me the Church is saying you might not get to be a god? You had better check and get this sorted out right now. What about our planet? I'm not going to be your eternal sex doll and/or baby factory in the hereafter for nothing. I know what kind of planet I want and you had better get it for me. I want it to have a lavender pink sky with blue grass and purple forests and I've already designed the animals..."
Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 02/25/2014 07:40PM by anybody.
"Church members imagine exaltation less through images of what they will get and more through the relationships they have now and how those relationships might be purified and elevated."
If you shed ridiculous doctrine and racial and sexual bigotry, you can become LIKE an enlightened person. But you can't really be enlightened by men who read messages in rocks.
It seems that the more they explain, the worse it gets.
Throughout Mormon history someone in the church has tried to define its doctrine -- and the results have always FAILED.
From the JoD (from which the church now distances itself), to Joseph Fielding Smith's "Gospel Principles" (from which the church now distances itself) to McConkies "Mormon Doctrine" (from which the church now distances itself) to G.B Hinckley's horrid Media Tour (from which the church now distances itself)...and finally the D&C 132 (from which the church now distances itself)... Did I forgot Brigham Young's racism?
When it gets down to it - Mormons can explain themselves to themselves - let alone the world.
"Latter-day Saints believe that it is only through the Atonement of Jesus Christ that we can have a sure hope of eternal glory and that the power of His Atonement is fully accessed only by faith in Jesus Christ, repentance, baptism, receiving the gift of the Holy Ghost, and enduring to the end in following the instruction and example of Christ. Thus, those who become like God and enter into a fulness of His glory are described as people who have been “made perfect through Jesus the mediator of the new covenant, who wrought out this perfect atonement through the shedding of his own blood.”
>Before 1994 God was once a man. > >After 1994 God wasn't once a man.
What does that mean? another change of doctrine in 1994? I've always been taught God once was a man. TBMs are so proud to know this "truth"! This is proof to them that LDS church is true.
Darn it! I wanted to be God so I could smite the Hittites and the Amorites, and the Canaanites and the Perizzites, whoever the hell they are--they bug me just because of their stupid sounding name. Oh, and the Hivites, too, and the Jebusites, I never liked those jerks either, one of 'em still owes me 5 bucks, but screw him.....