Explorations Class #16
Progression: the Key LDS Doctrine
"You have got to learn how to be gods."
Trying to examine the doctrines of the LDS church
is like trying to climb Jell-O. It's hard to get a foothold. The
LDS Church has so many interlocking doctrines which are different
from conventional Christianity that no matter where one starts,
there will be other related concepts which will not be understood
at first. With this in mind, we will begin with the doctrine of
progression: Man may become a god.
"Still, tis no phantom that we trace
Man's ultimatum in life's race
This royal path has long been trod
By righteous men, each now a god:
As Abra'm, Isaac, Jacob, too,
First babes, then men - to gods they grew.
As man now is, our God once was;
As now God is, so man may be, -
Which doth unfold man's destiny . . . " Lorenzo Snow, Prophet
of the LDS Church
What Snow said so poetically, Joseph Smith publicly
declared at the funeral of King Follet on April 6, 1844.
"First, God himself, who sits enthroned
in yonder heavens, is a man like unto one of yourselves, that is
the great secret. . . I am going to tell you how God came to be
a God. We have imagined that God was God from all eternity. . .
God himself; the Father of us all dwelt on an earth the same as
Jesus Christ himself did. . . Jesus said, as the Father hath power
in himself, even so hath the Son power; to do what? Why what the
Father did, that answer is obvious; in a manner to lay down his
body and take it up again. - . . . You have got to learn how to
be Gods yourselves; to be kings and priests to God, the same as
all Gods have done; by going from a small degree to another, from
grace to grace, form exaltation to exaltation. . ."
Rather than quoting mountains of LDS scripture,
we will outline the doctrine. This is a very standard presentation
of LDS doctrine. Anyone who chooses may confirm these points by reference
to LDS scripture. It will be necessary to look in the "Doctrine
and Covenants" and "Pearl of Great Price" to find
the details since Progression does not exist in the Bible or the
Book of Mormon. Certain apologists have made efforts to find such
support, but it has been exegetically tortured at best. Because this
doctrine does not exist in preceding scripture (and is in fact opposed
to teaching of scripture), it rests on the doctrine of progressive
revelation. This doctrine allows new revelation to change the old.
At this point, we must revisit the statement of God regarding changes
in doctrine.
1. What is God's opinion regarding new revelations
changing His teaching? (Deut 13:1-5, Gal 1:8-9)
The LDS doctrine of progression is an endless
cycle. We will begin with our world as an example, then extend it
to illustrate.
- God the Father is the ultimate god over this
world and in this eternity. Note the phrase "this eternity".
This phrase, absent from the Bible or the BOM, is used to shift
Biblical quotes to make them consistent with LDS doctrine.
- God the Father has a body of flesh and bones.
He is also married. He has sexual relations with his wife to create
spirit children. These children were pre-existing "intelligences" who
now exist in a spirit world waiting for physical bodies.
- When children are born, the "intelligences" occupy
the bodies to begin life as physical beings. Their prior lives
as spirits are veiled from them. After life in this body, the good
Mormon then moves to the spirit world where he can progress in
knowledge. This progression leads to an ultimate status of godhood.
When this status is gained, the Mormon receives his own universe
and eternity where he begins the cycle all over again.
This abbreviated outline leaves out much detail,
but accurately represents the doctrine.
2. Explain how the LDS "Godhood Cycle" began.
(No additional information is required than that above, since none
exists in LDS teaching.)
3. Describe the geographic extent of God according
to LDS teaching. How does this compare to God's own description of
Himself? (Jer 23:24, 2 Chron 6:18, 1 Kings 8:27)
"The Father has a body of flesh and bones
as tangible as man's; the Son also; but the Holy Ghost has not
a body of flesh and bones, but is a personage of Spirit. Were it
not so, the Holy Ghost could not dwell in us." D&C 130:22
"And Ammon began to speak unto him with
boldness, and said unto him: Believest thou that there is a God?
And he answered, and said unto him: I do not know what that meaneth.
And then Ammon said: Believest thou that there is a Great Spirit?
And he said, Yea. And Ammon said: This is God. And Ammon said unto
him again: Believest thou that this Spirit, who is God, created
all things which are in heaven and in the earth?" Alma 18:24-28
"And the king said: Is God that Great
Spirit that brought our fathers out of the land of Jerusalem? And
Aaron said unto him: Yea, he is that Great Spirit, and he created
all things both in heaven and in earth. . ." Alma 22:9-10
"Holy, holy God; we believe that Thou
art God, and we believe that Thou art holy, and that Thou wast
a spirit, and that Thou art a spirit, and that Thou wilt be a spirit
forever." Alma 31:15
". . . Man and God are of the same race,
and it is within the power of righteous man to become like his
Father, that is to become a Holy Man, a Man of Holiness." Bruce
R. McConkie, Apostle of the LDS Church, "Mormon Doctrine",
pp. 465-66
4. What is the physical nature of God? Is He a man?
(John 1:18; 4:24, Jer 23:24, Psalm 50:21, Num 23:19, Hosea 11:9)
"For behold, God, knowing all things,
being from everlasting to everlasting, behold he sent angels to
minister unto the children of men." Moroni 7:22
5. How long has God existed? (Ex 3:14, Psalm 90:2;
102:25-27 c.f. Heb 1:10-12, Is 43:10; 44:6, John 5:26, 1 Pet 1:20)
How long has the Son existed? (John 1:1-3, Prov 8:22-26, 1 Chron
16:36, etc.)
"The mind or intelligence which man possesses
is coequal with God himself . . . I am dwelling on the immortality
of the spirit of man. Is it logical to say that the intelligence
of spirits is immortal, and yet that it had a beginning? The intelligence
of spirits had not beginning, neither will it have an end. That
is good logic. That which has a beginning may have an end. There
was never a time when there were no spirits; for they are coequal
(coeternal) with our Father in heaven . . . But if I am right,
I might with boldness proclaim from the housetops that God never
had the power to create the spirit of man at all. God himself could
not create himself." Joseph Smith, King Follett Discourse
6. According to LDS doctrine, when did man come
into being? According to the Bible, when did man come into being?
(Gen. 2:7) Did he exist in any form prior to this? (Is 45:9; 64:8,
Jer 18:1-6, Psalm 103:14,Acts 17:24-25, Rom 9:20-21)
"The greatest intelligence in the universe
can continually ascend to greater heights of perfection." Brigham
Young, 2nd Prophet of the LDS Church, Journal of Discourses,
Vol. 1, p. 93
"The Father and Son do not progress in
knowledge and wisdom, because they already know all things past,
present, and to come. . . " Orson Prat, Apostle of the LDS
Church, "The Seer", p. 117
"God Himself is increasing and progressing
in knowledge, power, and dominion, and will do so, worlds without
end." Wilford Woodruff, 4th Prophet of the LDS
Church, JOD, Vol. 6, p. 120
"For do we not read that God is the same
yesterday, today and forever, and in him there is no variableness
neither shadow of changing?" Mormon 9:9 (see James 1:17 KJV)
"For I know that God is not a partial
God, neither a changeable being; but He is unchangeable from all
eternity to all eternity." Moroni 8:18
7. How does God describe his progression in "knowledge,
power, and dominion"? (Mal 3:6, Job 21:22; 36:4, Is 40:13-14,
James 1:17) What can we say about the LDS doctrine regarding the
knowledge of God?
"The Father is a glorified, perfected
resurrected, exalted man who worked out his salvation by obedience
to the same laws he has given us so that we may do the same." Bruce
R. McConkie, Apostle of the LDS Church, "A New Witness for
the Articles of Faith", p. 64
"The Gods who dwell in Heaven . . . have
been redeemed from the grave in a world which existed before the
foundations of this earth were laid. They and the Heavenly body
which they now inhabit were once in a fallen state . . . they were
exalted also, from fallen men to Celestial Gods to inhabit their
Heaven forever and ever." Orson Prat, 3rd Prophet
of the LDS Church, "The Seer", p.23
8. Did the Mormon God ever sin? Has the God of the
Bible ever sinned? (Job 34:10; 36:22-23, Rev 4:8)
"How many gods there are, I do not know.
But there never was a time when there were not gods. . ." Brigham
Young, 2nd Prophet of the LDS Church, JOD Vol. 7, p.333
". . . then we shall go back to our Father
and God, who is connected with one who is still farther back; and
this father is connected with one still farther back, and so on,
. . ." Heber Kimball, Apostle of the LDS Church, JOD Vol.
8, p.211
"This explains the mystery. If we should
take a million worlds like this and number their particles, we
should find that there are more Gods than there are particles of
matter in those worlds." Orson Prat, Apostle of the LDS Church,
JOD Vol.2, p. 345
9. Joseph Smith declared that the Bible had been
corrupted by its translators, and set about revising the translation
in the winter of 1831. This "Joseph Smith Translation" is
the "Bible" in Article of Faith #8: "We believe the
Bible to be the word of God as far as it is translated correctly;
we also believe the Book of Mormon is the word of God." In the
passages we will cite, the KJV is identical to the JST.
How many gods are there? (Deut 6:4 c.f. *Mark 12:28-29,
*Is 43:10; 44:6-8; 45:5-6, 18, 21-22; 46:9-10)
The LDS Trinity involves three completely separate
beings: the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost. We will deal with
certain aspects of this later as we discuss the LDS gospel. Here
our concern is with whether these constitute separate beings. The
First Vision account declares the Father and Son to be separate physical
beings. The D&C add the Holy Ghost as a third, separate spirit
being. We have reviewed those statements earlier. Now we examine
the BOM. (Note: These quotations are from the current, edited BOM.)
"And honor be to the Father, and to the
Son, and to the Holy Ghost, which is one God. Amen" Introduction,
BOM, "Testimony of Three Witnesses"
". . . every thing shall be restored to
its perfect frame, as it is now, or in the body, and shall be brought
and be arraigned before the bar of Christ the Son, and God the
Father, and the Holy Spirit, which is one eternal God." Alma
11:44b
"Teach them that redemption cometh through
Christ the LORD, who is the very eternal Father." Mosiah 16:15
"Behold, I am he who was prepared from
the foundation of the world to redeem my people. Behold, I am Jesus
Christ. I am the Father and the Son." Ether 3:14 (see also:
2 Nephi 31:21, Mosiah 15:1-5, Alma 11:38-39, 3 Nephi 11:27, 36,
Mormon 7:7)
"And the Father and I are one. I am in
the Father and the Father is in me; . . . " D&C 50:43
(see John 10:38; 14:10-11)
10. What is the BOM understanding of the Trinity?
What was the Jewish understanding (remember Lehi was a Jew)? (Deut
6:4)
11. Who is the creator? (Gen 1:1, John 1:1-3, Eph
3:9, Mal 2:10, Is 44:21, Rev 10:6, 14:7)
12. Is the Holy Spirit a person? (Is 40:13-14, John
15:26; 16:13-14, Acts 10:19-20; 13:2, Rom 8:26-27)
13. Is the Holy Spirit God? (Acts 20:28; 5:3-4,
Matt 28:19; 12:31-32 c.f. Mark 3:28-29)
14. Who is God? (What persons?) (John 6:37; 14:6)
Are the persons separate as in LDS doctrine?
Think about it:
What does the doctrine of Progression say about our God's ability to
overcome sin? What have the Mormons done? (Rom 1:22-23)
 
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