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Mormonism in a Nutshell
Mormonism
teaches that God used to be a man on another planet and that he became a god
by following the laws and ordinances of his god on his home planet. In his present
god-state, he rules our world. He has a body of flesh and bones and, according
to Mormonism, he has a wife, a goddess wife. Since they are both exalted persons,
they each possess physical bodies. In their exalted states as deities, they
have sexual relations and produces spirit children that grow and mature in the
spiritual realm. The first spirit born was Jesus. Afterwards were born the devil
and all other spirit creatures. After the spirit children are born to god and
his goddess wife in heaven, they come down and entered into the bodies of human
babies that are being born on earth. During this ?compression' into the infant
state, the memories of their pre-existence is 'veiled.' All people were, according
to Mormonism, born in heaven first and then on earth where they are to grow,
learn, and return to god.
God the father,
who is called Elohim, was concerned for the future salvation of the people on
earth. In the heavenly realm, the Father had a plan for the salvation of the
world. Jesus endorsed the Father's plan. Lucifer did not. Lucifer became jealous
and rebelled. In his rebellion he convinced a large portion of the spirits existing
in heaven to side with him and oppose god. God being more powerful then they,
cursed these rebellious spirits to become demons.
The remaining spirits sided with God. Since they chose the better way,
when it comes time for them to live on earth, they have the privilege of being
born in races and locations that are relative to their condition and choice
made in the spirit realm.1
In the Mormon plan of salvation
there needed to be a savior: Jesus. But Jesus was a spirit in heaven. For him
to be born on earth, Brigham Young the second prophet of the Mormon church said
that instead of letting any other man do it, God the Father did it with Mary.
He said that the birth of our savior was as natural as the birth of our parents.
Essentially, what this means is that god the father came down and had sexual
relations with Mary, his spirit daughter, to produce the body of Jesus. Jesus,
then, was born, got married, and had children.2 He died on the cross and paid for sins not on the cross only,
but in the garden of Gesthemene before he went to the cross.
Mormon men and women have the potential of becoming gods. A famous Mormon saying
is "As god once was, man is. As God is, man may become." In order
to reach this exalted state a person must first become a good Mormon and pay
a full ten percent tithe to the Mormon church. Afterwards, he or she can enter
a Mormon temple and go through secret rituals: baptism for the dead, celestial
marriage, and various oaths of secrecy and commitment. Additionally, four secret
handshakes are taught so the believing Mormon, upon entering the third level
of Mormon heaven, can shake hands with god in a certain pattern. This celestial
ritual is for the purpose of permitting entrance into that level of heaven.
For those who achieve this highest of heavens,
exaltation to godhood awaits them. Then, he or she, will be permitted to have
his or her own planet and be the god of his own world and the Mormon system
will be expanded to other planets.
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1. page 616 of Mormon Doctrine by Bruce R. McConkie
2. Jedediah M. Grant, second Counselor
to Brigham Young said so in Journal of Discourses, vol. 1, pp. 345-346.
Apostle Orson Hyde stated it
in, vol. 2: 210, 328; vol. 4:259-260; vol. 13:309.
Millennial
Star, Vol. 15, p. 825
The Seer, page 172, 158,
CHRISTIAN APOLOGETICS AND RESEARCH MINISTRY
- Contact CARM by email or at www.carm.org
- Matthew J. Slick, B.A., M. Div., President. matt@carm.org
- Copyright by Matthew J. Slick, 1998. All rights
reserved
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