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I hope this gets assigned SOON for fifth Sunday lessons and the like. Can I ask if anyone here knows a quote (I think by John Taylor) about a man coming to Mormonism not with “his hat in his hand,” but standing tall as a son of God…..or something like that. I’ve googled it and can’t find it.
Ann wrote:Can I ask if anyone here knows a quote (I think by John Taylor) about a man coming to Mormonism not with “his hat in his hand,” but standing tall as a son of God…..or something like that. I’ve googled it and can’t find it.
Ann, I’m not good with quotes from modern leaders, but Paul did have a couple of interesting things to say. The essay itself referenced Romans 8:17, in which Paul says that we have the potential to be “heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ”. Later in the same chapter (vs 29), Paul says that God has called us “to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he [Jesus] might be the firstborn within a large family.” (NRSV)Cadence : Quote:Without this the church is nothing, The church should embrace this and expand on it. The Prophet should get revelation to enhance our understanding.
I agree that this is a central doctrine of the church. For what are we saved for but to become more like God? What less than all that God has would be worth it? Any true God would want to share his and her joy with their creations.That this life is modeled on parenting is a model to me for what is to come. That we raise up children to become parents. I am not sure how that works or all the detail but it is a compelling vision. It is much of what I stay for. I have found no better vision anywhere. It rings true to me.
As far as having the prophet receive more revelation on it. I would not count on anything soon. We must graduate collectively from grade school before learning of higher teachings. Like the prophet Jacob said if we were holy he could teach us of holiness. As it is we must re-learn the basics again and again. I put myself squarely in that camp. I must learn better how to repent. To be humble and cast off the sins that do so easily beset me.
Most of the articles I have read reporting on this essay read along the lines “Mormons don’t get their own planet in afterlife.” Quote:A cloud and harp are hardly a satisfying image for eternal joy, although most Christians would agree that inspired music can be a tiny foretaste of the joy of eternal salvation. Likewise, while few Latter-day Saints would identify with caricatures of having their own planet, most would agree that the awe inspired by creation hints at our creative potential in the eternities.
This is the only reference in the essay I can find that even hints at this, but I didn’t get the impression that this essay rules out the idea that we will become gods and have children who live on planets that we created.
Caricature – a picture, description, or imitation of a person or thing in which certain striking characteristics are exaggerated in order to create a comic or grotesque effect.
I never identified with a caricature because it wasn’t a comical issue, it was special.
For me this essay just made it clear that we wouldn’t be angry Old Testament gods beating our chest as we throw lightening bolts at those who refuse to worship us. This essay portrayed the idea of deification in the way that I was taught, came to accept and felt inspired by: we spend our whole lives striving to be Christlike, so it makes sense that one day we would be. Were we to become gods it would only be by having a perfect love. The essay clears up the notion that we would in someway be competing with God, but that it is His will that we rise to his level, just as a mortal father desires for his son to become a man.
I just don’t see that this essay does what many seem to be claiming:
Quote:Countering the notion that Mormons believe they will someday inherit their own planets, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has issued a new statement on “Becoming Like God” that tries to put distance between official church teaching and the age-old notion.
I don’t think it is distancing itself from an age old notion as much as it is putting the emphasis on being all loving rather than all powerful, which the church has always taught is a requisite to godly power.
Quote:The Mormon Church is pushing back against the notion that members of the faith are taught they’ll get their own planet in the afterlife, a misconception popularized in pop culture most recently by the Broadway show “The Book of Mormon.”
The misconception is the caricature of the idea, not the idea itself.
Quote:so all those Mormons who believe they will become gods with their own planets are now wrong
Maybe I need to go back and reread the essay because I didn’t get the same message that many others seem to have gotten from it. Am I missing something?
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