Do Mormons Really Think They Can Become Like God?

Mormons are ridiculed for one of their doctrines maybe more so than any of the others. So here it is… Mormons are actually presumptuous enough to believe that they can become like God!

Is that insane? Is it blasphemous or sacrilegious? Let’s find out…

When I was in college, I asked a Christian professor and PhD in world religion what the word “God” even means. She was perplexed by the question. I said, well… Heavenly Father’s name isn’t God, and Jesus Christ’s name isn’t God…so what does the word “God” even mean? The word “God” gets thrown around in all ways, shapes, and forms…but do we even comprehend what we are saying and who we are addressing?

In the New Testament, Paul told the Corinthians that “though there be that are called gods, whether in heaven or in earth, (as there be gods many, and lords many,) But to us there is but one God, the Father, of whom are all things, and we in him; and one Lord Jesus Christ, by whom are all things, and we by him.” At a later time, Thomas referred to Jesus as “my Lord, and my God”. And yet again…the Holy Ghost is referred to as a God. Everything in the Old and New Testament point us in the direction of a plurality of gods. Even from the first mention of the word “God” in the Bible in Genesis 1:1, the Hebrew text renders the word in the plural, and later in that same chapter God says “Let us make man in our image”. Unless God has split personalities, he’s most definitely talking to someone else…and if that someone else isn’t human, then what are they? So maybe the word “god” is less of a proper name and more of a descriptive title, such as the word “human” is to our lives here on earth. 

You’ll notice that in the graphic to the right, Strong’s Concordance is referring to there being multiple gods but in the instance that there is a “Supreme God” being mentioned. That is the Father. Remember Joseph Smith rendering out the beginning of the Old Testament in saying “The head God brought forth the gods”? Funny how Strong’s Concordance seems to agree perfectly with what this uneducated boy came up with so long ago. Multiple LDS prophets have confirmed the concept that we are “gods in embryo”.

Did you know that we…even us lowly humans are referred to as “gods” in numerous places in the Bible. Psalms 82:6 tells us that we are gods…because we are children of the Most High. It makes sense that if my Heavenly Father is a God, and my spirit is begotten of Him, then I can safely assume that I am of the same “order” as Him right?  I am a human right now, but this is a temporary station. Just as the word “human” is used to describe who we are on this earth, the word “god” is a term used to describe who we were there…and who we’ll be hereafter. If I live in a way that is pleasing to Heavenly Father, eventually I can arrive at the “station of a god”, which was my desired destination from even before I came to this earth.

It sometimes infuriates people to say that “we can become like God”…but isn’t that what Christ asked us to do over and over again while He was here on earth? Does not the most famous chapter of scripture in the sermon on the mount end in vs. 48 by saying “Be ye therefore perfect…even as I am perfect.?” Would Jesus ask us to do something that He never intended us to do or that was never attainable?

To quote C.S. Lewis, “The command Be ye perfect [Matt. 5:48] is not idealistic gas. Nor is it a command to do the impossible. He is going to make us into creatures that can obey that command. He said (in the Bible) that we were “gods” and he is going to make good His words. If we let Him – for we can prevent Him, if we choose – He will make the feeblest and filthiest of us into a god or goddess, a dazzling, radiant, immortal creature, pulsating all through with such energy and joy and wisdom and love as we cannot now imagine, a bright stainless mirror which reflects back to God perfectly (though of course, on a smaller scale) His own boundless power and delight and goodness. The process will be long and in parts very painful; but that is what we are in for. Nothing less. He meant what he said.”

Jesus said to “come follow me”… so… should we? And if we do… what is our potential? Does God intend us to be puppets to Him in the eternities? Do you want to limit your children… or do you want to give them all that you have and more? In Romans, Paul tells us that “we are the children of God”… and not only children, “but heirs… heirs of God and joint heirs with Jesus Christ.” Is it blasphemous to believe that we can become like God? No! In fact…I think it is blasphemous to think that we cannot become like God! It completely marginalizes everything that was done on our behalf so that we could become like Him.

Lewis wrote again that “It is a serious thing to live in a society of possible gods and goddesses, to remember that the dullest most uninteresting person you talk to may one day be a creature which,if you saw it now, you would be strongly tempted to worship.”

God did not create us because He needs more glory because well… He already has all glory. His purpose for making us was not so that we could blow trumpets at Him for eternity. His glory is our glory. Just as a good parent on earth lives solely for His or Her children, so also does our Father live to bless His children. As my children grow and learn and develop and make right choices…their actions intrinsically glorify me and there is nothing more exciting than seeing my children excel. I would never limit them in their progression. This may sound crazy…but the primary reason we were placed on this earth was to learn how to become great parents. (People that don’t have kids can act as parents in many other ways without directly having biological kids.) Father, Mother, Savior. That is what we’re here to learn. It’s not heretical…its logical, and our Heavenly parents don’t want to limit us in our spiritual progression.

The professor I talked about earlier and I had a really nice discussion which sort of ended in a “prove it through the Bible” sort of feeling. So I decided to type up about 3 pages of Old and New Testament resources for consideration and hand it in as “extra credit”. 🙂 You can check it out here: Old and New Testament References to the Plurality of Gods