JayHawes
Active Member
On almost all of it....besides the inference that what the Apostles and Prophets (of the bible wrote- inspired of God) may contain error.
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Was God once a Man?
- Thread starter JayHawes
- Start date
On almost all of it....besides the inference that what the Apostles and Prophets (of the bible wrote- inspired of God) may contain error.
Hey JayHawes,
You can find lots of information from an LDS perpective using the search engine in my signature. You can be safe that the LDS posters won't disregard what you're posting if you reference a website you find through it. There are over 200 websites in the search engine, so you're likely to find what you're looking for.
JayHawes
Active Member
thanks.
doppelganger
Through the Looking Glass
The bigger question is whether "God" still is a man. 
JayHawes
Active Member
I found the very same site that he said wasn't a Mormon site on your Mormon Search Engine....
http://www.greaterthings.com/Newsletter/49_Man_as_God.htm
http://www.greaterthings.com/Newsletter/49_Man_as_God.htm
doppelganger
Through the Looking Glass
What is wrong with "God" once being a man, BTW? Please don't just quote scriptures as though that settles things. If you can't produce anything other than an argument by appeal to authority, there's really nothing to discuss.
Katzpur
Not your average Mormon
They're not? Boy, they had me fooled! One of them started with the statement:
The most blasphemous, damnable Mormon doctrines!!!
Some people apparently don't pick up on the obvious. Imagine a Mormon website starting out like that!
Katzpur
Not your average Mormon
We would say that He has a human form, but not that He is mortal. We believe Him to be a perfect, immortal, celestial being. In other words, He is not subject to disease or death. He does not require the things mortals require for sustanance (food, rest, etc.) but if we were to see Him, we would see a being that we could identify as having anthropomorphic qualities.doppelgänger;846716 said:The bigger question is whether "God" still is a man.
JayHawes
Active Member
lol...i didn't mean to post that one. :foot:
I dont beleive God was once a man mainly becuase man sins. If God was sinful, what then allows us to be perfect? If it is through Faith in God plus works...then GOd must have had faith in another aGod just to reach his godly position....however if our God created the Heavens and the Earth, how then could he have started out as a human, and progresed to be a God when the bible begins with him being Godand ends with him being God, never ever stating that he progressed to god-hood. Salvation itself is based upon the perfect sacrifice of Jesus, Jesus being God must have been perfect before he came. If it is natural for man to sin...and therefore having our God become God through-by living in a sinful world, God must therefore have been sinful, and then not perfect.....to make a long story short. It's not stated by one Prophet in the Old Testament, neither by Jesus, or any Apostle that God ever was at any point and time a man, in that he progrssed to God-hood. Inversely it says he has always been God.
doppelganger
Through the Looking Glass
Is that what you believe Joseph Smith meant in the Follett Sermon? Where does he explain it that way?
Katzpur
Not your average Mormon
Well, that's a relief. If you mean that, you might want to consider deleting it.
I hope this doesn't come as too much of a shock to you, but Jesus Christ was a man. The shock may be countered, however, by remembering that He never sinned.
doppelganger
Through the Looking Glass
It's only us that judges "imperfect" in the first place. So I can allow me to be perfect.
If what is through "Faith in God plus works"? A construct reaches a "godly" position because another judges it to occupy that position. That's simply a function of language and thought.
Humans share meaning in the words "Heaven" an d "Earth" and "Heavens and the Earth." They are symbols created by humans to represent things thought of. If not a human, they are certainly the product of the activity of humans creating and using language to organize reality and communicate thoughts.
"Salvation" is another thought construct. If Christ is in you, then you are already perfect and already "God" but refuse your inheritance. That's also a thought construct.
But what if it is not natural for a man to sin? What if "natural" only has the meaning we assign to it and "sin" is only "sin" because someone decides it is?
Surely, social reality has a "God"-like quality to it. It gives you words that define your own existence and mark out all the things you experience and share those ideas. But everything you've said so far has its origin in human thoughts and language. So far the "God" you've demonstrated started out human, and became "God" by action of yet more thoughts.
doppelganger
Through the Looking Glass
"A man is his own tormenter and his own condemner. Hence the saying, "They shall go into the lake that burns with fire and brimstone." The torment of the mind of man is as exquisite as a lake burning with fire and brimstone. So is the torment of man." - Joseph Smith, King Follett Sermon.
Necessarily, so too is a man the source of his own grace and forgiveness.
Necessarily, so too is a man the source of his own grace and forgiveness.
Joseph Smith isn't Jesus. Comparing the two isn't worth anyone's time.
Yes, I can imagine the prophets of the Old Testament saying things that are wrong and expressing their opinion from time to time. The revelations from Joseph Smith are cannonized. The King Follet discourse is not a revelation. It is a discourse.
Katzpur
Not your average Mormon
Well, someone whom we believe did see him described him as looking like a man. Not that that will work for you.
Katzpur
Not your average Mormon
I'm not sure that he actually went that far in the King Follett Discourse. I think his point was that we are literally created in God's image and that we look like Him. When he said that God was once as we are now, I believe he was saying that, like His son, Jesus Christ, He once walked "an earth" as a mortal being, and that, also like His son, He is now an immortal being. Witnesses to Christ's ascention into Heaven said that He was taken up into the sky in bodily form. As Latter-day Saints, we believe that He is in Heaven today, in bodily form and that He sits on His Father's right hand side. (We have a really hard time trying to figure out how He could sit on the right side of a being who has no form.)doppelgänger;846736 said:
Blindinglight
Disciple of Chaos
The most high God and Goddess have never been confined to the flesh.
The Patron Gods, I do believe that most of them were at one point in time men, who achieved there godly status during thier final life on earth, living as fully enlightened beings.
The Patron Gods, I do believe that most of them were at one point in time men, who achieved there godly status during thier final life on earth, living as fully enlightened beings.
JayHawes
Active Member
Most mormons will agree that they are not gods here on earth but must be exalted to god-hood. Jesus when he came to earth was already God (Col 2:9), he was not in an exaltation state. Therefore his being sinless cannot be compared to us. We have yet to attain the sinless state. Some mormon teachings state that God was once man, and that he was exalted to god-hood....what then about Jesus or the Holy spirit, or where they all exalted in one man? Also not to mention the countless number of angels... they are also called the "sons of God" were they then exalted to god-hood also?
JayHawes
Active Member
doppelgänger;846754 said:
GOd could not have been a man exalted to god-hood, if he was the same God who created the Heavens and the earth. Wither he was a man who existed on planets he didn't create...or God who created the heavens and the earth....But i dont find much importance in rebuttling the "prophecies" considering god-hood. After all it was the invention of a man, whom most Christians do not consider a prophet. Also, why does the Ministry of Christ in the AMericas and Israel so drastically differ...they should be the same.