Does Mormonism Really Teach That Faithful Mormons Receive Their Own Planets?

[Son_of_Niall]

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints recently published an article on its web site titled, “Becoming Like God.” This is the latest of a series of articles meant to explain some of the more controversial doctrinal and historical problems faced by the Mormon Church today. This article has created a great deal of interest in the media. A good number of well known papers have posted articles regarding this matter, most of them giving the impression that the LDS Church really does not teach this doctrine. Nothing could be further from the truth.

As I was researching this topic I happened to see a comment of one of my former Mormon friends on Facebook. He quoted an official Mormon Church Teaching manual which states, “President Spencer W. Kimball said in a general priesthood meeting: ‘Brethren, 225,000 of you are here tonight. I suppose 225,000 of you may become gods. There seems to be plenty of space out there in the universe. And the Lord has proved that he knows how to do it. I think he could make, or probably have us help make, worlds for all of us, for every one of us 225,000.’” (Doctrine and Covenants Student Manual, 2001 p.358)

More…
christianpost.com/news/does-mormonism-really-teach-that-faithful-mormons-receive-their-own-planets-116359/

 

[VanSensei]

The beliefs of one aren’t necessarily doctrine for all.

 

[Marie5890]

It was a deeply held belief when I was LDS.
Whether or not it was “officially” taught is always an “iffy” claim Mormons would say.

One of Mormonism crazyies that makes me go " " all at once is how they will wiggle this way and that way and this way and wont take a stand over what is “official” verse what is a deeply held belief

Getting one’s own planet was a deeply held belief when I was LDS, but will the higher ups declare it was an official doctrine is questionable.

But there are statements of previous leaders claiming such

 

[NeuroTypical]

More…
christianpost.com/news/does-mormonism-really-teach-that-faithful-mormons-receive-their-own-planets-116359/

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints recently published an article on its web site titled, “Becoming Like God.” This is the latest of a series of articles meant to explain some of the more controversial doctrinal and historical problems faced by the Mormon Church today.

Here’s the link to that article:
Becoming Like God

For my personal experience, (30+ years as active LDS), nobody has actually ever taught anything regarding a planet or being a god over a planet to me directly. I’ve heard plenty of speculation from plenty of LDS, from leaders on down.

I just don’t get much out of speculating about it. Got enough to worry about here currently, to worry about what the next life will bring.

 

[openmind77]

It was a deeply held belief when I was LDS.
Whether or not it was “officially” taught is always an “iffy” claim Mormons would say.

One of Mormonism crazyies that makes me go " " all at once is how they will wiggle this way and that way and this way and wont take a stand over what is “official” verse what is a deeply held belief

Getting one’s own planet was a deeply held belief when I was LDS, but will the higher ups declare it was an official doctrine is questionable.

But there are statements of previous leaders claiming such

This is not just a Mormon belief, some New Age schools believe that once human beings graduate from their lives on earth, they are offered seven paths for their further development and growth.Two of the seven paths are:

-The Path of Earth Service (apparently Jesus was on this path)
-The Path of Training for becoming a Planetary Logos

The second of the two sounds a lot like what the Mormon belief is, although according to the New Age schools it takes thousands (millions?) of years before you qualify to get your own planet to manage.

 

[Marie5890]

In your 30+ years you admit that you have heard plenty of speculation.
Is it a fair statement that you sensed that many Mormons actually hold it in belief? Or that they are only speculating about it?

When I was LDS, what I heard wasnt so much speculation, but something that many Mormons actually believed in, whether officially taught or not.

 

[iepuras]

In your 30+ years you admit that you have heard plenty of speculation.
Is it a fair statement that you sensed that many Mormons actually hold it in belief? Or that they are only speculating about it?

When I was LDS, what I heard wasnt so much speculation, but something that many Mormons actually believed in, whether officially taught or not.

My experience is somewhat similar to Neurotypical’s in that in my years in the LDS church, no one specifically taught that if we are exalted, we become a god over a planet. However, it was taught that if we live worthily, we are exalted in the celestial kingdom and become like Heavenly Father and live a life like he does. Then we would discuss what Heavenly Father does and the kind of life he has and continued on to the logical conclusion that married couples would have spirit children and eventually, new worlds would be created for those spirit children to have physical bodies. I never heard it or discussed it as speculation but as a logical conclusion to the LDS church’s teachings on exaltation and Lorenzo Snow’s famous couplet: “As man now is, God once was; as God now is, man may be.”

A lot of LDS believe this to be true. I certainly did when I was LDS. It may not be openly talked or thought about in the daily lives of LDS, but it is a common belief. Maybe the belief is waning among the younger generations, but it is still the logical conclusion of LDS teachings on exaltation.

 

[Marie5890]

My experience is somewhat similar to Neurotypical’s in that in my years in the LDS church, no one specifically taught that if we are exalted, we become a god over a planet. However, it was taught that if we live worthily, we are exalted in the celestial kingdom and become like Heavenly Father and live a life like he does. Then we would discuss what Heavenly Father does and the kind of life he has and continued on to the logical conclusion that married couples would have spirit children and eventually, new worlds would be created for those spirit children to have physical bodies. I never heard it or discussed it as speculation but as a logical conclusion to the LDS church’s teachings on exaltation and Lorenzo Snow’s famous couplet: “As man now is, God once was; as God now is, man may be.”

A lot of LDS believe this to be true. I certainly did when I was LDS. It may not be openly talked or thought about in the daily lives of LDS, but it is a common belief. Maybe the belief is waning among the younger generations, but it is still the logical conclusion of LDS teachings on exaltation.

Thanks, iepuras, appreciate your chiming in with your experience.

 

[Brandon_Cal]

Those who keep all their temple covenants and endure to the end are promised Exaltation, the end of which is godhood. Whether godhood is manifested in having one’s own planet, one’s own universe, playing some active creative role in this already established universe or something else in between (or something else entirely abstract) is unknown. This is one of those doctrines that is firmly within Mormon esoterica and so the Church has little if anything to say on it in an official capacity.

 

[PaulDupre1]

This is what they were teaching when I was LDS (1975-1986):

“The Father has promised us that through our faithfulness we shall be blessed with the fullness of his kingdom. In other words we will have the privilege of becoming like him. To become like him we must have all the powers of godhood; thus a man and his wife when glorified will have spirit children who eventually will go on an earth like this one we are on and pass through the same kind of experiences, being subject to mortal conditions, and if faithful, then they also will receive the fullness of exaltation and partake of the same blessings. There is no end to this development; it will go on forever. We will become gods and have jurisdiction over worlds, and these worlds will be peopled by our own offspring. We will have an endless eternity for this.”

• Joseph Fielding Smith, Doctrines of Salvation (Vol. 2 pg 48)

Those who receive exaltation in the celestial kingdom through faith in Jesus Christ will receive special blessings. The Lord has promised, “All things are theirs” (D&C 76:59). These are some of the blessings given to exalted people:

1. They will live eternally in the presence of Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ (see D&C 76).
2. They will become gods.
3. They will have their righteous family members with them and will be able to have spirit children also. These spirit children will have the same relationship to them as we do to our Heavenly Father. They will be an eternal family.
4. They will receive a fulness of joy.
5. They will have everything that our Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ have–all power, glory, dominion, and knowledge. President Joseph Fielding Smith wrote: “The Father has promised through the Son that all that he has shall be given to those who are obedient to his commandments. They shall increase in knowledge, wisdom, and power, going from grace to grace, until the fulness of the perfect day shall burst upon them” (Doctrines of Salvation, 2:36).

• Gospel Principles, Chapter 47 - Exaltation

Gospel Principles is the lesson manual the LDS church uses to teach their new converts the Mormon “gospel”.

Have they changed these doctrines?
Paul

 

[Miriam1947]

It was a deeply held belief when I was LDS.
Whether or not it was “officially” taught is always an “iffy” claim Mormons would say.

One of Mormonism crazyies that makes me go " " all at once is how they will wiggle this way and that way and this way and wont take a stand over what is “official” verse what is a deeply held belief

Getting one’s own planet was a deeply held belief when I was LDS, but will the higher ups declare it was an official doctrine is questionable.

But there are statements of previous leaders claiming such

I think the wiggle of Mormonism also affects Mormons in political life. You are never sure exactly where they stand on issues and what they really believe.

 

[taylorf]

Here’s the link to that article:
Becoming Like God

For my personal experience, (30+ years as active LDS), nobody has actually ever taught anything regarding a planet or being a god over a planet to me directly. I’ve heard plenty of speculation from plenty of LDS, from leaders on down.

I just don’t get much out of speculating about it. Got enough to worry about here currently, to worry about what the next life will bring.

For my personal experience, 1998 BYU Doctrine and Covenants course, the professor taught that God was a man before he was a god and was the Savior for his “mankind” on his own planet. Went on to say that exaltation is becoming a God and creating worlds of our own.

Yes, I’m pretty sure there aren’t any lessons during sunday school where members sit and discuss what planets they will create, but it’s understood by everyone what exaltation and becoming a god means to the LDS. It’s having spiritual offspring, providing them a world to populate, and giving those spirits the same opportunity we got here.

 

[KendraM]

For my personal experience, 1998 BYU Doctrine and Covenants course, the professor taught that God was a man before he was a god and was the Savior for his “mankind” on his own planet. Went on to say that exaltation is becoming a God and creating worlds of our own.

Yes, I’m pretty sure there aren’t any lessons during sunday school where members sit and discuss what planets they will create, but it’s understood by everyone what exaltation and becoming a god means to the LDS. It’s having spiritual offspring, providing them a world to populate, and giving those spirits the same opportunity we got here.

Me too. I learned that we would create our own worlds as a god. That was back in high school LDS seminary. So to answer the question: Mormonism does not teach that faithful Mormons receive their own planets, they teach they will make their own (or create them out of pre existing matter anyway). Though this teaching may change if the current prophet says otherwise.

 

[zaffiroborant]

My experience is somewhat similar to Neurotypical’s in that in my years in the LDS church, no one specifically taught that if we are exalted, we become a god over a planet. However, it was taught that if we live worthily, we are exalted in the celestial kingdom and become like Heavenly Father and live a life like he does. Then we would discuss what Heavenly Father does and the kind of life he has and continued on to the logical conclusion that married couples would have spirit children and eventually, new worlds would be created for those spirit children to have physical bodies. I never heard it or discussed it as speculation but as a logical conclusion to the LDS church’s teachings on exaltation and Lorenzo Snow’s famous couplet: “As man now is, God once was; as God now is, man may be.”

A lot of LDS believe this to be true. I certainly did when I was LDS. It may not be openly talked or thought about in the daily lives of LDS, but it is a common belief. Maybe the belief is waning among the younger generations, but it is still the logical conclusion of LDS teachings on exaltation.

The old gospel principles manual said that the exalted would have spirit children and those children would have the same relationship to their heavenly parents that we have with God. So those who were exalted would have spirit children who worshiped them as God. Having a planet to house those spirit children is rather a mundane idea compared to being worshiped by millions.

 

[NeuroTypical]

In your 30+ years you admit that you have heard plenty of speculation.

Is it a fair statement that you sensed that many Mormons actually hold it in belief? Or that they are only speculating about it?

I’d guess about half of those speculating were opining about worlds and spirit children, the other half were speculating about other things.

Plenty of speculation = two or three dozen members, across a few decades. (Most of the speculation I encountered on discussion forums. Maybe 3-4 people maximum I’ve encountered in real life.)

 

[TexanKnight]

I’d guess about half of those speculating were opining about worlds and spirit children, the other half were speculating about other things.

Plenty of speculation = two or three dozen members, across a few decades. (Most of the speculation I encountered on discussion forums. Maybe 3-4 people maximum I’ve encountered in real life.)

I was taught we would receive our own planets. Even discussed it at the MTC

just another of the plethora of different teachings that were taught and now are not…the ever-changing world of lds doctrine and teaching

 

[PaulDupre1]

For Mormons, the future is known; it’s the past that keeps changing.

 

[Tarquin]

Here’s the link to that article:
Becoming Like God

For my personal experience, (30+ years as active LDS), nobody has actually ever taught anything regarding a planet or being a god over a planet to me directly. I’ve heard plenty of speculation from plenty of LDS, from leaders on down.

I just don’t get much out of speculating about it. Got enough to worry about here currently, to worry about what the next life will bring.

Things sure change a lot over the years, don’t they. From the 1950s to the 1960s, that’s 50+ years ago, it was taught clearly, emphatically, and repeatedly, by missionaries in people’s homes, in Priesthood classes, and Sunday School classes, at classes during “Education Week” (much different than what they present in that name today): that Mormons who made it to the top of the three “Glories” in the “Celestial Kingdom” would have, and would be the only ones to have, the privilege to exercise conjugal rights, produce “spirit children,” create (“organize”) planets, somehow (the method was clearly explained by Brigham Young but his explanation is repudiated by today’s Mormons) “create” physical bodies for those spirits, put those spirits into those bodies, and having had a family council with those billions of spirits, some would insanely reject the plan that had worked for all eternity and choose a course which in the unfolding of that plan, eternally-historically had doomed such rebels to hell, a Satan would rise (or fall), cause the first couple on the new earth to fall, and eventually a Savior would be sent, whom some would accept but others reject, till eventually there would be an end, and all the children would be judged to go into one of three Kingdoms, but only those who made it to the top Glory of the top Kingdom would be able to produce grandchildren for their God. Likewise, God himself had gone through this course, first as an amorphous, bodiless “intelligence,” then as a spirit body, then incarnated in a physical body - by the way, he was the Savior of the world on which he went through his mortality - suffer and die for his brothers and sisters, opening the way to their salvation and exaltation - two very different things - and eventually make it to the top Kingdom with his wives. (Jesus had only three wives that have been counted so far, according to, I believe it was Brigham Young.)

The eternal genealogy of Gods was taught perfectly clearly at least as recent as fifty years ago. If they have de-emphasized that for some reason, or dropped it, that is not my fault.

I have noted that people who do not think much about the next life, do not do well in preparing for it. All the Mormons I have known have been enough concerned about the next to conduct themselves in ways which they believed would be beneficial to that next and much longer part of their eternal lives.

 

[PaulDupre1]

These doctrines were authoritatively taught throughout the LDS church until just a few years ago. Heck they only removed the words “spirit children” from the Gospel Doctrines manual two or three years ago.

Now they pretend they never heard it taught. Maybe, like so many LDS, they zoned out during that long and boring 3-hour block every Sunday.

Paul (formerly LDS, now happily Catholic)

 

[zaffiroborant]

These doctrines were authoritatively taught throughout the LDS church until just a few years ago. Heck they only removed the words “spirit children” from the Gospel Doctrines manual two or three years ago.

Now they pretend they never heard it taught. Maybe, like so many LDS, they zoned out during that long and boring 3-hour block every Sunday.

Paul (formerly LDS, now happily Catholic)

That manual was in use for a quite a while, I referred to it earlier and how it said your spirit children would have the same relationship with you that we have with Heavenly Father, IOW you would have spirit children who would worship you as Heavenly Father (and ignore you as Heavenly Mother). For members to pretend that this wasn’t taught is deceptive. Every LDS member posting in this board was taught for years from that manual, they are well aware they are not telling the whole truth, but in their minds that’s okay because Boyd K Packer president of the quorum of 12 of the LDS church has told them “some things that are true are not very useful”.