Vol. 8, No. 7, 1991

Articles on Mormonism

by James Walker

The LDS book, Achieving a Celestial Marriage, exposes the heart of Mormon theology when it teaches, "Our Father in heaven was once a man as we are now, capable of physical death. "By obedience to eternal gospel principles, he pro¼gressed from one stage of life to another until he attained the state that we call exaltation or godhood.

"In such a condition, he and our mother in heaven were empowered to give birth to spirit children whose potential was equal to that of their heavenly parents" (p. 132).

This book is relatively recent (1976) and its copyright is held by the Corporation of the President of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

The book clearly teaches the LDS doctrine that men and women, through obedience, can eventually achieve a, "potential equal to that of their heavenly parents" (Ibid).

In case it was not clear enough, the "Office of the President" further clarifies this doctrine on the same page of the book by quoting volume two of Doctrines of Salvation by the 10th Mormon Prophet, Joseph Fielding Smith:

"we will have the privilege of becoming like him. To become like him we must have all the powers of godhood; thus a man and his wife when glorified will have spirit children who eventually will go on an earth like this one we are on and pass through the same kind of experiences and if faithful, then they also will receive the fullness of exaltation.

"We will become gods and have jurisdiction over worlds, and these worlds will be peopled by our own offspring. We will have an endless eternity for this," (Ibid; emphasis retained). Thus, the goal of faithful Mormons is to be worth enough to become a God/Goddess husband- wife team. They will populate a planet or "worlds" with millions of their "offspring."

They will then have achieved "godhood" and will become a Heavenly Father and a Heavenly Mother in the same way that our God "achieved" his Godhood.

This doctrine not even found in the Book of Mormon. The Book of Mormon does not teach anywhere that man can become a God.

In fact, the Book of Mormon teaches there is only one God.

"Now Zeezrom said: Is there more than one God? And he answered No. Now Zeezrom said unto the people: See that ye remember these things; for he said there is but one God" (Alma 11:28-35).

By 1844 Joseph Smith began to refute teachings found in his own Book of Mormon when he taught, "We have imagined and supposed that God was God from all eternity. I will refute that idea. He was once a man like us.

"Here, then, is eternal life to know the only wise and true God; and 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" (Joseph Smith, History of the Church, Vol. 6, pp. 305-06).

The idea of "men becoming Gods" is not only contrary to the Book of Mormon, more importantly it also is contrary to the plain teachings of God's word.

In the Bible the Lord states: "I am he: before me there was no God formed, neither shall there be after me" (Isaiah 43:10).

"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" (Isaiah 44 6-8).

(NOTE: This article originally appeared in the Watchman Expositor Volume 8, Number 4. Because of the nature of this issue, "Life after Death in the Cults" is has been reprinted.)