Are the Latter-Day Saints the ones that believe that we become angels when we die?

Question

Some people say that LDS believe that we become little gods when we die but that is blasphemy! Also, I thought that angels were created angels and that our spirit goes to Heaven.

Do some Mormons believe that there is more than one god? I know that they think that Christ's Spirit is another man. Christians believe in only one God.

Answer 1

Latter Day Saints do not believe that we become angels when we die.

They do believe that man continues to progress morally after death and, yes, they believe that if they progress far enough they can become gods of their own worlds.

LDS do NOT believe in more than one God (of this world). They do believe that other worlds might be ruled by other gods because they can progress to become gods of other worlds themselves.

Answer 2

Actually, we ARE little gods. David said it in Psalms, and Jesus reiterated it in John. But, we are not, nor will we EVER be, EQUAL to, or any better than, our own beloved Heavenly Father.

Angels are messengers, whether they are spirits, or corporeal or what. Some of us will be AS the angels, some will be heirs of God and joint heirs with Jesus Christ.

If there is more than one God, WE don't have anything to do with them. We certainly don't worship them. Paul told the Corinthians that there ARE gods many and lords many, both in heaven and earth (which leads me to believe that there are FALSE gods and lords and TRUE gods and lords) BUT, for US, there is only ONE GOD, our Heavenly Father, and ONE LORD, Jesus Christ.

We don't "think that Christ's spirit is another man" whatever that means. Jesus Christ WAS a real Man, albeit a PERFECT man; if He was not, He could never have given His life for our sins. And we also believe in ONE God, as I pointed out above. However, I do not know that non-LDS Christians believe in ONE GOD, as they believe the Trinity, which is, I think, one God in three Gods, or something like tat, which makes NO SENSE whatsoever.

Answer 3

It was taught as doctrine in the early days of the church that man could become a capital G God, that heavenly father once was a mortal on an earth, going through a test as we are now, passed the test and progressed to Godhood. If that is the case, then it makes sense that God had ancestors and immediate and extended family that were also Gods, and that we to can become Gods.

However recently that bit of doctrine has been changing, in fact when President Hinckley was asked if God was once a man, he denied it saying that God has not revealed all things, and we do not know.

I do not know why the church has recently begun to change this doctrine, it could be that they have finally realized it is unbiblical, or it could be that potential converts were having a hard time accepting this concept. What ever the case, in Mormonism what was doctrine yesterday is shrugged off as opinion today.

brandonlee91- It is all in the website I provided at the bottom. Please visit it.

Wow! improbable fiction screwed my comment over! I admit defeat, lol

Answer 4

Mormons believe in God The Eternal Father, His son Jesus Christ and in the Holy Ghost.
They also strive to be God like but will always worship the one and only God.

Answer 5

Hear me out before you give me a bad rating...

Why don't you read the Book of Mormon first, then dive into doctrine little by little, so that you understand our doctrine better. You want the meat before the milk, and it doesnt work like that. when that happens, peole get confused about what we really believe, then start to throw stuff down our throat, stuff that is totally off the wall. For beginners, we believe God loves us, and wants to to have all that He has. The only way to acquire all that, is to obey His commandments and come unto Him through Jesus Christ. God will always be our God, and we will have opportunity to have the same things He has, as long as we follow Him and Love Him. Wouldn't your father (assuming He's not a murderer or a pedophile) desire you to have all that He has, and more? Same goes for our Father in Heaven.

Red Panda, where's that quote? Show your proof instead of just saying stuff or delete your answer...

Red Panda, once again, an unreliable source. That page was about as anti-mormon as you can get. I've got one for ya, how about YOU go to the source where you can find the truth about what we really believe, www.lds.org. Search in the library on the website anything that you wish, it's all there. Anything you want to know, it'll be there. Stop using anti stuff, it's a load of crap, that is bias to one's own opinion, and that article definitely fits into that category. If I wanted to know more about your religion, I wouldn't go to an anti site, would I? I would if I was Red Panda...

Answer 6

Actually some of the church fathers believed in Godhood.
Paul Crouch said we are little gods, and some protestant leaders on t.v. say they are little gods.
I don't believe we are gods now..we are what God wishes to make us. We are sons of God and joint heirs with Christ.

We believe in God the Father, God the Son Jesus Christ and God the Holy Ghost who are one Godhead.

Paul said they are Gods many and Lords many but we worship the one true God.

Answer 7

Since the faithful have become so adept in the cut 'n paste method of conversion, I will off this tidbit from St Richard of Packham regarding potential godhood:

"Congratulations on having successfully achieved Godhood! Here is your diploma, and your license to perform all those offices and acts associated with your Divine Office. (You may use the duplicating room to make several thousand copies so that each of your wives can have her own).

You are now authorized to organize your own worlds and universes. Do-it-yourself plans are available for you on the Internet at http://www.god.gov/creating.html.

You are now authorized to start procreating spirit children with your celestial wives, through spiritual sex, which will have to be pretty frequent and pretty quick, depending on the size worlds you create.

You will now be able to watch your spirit children disobey you and frustrate you and make a mess of everything you try to do. (You are only allowed one complete Flood per world to give them a second chance.)

You are now authorized to communicate with your spirit children in any way except directly (because they don't deserve that sort of one-on-one relationship from you), but you are allowed to give them "hunches," which they will probably misunderstand and start thinking that ordinary hunches are messages from you (but - hey - they should know).

You are also allowed to choose prophets from among them, with whom you can talk directly, but you are not allowed to give your prophets any messages that are plain enough to be understood by any of your children without several people who don't really know anything giving them differing interpretations of what you said.

You can have your prophets write down your message in books, but you have to allow them to put it into their own words so that the meaning isn't really very clear. You can't correct their grammar or their spelling, either, or tell them when they've left out a word.

You are not allowed to change your mind, once you have given a commandment. Well, if it was really a mistake, it's all right to change your mind. But you are not allowed to ADMIT it was a mistake. You have to say the new commandment is better, and your children are getting it because they've been so good.

If your children really mess up, you're going to have to make them pay. Or if you can find one who's willing, make him pay up for all of them (and you can make it real gory if you want), and then you can let the others off the hook. You can name a church after him, if you want.

Now that you are a God, enjoy it. It's going to last forever and ever and ever and ever and you will get to do this again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and aga......"

Answer 8

The Mormons believe we all lived in Heaven with Heavenly Father, several Heavenly Mothers, and 20 Billion Heavenly Siblings before we were born here on Earth. Then there was a war. The good guys won and were born White. The bad guys lost and became demons. Those who were neutral or did not fight bravely were born with non-white skin. The bravest of the brave were born to Mormon families.

We all know that Romney must have been a "Valliant Warrior" in the "War in Heaven" during the "Pre-Existence". How else could he have been born "White and Delightsome" to an LDS family here on Earth? Heck, he was probably one of the Commanding Generals . Now , America needs a President with valuable military experience like that to get us through our war in Iraq. Could you please ask "The One and Only True Prophet", Gordon Hinkley, to please release those valuable records to the public? We need to know what battles he fought in. How many medals he won. How many of the "Less Valliant Soldiers" he recommended being born with black skin when they got their chance to be born on Earth. Was Al Sharpton one of THEM ? How about Jesse Jackson? Mormons, this is your chance to show the world the light of the everlasting gospel. Dont miss out. We have General Romney running for president of the USA and we need you badly right now!

Answer 9

I'm not Mormon, but I do believe that its their belief that through specific practices and family structures and activities that men will become gods in the after-life.

Answer 10

To answer your question ...

First of all I think brandonlee91 had a good point. We can tell you exactly what we teach doctrinally and believe, but it will not be easy to accept or understand if you have not received the "milk" first. You should read the Book of Mormon and learn a few of the essentials before trying to jump into the "deep end." I would suggest visiting lds.org and mormon.org where our essential beliefs are well outlined and explained.

That being said, I will appease your curiosity.

They believe in only one God as well. However, they do not believe in the trinity, but rather the Godhead with three physically separate beings. The Godhead being God at the figurative head with Jesus and the Holy Ghost as His "hands," all being one in purpose and intent to bring about God's work and glory.

Or as the first article of faith says: We believe in God, the Eternal Father, and in His son, Jesus Christ, and in the Holy Ghost.

They also believe as Paul said in Corinthians, that there are many gods and lords, but for us there is only one God, the Eternal Father.

Yes, the LDS believe that we can someday become like God else the instruction by Jesus to "be perfect, even as" God would be fruitless. Attainment of celestial glory (or godhood) is through the making and keeping of temple covenants (eternal marriage between man and woman, sealing the entire family, being the "highest" of those covenants). And they believe that we will progress as gods under our Father in His kingdom, to bring eternal increase to his kingdom by creating new worlds and more children.

But they also believe that angels are righteous men who once lived, have died, and already received their celestial glory, because of their righteousness. (Though this is not emphasized or even frequently taught.)

And you may think this is blasphemous, but we are not the only religion that teaches the possibility of man to become like God.

As for what one answerer has brought up about President Hinckley's statements in the Times interview... I suggest you read it again, very carefully. Hinckley is speaking specifically about statements from the King Follet Discourse, which is what the heart of the whole question-series is about.

First of all, there is no point in bringing up the King Follet Discourse, if it had nothing to do with the focus of your question. So, if that was not what the interviewer intended the focus to be on, that is a boo-boo on his journalistic part.

Second, the King Follet Discourse is a reconstruction of an address given by Joseph Smith, produced from a amalgamation of accounts from several different people. There is no existing verbatim account of the the address -- so the possibility of misquotation is very real. And Hinckley is answering that we don't teach the nature of God as specifically from from King Follet Discourse, or the discourse itself.

He is not saying that we don't teach the doctrine of God's nature, or that he doesn't know about it. Just that the King Follet Discourse is not necessarily the source or focus of those doctrinal teachings, and that he has not heard the discourse mentioned for a long time. He was also correct in that we don't emphasize the past of God in our doctrine, nor do we teach that he was *exactly* like us -- as in wicked. And he was correct in stating that we don't completely understand the past nature of God either (as according to the SF Chronicle) -- there are so many doctrines to which we only have a small precept and which are yet to be completely explained, because the Lord says we are incapable of understanding it all right now. Not only that, but we believe that God still has many things not yet revealed -- thus continuing revelation. And honestly, there isn't much point in focusing on God's past anyway, as our focus should be on obeying him, not trying to find ways to excuse our behavior.

So it is completely apropos to say that President Hinckley was taken out of context, in that his state-of-mind or behavior was misrepresented and that certain parts of the interviews were excluded, which made it appear as though he was not focusing his answers around the original focus as asked by the interviewers.

(Ex: "I wouldn't say that," was actually in response to: "There are some significant differences in your beliefs [and other Christian churches]." The brackets usually mean that something was taken out after the interview, and substituted for something else, or that something was added afterward. And in the times interview three whole sentences were omitted.)

And last of all, the Church is not changing the doctrine. I think it would be wise of you not to simply take a non-mormon review at its word. But don't just take my or their word for anything!

Do your own research! Don't be a blind follower of anything! Blindness can only be rewarded with darkness!

Pick up the Journal of Discourses and other authenticated Church books which contain the old addresses, talks, and lessons. Read them and compare those to the current lesson manuals and addresses, which are openly published for online viewing on lds.org. Pray about what you find. You might discover that the non-mormon review you cited, is making a mole hill out of pebble, and is even possibly written with a lack of understanding.

Use the intelligence and liberty God gave you to think, read, search, pray, and most importantly decide for yourself.

(Edit) Red Panda -- LOL, I wouldn't call it defeat ... just trying to shed a little light and rest some concerns -- hope it worked. =)

Also, the LDS believe that all who have been born to a mortal body (black or white, bond or free) were faithful to God during the "war" in heaven, whereas the devil and his followers were cast out and cannot receive bodies. It doesn't make it true or right, but the idea that black people were "less righteous" in heaven than those born white was simply an idiotic *theory* some earlier members and leaders subscribed to. But the theory is not accepted as official doctrine.