Do Mormons Believe They Will Become Gods?
LDS Doctrine on Exaltation, Attaining Godhood, and God the Father
Sep 25, 2009
In the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, exaltation is a frequently misunderstood doctrine. People are sometimes offended by the idea that Mormons can become gods, but the real doctrine of exaltation has a lot more to it than that.
Literal Children of God
Understanding Mormon exaltation requires an understanding of Mormon theology on humankind's relationship to God. A popular LDS hymn affirms "I am a child of God." The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints sees this relationship as a literal one. (see Acts 17: 29 and Romans 8: 16-17)
Church apostle M. Russell Ballard said that, "We are all the spirit sons and daughters of a loving God who is our Father. We are part of His family. He is not a father in some allegorical or poetic sense. He is literally the Father of our spirits."
Latter-day Saints believe that all humankind lived as spirits with their father and mother in heaven before being born on earth and receiving physical bodies.
Humankind's Potential to Become Like God
Every organism in nature has offspring of its own species, and that offspring grows up to be like its parent. Mormons conclude that it's not logical for God's children to be of a different species. As part of God's family, Mormons believe that people inherit the potential to become like Him.
Mormons point to scriptural evidence for this idea, found in:
- John 10: 34, where Jesus asks: "Is it not written in your law, I said, Ye are gods? " referring to Psalms 82:6 which reads "Ye are gods; and all of you are children of the most High."
- Romans 8: 16-17 says: "we are the children of God: And if children, then heirs; heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ; if so be that we suffer with him, that we may be also glorified together"
- Matthew 5: 48 reads: "Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect" (emphasis added.) Mormons don't believe God would give a commandment to humankind that they aren't capable of fulfilling, suggesting their potential to become like God in the eternities.
Critics of the LDS church often represent this as a blasphemous doctrine, but Mormons believe that it is well-grounded in both ancient and modern scripture.
Continuation of the Family Unit
Mormons also believe that God's supreme happiness rests in His eternal parenthood. It then follows that as a father, God would want this same happiness for His own children.
Husbands and wives who are sealed in the temple and remain faithful to God's word will spend eternity in the highest degree of glory in heaven. Here they will stay forever with their families (including God, their father.)
Mormon Exaltation
Mormon theologian Bruce R. McConkie explained that exaltation is "the continuation of the family unit forever in glorious exaltation in the kingdom of God... It is godhood." Exaltation is also believed to include "a fullness and a continuation of the seeds forever and ever," (Doctrine & Covenants 132:19). This means that couples will also rear spirit children in heaven.
Beyond continuing one's family by having spirit children, little else is known about exaltation. Neither the scriptures nor modern revelation says that Mormons get their own planet to rule when they die, so this idea is not official Mormon doctrine.
Refuting Biblical Arguments Against LDS Exaltation
Critics of the Mormon doctrine of exaltation often point to Matthew 22:30 which reads: "For in the resurrection they neither marry, nor are given in marriage, but are as the angels of God in heaven."
In Matthew 22: 23-30 the Sadduccees, who didn't believe in a resurrection at all, were asking Jesus about a woman's resurrected state. Since the woman in question was probably also a Sadduccee, it's logical to believe she was not sealed to any of her husbands. Without sealing, Mormons believe that people receive a lesser degree of glory and remain "remain separately and singly, without exaltation, in their saved condition, to all eternity; and from henceforth are not gods, but are angels of God forever and ever." (Doctrine and Covenants 132: 17)
Mormons believe that exaltation, the process of becoming like God as an eternal parent of spirit children, is a central part of God's plan for His children.
For more information on Mormon beliefs, see Apostasy and Restoration.
Sources:
- M. Russell Ballard, "The Atonement and the Value of One Soul." Ensign, May 2004.
- Bruce R. McConkie, “Q&A: Questions and Answers,” New Era, Apr. 1971
- The Holy Bible, King James Version. Salt Lake City: Intellectual Reserve, 1979.
- Doctrine & Covenants of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Salt Lake City: Intellectual Reserve, 1981.
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