Feeling a bit lost

[rameumptom]

Wanderer,
Remember that we are all seeking to improve our lives, whether it is overcoming an addiction or bad habit, etc. The key is to always keep trying and have faith that Christ will consecrate our efforts for good.

[HoosierGuy]

Originally Posted by WANDERER

A long time since posting...thankyou for your support in answering my questions and the help you have given. It really has set me thinking and there are many changes on their way in my life : ) . No, I haven't gotten up the courage to chat to missionaries or anything like that. Anyone got an online link to LDS lessons?

Hoosier, I'm glad the quote helped. It's something of a seige going through the investigator thingy.

Wanderer, thank you for that quote. You and your quote really
helped me get down there and meet with those missionaries.
You really helped me and I'm grateful. I've now met with the
missionaries three times, been to services twice, and I cant wait
to go again this Sunday. Thank you Wanderer!

Please, when you are in bed and all bundled up for the night,
put your hands together and pray to our Heavenly Father.
Open up your heart to him and ask him what you should do.

Don’t be scared to give it a try on Sunday. You don’t have to
stay all three hours if you don’t want to. Nobody will force you
to go back if you don’t want to. Call up those missionaries and
have a talk.

[Canuck Mormon]

Originally Posted by WANDERER

Ugh. Utter frustration on the closure of the "Becoming A God" thread. I understand the whole it was an anti-Mormon thread and that it would probably end up a bit of a troll thing, but I really wanted my question answered and to work out how things were different. Is there an icon here for banging your head against a brick wall?

Ugh. Yesterday the JW's came doorknocking and I was so disappointed it wasn't the mishys.

A bit down at the moment emotionally...the joys of nicotine withdrawal.

That thread was not about discussion, it was about trying to prove the LDS wrong. People have speculated about certain scriptures and concluded that we might become Gods, but the truth will only be known when we pass through to the other side. If you want the "mishy's" to come over, call them and invite them over for a discussion. I'm sure they would love it.

Sorry to hear about the nicotine withdrawl. It's not fun, but it'll be worth it in the long run.

[Dale]

I have read your question about Lucifer. We have to be caution's not to continue a closed discussion. In regard's to Isaiah 14:12-14 his problem was not godhood, but wanting to place himself equally beside God. Only Jesus share's the status of being able to claim himself exclusive God with the Father. Most god's in LDS belief as i understand it will be forever subordinate to God. The old Lorenzo Snow couplet "As man is God once was, and as God is man may become." suggest's for some becoming an independent Deity is possible. But such a new God with a capital "G" will not be in competition with God's place as Lucifer was.

And even with Jesus if i understand LDS belief right is not before or after God as God. When he speak's as Father in Isaiah 43:10 it's not as a 2nd God, but is as if he is the Father speaking himself. The Father's exclusiveness as head God is not in any way compromised with the 2nd God. While he is supposed to be a seperate being from the Father they pretend to be speaking as the same being.

With Isa.43:10 and Deut.6:4 i see the exlusiveness of God as God presented. But the Father and Son seem so aware of each other to me they seem like distinct being's to me. The only thing that prevent's becoming God's is if the three are and can only be the same being. If God is only one God then we cannot become God's. This is my Community of Christ/RLDS churche's objection to becoming god's.

In the early Reorganization we had person's that had no objection to the plurality of God's. I am like the early RLDS like Issac Sheen one-time editor of our Saint's Herald in that regard. In the 1890's i think 1894 it was held to be an idea of man. Joseph smith 3rd Joseph Smith's son did not continue all his father's ideas like the idea of God's when he became our church president. The Book of Abraham became viewed as Joseph Smith's speculative writing. Unlike the LDS we never considered it scripture.

I see two idea's of God among Community of Christ. Officially we have become Trinitarian. But we have had person's who view God and Christ as two personage's, but not two literal God's. To avoid teaching two God's this official older position figuratized Jesus status as Deity. The Father alone was viewed as Almighty God. Not being a creedal church we had Trinitarian verses Anti-Trinitarian debate's amongst ourselve's for a number of year's. We still do.

[Dale]

I did not mean to confuse you. I am still trying to understand LDS theology. I am still trying to learn to explain it. I do not accept Lorenzo Snow's couplet as true doctrine. I do not see the Father as ever being once a man. At most i am open to calling the person's of the Godhead God's. I consider non-ultimate being's god's only in a figurative way. To me such god's can never become "God's." I see man as only progessing toward's a very limited progression.

Dealing with Anti-Restoration flak can be uncomfortable. I am so familiar with the trivia i am usually able to stand up for myself.

[rameumptom]

Dale,
There are many LDS that believe KFD and Snow's couplet were referencing Jesus as the God referred to. Pres Hinckley has stated we just don't really have much info on the topic to really say anything beyond what has been stated.
IOW, Jesus was God that became man, and we can become as Jesus is now. Most early Christians believed this, such as Paul, who stated we are "co-heirs with Christ", and John who wrote that we would sit down in God's throne and reign with him. This is my view of what it means to become as God is.
In reality, we know very little about the Father in that much of what is written is speculation based upon just a couple of teachings from Joseph Smith.
Still, I do not believe those teachings are required at this time for our exaltation, otherwise God would have taught it more fully to us. I keep an open mind, in that I know Joseph was teaching something wonderful, but did not get the chance to expound much on it, whether it referred to both the Father and the Son, or just the Son.