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In 2007 the LDS Church published a book called Teachings of Presidents of the Church Joseph Smith. The church has asked its congregations throughout the world to study from this manual each Sunday during classroom time. The LDS Church pays much attention to the teachings of Joseph Smith and respects him as a great prophet of God.
Chapter 2 is called God the Eternal Father. Here are some quotes from Joseph Smith which are included in this chapter:
While one portion of the human race is judging and condemning the other without mercy, the great Parent of the universe looks upon the whole of the human family with a fatherly care and paternal regard; he views them as His offspring, and without any of those contracted feelings that influence the children of men, causes His son to rise on the evil and on the good, and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust. [Matthew 5:45]
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"he views them as His offspring",
Do you actually believe we are all his children prior to the cross and that God truly views us in our sinful state as heirs of the kingdom,or children, because that is what a child inherits.
According to these verse we are separated from God, not reconciled or joint heirs or children, but enemies.
Eph 2:12That at that time
ye were without Christ, being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers from the covenants of promise, having no hope, and without God in the world:
Eph 2:2Wherein in time past ye walked according to the course of this world,
according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience
Eph 2:5Even
when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ, (by grace ye are saved
Isa 59:2 But
your iniquities have separated between you and your God, and your sins have
hid [his] face from you, that he will not hear
Rom 5:10For if, when
we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, being reconciled, we shall be saved by his life.
Col 1:21 And you, that were sometime alienated and enemies in [your] mind by wicked works, yet now hath he reconciled
Eph 2:1And you [hath he quickened], who were dead in trespasses and sins;
Here is the qualifier to be a son or child according to Jesus:
Jhn 1:12But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, [even] to them that believe on his name:
By the way, the word "son"you use in Matt 5;45 is the word "sun"
How does this word change support LDS doctrine, because to change that word to "Son" as in Christ Jesus, makes a difference, I am just not sure how LDS interpret this.
We admit that God is the great source and fountain from which proceeds all good; that He is the perfect intelligence, and that His wisdom is alone sufficient to govern and regulate the mighty creations and worlds which shine and blaze with such magnificence and splendor over our heads, as though touched with His finger and moved by His Almighty word
..The heavens declare the glory of God, and the firmament showeth his handiwork [see Psalm 19:1]; and a moments reflection is sufficient to teach man of common intelligence, that all these are not the mere productions of chance, nor could they be supported by any power less than an Almighty hand.
Sounds good!
God Himself was once as we are now, and is an exalted man, and sits enthroned in yonder heavens! That is the great secret. If the veil were rent today, and the great God who holds this world in its orbit, and who upholds all worlds and all things by His power, was to make Himself visible, -I say, if you were to see Him today, you would see Him like a man in form- like yourselves in all the person, image, and very form as a man; for Adam was created in the very fashion, image and likeness of God, and received instruction from, and walked, talked and conversed with Him, as one man talks and communes with another.
Can you support this belief, because these verses paint a different picture:
Jhn 1:12But 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.
Mat 16:17 And Jesus answered and said unto him, Blessed art thou, Simon Barjona: for flesh and blood hath not revealed [it] unto thee, but my Father which is in heaven.
Do you see the distinction between the flesh and the father, both John in John1:12 is making and Jesus in Matt16:17.
Everything a prophet says cant be taken as scripture. While these quotes are not in our canon of scripture, personally I believe them to all be true.
So I guess that is up to the President and apostles.
The way I personally interpret this, somewhere in an eternity past, God progressed to become what He is now, which is omnipotent and omniscient, the God of eternity, the everlasting to everlasting God, who is without beginning and without end. I believe God to possess every power and ability and infallibility as perceived by the Christian world. Gods physical nature, form of a man, and previous progression in an eternity past does not detract from any of this.
That then makes him like you and you therfore can become like him based on that?
For me, to know that I am literally in Gods image and to know that when I die I will see God as He is, and see that His form is my form, and He will embrace me in His arms as His literal child and offspring is unspeakably wonderful. I am a child of God is in my opinion the most sublime and important truth that was restored to the world through the Prophet Joseph Smith. I cant understand everything this implies and there are great mysteries associated with all of this. But, I believe God wants us to know this much with certainty: We are children of God
If this is the case why are not all his words taken as doctrine.
I am curious to know how many LDS hold to the same view
