Eternal Life and Exaltation Q & A

Q: I've heard many Mormons say they will become gods or that they will bear children in the Celestial Kingdom. Is this taught in the Bible?

A: I understand the Bible and the Early Church Fathers to teach than man, through Christ, can become more than an angel and be glorified together with Jesus Christ who according to Heb 1 was made "higher than the angels" and "given a more excellent name than they." Therefore you may see LDS writings and ECF writings say that through Christ men can become gods and children of God. "God became man so men could become gods." This does not mean that we take God the Father's place. There is a big difference in being "called gods" and being the One True God.

What LDS mean by our hope for Eternal Life and Exaltation is that God will empower those who receive this gift with the power to participate with Him in His work of creation and eternal parenting. If you think about it, the Bible says that to have Eternal Life is to know God. Well, i can not imagine really coming to know Our Father in Heaven until I have been blessed to participate in the kind of work that He does. I think that is why God calls us to be parents and to be missionaries here on Earth. By participating in His work, we come to know Him better.

But more on Eternal Parenting. You used the words "bare children." There is much more to being a parent than gestation. If fact, you can be a parent without gestating a child at all. That is called adoption. I really am not sure if any type of physical mechanism would be involved, especially since LDS believe intelligence and spirit always existed and that we also believe in a physical resurrection. Therefore, I am not sure how a physical being would "gestate" and "bare" a spirit. But, if something like that were required, it would most definitely be painless and not cause stretch marks.

Q: Don't you consider it arrogant (Proverbs 11:2) to believe that only "temple Mormons" are headed for godhood. Isn't this the same sin as Satan? Wanting to be God (Isa 14:13-15)?

A. I know we are nothing without Christ, but please tell me how the Evangelical doctrine that mankind is a created being no different than a "dung beetle" is any different than the Darwinist/Evolutionist doctrine that man evolved from "pond scum"? Are we just fish swimming around in a fancy fish bowl? What are we to God? Are we pets or are we children?

Lucifer's sin was in His desire to take God's place and thinking He knew better than God. It is not at all the desire of any LDS believer to take God place but to believe in every promise and receive every gift that God the Father desires to give to His children.

Q. We are God's crowing creation - made by Christ Jesus, Our Lord, as the object of God's love. He came to save us by His Blood, laying down His own life, for those whom He had created. Praise God! It's very sad that Mormons cannot understand that.

John 1:12-13 But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name: Which were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.

A: So, we are children and not pets. What makes a child different than a pet? If children, than what kind of work may God give us to do in heaven do you think? Are you going to just sing in the choir (I enjoy singing in the choir BTW)?

Q: It seems to me that Mormons believe they will be the children and the gentiles (like me) will become the pets in a lower kingdom or "ministering angels" to the exalted ones.

A: God in the Bible made the distinction between saved beings as either "ministering angels" and "children of the bondwoman" or "heirs of God" and "children of the promise" in Heb 1, and Gal 4. It is God in the Bible who speaks of the wise and unwise virgins, the sheep and the goats, the lukewarmers, and the children of the bondwoman vs. children of the promise. It is entirely up to you if you are going to be like Hagar's son Ishmael and be a child of the bondwoman, or will you receive the greater gift/glory/kingdom/seat/crown that God is offering you if you but receive it?

Also, I would like to compare and contrast the fairness of LDS belief with regard to the salvation of those of other faiths with the commonly held Evangelicals belief that LDS will "burn in Hell" and suffer the "blackness of darkness forever" for believing in, what some consider, a false Christ and a false gospel. And I should also remind you that LDS will even go out of their way to offer you an LDS baptism and temple ordinances after you have died. How's that for fair?