Need Some Help From Some Very Knowledgeable Catholic Apologists

[wmscott]

This is a question I would like to ask of some very knowledgeable Catholic apologists. I really do not need a response from any LDS perspective. It was explained to me that LDS believe that they become gods when they die. This is a quote from one of the responses “Mormons do indeed believe that men can become gods, and hence there are many gods.” To support this they even cite the CCC and provided the following:

• 460 The Word became flesh to make us “partakers of the divine nature”: “For this is
  why the Word became man, and the Son of God became the Son of man: so that
  man, by entering into communion with the Word and thus receiving divine sonship,
  might become a son of God.” **“For the Son of God became man so that we might
  become God.” “The only-begotten Son of God, wanting to make us sharers in his
  divinity, assumed our nature, so that he, made man, might make men gods.”/**I]

I cannot find any Catholic commentary anywhere that explains this. Can anyone provide me any insight as to what the CCC is telling us here?*

 

[Luke_K]

It means we partake in the divinity of Christ. We don’t become gods unto ourselves as if we have god-like powers separate from God, but our nature does become divine inasmuch as Jesus’ union of human and divine natures allows us to enter into the inner life of the Trinity. There is absolutely no divinity apart from the One, Triune God, and all we can do is be a part of it.

“On that day you will realize that I am in my Father and you are in me and I in you…Whoever loves me will keep my word, and my Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our dwelling with him.” -John 14: 20,23

 

[Scoobyshme]

Luke K’s response was well thought out.

I might add that Jesus refers to Himself as the Vine and us as the branches. The branches are not the vine, but united to it. This process of unification begins in this life. When we die and go to heaven, we are not less, but more united with the Vine. But we are not separate vines.

LDS’s believe that Jesus was once just a mere human like us and was “good enough” in a previous life to become God on this planet. They believe that we can do likewise, i.e., be “good enough” in this life to become “God” on another planet. For this reason (and others), they really aren’t Christian, since they believe in a different Jesus than historical Christianity.

 

[wmscott]

Luke K’s response was well thought out.

I might add that Jesus refers to Himself as the Vine and us as the branches. The branches are not the vine, but united to it. This process of unification begins in this life. When we die and go to heaven, we are not less, but more united with the Vine. But we are not separate vines.

LDS’s believe that Jesus was once just a mere human like us and was “good enough” in a previous life to become God on this planet. They believe that we can do likewise, i.e., be “good enough” in this life to become “God” on another planet. For this reason (and others), they really aren’t Christian, since they believe in a different Jesus than historical Christianity.

Thanks Scoobyshme and Luke K, I think I am starting to get the picture here. I like the Vine analogy, makes sense to me.