Joseph Smith said and taught in the King Follet Discourse
Here, then, is eternal life--to know the only wise and true God; and you have got to learn how to be Gods yourselves, and to be kings and priests to God, the same as all Gods have done before you,--namely, by going from one small degree to another, and from a small capacity to a great one,--from grace to grace, from exaltation to exaltation, until you attain to the resurrection of the dead, and are able to dwell in everlasting burnings and to sit in glory, as do those who sit enthroned in everlasting power. And I want you to know that God, in the last days, while certain individuals are proclaiming his name, is not trifling with you or me.
I would like to point out that Joseph Smith said, Here, then, is eternal life--to know the only wise and true God How can we become gods if their is only ONE TRUE GOD? Mormons will say, God is the only God we worship and have anything to do with, but that was not what Joseph Smith said. He said their is only ONE TRUE GOD.
These are the first principles of consolation. How consoling to the mourners, when they are called to part with a husband, wife, father, mother, child, or dear relative, to know that, although the earthly tabernacle is laid down and dissolved, they shall rise again, to dwell in everlasting burnings in immortal glory, not to sorrow, suffer, or die any more; but they shall be heirs of God and joint-heirs with Jesus Christ. What is it? To inherit the same power, the same glory, and the same exaltation, until you arrive at the station of a God and ascend the throne of eternal power, the same as those who have gone before.
Notice a few things in what Joseph smith taught. He said we shall inherit the same power. How is this possible? Lets look at Elijah and the prophets of Baal.
1Ki 18:21 And Elijah came unto all the people, and said, How long halt ye between two opinions? if the LORD [be] God, follow him: but if Baal, [then] follow him. And the people answered him not a word.
1Ki 18:22 Then said Elijah unto the people, I, [even] I only, remain a prophet of the LORD; but Baal's prophets [are] four hundred and fifty men.
1Ki 18:23 Let them therefore give us two bullocks; and let them choose one bullock for themselves, and cut it in pieces, and lay [it] on wood, and put no fire [under]: and I will dress the other bullock, and lay [it] on wood, and put no fire [under]:
1Ki 18:24 And call ye on the name of your gods, and I will call on the name of the LORD: and the God that answereth by fire, let him be God. And all the people answered and said, It is well spoken.
1Ki 18:25 And Elijah said unto the prophets of Baal, Choose you one bullock for yourselves, and dress [it] first; for ye [are] many; and call on the name of your gods, but put no fire [under].
1Ki 18:26 And they took the bullock which was given them, and they dressed [it], and called on the name of Baal from morning even until noon, saying, O Baal, hear us. But [there was] no voice, nor any that answered. And they leaped upon the altar which was made.
1Ki 18:27 And it came to pass at noon, that Elijah mocked them, and said, Cry aloud: for he [is] a god; either he is talking, or he is pursuing, or he is in a journey, [or] peradventure he sleepeth, and must be awaked.
1Ki 18:28 And they cried aloud, and cut themselves after their manner with knives and lancets, till the blood gushed out upon them.
1Ki 18:29 And it came to pass, when midday was past, and they prophesied until the [time] of the offering of the [evening] sacrifice, that [there was] neither voice, nor any to answer, nor any that regarded.
1Ki 18:30 And Elijah said unto all the people, Come near unto me. And all the people came near unto him. And he repaired the altar of the LORD [that was] broken down.
1Ki 18:31 And Elijah took twelve stones, according to the number of the tribes of the sons of Jacob, unto whom the word of the LORD came, saying, Israel shall be thy name:
1Ki 18:32 And with the stones he built an altar in the name of the LORD: and he made a trench about the altar, as great as would contain two measures of seed.
1Ki 18:33 And he put the wood in order, and cut the bullock in pieces, and laid [him] on the wood, and said, Fill four barrels with water, and pour [it] on the burnt sacrifice, and on the wood.
1Ki 18:34 And he said, Do [it] the second time. And they did [it] the second time. And he said, Do [it] the third time. And they did [it] the third time.
1Ki 18:35 And the water ran round about the altar; and he filled the trench also with water.
1Ki 18:36 And it came to pass at [the time of] the offering of the [evening] sacrifice, that Elijah the prophet came near, and said, LORD God of Abraham, Isaac, and of Israel, let it be known this day that thou [art] God in Israel, and [that] I [am] thy servant, and [that] I have done all these things at thy word.
1Ki 18:37 Hear me, O LORD, hear me, that this people may know that thou [art] the LORD God, and [that] thou hast turned their heart back again.
1Ki 18:38 Then the fire of the LORD fell, and consumed the burnt sacrifice, and the wood, and the stones, and the dust, and licked up the water that [was] in the trench.
1Ki 18:39 And when all the people saw [it], they fell on their faces: and they said, The LORD, he [is] the God; the LORD, he [is] the God.
1Ki 18:40 And Elijah said unto them, Take the prophets of Baal; let not one of them escape. And they took them: and Elijah brought them down to the brook Kishon, and slew them there.
In these verses, Elijah told the people to call upon their "gods". Notice Elijah said gods plural, not God singular. The reason why I believe this is important is because, Joseph Smith taught we can become gods just like God himself. Yet as a result of these gods not answering, it showed they do not exist. And if they really do exist then they must have no real power, because the prophets of Baal were cutting them selves.
Some LDS might argue that only God is to be worshiped that is why these others did not answer. Even if your correct, the problem still remains, God claims He is the ONLY TRUE GOD, and their are no other gods. Then in the Pearl of great price, God claims to have sat in the counsel of gods. So why would God allow His children to be destroyed by not allowing these other gods to even show they exist?
You would think if God said their are no other gods but really ment their are, and we are to only worship Him and no others, you would think He would have said what He ment, so as to not have these prophets of Baal killed for trying to speak to other gods.
Then lets look at Lucifer and the book of Job. Mormons claim Lucifer is the brother to Jesus, so this would imply they are both Gods, and the Bible does say that Lucifer (Satan) is the god of this world. Yet in the Book of Job we read that Lucifer cannot touch Job unless God allows him to, then after He allows Lucifer to harm Job and kill his family, He does not allow Lucifer to kill Job. So God can and does limit other gods and creatures in the amount of power they have.
Job 1:12 And the LORD said unto Satan, Behold, all that he hath [is] in thy power; only upon himself put not forth thine hand. So Satan went forth from the presence of the LORD.
Job 2:6 And the LORD said unto Satan, Behold, he [is] in thine hand; but save his life.
Joseph Smith said
In the beginning, the head of the Gods called a council of the Gods; and they came together and concocted a plan to create the world and people it. When we begin to learn in this way, we begin to learn the only true God and what kind of a being we have got to worship. Having a knowledge of God, we begin to know how to approach him and how to ask so as to receive an answer.
As I pointed out before, How can it say, ONLY TRUE GOD, Yet we have other gods? And how can he say, God sat in the counsel of the gods, yet it seems they have no power from the verses I have quoted.
Here is another set of passages from the Bible I want to point out.
1Sa 5:1 And the Philistines took the ark of God, and brought it from Ebenezer unto Ashdod.
1Sa 5:2 When the Philistines took the ark of God, they brought it into the house of Dagon, and set it by Dagon.
1Sa 5:3 And when they of Ashdod arose early on the morrow, behold, Dagon [was] fallen upon his face to the earth before the ark of the LORD. And they took Dagon, and set him in his place again.
1Sa 5:4 And when they arose early on the morrow morning, behold, Dagon [was] fallen upon his face to the ground before the ark of the LORD; and the head of Dagon and both the palms of his hands [were] cut off upon the threshold; only [the stump of] Dagon was left to him.
1Sa 5:5 Therefore neither the priests of Dagon, nor any that come into Dagon's house, tread on the threshold of Dagon in Ashdod unto this day.
1Sa 5:6 But the hand of the LORD was heavy upon them of Ashdod, and he destroyed them, and smote them with emerods, [even] Ashdod and the coasts thereof.
1Sa 5:7 And when the men of Ashdod saw that [it was] so, they said, The ark of the God of Israel shall not abide with us: for his hand is sore upon us, and upon Dagon our god.
The false god fell before the Ark of the Lord and the false god's hands and feet were broken. So much for being a god.
Then we read
Judge's 6:9 And I delivered you out of the hand of the Egyptians, and out of the hand of all that oppressed you, and drave them out from before you, and gave you their land;
Judge's 6:10 And I said unto you, I [am] the LORD your God; fear not the gods of the Amorites, in whose land ye dwell: but ye have not obeyed my voice.
God tells us not to fear the other gods. This tells me He does not fear them and they must not have much if any power. So will you become a god someday? and if so, will you have any power? if we are always less powerful than the god above us, and their is millions of gods, then it seems to me we wont be much of a god after all, plus God says their are no other gods but Him alone. Rick B
2 comments:
As we have discussed previously, Rick, besides the Biblical explanation that there is only one true God, in places such as Isaiah 43:10, 44:6. and 45:5, there is the philosophical problem of an infinite regression of gods. A vicious regress occurs when a problem tries to solve itself and yet remains with the same problem it had previously. If each god comes into existence from a previous god, and this has gone on in an infinite past, then there is never an original creator god and this defies reason. As well, there cannot be an infinite regression of gods because this would require an infinite amount of time that would not allow us to arrive at the present. If there is an original creator God that has always existed, this would be the one true God, and any others claiming to be gods, would be false gods.
Cheers:)
Thanks for the article Rick. It is important always to see how organizations like this invariably attempt to diminish God in different ways, and the LDS organization is no different.
One way to lead people away from God, is to tell them whatever they want to hear.
It is Satan's oldest trick. Mix truth with lies and appeal to people's pride. In the Garden, all those years ago, he told Adam and Eve they could be like God. He was using the same trick years later in the 1840s, and he is still using it today.
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