Editor’s Note: Recently a reader submitted the question, “Do Mormons believe they’ll get their own planet?” The following post, originally published in 2014, answers that question so FāVS is re-publishing it today.
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Do Mormons believe they will become gods, rule and populate planets and be worshipped and served like the God of the Bible?
Latter-day Saints believe that every life — our spirits, our souls, the essence of who we are — is eternal. We believe that we can become “heirs of God and joint-heirs with Christ” (Romans 8:17). We also believe in eternal progression; one of the purposes of life is to strive to become more like God. We believe that we learn and grow all through this life and that doesn’t stop with death.
Early Church leaders often engaged in speculative theology and some extrapolated a particular vision of our distant future that sounds similar to what you described. You’ll definitely run into Mormons who believe that the ultimate end goal is to become gods and have personal planets, but frankly, I don’t think human beings are even remotely capable of comprehending what God has in store for us after this life.
Eternity is an awfully long time. No one can say with any certainty what God is going to have us doing a thousand or a million or a billion years down the road and any speculation on the topic is just that: speculation, not doctrine.
What I love about God’s word, the bible, is that it does tell us many things for certain. We can be sure that when we come to Jesus Christ and trust in Him, that He died for our sin, that we will receive, at that moment, eternal life. God also says in His Word that He will never share His glory with another, and that He is the same yesterday, today, and forever, so we can be sure that even a billion years from now, if we belong to Him, we will not be gods but His bond servants and gladly so!!! (Rev. 22:3-5)
What I love about religion is that you can make up pretty much any nonsense you want, and claim that it’s the sacred truth. It saves so much work.
As Robert Heinlein said: “It’s great work, if you can stomach it.”
What I love about SpokaneFAVS is that it’s a place where people with different beliefs and views can converse with each other respectfully, learn about each other, and come to a better understanding that recognizes the goodness and humanity in us all.
Using words like “nonsense” when describing other people’s beliefs really doesn’t help toward those goals.
Thank you for sharing your thoughts, Dennis.
Paul, I’ve loved Robert Heinlein’s work since my teen years; “The Moon Is a Harsh Mistress” is probably my favorite.
It’s clear that the mormon church teaches that worthy members will become gods.
“As man now is, God once was; as God is now man may be.”
( The Teachings of Lorenzo Snow, ed. Clyde J. Williams [1984], 1.)
President Snow’s son LeRoi later told that the Prophet Joseph Smith confirmed the validity of the revelation Elder Snow had received: “Soon after his return from England, in January, 1843, Lorenzo Snow related to the Prophet Joseph Smith his experience in Elder Sherwood’s home. This was in a confidential interview in Nauvoo. The Prophet’s reply was: ‘Brother Snow, that is a true gospel doctrine, and it is a revelation from God to you.’” (LeRoi C. Snow, Improvement Era, June 1919, p. 656.)
“Exalted parents are to their children as our Eternal Parents are to us. Eternal increase, a continuation of the seeds forever and ever, eternal lives — these comprise the eternal family of those who gain eternal life. For them new earths are created, and thus the on-rolling purposes of the Gods of Heaven go forward from eternity to eternity.” (Apostle Bruce R. McConkie, The Millennial Messiah, 23, 1982)
“It is a ‘Mormon’ truism that is current among us and we all accept it, that as man is God once was and as God is man may become.”
— Elder Melvin J. Ballard
General Conference, April 1921
“Each one of you has it within the realm of his possibility to develop a kingdom over which you will preside as its king and god. You will need to develop yourself and grow in ability and power and worthiness, to govern such a world with all of its people.” (“. . . the Matter of Marriage” [address delivered at University of Utah Institute of Religion, 22 Oct. 1976], 2).
Henry B. Eyring & in a 2002 ensign artcle: “The real life we’re preparing for is eternal life. Secular knowledge has for us eternal significance. Our conviction is that God, our Heavenly Father, wants us to live the life that He does. We learn both the spiritual things and the secular things ‘so we may one day create worlds [and] people and govern them’ (Spencer W. Kimball, The Teachings of Spencer W. Kimball, ed. Edward L. Kimball [1982], 386).” (Henry B. Eyring)
“To live in the highest part of the celestial kingdom is called exaltation or eternal life. To be able to live in this part of the celestial kingdom, people must have been married in the temple and must have kept the sacred promises they made in the temple. They will receive everything our Father in Heaven has and will become like Him. They will even be able to have spirit children and make new worlds for them to live on, and do all the things our Father in Heaven has done. People who are not married in the temple may live in other parts of the celestial kingdom, but they will not be exalted” (Gospel Fundamentals [2001], 201).
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